UNIVERSIDAD AUTNOMA DEL ESTADO DE HIDALGO

INSTITUTO DE CIENCIAS SOCIALES Y HUMANIDADES

LIC. EN ENSEANZA DE LA LENGUA INGLESA

The Rudiments of Sociolinguistics and their Implications

Language might be appreciated from different perspectives and philosophical viewpoint

which is understood as the highest symbolic expression personified in man. From ancient
times, the conception of language and human beings has been to communicate what they
want to express. Nevertheless, in terms of communication are there linguistic varieties in
which persons may speak differently in different social contexts? This question is stated to
persons and language furthers implications. Thus, the study of society and its relation with
linguistic varieties is known as sociolinguistics. In the light of implications, not only
language itself has become part of society but also when individuals use language to
convey social meaning. Therefore, being aware of social phenomena and their relation
with language implies mainly three conceptual terms.

First, as far as language is closely related to social structure, there are possibilities of
interaction among individuals. Those individuals might be membership of a group that is
named as speech community. Various authors have explained the term speech
community through similar concepts. For instance, in accordance with Bloomfield (1933)
A group of people who use the same set of speech signals is a speech-community. In
other words, individuals who might be able to employ or speak the same language either
dialect or linguistic features to other individuals belong to a group named speech
community. Likewise, Wardhaugh (2006) believes that speech communities are
constructed as unique and different from others, often fulfilling a specific need or purpose.
That is to say, speech communities are defined as particular groups bound together by
communicative agreement to social purposes. Moreover, Wardhaugh (1962, as cited in
Hymes, 2006) states that speech community is also a local unit, characterized for its
members by common locality and primary interaction In other words, speech community
is a limited group that is characterized by the interaction of its individuals. To sum up,
members of a specific group who interact throughout the use of peculiar and delimited
speech are known as speech community.
Secondly, the term diglossia is stated as variability of the same language. Authors, who
have claimed that diglossia refers to varieties, also have highlighted varieties such as
Higher (H) variety as well Lower (L) variety. To illustrate, the term of diglossia was
introduced by Ferguson. He defines diglossia as [] different conditions, perhaps the
most familiar example is the standard language and the regional dialect as used, where
many speakers speak their local dialect at home or among family or friends of the same
area but use the standard language in communicating with speakers of other dialects or
on public occasions. In other words, it refers to the coexistence of two language varieties
in different conditions may be occur inside numerous speech communities; thus, these
varieties probably might be named standard and regional dialect. Similarly, Deterding, D
(1998) interprets diglossia as the H variety (standing for 'High'), is adopted as the
standard variety and is used in official situations [] and the other, the L-variety (for
'Low'), is used in informal situations. In other words, standard is High variety and regional
dialect is Low variety and they are used in different circumstances. In additional, according
to Eckert (1981) describes that diglossia refers to The use in one community of two
languages: a superposed variety, referred to as the high language, which is reserved for
use in more public, formal and learned domains; and a vernacular, or low, language, used
in more popular and intimate domains.; that is, diglossia as superposed is H variety that is
used for public while vernacular is L variety that is used for popular. Nevertheless, the
concept of diglossia is seen as a singular case of bilingualism because of these varieties.
In summary diglossia consists of two varieties of speech community for specific purposes
that are classified into H variety and L variety; thus, they are used in dissimilar set of
circumstances.

Thirdly, although, dialect is linked with diglossia, it does not mean that they are the same.
Dialect is determined such as geographical and regional varieties of language
characteristic of speech community. To illustrate, according to Wardhaugh (2006) The
term dialect can also be used to describe differences in speech associated with various
social groups or classes. Put differently, he states that dissimilarities in speech are called
dialects that might differ either in pronunciation, vocabulary or grammatical structures. On
the other hand, Hudson, R (1996) has argued that a dialect is regarded as a geographical
variety of a language, spoken in a certain area, and being different in some linguistic items
from other geographical varieties of the same language. That is to say, dialect consists of
to a variation of a language that is characteristic of the speech community of that
language. Also, Solano Flores (2004) has described that Dialects are associated with the
linguistic and cultural characteristics of the individual who belong to the same broad
linguistic group. To put it in a different way, he defines dialect as linguistic variation that is
distinguished from either other particular geographic or regional speech communities. To
sum up, this concept is mainly related to geographical and regional linguistic variation,
even more, individuals who speak using that variability could say something about their
social identity.

In conclusion, with respect to dissimilar perspectives from language, human beings

perceive language itself as a unity of symbols to express inner human thoughts. On the
other hand, it is used by them as a vehicle for thoughts. Even so, they might be able to
express particular linguistic varieties among other group of human beings; similarly,
fundamentally, there are implications in social functions of language and in the way
language is used, and that is the reason of why sociolinguistics was born. Furthermore,
several sociolinguists have studied those phenomena in order to know how language and
society relate each other and have found out that whose linguistic variations originate
misunderstanding to human beings who do not about that. For that reason, there are
various concepts in the field of sociolinguistics such as the three previously mentioned that
could help persons to be aware of these social phenomena.

Bibliography
Deterding, D. (1998). Approaches To Diglossia In The Classroom: The Middle Way .
REACT.

Eckert, P. (1981). Linguistics Diglossia: separate and unequal. Mounton Publishers.

Ferguson, C. A. (1959). Language and Social Structure: Diglossia . California : Stanford

University Press.

Flores, G. S. (2004). Estimation of Language, Dialect, and Register: Sociolinguistics and

the Measurement Error in the Testing of English Language Learners. University of
Colorado at Boulder.

Hudson, R. (1996). Sociolinguistics. 2nd ed. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Available at: https://books.google.com.mx/book [Accessed 1 Mar. 2016].

Wardhaugh, R. (2006). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. 5th ed. Blackwell Publishing