Language and Society

Which kind of relations link

together language and society?
What is the subject of
sociolinguistics studies?
• Sociolinguistics - is an interdisciplinary subject area of
linguistics, within which the influence of social factors on
the structure and functioning of languages is being
studied. Accordingly any natural language is viewed as a
socially determined phenomenon.
• Historically, the beginnings of social linguistics are
associated with the activities of the French (A. Meillet)
and Geneva (Seshe A., Ch. Bally) sociological schools in
the early XX-th century. These schools of thought
became the antithesis for psychological approach to
understanding of language’s nature and essence.
 Understanding of language as a social
phenomenon replaces understanding of
language as a mental phenomenon
• The founder of the French sociological school in
linguistics A. Meillet (1866 - 1936), criticized the
psychological approach to language study and
prophiesed coming of the time when mental
association as general principle of language
organization would not longer be the dominant one.
In the early twentieth century, he concludes: “We
can understand the language’s nature only through
its social character“.
• (А.Мейе. Введение в сравнительное изучение
индоевропейских языков. – М.; Л., 1938. – С.
471).
 A. Meillet (1866 – 1936)
• French linguist, one of the most brilliant linguistic
minds of the XX-th century. Member of the
Academy of inscriptions (1924), numerous
foreign academies and societies; correspondent
Member of the St. Petersburg Academy of
Sciences (1906); Secretary of the Linguistic
Society of Paris (since 1906).
• Field of interests: comparative linguistics, slavic
philology, Persian language, Armenian
language.
 Teacher is known through his
students…
• Among his students one might find almost
all famous linguists (mostly comparativists)
of the twentieth century, including
• E. Benveniste,
• J. Vandriyes,
• J. Kurylowicz,
• A. Martine,
• L.Tenyer and others.
Basic proceedings by A. Meillet:
• Introduction à l'étude comparative des langues indo-européennes, 1903
(і багато ін. видань)
• Les dialectes indo-européens, 1908; 2-е вид., 1922.
• Aperçu d’une histoire de la langue grecque, 1913.
• Linguistique historique et linguistique générale, 1921; 2-е изд. 1926—1936.
• Les origines indo-européennes des mètres grecs, 1923.
• Esquisse d’une histoire de la langue latine, 1928.
• La méthode comparative en linguistique historique, 1928.
• Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine, 1932. (разом з А. Ерну)
• Введение в сравнительное изучение индоевропейских языков, 1938. 3-е
изд.: URSS, 2002.
• Общеславянский язык, 1951. 2-е изд.: Прогресс, 2000. 3-е изд.: URSS, 2001.
• Основные особенности германской группы языков, 1952. 2-е изд.: URSS,
2003.
• Сравнительный метод в историческом языкознании. 2-е изд.: URSS,
2004.
What arguments could be put forward in favour
of the fact that language is a socially
determined phenomenon?
• Its close relations with the society, communicative needs of
which it serves. When society dies, language dies too (See.
Next slide).
• As to its origin it is associated with the collective of men, a social
group, within which language serves communicative needs of
people. That’s why we say language was created
unconsciously, spontaneously, that’s why we call it natural.
•   It differs from all other social phenomena (various forms of
ideological and political life, legal, moral, aesthetic systems,
philosophical beliefs) because human language serves society
in every field of its activity.
• It appears to be the only way of reflection of the spiritual life of
society and peculiarities of social consciousness.
• It keeps an obsolete understanding and interpretation of the
reality, which in many cases is quite different from today's
insights.
 Dead or alive Latin?
• Latin, for example, is a dead language, because
currently it does not serve the communicative needs of
any society.
• However, in our times some artistic and scientific
writings still appear in Latin, translations from alive
national languages into Latin are maid (here are lines
from the poem "Borodino" by M. Lermontov: Milǐtes,
nonne Mosqua a tergo est? Moriamur igǐtur apud
Mosquam, ut fratres nostri moriebantur! Polliciti nos
morituros esse, fidemque in pugna Borodinensi solvǐmus
– (“Guys, its Moscow behind us! Let’s accept death near
Moscow, as our brothers did! And we kept the oath of
fidelity in the Battle of Borodino).
 What was the mode of moving to the future in
ancient times?
• In the ancient Ukrainian language there were
such forms as:

• ПРЕДИ – „earlier”;
• ПЕРЕД – „from the front side”;
• ЗАДЪНИЙ – „future”;
• ЗАДЬНИЧНИКЪ – „inheritor”

(Materials of I. Sreznevsky dictionary of Old

Ukrainian language)
 Language etymology preserves ancient ideas
about the world ...
• Research of the etymological side of words
reveals some interesting features in the
worldview of ancient people. Names of labor in
Indo-European languages are etymologically
related to the notions of difficulties, servitude,
slavery and suffering.
• In German Arbeit (labor) is related with the ideas
of "suffering", "poverty", "burden“;
• in Romanian munca is related with Old Slavic
"torture",
• French le travail is coming from Latin trepalium -
"machine for tortures"
Scientific world model is changing faster
than language world model
• In comparison with social consciousness
language develops much slower, that’s why any
language continues keeping some lexical forms
which come into conflict with new ideas about
the world: сонце сходить, сонце заходить, на
краю землі; sun rises, sun sets, in the edge of
the Earth, etc.
• These language forms reflect the old ideas
which were based on the Ptolemaic geocentric
theory of the Universe structure
 The person can greatly enrich the
language!
• Any linguistic phenomenon once upon a time was born in
the speech of the concrete individual. Thus, the
Ukrainian writer M. Starytsky is the author of the word
words мрія – “dream” and байдужий – “indifferent”,
O.Pchilka created the word мистецтво – “art”, L.
Tolstoy - образование – “education”. All these authors’
words later on were incorporated by the national
language.
• Acception of the newly born language form, words,
syntactic structures totally depends on the will and tastes
of the language community, to which the person-
innovator belongs.
• Language community appears to be the architect
and supreme legislator in the life of any language
 Language reflects the development
of the society
In the medieval Italy and Germany there were many
small states and principalities (Italy, like Germany
remained fragmented until the seventies of the
nineteenth century). This historical fact explains the
diversity of dialects in modern Italy and Germany.
• On the other hand, in modern French language
dialectic differences are practically not observed, due
to the completion of the formation of the France as a
centralized state in the late XV-th - early XVI-th cent.
• The single Romanian language in the times of the
Soviet Union was divided by two countries: Moldova
and Romania.
 Language has temporal, spatial
and social dimensions ...
• Social differentiation (stratification) of the society is also
reflected in the language.
• The division of labor in society, different social groups in
it cause the appearance of various socially engaged
options in national languages.
• In some languages there exist so-called "category of
courtesy" (the Japanese, the Korean languages).
• In Japanese, within this category the concepts of
"higher," "equal“ and "lower“ are distinguished. It also
includes the notion of “mine" and "alien"; to the “alien”
attitude is always more respectful, than to “mine”.
• Some manifestations of the category of courtesy could
be found in Ukrainian, Polish, Russian, French
 But social determination of language’s nature
is not absolute
• N.Chomsky and his successor F.Kats believed that the basis
of language acquisition in early childhood lies in innate
knowledge. They stated that there is some innate fixed core
(deep syntactic structures), which also act as a basis for
language acquisition. According to N.Chomsky, language
competence of the person is genetically determined.
• Interestingly, the idea of the innate character of the linguistic
competence could be find even in writings of ancient Indian
linguist Bhartrihari (V c. BC): "... a baby is born already
endowed with innate knowledge and skills which present the
residual traces of previous human’s existences ... ".
• The issue of language ontogeny, i.e. the development of
individual human capacity for language is studied whithin the
trend in modern linguistics called ontopsyholinguistics
 Language gets social determination in
language communicative acts (LCA)
• LCA – is a purposeful speech action
fulfilled in accordance with the rules
of verbal behavior within a given
ethnic community. The foundations of
the theory of speech acts were
outworked by English philosopher
John Austin in his book „How to do
things with words” (1962)
 Paralinguistics as a science about
non-verbal communication
• Non-verbal communication means are studied by
paralinguistics. Three types of paralinguistic devices are
being distinguished: phonetic, kinetic & graphic.
Phonetic devices include: speech timbre, rate of speech,
volume, pause fillers like (uh, mmm, etc.), melodics, special
pronunciation of sounds (dialectal, social, idiolectic).
• Kinetic component: gestures, facial expressions, posture
type.
• Graphic components: way of writing, graphic addition to the
letters, their substitutes (symbols such as &, $).
•  In paralinguistics such components of verbal behavior are
differentiated: universal, ethnic and idiolectic.
 Forms (variants) of national
language
• The form (variant) of language
(FL) - is one of the specific
forms of its structural
organization and functioning
within certain language
community
 Main forms of language
• Forms (variants) of language:
• Main: 1. Literary language. 2. People's
spoken language. 3.Koine. 4.Common
language (vernacular). 5. Pidgin languages.
6. Creole languages. 7. The regional
dialects. 8. Some types of social dialects.
• Purpose of the main forms of language
existence – to unite all people together with
the help of language
 Secondary (minor) FL
• 1. Some types of social dialects (i.e.,
group jargon (slang), secret argot of
traders, artisans). 2. Ritual. 3. Caste. 4.
Sex.
• The function of the minor FL – to separate
from one another certain social,
professional and other groups of speakers
 Literary Language
• Literary Language - a standardized,
polished form of the national language
which is used in all main spheres of public
communication within this or that ethnic
society; the language of public institutions,
secondary and higher education,
broadcasting, theater, science, periodicals,
journalism and more.
 Koine
• Koine is a special form of
language used for communication
within multidialect territory, which
forms on the basis of one or more
dialects spread in the area
Common language (vernacular)
• Common language is a spoken nationwide uncodified
language.
• It has overdialect character and emerges in the era of
national languages formation.
• This category is supposed to be universal for all national
languages.
• It’s typical for vernacular to have stylistically lowered
words and expressions which always have neutral
counterparts in literary language: Ukr.: швендяти – to
walk; Russ.: шарахнуть – to strike, дрыхнуть – to
sleep, драпануть – to run away.
 The linguistic status of vernacular
• Vernacular has a special place among all forms of oral
speech:
• On the one hand, it is closely associated with the city
koine,
• On the other - tends to colloquial variant of the literary
language,
• Finally, it results from incomplete erasure of dialect
differences.
• That's why it is difficult to distinguish vernacular forms
from colloquial and dialect forms: their linguistic status
for the time being is still not clearly defined
 Examples of common language (vernacular)
Fragment from Edgar Allan Poe "Golden Beetle"

• "Claws enuff, massa, and mouff too. I nebber did see sich a d-d bug
- he kick and he bite ebery ting what cum near him. Massa Will
cotch him fuss, but had for to let him go gin mighty quick, I tell you -
den was de time he must ha got de bite. I didn't like de look ob de
bug mouff, myself, no how, so I wouldn't take hold ob him wid my
finger, but I cotch him wid a piece ob paper dat I found. I rap him up
in de paper and stuff piece ob it in he mouff - dat was de day."
• «Ось-ось, маса, дуже велика паща, і кігті теж здорові. В житті не
бачив такого жука, б'є ногами, як кінь, і кусає все, що йому
підвернеться. Маса Вілл схопив його, та й упустив, ось тоді жук,
напевно і вкусив його. А мені морда цього жука не сподобалася,
і я відразу вирішив - голими руками брати його ні за що не
стану. Підняв я клаптик паперу, та в папір і загорнув його, а край
паперу в пащу йому сунув, ось, що я зробив!»
 Surzhyk (Ukr. cуржик) as a specific
form of Ukrainian vernacular
• Учителя прийшли, мені
подарили самі кращі квіти,
говори дальше, не стійте на
сквозняку, не виконав завдання
із-за хвороби, вмісті будемо
вирішувати, ремонт по заказу
 Areal linguistics
• Linguistic geography (areal
linguistics) is engaged into
comparative study of dialects. The
first linguistic atlas of French dialects
was published in 1910, later on the
linguistic atlases of Italy, Romania,
Spain and Switzerland were released
 Social differentiation of language

• Territorial differentiation of
language is opposed to
• social differentiation of
language.
• Originality of social variants of
language is formed mainly on the
lexical level of language structure
• All kinds of social dialects
are historically variable and
situationally determined
 QUESTIONS TO THE TOPIC “SOCIAL LINGUISTICS”

• 1. What is the subject of sociolinguistics studies? Give the historical view.

• 2. Who is A. Meillet?
• 3. Name his students, please.
• 4. Name basic proceedings by A. Meillet, please.
• 5. What arguments could be put forward in favor of the fact that language is a socially determined
phenomenon?
• 6. What can you say about the status of Latin in our times: is it dead or alive?
• 7. What language facts might be useful in proving social determination of language?
• 8. Which of world models changes faster: the scientific world model or language world model? Why?
• 9. Who are language innovators?
• 10. Why the language community itself is considered to be the architect and supreme legislator in the life of
any language?
• 11. What dimensions does any language have?
• 12. Give the examples of manifestations of the category of courtesy in different languages.
• 13. Why social determination of language’s nature is not absolute?
• 14. What kind of discipline studies language ontogeny?
• 15. What is language communicative act?
• 16. What is paralinguistics’ subject?
• 17. Give your concrete examples of the three kinds of paralinguistic devices: phonetic, kinetic & graphic.
• 18. Give your definition of the form (variant) of national language.
• 19. Name main forms of the national language. What is their goal?
• 20. Name secondary forms of the national language. What is their goal?
• 21. Give characteristics to all of the forms of language existence (literary language, koine, common
language (vernacular), pidgin languages, creole languages, regional dialects, group jargon (slang),
secret argot of traders, artisans, ritual languages, cast languages, sex languages).
• 22. What is the subject area of linguistic geography?
• 23. On what grounds territorial differentiation of language is opposed to social differentiation of
language?
• 24. What level of language structure is “responsible” for the authenticity of social variants of language?
• 25. Why social dialects are historically variable and situationally determined? Give your own visions.
•