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12144 results in Cambridge Handbooks

Page 550 of 608

  • 10 - Language, social class, and status

  • from Part III - Social and regional dialectology
  • Edited by Rajend Mesthrie, University of Cape Town
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Sociolinguistics
    Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    06 October 2011, pp 159-185

  • Summary

    The oral-written contrast has roots in both cultural psychology and anthropology. The contrast between oral and written language has proved to be especially productive in educational linguistics, particularly for understanding the enormous task that speakers face as they become fully literate in their first language. Written texts differ from oral discourse in numerous dimensions that reflect both the real-world contexts of language production and comprehension and the conventions that have become associated with particular written and spoken genres over time. Communicative goals of speakers and writers in relation to their audience are broadly similar across genres and modalities: the task of securing the interactant's commitment, interest, and uptake is an overriding concern in the production of even prototypically written register texts like academic articles. The influence of written language on oral communication comes through children's exposure to new words and grammatical structures in written text.

  • 11 - Language and region

  • from Part III - Social and regional dialectology
  • Edited by Rajend Mesthrie, University of Cape Town
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Sociolinguistics
    Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    06 October 2011, pp 186-202

  • Summary

    The sociolinguistics of sign languages includes the study of regional and social variation, bi- and multilingualism and language contact phenomena, language attitudes, discourse analysis, and language policy and planning. Sign languages exhibit both regional and social variation. Phonological variation can be seen in the production of the component parts of signs such as handshape, location, palm orientation, number of articulators, non-manual signals, and segmental structure. Deaf communities contain examples of many types of bilingualism. The most crucial language attitudes are those that pertain to the very status of sign languages as viable linguistic systems. The discourse of natural sign languages is structured and subject to sociolinguistic description, and there are as many discourse genres in sign languages: conversations, narratives, lectures, sermons. The legal recognition of sign languages has increased in many countries and the use of sign languages has expanded in many domains.

  • 13 - Language, gender, and sexuality

  • from Part III - Social and regional dialectology
  • Edited by Rajend Mesthrie, University of Cape Town
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Sociolinguistics
    Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    06 October 2011, pp 218-237

  • Summary

    This chapter provides an overview of approaches to conversation, and outlines key themes and methods of research. It briefly sketches out three approaches to conversational discourse in the Goffmanian tradition: conversation analysis, the ethnography of communication, and interactional sociolinguistics. The chapter presents major research themes in the field: the exploration of conversation as a structured and emergent phenomenon, as a collaborative endeavor, as an interpersonal and social ritual, as a cultural phenomenon, and as a locus of action. Conversation analysis (CA) investigates conversational structure and takes an interest in exploring how unfolding conversational structure (re)creates social organization. Researchers of conversational discourse must make fundamental choices at every step of the data collection and analysis processes. CA has developed a very detailed transcription system as a means of exploring how interlocutors create discourse and their social worlds turn-by-turn in talk.

  • 23 - Language in education

  • from Part V - Applied sociolinguistics
  • Edited by Rajend Mesthrie, University of Cape Town
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Sociolinguistics
    Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    06 October 2011, pp 413-429

  • Summary

    The study of code-switching has been one of the most dynamic areas in linguistics over the last three decades, at least since Poplack's influential paper on Puerto Rican Spanish-English bilingual speech in New York. The demarcation line between code-switching and bilingual interference is definitional: in the case of interference the interaction of the two languages is structural rather than involving phonetic material: words or morphemes from the two languages. This chapter presents some of the issues raised in the vast literature on code-mixing in three main sections: sociolinguistics, grammar, and language use. Code-switching capacities develop and change across the life span of an individual. The major methodological problem in the pragmatic tradition is that the interpretation of conversations in which codes are switched remains subjective. Labovian tradition of accountable analysis of naturalistic speech data is stressed in the work of Poplack and associates as in the work of MacSwan.

  • 9 - The sociolinguistics of style

  • from Part II - Interaction, style, and discourse
  • Edited by Rajend Mesthrie, University of Cape Town
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Sociolinguistics
    Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    06 October 2011, pp 138-156

  • Summary

    This chapter conceptualizes the field of linguistic anthropology in terms of one general criterion: ontological commitment. Linguistic anthropologists share some core ideas about a small set of essential properties of language, all of which are centered upon one basic assumption that language is a non-neutral medium. The ways in which this basic assumption has been interpreted and transformed into particular research projects gives linguistic anthropology its unique identity within the social sciences and the humanities. The chapter focuses on three essential properties of language that are assumed by linguistic anthropologists: language is a code for representing experience, language is a form of social organization, and language is a system of differentiation. Boas' discussion of the influence of language on the ability of an individual to hear subtle differences in the sounds of another language is the explicit statement of the ontological commitment to thinking of language as a non-neutral medium.

  • 5 - Orality and literacy in sociolinguistics

  • from Part I - Foundations of sociolinguistics
  • Edited by Rajend Mesthrie, University of Cape Town
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Sociolinguistics
    Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    06 October 2011, pp 70-82

  • Summary

    The oral-written contrast has roots in both cultural psychology and anthropology. The contrast between oral and written language has proved to be especially productive in educational linguistics, particularly for understanding the enormous task that speakers face as they become fully literate in their first language. Written texts differ from oral discourse in numerous dimensions that reflect both the real-world contexts of language production and comprehension and the conventions that have become associated with particular written and spoken genres over time. Communicative goals of speakers and writers in relation to their audience are broadly similar across genres and modalities: the task of securing the interactant's commitment, interest, and uptake is an overriding concern in the production of even prototypically written register texts like academic articles. The influence of written language on oral communication comes through children's exposure to new words and grammatical structures in written text.

  • 14 - Language and ethnicity

  • from Part III - Social and regional dialectology
  • Edited by Rajend Mesthrie, University of Cape Town
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Sociolinguistics
    Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    06 October 2011, pp 238-258

  • Summary

    This chapter first engages in a discussion of the integrative effect of pragmatics in the field of discourse. It discusses critical discourse analysis (CDA) and multi-modal discourse analysis (MDA), and examines the way in which both approaches to discourse can be seen as the outcome of a long pragmatic process. The chapter then turns to the question of the integration of sociolinguistics and discourse analysis. The textual and linguistic bias of mainstream discourse analysis is strongly present in CDA. Slembrouck identifies profound influence on CDA: British cultural studies. The purpose of CDA is to analyze opaque as well as transparent structural relationships of dominance, discrimination, power and control as manifested in language. Multi-modal analysis expands the range of data to include material processes in spoken communication, such as gesture, movement in space, spatial organization, dress and body posture.

  • 15 - Multilingualism

  • from Part IV - Multilingualism and language contact
  • Edited by Rajend Mesthrie, University of Cape Town
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Sociolinguistics
    Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    06 October 2011, pp 261-282

  • Summary

    This chapter discusses the consequences of linguistic diversity at the level of the individual, and the level of society, that is, the relationship of languages and their speakers within a given territory. It also considers the interaction of multilingualism and multiculturalism as two partially overlapping but non-identical concepts. Linguists tend to see multilingualism as a gradient phenomenon. Inter-Scandinavian communication is an example of what has been called receptive multilingualism with productive monolingualism. Haugen was one of the first linguists to draw attention to the fact that when Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians communicate with one another, they do not use a lingua franca. Many people become multilingual past childhood. Especially in the context of international migration and mobility, language acquisition continues for many throughout their lives. Australia is an example of a society which is characterized by extensive societal but not necessarily individual multilingualism.

  • 8 - Pragmatics and discourse

  • from Part II - Interaction, style, and discourse
  • Edited by Rajend Mesthrie, University of Cape Town
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Sociolinguistics
    Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    06 October 2011, pp 122-137

  • Summary

    This chapter discusses the inspection of the relevance of language to power and social diversity. It explores the elastic impact of power on the social life of living languages. Sociolinguists and historical linguists have demonstrated that linguistic evolution has been shaped by many forces, including political circumstances that are not egalitarian. Einar Haugen promoted the study of language within its ecological context. Some critics of quantitative variationist sociolinguistics have noted that scholars who classify speakers based on pre-ordained social categories, like race, may miss important nuances in linguistic behavior that defy easy circumstantial classification. Hymes affirmed that communicative events demand a high degree of communicative competence as related to language usage throughout the world. William Labov's study of the social stratification of English speakers in New York City is illustrative of urban linguistic stratification. The majority of speech communities throughout the world set the indigenous standard linguistic norms.

  • 12 - Language and place

  • from Part III - Social and regional dialectology
  • Edited by Rajend Mesthrie, University of Cape Town
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Sociolinguistics
    Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    06 October 2011, pp 203-217

  • Summary

    Sociolinguists have always been concerned with place. This chapter summarizes emergence of dialectology in the nineteenth century in the context of the politics of the European nation-state. It summarizes the twentieth-century dialect atlas projects, conducted in the context of a renewed interest in region across the disciplines. The chapter traces ideas about place in quantitative, social-scientific approaches to variation and change. Finally, it outlines several newer ways of thinking about language and place that have emerged in the context of widespread interest in how the social world is collectively shaped in discourse and in how individuals experience language and linguistic variation. Geographers' focus on regions and regional exceptionalism mirrors dialectologists' work of the period in the Linguistic Atlas of the United States and Canada projects. Lesley Milroy and James Milroy brought social network theory to bear on sociolinguistic issues.

  • 20 - Language planning and language policy

  • from Part V - Applied sociolinguistics
  • Edited by Rajend Mesthrie, University of Cape Town
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Sociolinguistics
    Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    06 October 2011, pp 357-376

  • Summary

    This chapter distinguishes three periods of language planning and language policy (LPLP) research and practice: early LPLP from the 1960s through the 1970s; a period of critique and disillusionment with LPLP during the 1980s; and revitalization of LPLP from the early 1990s to the present. It examines the major issues, assumptions, and methodologies of each period. The neoclassical approach of early research in LPLP focused on activities of the nation-state. Criticisms of LPLP focused on several assumptions and beliefs implicit in the neoclassical model. The revival of LPLP began with work in the early 1990s that was influenced by theoretical developments in the social sciences. LPLP has been rejuvenated by efforts to link LPLP with important issues in other areas of the social sciences. Schmidt distinguishes between political science and political theory. LPLP scholars have recognized that community involvement in policymaking is essential if policy goals are to be achieved.

  • Notes

  • Edited by Rajend Mesthrie, University of Cape Town
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Sociolinguistics
    Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    06 October 2011, pp 430-439

  • Summary

    Language maintenance, shift, and endangerment are all outcomes of the dynamics of language communities. Language maintenance can be thought of as the survival of a language in a situation where it might be expected to be endangered. Fishman points out the issue of how language maintenance is to be secured and difficult to characterize. Language shift is in some sense the complement of language maintenance: it is what happens when a language is not maintained. The progression of a language into a new setting is traditionally characterized as occurring by migration, infiltration, or diffusion, depending on whether a whole speech community moves to a new location. Language documentation includes all potentially permanent recording of a language. The crucial aim of revitalization is to act positively on the process of transmission of a language from one generation to the next.

  • 16 - Pidgins and creoles

  • from Part IV - Multilingualism and language contact
  • Edited by Rajend Mesthrie, University of Cape Town
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Sociolinguistics
    Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    06 October 2011, pp 283-300

  • Summary

    This chapter discusses sociolinguistic divisions associated with differences in social prestige, wealth, and power. Class divisions are based on status and power in a society. The linguistic data illuminates the structure of society, and identifies social divisions and points of conflict and convergence. The four central problems on language and class are the definition of class, the description of language use, the explanation of language change, and the construction of linguistic theory. One of the most influential thinkers on the subject of social class is Karl Marx. In Marx's view, the basic dynamic of human history is conflict between classes. The basic difference Bernstein sees between social classes is the range of codes they command: working-class people tend to be confined to the restricted code, whereas middleclass speakers are also versatile in using an elaborated code. The problem for linguistic theory is the variation in the meaning systems of language.

  • 2 - Power, social diversity, and language

  • from Part I - Foundations of sociolinguistics
  • Edited by Rajend Mesthrie, University of Cape Town
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Sociolinguistics
    Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    06 October 2011, pp 17-27

  • Summary

    This chapter discusses the inspection of the relevance of language to power and social diversity. It explores the elastic impact of power on the social life of living languages. Sociolinguists and historical linguists have demonstrated that linguistic evolution has been shaped by many forces, including political circumstances that are not egalitarian. Einar Haugen promoted the study of language within its ecological context. Some critics of quantitative variationist sociolinguistics have noted that scholars who classify speakers based on pre-ordained social categories, like race, may miss important nuances in linguistic behavior that defy easy circumstantial classification. Hymes affirmed that communicative events demand a high degree of communicative competence as related to language usage throughout the world. William Labov's study of the social stratification of English speakers in New York City is illustrative of urban linguistic stratification. The majority of speech communities throughout the world set the indigenous standard linguistic norms.

Page 550 of 608