1.
INTRODUCTION
Unless a human being has a physical or mental
disability, he or she will be born with the capacity for language: the innate
ability to speak a language, or in the case of someone who is deaf, to sign a
language (i.e. use gestures to communicate). This capacity does not involve any
kind of learning – a young child, for instance, does not need to be taught to
speak or sign – and occurs in predictable stages, beginning with the babbling
cries of an infant and culminating in the full speaking abilities of an adult.
Language is tool you use,
readmore :
Language is many things; it can be a system of
communication, a medium for thought, vehicle for literary expression, a matter
for political controversy, a catalyst for nation building (O’Grady &
Dobrovolsky, 1989: 1 in Imansyah, 2008: 1).
The existence of language
can’t be separated from human life. It can be seen from the fact that all
activities related to interaction among people necessitate a language. Language
is an important means of communication. Language reflects thinking; obviously
we can’t say a sentence until we have first thought of it. Often our thinking
gets mixed with emotions and our reasons become loaded with desires, wishes,
prejudices, and opinions. The kind of thinking we do is our business until we
try to persuade someone else to agree to our point of view; then that thinking
becomes another’s business (Meade, et.al, 1961: 94).
And here we will try to explain varieties, dialect,
style and register in sociolinguistics
2.
DISCUSSION
1.1.Language, Dialect, And Varieties
Speakers have various ways of saying the same thing.
It may arise from the mechanical limitations of the speech organs for instance
speaker may not be fully under the speaker’s control. The choice of
linguistically elements is done by consciously or unconsciously. Two or more
distinct but linguistically equivalent variants represent the existence of a
linguistic variable (Llamas et al., 2007). Linguistic variable is
linguistic unit or a sociolinguistic has variant in lexical and grammatical,
but are most often phonological. For instance British English is (h)
which stands for the presence or absence of /h/ in words such as hammer, house and hill. Chicano English the levelling
of past tense be in ‘We was there,’ (Llamas et al., 2007). Speakers
in Aberdeen, north-east Scotland may choose between the terms boy, loon,
loonie, lad or laddie when referring to a young male person, or between quine,
quinie, lass, lassie, or girl in reference to a young female. Different words
refer to the same things; therefore we can conclude that each language has a
number of varieties (Wardhaugh, 2006).
The terms of variety language are emerged due to
different systems reflecting different varieties of the human condition.
Variety is a specific set of ‘linguistic items’ or ‘human speech patterns’
(presumably, sounds, words, grammatical features, etc.) which we can connect
with some external factor apparently, a geographical area or a social group
(Hudson, 1996; Ferguson, 1972 and Wardhaugh, 2006). Languages can be at
variance in lexical, grammatical, phonological and other ways depends on
different social, geographical and other circumstances determine what elements
will be needed and, therefore developed, and for that reason sociolinguistics
believe that such unique sets of items or patterns do exist (Wardhaugh, 2006).
1.2. Language and Dialect
Wardhaugh
(2006) distinguish the terms language and dialect as follow:Lower part of
variety language is dialect and as the main part is language, therefore we can
say that Texas English and Swiss German are dialects of English and German.
Some languages have more than one dialect for instance English are spoken in
various dialects. Language and dialect can be the same when language was spoken
by a few people and has only one variety but some expert say it is unsuitable
to say dialect and language is the same because the requirement of lower part
can’t be found. We can say also Dialect A, B, C and so on is the part of
language X because it is spoken by many varieties dialect A,B,C. Edward (2009)
also define dialect as a variety of a language that differs from others along
three dimensions: vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation (accent) Because they
are forms of the same language. He states also dialects are mutually
unintelligible. Indeed language is major part of dialect. The others dialect
that is mutually unintelligible for example Dutch and German speaker can’t
understand each other even basically both of them have same language, another
example is mandarin and Cantonese, Thai and Lao, Hindi and Urdu, Serbia and
Croatian etc. Wardhaugh (2006) also distinguish the term vernacular and term
Koine. Vernacular is the speech passed down from parent to child as primary
mode of communication and Koine is speech shared by people of different
vernaculars. UNESCO in Mesthrie (2001) define also vernacular as a language
which is the mother tongue of a group which is socially or politically
dominated by another group speaking a different language. Vernacular
traditionally viewed as the mother tongue of a speaker, the vernacular refers
to non-standard varieties often recognized to stand in contrast with the
standard variety (Llamas et al., 2007). Koine In a broad, it refers to any
common or widely shared variety of language. A narrower definition refer to a
variety of a language, normally showing mixing, levelling and simplification,
which develops as a result of rapid population movement and mixing of speakers
of different dialects in a new community. The term 'koine' originates from
Greek word for 'common' (Mesthrie, 2001).
7 criteria of language
1. Standardization: Codification of language:
grammars, spelling books, dictionaries, literature. It is possible to teach. To
make standardization, it require choosing one elite vernacular and it can be
prestigious
2.
Vitality :
the existence of a living community of speakers.
3.
Historicity : a particular group of
people finds their identity by using a particular language
4. Autonomy : Other
speakers of a language must be felt different from other languages
5.
Reduction : particular variety
may be regarded as a sub-variety rather than as an independent entity.
6.
Mixture :
Feelings about the purity or lack of purity of variety
7. De facto norms: speakers recognize as ‘good’
speakers and ‘poor’ speakers and that the good speakers represent the norms of
proper usage.
The concepts of ‘power’ and ‘solidarity’ such as
status, money, influence, togetherness feeling can lead people to preserve a
local dialect
1.3. Regional Dialect
Certain differences from geographical
area one to another in pronunciation, in the selecting and constructing of
words, and in syntax of a language such distinctive varieties of local variety
are called regional dialects (Wardhough, 2006). The study that investigates
different varieties on the basis of clusters of similar and different features
in particular regions, towns or villages is called regional dialectology
(Edward, 2009). It is quite interesting that the discriminations respondents
make in exercises like the Map drawing task and the accent-ordering task are
often similar to the discriminations linguists make between varieties. All
people in the same place can talk to each other and for the most part
understand each other. Yet not two speak exactly alike. Some differences are
due to the age, sex, state of health, size, personality, emotional state, and
personal idiosyncrasies.Beyond
these individual differences, the language of a group of people may show
regular variations from that used by other groups of speaker of that language.
When the English of speaker in different geographical regions and from
different social groups shows systemic differences, the groups are said to
speak different dialects of the same language. The dialect of a single language
may thus be defined as mutually intelligible forms of a language that differ in
systemic ways from each other.
.Dialect geography is the term used to
describe attempts made to map the distributions of various linguistic features
so as to show their geographical provenance. Now we go to Dialect
vs. Accent section. Dialect is the variety of vocabulary, syntax, pronunciation.
Accent is variety only in pronunciation. Accent also well-known as RP (receive
pronunciation). Standard English as the prestige dialect of British
English, prescribed in official and formal settings and approved for
writing in the education system. RP is standard accent which can be taught
and it is prestigious. British accent is preferred one to teach because it is
lack a regional association within England. It is also known as BBC, Oxford,
Queen English, and being Standard English in England. It tends to be
spoken by educated speakers regardless of geographical origin.
1.4. Social dialect.
Social
dialect is difference speech associate with various social groups. Social
dialects create among social groups and are related to a variety of factors
such as social class, religion, and ethnicity. In India, for example, caste is
one of the clearest of all social differentiators. Branch of linguistic study
that linguistically city characterized is called social
dialectology
Sociolect, defined by Peter Trudgill, a leading
sociolinguist and philosopher, is “a variety which is thought of as being
related to its speakers’ social background rather than geographical
background”. This idea of sociolect began with the commencement of
Dialectology, the study of different dialects in relation to social society,
which has been established in countries such as England for many years, but
only recently has the field garnered more attention. However, as opposed to
dialect, the basic concept of a sociolect is that a person speaks in accordance
with their social group whether it is with regard to one’s ethnicity, age,
gender, etc. As William Labov once said, “the sociolinguistic view…is that we
are programmed to learn to speak in ways that fit the general pattern of our
communities”. Therefore, what we are surrounded with in unison with our
environment determines how we speak; hence, our actions and associations.
Ethnic group in USA AAVE (African American
Vernacular English), also known as Ebonics, Black English (BE), Black
English Vernacular (BEV) show hyper corrective tendencies in that they
tend to overdo certain imitative behaviors freely use the habitual form of
misapplication rules. Hyper correction is the overgeneralization of
linguistic forms which carry obvious social prestige often through the
misapplication of rules (e.g. allows deletion ‘They are
going’ can become‘They going’ and dog pronounce as the vocal of
book : dug).
1.5. Style, Register, and Belief
'style'
relates to the typical ways in which one or more people do a particular thing.
Style in language behavior thus becomes alternative ways of expressing the same
content. Style is the way speakers speak, the speaker also can make a choice
weather informal and formal, it depends on circumstance and the age and social
group of participant (Wardhaugh, 2006).
Registers refer to particular ways of using language
in particular settings within that community. Register is a set of linguistic
items were associated with discrete occupational and social groups. Surgeons,
airline pilots, bank managers, sales clerks, jazz fans, and pimps employ
different registers, they develop similar vocabulary and
intonation we also talk about dialect, register, and style
independently, we may talk casually in local variety of language, write formal
technical study and also making judgment “better or worse” to speaker who has
the same background. And about belief is systems of ideas or ideology, some
people believed that certain language is lack of grammar, we can speak English
without accent. Also English is believed false language; pronunciation is based
on spelling, and slipping language. The representations of belief can operate
the interests of an identifiable social class or cultural group. This tendency
will create language behavior and attitude by several group of people act or
behave toward language differently and sociolinguist should strive for
understanding how people behave toward language and linguistic feature rely on
person as being particular place, a social class members, and specific
profession
3. CONCLUSION
Variety is a language that has same sounds, words,
grammatical features. A general term for any distinctive form of a language or linguistic
expression is Language varieties. Linguists commonly use language variety, as a
cover term for any of the overlapping subcategories of a language, including
dialect, idiolect, register, and social dialect.
Dialect refers to a variety of a language that can
signal the speaker’s regional or social background, dialects are subdivisions
of language, the term of dialect refers to grammar and vocabulary (or lexis).
Dailect is divided into two, social dialect and
regional dialect. Regional dialect refers to a place, and social dialect refers
to social groups and classes.
Style relates to the typical ways in which one or more
people do a particular thing, and Registers can simply be described as
variations of the language according to its use, while the dialect as a
language variation based on users registers on this concept is not limited to
the choice of words (such as the notion registers in the traditional theory)
but also includes the choice of the use of text structure, and texture.
Edward (2009). Language and Identity: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press:
New York
Wardhaugh R. (2006). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics Fifth Edition. Blackwell
Publishing: Australia
Lingua franca <- the answer