1

Sociolinguistics
Tutor: Andrei Avram

Glossary

Accent Varieties of the same language which differ/vary at the level of phonetics and/or
phonology only.
Accommodation The process whereby speakers (consciously or unconsciously) attune their
linguistic behaviour in light of their interlocutors’ behaviour and their attitudes towards their
interlocutors. It encompasses both convergence with and divergence from interlocutors. In
symmetric accommodation both interlocutors converge or diverge. In asymmetric
accommodation one interlocutor converges while the other diverges.
Acts of identity Intraspeaker variation as a result of the speaker’s desire to present or foreground
a different social identity under different circumstances.
Age-grading If all speakers of a community use, as a rule, more tokens of one variant at a certain
age and more tokens of another variant at another age, the variable is age-graded.
Apparent time The apparent passage of time is measured by comparing speakers of different
ages in a single speech community at a single time. If younger speakers behave differently from
older speakers, it is assumed that change has taken place within the community.

Attunement A term sometimes preferred over accommodation.

Audience design The claim that intraspeaker variation arises because speakers are paying
attention to whom they are addressing or to who might be listening to or overhearing them, and
accordingly modify their speech.
Change from above A change taking place in a speech community above the level of
individual’s conscious awareness. It can be commented on. One variant is clearly standard or has
clear overt prestige.
Change from below A change taking place below the level of conscious awareness. It is not
commented on.
Code mixing The alternation between varieties/codes within a clause or phrase.
Code switching The alternation between varieties/codes across sentences or clause boundaries;
often used a cover term including code mixing.
ConvergenceAccommodation towards the speech of one’s interlocutors. It emphasizes
similarities between the interlocutors’ speech styles and/or makes the speaker sound more like
their interlocutor. It is assumed to be triggered by the conscious or unconscious desire to
emphasize similarity with interlocutors.
Covert prestige A norm to which the speaker is unconsciously oriented. Evidence of covert
prestige is provided by mismatches between the speakers’ self-report of using one variant and
their actual use of another variant.
Cross-over effect It typically refers to the breakdown in the most careful speech style of the clear
stratification between speakers of different social classes.
Dialect Varieties of the same language, which differ in terms of phonetics and/or phonology, the
morpho-syntactic structure and vocabulary.
 2

Diglossia The situation in which two distinct but closely related varieties are used in a speech
community, one (H) for high functions and the other (L) for low functions. The situation is
supposed to be relatively stable.
Divergence Accommodation away from the speech of one’s interlocutors. It emphasizes
differences between the interlocutors’ speech styles and/or makes the speaker sound less like their
interlocutor. It is assumed to be triggered by the conscious or unconscious desire to emphasize
differences and to increase social distance.
Domain The social and physical setting in which speakers find themselves.
Feature An exclusive feature is uniquely associated with a particular speaker or group of
speakers or with a particular context. A preferential feature is distributed across speakers or
groups of speakers, but used more frequently by some than by others.
Gender A social identity which emerges or is constructed through social actions.
Generational change A change that can be inferred to be taking place on the basis of evidence
provided by apparent time studies.
Indexing A relationship of identification. Exclusive features index directly. Preferential features
index indirectly.
Indicator A linguistic variable which shows limited or no style shifting. It is mainly stratified
between groups.
Interspeaker variation Differences and variation measured between different individual
speakers or groups of speakers.
Intraspeaker variation Differences in the speech behaviour of a single speaker.
Language attitudes The opinions about different varieties and the perceptions of attitudes about
different speakers.
Marker A variable which speakers are less aware of than a stereotype, but which shows
consistent style effects.
Monotonic A steady increase or decrease in a feature along the x-axis of a graph.
Observer’s paradox The double-bind in which sociolinguists find themselves since they are
interested in how speakers behave when they are not being observed, but the only way to find this
out is by observing them.
Overt prestige The prestige associated with a variant of which speakers are aware and which
they can evaluate.
Participant observation The method of spending a long period of time with speakers to observe
how they use language and how they react to others speakers’ use of it.
Perceptual dialectology The study of people’s subjective beliefs about varieties.
Real time The passage of chronological time.
Regional dialectology The identification and mapping of boundaries between different varieties,
on the basis of clusters of similar and different features in particular regions, towns or villages.
Social class A measure of status based on occupation, income and wealth, which can also be
measured in terms of aspirations and mobility.
Social dialectology The study of linguistic variation, in relation to speakers’ participation or
membership in social groups or in relation to other non-linguistic factors.
 3

Social networks Networks defined by contact between members. In dense networks all
members know each other. In loose networks not all members know each other. Members of a
social network can be linked through a uniplex tie, i.e. a single social relationship, or through
multiplex ties, i.e. several social relationships.
Sociolinguistic competence The skills and resources of speakers as competent members of a
speech community using language appropriately in different contexts, domains or with different
interlocutors.
Sociolinguistic interview A usually one-on-one interview used to elicit different styles of speech.
Sociolinguistics The study of language in society.
Speaker design An approach to style shifting which emphasizes the speakers’ desire to represent
themselves in particular ways.
Speech community Objectively identified by grouping speakers together if the distribution of
variable is consistent with respect to other factors. Subjectively identified by grouping speakers
together if they share a sense and belief in membership.
Speech level The use of sometimes radically different forms in the different styles associated
with different social groups.
Stable variable The alternation of variants of variable without any evidence that one variant is
eliminating the other(s).
Stereotype A feature which is widely recognized and which is often the subject of dialect
performances and impersonations.
Stratification The systematic patterning of a variant with respect to some independent factor, e.g.
social class, age, style. Broad stratification is a distribution of variants which shows each group
of speakers patterning markedly differently from each other. It shows up as a big gap in a graph.
Fine stratification is a distribution of variants which shows each group of speakers patterning
minimally differently from each other. It shows up as a small gap in a graph.
Style shifting The variation in an individual’s speech which correlates with differences in
addressee, social context, personal goals or externally imposed tasks.
Trend study The comparison of speech from members of the same community at different points
in time.
Variable The abstract representation of the source of variation. It is realized by two or more
variants.
Variant The actual realization of a variable.
Variationist sociolinguistics The study of language in use, with a focus on describing and
accounting for the distribution of variables.
Variety A neutral term used to refer to languages and dialects.
Vernacular The variety used by a speaker or a community as the medium for everyday and home
interaction.