Language Variation

4th Group,
1. Fikrotul Mu’alifa (15033043)

2. Wahyu Ernita Dewi (15033037)
languages vary in many ways. One way of characterizing
certain variations is to say that speakers of a particular
language sometimes speak different dialects of that
language (Wardhaugh, 2006:135).
we can conclude that dialects creates variations in some
particular languages.
This variations are included in regional variation and
social variation.
The mapping of dialects on a regional basis has had a long
history in linguistics. It is a well-established part of the study
of how languages change over time, i.e., of diachronic or
historical linguistics.
In this view languages differentiate internally as speakers

distance themselves from one another over time and space;
the changes result in the creation of dialects of the languages.
For example; Latin became French in France, Spanish in

Spain, Italian in Italy, and so on
Dialect geographers have traditionally attempted to
reproduce their findings on maps in what they call dialect
atlases.
They try to show the geographical boundaries of the
distribution of a particular linguistic feature by drawing a line
on a map.
For example : One such bundle crosses the south of France

from east to west approximately at the 45th parallel
(Grenoble to Bordeaux) with words like chandelle, chanter,
and chaud beginning with a sh sound to the north and a k
sound to the south.
 First, sampling methods were based on assumptions about
who‘representative’speakers of dialects were. For example, in rural
areas, which were regarded as ‘conservative’ in the sense that they
were seen to preserve ‘older’ forms of the languages under
investigation
 Type I: Little formal education, little reading, and restricted social

contacts
 Type II: Better formal education (usually high school) and/or wider
reading and social contacts
 Type III: Superior education (usually college), cultured background,
wide reading, and/or extensive social contacts.
 Type A: Aged, and/or regarded by the field worker as old-fashioned

 Type B: Middle-aged or younger, and/or regarded by the field worker as
more modern.
Dialect mixture, that is, the existence in one locality of
two or more dialects which allow a speaker or speakers to
draw now on one dialect and then on the other
free variation, that is, variation of no social

significance.
There have been some recent developments in linguistic
atlas work which hold promise for future discoveries
 Kretzschmar’s work on the Linguistic Atlas of the
Middle and South Atlantic States (LAMSAS). He
shows (1996) how it is possible to use quantitative
methods to demonstrate the probability of occurrence
of specific words or sounds in specific areas.
 (Labov et al. 2005) used a very simple sampling
technique to survey the whole of North American
English in order to produce the Atlas of North
American English (ANAE), a study of all the cities on
the continent with populations of over fifty thousand
1. Variants,
A linguistic variable is a linguistic item which has
identifiable variants, which are the different forms which
can be used in an environment.
For example, words like singing and fishing are

sometimes pronounced as singin’ and fishin’. The final
sound in these words may be called the linguistic
variable (ng) with its two variants [ŋ] in singing and [n]
in singin’.
2. Types of linguistic variables
Linguists who have studied variation in this way have
used a number of linguistic variables, many of which
have been phonological.
For example;
The (ng) variable, The (r) variable, The (h) variable in
words like house and hospital, that is, (h): [h], The (t)
variable in bet and better, that is, (t): [t], The (th) and
(dh) variables in thin and they, that is, (th): [θ] or [t] and
(dh): [d] or [d].
3. Variations in NYC, Norwich, and Detroit
NYC Detroit
Norwich
In a major part of his work in New York Trudgill (1974) also chose In another study
City, Labov (1966) chose five phonological certain phonological of Detroit speech, Wolfram (1969) considered certain other
variables: variables in his study of the linguistic variables.
speech
of Norwich: three
consonant variables
and thirteen vowel
variables.
The (th) variable, The (h), The combinations

in words like thin and three. in happy and home of final consonants in words like test, wasp, and left,
The (dh) variable, The (ng), (th) in words like tooth and
in words like there and then in walking and running Nothing
The (r) variable, The (t), final stops in words like good and shed
in words like farm and far in bet and better
The (a) variable, The thirteen vowel r-pronouncing in words like
in words like bad and back. variables were the vowels sister and pair
The (o) variable, used in words such as; In Grammatical variables, Wolfram looked at
in words like dog and caught. bad, name, path, matters such as (he talk/talks, two year/years, she nice/she’s nice,
tell, here, hair, ride, he’s ready/he ready/
bird, top, know, he be ready).
boat, boot, and
In Grammatical variables, Wolfram looked at,
tune.
4. Indicators, Markers, and Stereotypes
An indicator is a linguistic variable to which little or no
social import is attached. For example, some speakers in
North America distinguish the vowels in cot and caught and
others do not
Markers . G-dropping is a marker everywhere English is

spoken. People are aware of markers, and the distribution
of markers is clearly related to social groupings and to
styles of speaking.
A stereotype is a popular and, therefore, conscious

characterization of the speech of a particular group: New
York boid for bird or Toitytoid Street for 33rd Street
we must be able to relate the variants in some way to
quantifiable factors in society, for example, social-class
membership, gender, age, ethnicity, and so on.
1. Social Class Membership
A Social System
An occupational scale may divide people into a An educational scale
number of categories as follows; may employ the following categories;
1. Major professionals and Executives of large 1. Graduate or Professional Education
businesses
1. Lesser professionals and Executives of 1. College or University degree
mediumsized
businesses
1. Semi-professionals 1. Attendance at college or University but no degree.
1. Technicians and owners of small businesses 1. High school graduation
1. Skilled workers 1. Some high school education
1. Semi-skilled workers 1. Less than seven years of formal education
1. Unskilled workers
2. Social Networks
Milroy (1987) preferred to explore social network
relationships and the possible connection of these to
linguistic variation, rather than to use the concept of social
class.
D. Data Collection and Analysis

1. The observer’s paradox
An immediate problem is one that we have previously referred
to as the observer’s paradox.
2. The sociolinguistic interview
The traditional sociolinguistic interview involves a casual
interview, which ideally resembles a conversation more than a
formal question and answer session.
3. Sampling
Another critical aspect of sociolinguistic research is sampling:
finding a representative group of speakers. The best sample of
all is a random sample.
4. Apparent Time and Real Time
Investigations may also have a ‘time’ dimension to them
because one purpose of sociolinguistic studies is trying to
understand language change. They may be apparent-time
studies in which the subjects are grouped by age, for example,
people in their 20s, 40s, 60s, and so on. Any differences found
in their behavior may then be associated with changes that
are occurring in the language.
5. Correlations: Dependent and Independent Variables

we must distinguish between dependent variables and
independent variables. As Chambers (2003, 26) expresses it,
‘Socially significant linguistic variation requires correlation:
the dependent (linguistic) variable must change when some
independent variable changes. It also requires that the
change be orderly: the dependent variable must stratify the
subjects in ways that are socially or stylistically coherent.
6. Quantitative sociolinguistics
This kind of sociolinguistic investigation is often called
quantitative sociolinguistics (or variationist
sociolinguistics).
Quantitative studies must therefore be statistically
sound if they are to be useful.
Investigators must be prepared to employ proper
statistical procedures not only in their sampling but also
in the treatment of the data they collect and in testing
the various hypotheses they formulate.
They must be sure that what they are doing is both valid
and reliable.
Thank you

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4th Group,

1. Fikrotul Mu’alifa (15033043)

In this view languages differentiate internally as speakers

For example; Latin became French in France, Spanish in

For example : One such bundle crosses the south of France

 Type I: Little formal education, little reading, and restricted social

 Type A: Aged, and/or regarded by the field worker as old-fashioned

free variation, that is, variation of no social

For example, words like singing and fishing are

The (th) variable, The (h), The combinations

Markers . G-dropping is a marker everywhere English is

A stereotype is a popular and, therefore, conscious

D. Data Collection and Analysis

5. Correlations: Dependent and Independent Variables

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