Slide 1

LING 432-532 – Sociolinguistics – Spring 2011LING 432-532 – Sociolinguistics – Spring 2011Wardhaugh Ch 4Wardhaugh Ch 4

Instead of language, dialect, style, pidgin, etc. - the term code

Diglossia = distinct codes used for different and distinct functions

“famous” diglossic situations: Arabic, Swiss German, Haitian and Greek

High (H) versus Low (L) varieties - H has more power/prestige and used for govt/education

Haeri (1996) - She shows that Cairene Arabic spoken in Egypt is developing a new phonological feature and that women are adopting it more than men - If Classical Arabic (H code) is the standard, then women are LESS standard than men - but reconsider what is the standard since women do not have equal access to H variety - why would they choose the L variety over the H one? Covert prestige?

Ch 4 - Codes

Slide 2

LING 432-532 – Sociolinguistics – Spring 2011LING 432-532 – Sociolinguistics – Spring 2011Wardhaugh Ch 4Wardhaugh Ch 4

Haeri (1996) - She shows that Cairene Arabic spoken in Egypt is developing a new phonological feature and that women are adopting it more than men - If Classical Arabic (H code) is the standard, then women are LESS standard than men - but reconsider what is the standard since women do not have equal access to H variety - why would they choose the L variety over the H one? Covert prestige?

Also Ketih Walters has found in Tunisia that women prefer French while the men prefer Arabic. Why would you guess?

Ch 4 - Codes

Slide 3

LING 432-532 – Sociolinguistics – Spring 2011LING 432-532 – Sociolinguistics – Spring 2011Wardhaugh Ch 4Wardhaugh Ch 4

Bilingualism/Multilingualism - a chance for codes to take on different meanings/identities for the users

Code-switching - (code-mixing) - the switching of codes during a conversation/turn (Spanglish)

Complicated situation of Singapore (p. 99)

2 kinds of code-switching:Situational - speaker switches codes in response to situationMetaphorical - speaker switches codes as the topic changes (often adding extra flavor by the selection of 1 code over the other)Relates to theories of style?

Ch 4 - Codes

Slide 4

LING 432-532 – Sociolinguistics – Spring 2011LING 432-532 – Sociolinguistics – Spring 2011Wardhaugh Ch 4Wardhaugh Ch 4

Not only is which code to select an identity issue, but also how you do code-switching (how often you use 1 code over the other, what words you choose to add from one code or the other, what loan words you adopt, etc).

Matched guise experiments - how the same person is judged when using different codes

Bell’s audience design model for styleAccommodation again - convergence and divergence

“speaking is not merely a social act that involves others; it is also a personal act in that it helps create the identity one wishes to be seen as having in a particular set of circumstances.” (p. 113)

Ch 4 - Codes