About Sociolinguistic Research

What does Sociolinguistics involve?

Sociolinguistics studies language in its social context. This term can be used to refer to a variety of research questions within linguistics.

How do people use language?
Language Change – When, how, and why? What are the different types of people who start to change their language?
– How does speech change when people move between social situations? Which parts remain the same? What is the reason?
– What makes one language more “better?”
Language varies based on race, gender, and class.
How does external factors such social tensions, racism, and sexism affect our ability to use language? What influences the use of language?

These kinds of studies include descriptive studies, language variations and changes, analysis of linguistic features, and analyses of the roles language plays in the constructions of individuals or groups identities.

What is Sociolinguistic Research?

Sociolinguistic Fieldwork is recording speech in natural settings, such as family dinner conversations. Fieldwork is designed to capture casual conversations in real time. This allows researchers to get the most accurate representation of the natural language world.

Data collection is difficult because people tend to listen more to researchers when they know they are being listened too. This creates distorted data. What we learn about the community is their speech patterns when they’re anxious. This is why we recommend a Sociolinguistic interview. It is a style of interview that is casual and natural.

This research is conducted to learn as much as possible about how people speak to each other. Social contexts such as this allow us to see patterns in people’s speech that otherwise difficult research might miss. This Atlantic project is an example. The researchers were able find patterns in American citizens’ expressions by linking specific vocabulary terms to a social factor such as geography.

What’s a Sociolinguistic Interview?

Sociolinguistic interviews try to make formal situations casual. Interviews are necessary to gather speech data. Linguists do interviews to get that information. Interviews, while formal in nature, can bring back memories of stressful situations such as job applications or applying for a job. Recording conversations may make matters worse. Tense people can become more tense, which can lead to a very different speech style from the one they use with friends and family. Sociolinguists are often interested in the natural speech patterns of people.

Sociolinguistic interviews seek to avoid this observers’ paradox. We take our time, ask questions that will allow us to have casual, relaxed conversations. Asking questions about current events and childhood games is a common topic. Asking questions about the local culture helps us improve our social data. It also allows us to learn more about the community that we are studying. The LLP particularly enjoys asking questions regarding local culture and society it aids in the “Life” section of “Language and Life!”

Here are some sample questions for interviews:
– How was growing up in this area?
– What were your favorite games as a child?
– Do any of your friends live far from you? What do they look like?

Sociolinguists may also need more formal information, which is collected through elicitation task. Elicitation tasks can be tailored to specific speech styles, such as a special vocabulary or sound.

Sample Elicitation Tasks:
– What do they call people from out of town? Is there anything you can say to visitors?
– Please recite the following list loud: “hawk”,” “hock”,,”pin”, “pen”,…”

Wouldn’t it be possible to record people without them knowing?

The obvious way to get natural speech data is to “interview” someone and record without their consent. We don’t do that.

People are sensitive to what they say “on paper” and that is right. Unprofessional to not allow someone to choose between what’s on the record and what’s not is unethical. This is especially true if you are in a research role where you could abuse your power by making such calls.
Sociolinguistic research, secondly, depends on a strong, open relationship between the speakers and researchers. If you lie to your informants and they discover it they won’t want to help you.

What happens after the interview?

Linguists interview people to discover patterns in their speech. The research question will depend on the researcher. But, generally, research questions include comparing a sociological factor (such as gender, age, race, region or class) with a particular aspect (a sound and a grammatical structure, etc.

Researchers can use either of these methods to get the answers they seek:
Close listening: Analysts can simply listen to the same feature over and over again in recorded recordings. It may also involve transcription of interviews. They listen to the interviews and count the number of times their feature appears compared to how many times it could occur in them. Then they compare this statistic with other speakers and communities. This technique is best used when the feature has to do w/grammar.

– Linguistic Software. It is difficult to record more details like how vowels are pronounced. These questions can be answered using special software tools such Praat. Researchers can digitize, transcribe and analyze interviews.

These are only a few examples of the analyses sociolinguists can do with interview data. Check out the NCLLP field sites for real-life examples.

What makes the Language and Life Project’s Research Special

Every community in which we work is a recipient of our generosity. Social sciences have had a poor history of exploiting communities. Researchers have used to treat the communities they investigate as “subjects”, but this has been a common practice in the past. This is why we adhere to the Principle of Linguistic Gratuity. It was created by Walt Wolfram in 1993.

“Investigators should seek ways to return the linguistic favors of speech community members who have provided linguistic data”
(Wolfram 1993: 227)

We have been collaborating with local communities over the years to create museum exhibits and documentaries, as well as publishing local stories.