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UNIT 6

UNIT 6 . Sociolinguistics and Multiculturalism. UNIT 6. OBJECTIVES: 1. To make a reflection and analysis on some sociolinguistics AND LINGUISTIC key concepts. 2. To value a multilingual education and the need for educating plurilingual students.

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UNIT 6

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  1. UNIT 6 Sociolinguistics and Multiculturalism

  2. UNIT 6 • OBJECTIVES: 1. To make a reflection and analysis on some sociolinguistics AND LINGUISTIC key concepts. 2. To value a multilingual education and the need for educating plurilingual students. 3. To sensitize students on the importance of cultural and linguistic diversity in the classroom.

  3. COMMUNICATION • Communication is the fact to transmit a message that can be understood by the person to whom it is directed to.

  4. COMMUNICATION • We must reach an agreement so that each sign is given the same value by everyone. All signs will constitute a system or code: a set of rules or laws agreed by all members of a community. • Language is the code that contains the rules to express ourselves. Language, however, remains an abstract object AN ideal.

  5. COMMUNICATION • DIFFERENT LANGUAGES:

  6. COMMUNICATION • Differentiate two concepts: language (social and essential) and speech (INDIVIDUAL application of the language) (Saussure).

  7. LINGUISTIC VARIATION • Each language is a space of plurality composed of multiple intersecting variations: - variations in time caused by various factors (societal and economic changes, contacts between languages etc), which represent both processes of adaptation to new "concrete“, needs and processes occurring inside the language (simplification, diversification etc). - variations in space depending on the geographical areas. - variations between the spoken and written. - variations in the medium used. - variations according to social strata - variations in specialised discourse. - variations caused by language games, humour and irony, collective or individual creativity, the work of literary creation…

  8. LINGUISTIC VARIATION • There are many ways of speaking and each way is a variety. • Linguistic variation is a universal fact. There is no uniform language. • There are two kinds of factors that determine linguistic variation: • Dialectal variation: depends on the speaker (sex, age, geographical origin, social and cultural level, etc.). • Functional or Stylistic variation: depends on the situation and does registers.

  9. DIALECTAL VARIATION • We call dialect to any variation that a language presents; sub-dialects: smaller territories that have special characteristics. • Isogloss: imaginary line IN A DIALECT MAP which marks the boundary between the presence and absence of a linguistic item in a given area. • Dialectal transition zones: two areas that have common characteristics that take part in a common dialect, while each of these may have some features that relate them to another dialect.

  10. DIALECTAL VARIATION • Dialect HAS GOT pejorative connotation (provincial varieties). • This conception, which has been used by many sectors with their own interests, is totally out of science. • We all speak dialects.

  11. KINDS OF DIALECTAL VARIATION • Geographical variation spoken in a certain area, and being different in some linguistic items from other geographical varieties of the same language. Two kinds of dialects depending on their origin: • Constitutive dialect: as the result of the natural evolution of language. • Consecutive dialect: as the result of colonization, settlement or repopulation.

  12. KINDS OF DIALECTAL VARIATION • Social variation according to the speaker’s social group or sociocultural state. • THEY ARE: • Slang is a quite restricted set of new words and new meanings of older words. Changes beginning in informal styles and in the lower classes. • Jargon is a set of vocabulary items used by members of particular professions.

  13. KINDS OF DIALECTAL VARIATION • Temporal variation is the one determined by the epoch. • We can divide English language in four phases: • Old English (5th to 11th century) • Middle English (11th to 15th century) • Modern English (16th to 19th) • Contemporary English.

  14. REGISTERS • Register: kind of language which has linguistic characteristics relating to a context or a specific use. • The factors that will define these variations are: • subject that is talked about, • intent or purpose of the speakers, • the degree of familiarity between interlocutors, • the degree of formality required by the situation • the channel used in communication.

  15. REGISTERS • Sohn (1999) defined the linguistic politeness levels of language IN human relationships: • Plain level, which is the lowest level, is used, in general, by any speaker to any child.(BABYTALK). • Intimate level is between close friends. • Familiar level is used by a male adult to an adolescent. • Blunt level gradually disappearing from daily usage probably due to its authoritative connotations. • Polite level is the most popular lever towards an adult. • Deferential level is used in formal situations.

  16. THE STANDARD • The standard variety, supradialectal and referential, is THE coded language variety that serves the communication needs of a modern linguistic community. • It is an intermediate register between the colloquial and the more specialized register and is recognized as more correct and acceptable than other varieties. • Standardization is a need for languages and also a right. It’s social fact, in the sense that no standard forms are considered valid unless they are socially accepted.

  17. THE STANDARD • It has two special roles: • To facilitate communication among speakers of a community, regardless of their linguistic area, age, social class or profession. • Being the most visible sign of linguistic normalization of a minorized language.

  18. THE STANDARD • Standard becomes the representation of the language and it defines the concept of linguistic community itself.(It is essential to give language a coherence and a prestige). • In modern societies, it is quite normal for the standard to try to cover colloquial areas as well, as a result of generalizing education, spreading of culture and importance of the media.

  19. ENGLISH STANDARD • English Standard properties: - It is the variety of used by educated users. - It is the variety defined in dictionaries, grammars, and usage guides. - It is regarded as more correct and socially acceptable than other varieties. - It enjoys greater prestige than dialects and non-standard varieties: non-standard varieties are felt to be the province of the less educated. - It is used as a written language. - It is used in important functions in the society.

  20. PLURILINGUAL AND INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION • We have linguistic plurality and diversity in our classrooms and both are part of everyday reality and everybody’s daily experience.FOR THESE FACTORS WE HAVE TO BEAR IN MIND: • We are living in a multilingual society. • Every language is plural. • Every school is a space open to plurality of languages and cultures. • All education is plurilingual. • Every identity is plural.

  21. PLURILINGUAL AND INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION • What does Plurilingual and intercultural education mean? “In an intercultural approach, it is a central objective of language learning to promote the favourable development of the learner’s whole personality and sense of identity in response to the enriching experience of otherness in Language and culture.” Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (Council of Europe, 2001)

  22. PLURILINGUAL AND INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION • What does “to be intercultural and communicative competent” mean? - A) Knowing the self and the other. - B) Knowing how to relate and interpret meaning. Migration and the mass media have accelerated and intensified the transcultural flow of ideas, practices and behaviours that are global in extent but local inflection. - C) Developing critical awareness. Contact between cultures should be mutually enriching for the individuals and communities involved. - D) Knowing how to discover cultural information. By etnography or semiotics - E) Knowing how to relativise oneself and value the attitudes and beliefs of others. PROMOTE TRANFERENCE Michael Byram in Common European Framework of Reference for Languages

  23. SOCIOLINGUISTIC CONCEPTS • Sociolinguistics is a discipline that studies the conditions for language existence. • Languages in contact: each community’s linguistic system gets in touch with those of others PRODUCING interference at all levels.

  24. SOCIOLINGUISTIC CONCEPTS • Bilingualism: polysemic and connotative concept. Different kinds of bilingualism have been stated: • Individual bilingualism: Valencian people • Territorial bilingualism: Valencian Community • Social bilingualism: when a person uses a language or another and the choice does not depend on the personal situation or the territory where he/she lives, but on which social groups is society divided.

  25. SOCIOLINGUISTIC CONCEPTS • Bilingualism is always an individual fact, that is to say, people are bilingual, but not nations, which always have their own language, the native. • Diglossia: duplicity of functions that two different languages (in contact and in conflict) have, according to the social inequality of conditions.

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