Hi , Les Privat Sidoarjo .. i am gonna share you about What do sociolinguists study ? it is taken from Introduction to Linguistic book written by Janet Holmes. Hope this article is useful for you who is need it .
First thing first, we are going to talk about what is a sociolinguist ? Sociolinguists study the relationship between language and society. they are interested i explaining why we speak different social context, and they are concerned with identifying the social functions of language and the way people use language in different social context provides a wealth of information about the way language works, as well as about the social relationships in a community , and the way people signal aspects of their social identity through their language. this book will explore all these aspects ofsociolinguistic study.
Example 1
Ray : Hi mum.
Mum : Hi. You’re late.
Ray : Yeah, that bastard Sootbucket kept us in again.
Mum : Nana’s here.
Ray : Oh sorry. Where is she?
Ray’s description of his teacher would have been expressed differently it he had realised his grandmother could hear him. The way people talk is influenced by the social context in which they are talking. It matters who can hear us and where we are talking as well as we are feeling. The same message may be expressed very differently to different people. We use different styles in different social contexts. Leaving school Ray had run into the school pricipal.
Example 2
Ray : Good afternoon, sir.
Principal : What are you doing here at this time ?
Ray : Mr. Sutton kept us in, sir.
This response reflects Ray’s awareness of the social factors which influence the choice of appropriate ways of speaking in different social contexts. Sociolinguistics is concerned with the relationship between language and the context in which it is used.