langage variation - sociolinguistics group

language Variation: Focus on Users

There are four language variation that are based on its users. The first is idiolect, the second is dialect, the next is social dialect and the last is temporal dialect. The description of those language variation can be seen as follow:

1. Idiolect

Idiolect is the language variation that is individual in nature (Chaer&Agustina, 1995:82). Everyone has his own language variation or his own idiolect. This idiolect variation is concerning with the colours of voice, choice of words, language style, sentence order, etc. The colours of voice is the most dominant aspect in language variation, because we can recognize someone just by listening to voice without seeing the person.

2. Dialect

According to Spolsky (1998:33) dialect is something that concerns variations which are located regionally or socially. Dialect also means the language variation that comes from a group of users that are relative in numbers, living in one particular place, region or area (Chaer&Agustina, 1995:83). Since dialect is based on the place, region or area where the users live, it is usually called as area dialect, regional dialect or geography dialect. The users of a dialect have certain features that mark them as people who have the same dialect although they have their own idiolect. People who use Javanese with dialect of Semarang have their own particular features that are different from others who have the dialect of Surabaya. But they can communicate well with each other because those dialects are included in the same language, Javanese. The definition mentioned by (Chaer&Agustina, 1995) above is in line with what Spolsky (1998) concludes about regional dialects. He concludes that regional dialects tend to show less differences from their close neighbours and greater differences from distant neighbours (Spolsky, 1998:29).

Regional variation or regional dialect can also be found in the internatonal world. The variation can be distinguished from the pronunciation, vocabulary and even from the grammatical differences (Holmes, 2001:124). Pronunciation and vocabulary differences probably are the easiest differences that people aware of between different dialects of English. The examples of the pronunciation differences mentioned by Holmes (2001:124) in her book is the word dad pronounced by a New Zealander that to British ears sounds like deadthat pronounced by an English person and the word god pronounced by an American that sounds like guard that pronounced by an English and the word latter that sounds like ladderto many non-American English speakers. The examples of the vocabulary differences can be found in the term used by Australians, people live in England and New-Zealanders. Australians use the term sole parents, while people live in England use single parents and New-Zealanders call them solo parents. South Africans use the term robot while British call exactly the same thing as traffic light. Furthermore, Holmes (2001:125) gives the example of the American vs British influence on vocabulary used in one’s region. It can be examined by using the ten questions using both American and British items. Those ten questions are:

a. When you go window-shopping do you walk on the pavement or the sidewalk?
b. Do you put your shopping in the car’s trunk or in the boot?
c. When the car’s engine needs oil do you open the bonnet or the hood?
d. Do you fill up the car with gas or with petrol?
e. When it is cold do you put on a jersey or a sweater?
f. When the baby is wet does it need a dry diaper or nappy?
g. Do you get to the top of the building in an elevator or a lift?
h. When the children are hungry do you open a can or a tin of beans?
i. When you go on holiday do you take luggage or baggage?
j. When you’ve made an error do you remove it with an eraser or a rubber?

There are eight sentences created by Holmes (2001:125) to distingushed the preferred American from the traditional British usages. Those eight sentences are:

a. Do you have a match?
b. Have you got a cigarrete?
c. She has gotten used to the noise.
d. She’s got used to the noise.
e. He dove in, head first.
f. He dived in head first.
g. Did you eat yet?
h. Have you eaten yet?

The explanation made by Holmes (2001:125) of those eight sentences are that Americans prefer to use do you have while the traditional British English use have you got, Americans use gotten while most people in England use got, many Americans use dove while most British English speakers prefer dived and Americans ask did you eat? while the English askhave you eaten?

3. Social dialect

Social dialect means the language variation that is concerning with the social status and class (Chaer&Agustina, 1995:84). This language variation is usually the most spoken language variation and most time consuming to talk about since this variation is concerning with all personal problems of the users, such as age, gender, occupation, level of royalty, economic, social status, social class, etc. According to Holmes (2001:134) social dialects are the language that reflects the groupings of people that based on similar social and economic factors. Holmes (2001:134) also states that a person’s dialect reflects his social background which can be found the complications of social dialects in Java and the ways used by Javanese speakers to show their social background. In Javanese , a particular social dialect can be defined as a particular combination of styles or levels that has its distinctive patterns of vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. In Javanese, every time a Javanese person talks to a different person, he has to choose the right words and pronunciations because almost every word is different and they fit together in patterns or levels. A well-educated Javanese who comes from a rich family usually use five different levels of language. According to Marjohan (1988:34), the social relationship that related to status and familiarity between the Javanese speaker and the listener has to be marked. The status depends on wealth, nobility, education, occupation, age, kinship, etc. For example, in Javanese the word for house has three forms that bear status meanings, they are omah, griya and dalem.

The term social class that is related to the social dialect refers to the differences between people which are associated with differences in social prestige, wealth and education (Holmes, 2001:135). People from different social class do not speak in the same way. For example, bank managers do not talk like office cleaners, lawyers do not talk in the same way as the criminals they defend in court.

In accordance with this social dialect, there are some other language variation that people usually call as acrolect, bacilect, vulgar, slang, colloquial, jargon, argot and cant (Chaer&Agustina, 1995:87). The description of these particular language variation are in the following:

a. Acrolect. This is the social language variation that is considered to be higher or more prestigious than other social language variation (Chaer&Agustina, 1995:87). For example, the French with the dialect of the city of Paris is considered to be in the higher level than other French dialects.

b. Bacilect. It refers to the social language variation that is considered to be lower or less prestigious than other social language variation (Chaer&Agustina, 1995:87). For example, the English used by cowboys and miners can be classified into bacilect.

c. Vulgar. This means the social language variation that contains features that are used by people that are less educated or even uneducated (Chaer&Agustina, 1995:87). Languages in Europe that existed from the Romans age up to the Middle age can be classified into vulgar language since the intellectual group of people of those ages used Latin in conducting all of their activities.

d. Slang. It refers to the non-standard words that are known and used by a certain group of people, for example a group of teenagers, a group of college students, a group of jazz players, etc (Widarso, 1989:63). Since every group has its own slang words there are many kinds of slang that can be found. Slang is usually created arbitrarily, for example the wordmoney has some slang words, such as cabbage and dough. Sometime slang words are more alive, more expressive than the standard words. For example, the slang word of cemetery isboneyard, the slang word for clerk is pencil pusher and the slang words for women who like men only because of their money are money mad and gold digger.

Slang is also related to peer group and gang speech in order to obtain some degree of secrecy (Spolsky, 1998:35). In one of the Australian aboriginal languages, exists a men’s society with a secret language in which every word means its opposite. Another example is pig Latin which is a children’s secret language using a meaningless vowel that is inserted after every syllable, like Canayuyayunayderaystandaythisay? Other social norms are also transgressed by slang, it makes free use of taboo expressions such as the words like fuck and shit in public media that has become a mark of liberation or a sign of revolt (Spolsky, 1998:36).

e. Colloquial. It means the social language variation used in daily conversation, it means the language used in speaking and not in writing (Chaer&Agustina, 1995:88). The term colloquial is derived from the word colloquium meaning conversation. The examples of colloquial in spoken English are don’t for the words do not, I’d for the words I would or I had,we’ll for we will, pretty for very, funny for peculiar and stock in for believe. Here are other examples of colloquial expression in English with their formal meanings:

1. join up => enlist
2. put up with => tolerate
3. know-how => technical skill
4. the law => a policeman
5. outside of => except
6. a natural => one who is naturally expert

f. Jargon. According to Spolsky (1998:33) it is in-group variety which serves not only to label new and needed concepts but also to create bonds among the members of a certain group and enforce boundaries for people outside the group. Hacking and surfing the net are phrases that do not have obvious meaning to people who are not following the computer revolution and sticky wicket and hit for a six are understood by people who play cricket.

Jargon also refers to the words that are known and used by a certain group of people which usually concerns with a certain field of occupation (Widarso, 1989:63). We can also say that jargon is the technical language of a particular profession. Usually it is quite easy to find the meaning of a jargon without using a special dictionary. We can see an example of jargon in the production of a motion picture. When the director wants to stop an cat of an actor, he will say Cut! and not Stop!. Other example of jargon are the terms used by sailors who use the terms starboard side to refer to the right side of a boat or ship, and port side to refer to the left side of a boat or ship.

g. Argot. This means the social variation that are limited to certain proffession only and secretly in nature by using special vocabulary (Chaer&Agustina, 2004:28). In the crime world of thieves and pick-pocketers, people in it use the terms like glasses for police, leavesfor money, etc.

h. Cant. According to Chaer&Agustina (2004:28) it means the certain social variaton that is used to show poverty that is usually used by beggars, just like the expression the cant ofbeggars which means the language of beggars.

Spolsky (1998) has another opinion about the definition of cant. According to him, cant is the jargon used by thieves and the underworld which are used to make it hard for the outsiders to understand their conversations (Spolsky, 1998:34). However, cant is not limited to the underworld only because it can also be found in other area of occupation such as the Jewish horse traders in Alsace who have used a great number of Hebrew terms for numbers and parts of a horse to keep their language secret.

4. Temporal dialect

Temporal dialect means the language variation that is used by a certain social group in particular time (Chaer&Agustina, 1995:84). For example, the language variation can be seen in the development of English. According to Widarso (1989:22-28) the development of English had began from the Old English in the year of 600 to 1100, the Middle English in the year of 1100 to 1450, the Early Modern English in the year of 1450 to 1700 until the Modern English in the year of 1700 up to now.

B. Language Variation: Focus on Uses

In terms of language variation that are based on its uses, the discussion is focused on the ways in which speech reflects the contexts in which language is used and not the characteristics of the speakers (Holmes, 2001:223). The language variation that is concerning with the uses or functions can be called as style or register.

1. Style

For the term style, there are many definitions which are basically the same. The first to be mentioned here is the definition given by Marjohan (1988:34) that style refers to a variation in speech or writing from more formal to more casual. Some markers for the formal style would be the use of may instead of might and can and also constructions such as For whom did you get it? Instead of Who’d you get that for? in more casual speech.

Bell’s (ed. Jaworski, 1997) statement about style is in line with the statement made by Holmes (2001:223) above that style is related more with the situations than with the speakers themselves. This can be seen in his statement that when we want to talk about style, it means that we talk about the same speakers who talk in different ways on different situations and not the different speakers who talk in different ways from each other (Bell, ed. Jaworski, 1997:240).

According to Holmes (2001:246) the term style refers to language variation which reflects changes in situational factors. She also mentions that styles are often analysed according to the levels of formality (Holmes, 2001:246). This is in accordance with Martin Joos (1967) in his book The Five Clocks as quoted by Nababan (1986:22) who divides the style of formality into five levels, frozen, formal, consultative, casual and intimate styles. The description of these styles can be seen in the following:

a. Frozen style. It is the most formal style used in formal situations and ceremonies (Nababan, 1986:22). It is called frozen because the pattern has been set up firmly and can never be changed by anyone. In written form, we can see this style in historical documents, ratification, and other formal documents.

b. Formal style. It is the style used in formal speech, formal meeting, office correspendence, lesson books for school, etc (Chaer&Agustina, 1995:93). Formal style is basically similar to the frozen style that is only used in formal situations and not in informal situations. The example of formal style as quoted by Marjohan (1988:35) from Nababan (1987) is the first paragraph of the opening of the 1945 constitution of the Republic of Indonesia that was written in a formal or even in a frozen style,

Bahwasesungguhnyakemerdekaanituialahhaksegalabangsadanolehsebabitumakapenjajahan di atasduniaharusdihapuskankarenatidaksesuaidenganperikemanusiaandanperikeadilan.

c. Consultative style. This is the style used in ordinary conversation held at school, in meeting or conversation that leads to result and production (Nababan, 1986:22). It can be said that this style is the most operational one.

d. Casual style. It is the style used to speak with friends, family or relatives, during the leisure time, while exercising, etc (Chaer&Agustina, 1995:93). The casual style markers in English mentioned in Marjohan’s book (1988:35) are:

1. The absence of an article at the beginning of a sentence, for example:

e. Friend of mine saw it.
f. Coffee’s cold.

2. The absence of the subject at the beginning of a sentence, for example:

a. Bought it yesterday?
b. Makes no difference.

3. The absence of an auxiliary, for example:

a. Leaving?
b. Seen John lately?

e. Intimate style. This is the style used with people who have close relationships with the speaker (Nababan, 1986:22). By using this style those people do not need to use complete sentences with clear articulation, they just simply use short words. It happens mainly because there is an understanding among those people.

A number of kinds of style can also be found in the study conducted by Labov in 1966 as mentioned by Bell (ed. Jaworski, 1997:241) in his writing. In gathering some useful informations from his informants, Labov used a series of language tasks and recorded his interviews with them. From this recordings, he found the casual speech or the condition of paying the least attention to someone’s speech. This casual speech was used when a speaker was speaking to someone else who was not the interviewer, or discussing topics which got the speaker and that someone involved with each other. He also found another style, the careful style or the condition of paying a bit more attention to someone’s speech. This style especially revealed in the recordings when a speaker was answering questions in a typical interview way and when a speaker paid more attention to his pronunciation whenever he was asked to read aloud a brief passage of a story. Labov also found that there was the maximum amount of attention that was paid to a one’s speech whenever a speaker was asked to read out a list of isolated words and a set of minimal pairs.

Peter Trudgill (ed. Jaworski, 1997:179) used four different styles that are related to five social groups in his work on the standard ing pronunciation and the non-standard inpronunciation in Norwich English. The four styles are Word List Style (WLS), Reading Passage Style (RPS), Formal Speech (FS) and Casual Speech (CS) while the five social groups are lower working-class (LWC), middle working-class (MWC), upper working-class (UWC), lower middle-class (LMC) and middle middle-class (MMC). According to Bell (ed. Jaworski, 1997:241) from the style graph there are two things that can be revealed. The first is that when we go from the middle-class groups to the working-class groups the use of the non-standardin pronunciation increases and the use of the standarding pronunciation decreases. The second is that when each group style have to do the tasks demanding increasing attention, each group style moves from using less in to using more ing. Therefore in casual speech the five groups use most in, in careful speech and reading passage they use less in and in the word lists they use the least in.