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CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW
A. sociolinguistics
Language is one of the most powerful emblems of social behavior. We use language to send vital social messages about who we are, where we come from,
and who we associate with. Thus, we need particular discipline to explore the importance of the language it self. Through sociolinguistics, it describes the
relation between language and the social activity. Hudson defines sociolinguistics as the study of language in relation to
society 1996:1. While Chaika states that it is the study of the ways people use language in social interaction of all kinds 1994:3.
Sociolinguistics is the field that studies the relation between language and society, between the uses of the language and the social structures in which the
users of language live. It investigates that human society is made up of many related patterns and behaviors, one of them is language. One of the principal uses
of language is to communicate meaning, but it is also used to establish and to maintain social relationships Spolsky, 1998:3.
Furthermore, Holmes describes sociolinguistics as the study of relationship between language and society. They are interested in explaining why
we speak differently in different social contexts, and they are concerned with identifying the social functions of language and the ways it is used to convey
social meaning. Linguistics is also examining the way people use language in
xix different social contexts. It provides a wealth of information about the way
language works, the social relationship in a community, and the way people sign aspects of their social identity through their language. Sociolinguistics is
concerned with the relationship between language and the context in which it is
used 2001:1. It provides an understanding that the way people talk is influenced by its
social context in which they are talking. People use different styles in different social context. According to Holmes, the setting or social context e.g. home,
work, school is generally a relevant factor. The aim or purpose of the interaction informative, social may be important. Certain social factors are relevant in
accounting for the particular variety used. Some relate to the users of language – the participants; other relate to its uses-the social setting and function of the
interaction. Who is talking to whom e.g. wife-husband, customer-shop keeper, boss-worker is an important factor. On the other hand, not all factors are relevant
in any particular context but they can be grouped in ways which are helpful. In any situation linguistics choice will generally reflect the influence of one or more
of the following components
1.
The participants: who is speaking and
who are they speaking to? 2.
The setting or social context of their interaction:
where are they speaking? 3.
The topic : what is being talked about?
4.
The function : why are they speaking?
xx These social factors will prove the importance of describing and analyzing
all kinds of interaction. They are basic components in sociolinguistic explanations of why we don not all speak the same way, and why we do not all speak in the
same way all of the time 2001:8. Sociolinguistics is classified into two scopes of study, which are known as
micro-sociolinguistics and macro-sociolinguistics Trudgil, 1992. a.
Micro-sociolinguistics is a term used to cover the study of face to face interaction, discourse analysis, conversational analysis and other areas of
sociolinguistics involving the study of relatively small group of speakers. Furthermore, micro-sociolinguistics concerns with the study of language
in specific speech community with the scope of discussion such as the behavior toward language, style of speech, domains of language use,
register, speech act, etc. b.
Macro-sociolinguistics refers to sociolinguistic areas involving the study of relatively large groups of speakers. It concerns with the study of
language history and development in the scope of society in general.
. This research focuses on the speech act of compliment used by the characters in the film WHITE CHICKS. Thus, this research belongs to micro-
sociolinguistics Social factors are important to describe and to analyze all kinds of
interaction. It is useful to take account of four different dimensions for analysis which relate to the components of social factor. According to Holmes 1992: 13
the four social dimensions are:
xxi 1.
A Social Distance Scale A social distance scale concerns with participant relationships. The scale
focuses on how well participants know each other. It is useful to use social distance scale because knowing well from one participant to another is a relevant
factor in linguistics choice. The linguistic choice can show group difference, existence, or solidarity between the group members. People use certain speech
styles in their interaction with intimates or other persons having distant relationship.
The social distance scale is as follows: Intimate
Distant High solidarity
Low solidarity For example: in monolingual society, people use more vernacular forms,
more casual and more relaxed speech style to their intimates, and more standard forms to those having distant relationship or do not know well.
2. StatusPower Scale
The dimension of status or power accounts for a variety of linguistic differences in the way people speak.
The various ways in choosing words can show someone’s status in the community, whether heshe is superior, equal, or subordinate. The statuspower
scale points to the relevance or relative status in some linguistic choices. The statuspower scale is as follows:
Superior High status
Subordinate Low status
xxii For example: An employee calls his employer Sir because he wants to
respect his employer who has higher status, while the employer calls his employee by the employee’s first name. It indicates that the employee has lower status than
the employer. 3.
Formality Scale A formality scale relates to the setting or type of interaction. The language
used is influenced by the formality or informality of the setting. It is useful to assess the influence of the social setting or type of interaction on language choice.
Often degrees of formality are largely determined by solidarity and status relationships. The formality scale is as follows:
Formal High formality
Informal Low formality
For example: Official languages are the appropriate varieties for formal situation in state occasions, for example, when the employee talks to the manager
in his office or the priest have his ritual service and preaching in the church. 4.
Two Functional Scales-Referential and Affective Language serves many functions. The basic functions of language in all
communities are referential and affective meaning. The referential function serves that language can convey objective information of a referential kind. Some
interactions, such as news bulletins, sport commentaries and legal documents are high in information content referential meaning. On the contrary, the affective
function refers to language as a means of expression about someone’s feeling. The interactions, such as friendly gossip, the social affective meaning may be the
xxiii most important reason of the interaction. For insatance, when you open the door
to someone “oh its you”, conveys a very different affective message from “how lovely to see you, do come in”. According to Holmes, at least in casual interaction,
some women stress the affective rather than referential function of talk. Shortly, when the interaction tends affectively oriented, automatically the interaction is
less to express the information referential of the speaker.
The referential and affective function scales are as follows: Referential
High Low
Information Information
Content Content
Affective Low
High Affective
Affective Content
Content For example: the conversation about the weather between neighbors over
the fence at the weekend. It is more likely to be mainly affective in function. It tends to convey goodwill towards the neighbors affective rather than important
new information referential. Yet, these four social factors and dimensions are important and useful to analyze the range of sociolinguistics variation in many
different types of community and different contexts.
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B. Ethnography of communication
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