Sociolinguistics,
the study of language as it affects and is affected by social relations.
Sociolinguistics encompasses a broad range of concerns, including bilingualism, pidgin
and creole languages,
and other ways that language use is influenced by contact among people of
different language communities (e.g., speakers of German, French, Italian, and
Romansh in Switzerland). Sociolinguists also examine different dialects,
accents, and levels of diction in light of social distinctions among people.
Although accent refers strictly to pronunciation, in practice a dialect can
usually be identified by the accent of its speakers as well as by distinctive
words, usages, idiomatic expressions, and grammatical features. Dialects
reflect and may reinforce class, ethnic, or regional differences among speakers
of the same language. In some cases difference of dialect shades into
difference of language. Where the line between them is not clear, groups that
are linguistically distinct are considered to speak different dialects of the
same language if they can generally understand each other, although what
constitutes this mutual intelligibility is itself not always clear. For
example, someone speaking Mandarin may not be able to understand the spoken
form of another Chinese dialect but can read it, since the written form of all
Chinese dialects is universal; Serbs and Croats, on the other hand, speak
essentially the same language but use different alphabets to write it.
Individuals sometimes deliberately change their dialect as a means of improving
their social status. Speakers of any dialect or any language may modulate their
vocabulary and level of diction according to social context, speaking
differently in church, for example, than on the playground; social activities
that tend to shape the language of those engaging in it are sometimes called
registers.
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