LIN200H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Sociolinguistics, Linguistic Anthropology, Free Variation
Document Summary
Eventually it"s a slow decline for a it can be about you or who you"re talking to high register: typically for those who are socially above you, or because you are important. When a linguistic change of the form a > b occurs, it is rarely a fully categorical event, with all speakers consistently using a one day and then b the next. Instead, there tends to be incremental change, with only some speakers using b, and even then, only sometimes. A is the conservative variant and the new b is the innovative variant. Sociolinguistics is obvious related to historical lin- guistics, but also to pragmatics and linguistic anthropology, which both also deal with how language is used to express certain kinds of non-literal information. A variant (usually the conservative variant, but not always) may hold prestige because it is associated with certain groups who traditionally hold social power (rich, educated, men, etc. ).
