Sociolect

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In linguistics, a sociolect is a social dialect (speech variety) spoken by a particular group, such as working-class or upper-class speech in the UK. Etymologically, sociolect derives from the morphemes “socio-” (social) and “-lect” (language variety).

Socio-economic status

The relationship between language and social class has been much investigated; the evidence confirms that different social classes use language differently. In Britain, for example, there is a higher incidence of regional features in the speech of people from a lower social class. Whereas speakers from higher social classes are more likely to use Standard English, and their pronunciation will approximate Received Pronunciation.

Age

The most notable difference is between the speech of adolescents and the speech of the elders of the same speech community. Adolescents use a large and changing lexicon of slang and idiomatic expressions. This vocabulary strengthens social group identity, and segregates them from the older generations. Speakers from previous generations have been found to use archaic and old-fashioned lexis that might not be contemporary common English usage. There often is a marked difference between the vocabulary of young and elder speakers in a speech community.

Occupation

Any trade or profession – second-hand car dealers, lawyers, accountants, doctors, builders, estate agents, et al. – possesses its own specialist semantic field and vocabulary. This is partly composed of jargon (technical terms used in the pragmatics (context) of an occupation), but it will probably include slang – informal vocabulary developed and used between members of an occupation, because it is humorous, shorter, and more economical than the Standard English equivalent. As with adolescent speech, the effect of possessing a distinctive sociolect is to reinforce group exclusivity.

See also

• Argot
• Genderlect
• Idiolect
• Jargon
• Joual
• Literary language
• Notions (Winchester College)
• Register (linguistics)
• Slang
• Sociolinguistics
• Valspeak
• Vernacular

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