ABSTRACT
The study of sociolinguistics is the study of language variation and social significance. It is the study of how members of a culture, society, or group use language for social purposes (communication) and what that language tells us about the person or group. This may sound like a broad topic, but there is a sense in which it is narrow. There are all sorts of theoretical perspectives and studies that have something to do with language and social life, but sociolinguistics proper is more narrowly conceived. It focuses more on the reliable correlations between features of a linguistic system and the typical categories used to describe groups and society. On the hypothetical business trip described here, all of the experiences illustrate various sociolinguistic relationships:
You meet someone at the airport who grew up in Milwaukee and when they want a drink of water, they ask, “Where's the bubbler?”
You check into a hotel in Boston and the doorman is inquiring as to whether or not you want to park your car by asking if “you want to paahk your cah”
From Boston, you go to New York on business, and your business contact has a new idea, but he pronounces it idear.
Inside a cab, your African American cab driver notices some kids rapping on the street corner. The cab driver says, “Dem dudes be doing day thang”
In Chicago, your last stop in this trip, you are given tickets to a Chicago Bulls basketball game. The guy in the seat next to you is rooting for the Bulls by saying, “Dub Bullsl”
On your way home, a lady sitting next to you in the airport comments on the odd mauve and fuchsia colors of the airport seating area.
