Real time and Apparent TimeSOCIOLINGUISTICSSonya Ayu Kumala, M.Hum

•Topics:a. Real Time and Apparent Timeb. Trend Studiesc. Critical Periodd. Acquiring Language and Learning Languagee. Generational Change

• Phenomenon in Sociolinguistics Studiesa. Space and geographic features (regional

variation)b. Who the speaker is talking to (addresse effect

and combination)c. A speakers’ expression of styled. Where the speaker is (social domain and

diglossia)e. The relationship between the speaker and hearer

and the social cost of interaction (politeness)

HOW LANGUAGE WILL CHANGE IN

THE FUTURE?

• As Labov says, “If linguistic change were a constant linguistic factor it would be easy to analyze"; however, linguistic change is sporadic, it is disseminated rapidly through the several different component parts of the linguistic structure, until it loses strength or is distorted and is not recognized for more than a century or two.”

• Sporadic = spread off

THE USED OF LANGUAGE VARIATION STUDY:• 1. Finding the generalisation about the changing

progress of language.• 2. Making informational guesses about the general

directions of language in the future• 3. To develop language

• THE DATA OF LANGUAGE VARIATION STUDY:a. Oral (recorded data)b. Written (documented data such as newspaper,

written speech, book, etc)

• GENERAL DATA = CORPORA

• SELECTED DATA = DATA (DATA OF

RESEARCH)

Real Time and Apparent Time• Real time studies = studies of language

variation which involving the comparison of the way people talk at one point of time with the way the talk

a decade, a generation or hundred year later)

• Example : a. A study of diglossia in Indonesia on 1975

compare to 2000b. A study of female language in old regime era and

reformation era.c. The linguistics difference in 1990 and 2010

• Apparent time studies= studies of language variation that is done by accessing the historical record from time to time by looking the changes in apparent time.

• A study of distribution on linguistics difference across age groups at one point in time.

Example: • The study of english vowels spoken by immigrant

in England on 2013.• A study of the word with “female” meaning in

Bahasa during 2013

• Synchronic study : variation at one point of time

• Diachronic study : variation over time

Example: Labov (1989), "The child as linguistic historian” studied the pronounciation of [ŋ] = [in] [iŋ]

• The simplest way to study linguistic change is to study it in apparent time, based on the analysis of the distribution of linguistic variables across different age groups.

• Difficulties : Choosing the ages of the participant.

• Real time study needs access corpora of recorded conversational data.

Trend Studies• Uses data from corpora that include comparable

speakers who have been recorded at different point of time.

• Diachronic

• Trend = the real time lag between the first set data and second set data allows you to observe how trends progress through a community.

• Example:a. Devoicing of Fricatives in Northern Standard Dutch

and Southern Standard Dutch in Radio Broadcast.

Panel Studies• Studies that involving the sampling and

resampling a single panel or group of speakers.• Apparent time studies.

• Example: • Study of childreen speak with 5 years old

sampling and 7 tears old sampling.

Critical Period• Critical period of language acquisition.• The period during which the language learning

seems to be easiest. • Childhood and early adolescent

• Critical period :Synchronic pattern variation as a window on what has been happening in a community over the last few generations.

• Critical period represent:a. Developmental changes in the brainb. Changes in receptiveness or attitude of language

learnersc. A mixture of psychological and social factors

• Multilingualism society

• Language acquisition and Language learning

Acquiring Language• One relatively effortless and subconcious process

of young learners.• Linguistics input are simple/only a few.• Result : Native like

• Children acquire language through a subconscious process during which they are unaware of grammatical rules. This is similar to the way they acquire their first language. They get a feel for what is and what isn’t correct.

Learning Language • More concious process associated with adults.• Linguistics inputs = large number of inputs• Less native-like

• Language learning is not communicative. It is the result of direct instruction in the rules of language. And it certainly is not an age-appropriate activity for your young learners.

• In language learning, students have conscious knowledge of the new language and can talk about that knowledge. They can fill in the blanks on a grammar page.

Generational ChangeThe changing that happened on each generation in a community.It shows progressively more and more frequent used of a variant.

* The basis of generational change is apparent time .

•Profiles of Change:a.Generational Change

b.Lifespan changec.Community wide change

Lifespan Change• Pronounciation or grammar• Take place after the critical period.• Contrained by the community (generational

change) and input from the speaker itself.

Community-wide change• An entire group or community switch to use of a

new variant at about the same time.Example:a. Avoiding the terms or reference that made up

part of his/her name, when a leader dies, to respect him/her.

b. Borrowing a vocab from the neighbourhood language.

REFERENCES • Meyerhoff, Miriam. 2006. Introducing

Sociolinguistics. London : Routledge.