SOCIOLINGUISTICS

1. Language variety refers to the various forms of language triggered by social factors

1.1. Standard language: a variety of language may be officially elevated as the national language, such a language variety is called standard language.

1.2. Dialects: A variety of a language used recognizably in a specific region or by a specific social class. The study of dialect is called "dialectology".

1.2.1. Regional / geographical dialects: varieties of a language spoken in a geographical area.

1.2.1.1. Speech community: a group of people sharing one given language or dialect.

1.2.1.2. Sociolects, related to formality of speech, are catergorized as high and low sociolect.

1.2.1.3. The formal speech is higher sociolect and the informal lower sociolect.

1.2.2. Temporal dialects: varieties of a language used at particular stages in its historical development.

1.2.3. Social dialects/sociolects: varieties of a language used by people belonging to particular social classes.

1.2.4. Idiolects: varieties of a language used by individual speakers, with peculiarities of pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary.

1.2.5. Accent: This term refers to phonological variation. Accent is thus about pronunciation, while dialect is a broader term encompassing syntactic, morphological, and semantic properties as well.

1.3. Registers: varieties of language used in different situations, which are identified by the degrees of formality.

1.4. Pidgin: a mixed language with a small vocabulary and a simple grammar used by speakers of two languages to communicate. So it is also called contact language.

1.5. Creole: different from pidgin, Creole language serves as the first language for speakers. When a pidgin begins to acquire native speakers who use it as their primary language, the pidgin turns to be a creole. The process by which a pidgin develops is called pidginization; the process by which a pidgin becomes a creole is called creolization.

1.6. Registers: varieties of language used in different situations, which are identified by the degrees of formality.

2. Sociolinguistics is the study of language in relation to society. It studies how social factors influence the structure and use of language.

3. When more and more speakers of a creole adopt it as their everyday language, the creole becomes standardized, or a lingua franca. The process is termed as decreolization.