Talk:Sociolect

Term Sociolect could be better illustrated perhaps by more examples. It would be a help especially for those interested in linguistics but lack a formal study in the subject.

In general I find the use of such terms including the term dialect quite interesting if not controversial. Considering the german useage of the term, there are no real dialects of English in the USA. For example someone understanding High German and English might understand one or two words in a paragraph spoken in a Low German dialect. The differences are so vast that no spoken communication can take place between speakers confining themselves to their own language. No such differences are known to me in the USA. An American from New York or New England can easily be recognized as being from there by his accent. But to say he's speaking a dialect of English is stretching the meaning too far.

Someone visiting London's east end may be exposed to what is classified there as the dialect or sociolect known as Cokney. It takes a while for an english speaker hearing it for the first time to understand it at all. Understanding begins after first recognizing that spoken Cokney is entirely void of the letter h (as in French) and then mentally reinserting it.

To consider Welsh as a dialect of English is going too far in the other direction. Welch was derived from Celtic, a different branch of the Indo-European languages. There's no intelligent understanding between to speakers confining themselves to their respective language. R. Price pf2203@gmail.com Cakeandicecream 14:44, 29 August 2006 (UTC)


 * I agree that one should differ between dialects and sociolects, but I don't agree with your arguments here. The borders between dialects are mainly geographical, whereas sociolects are mainly confined to particular social groups (hence the name), often within dialect areas. Following your example, Cockney stems from the working classes of London, mainly from the east side.


 * Also, concerning dialects, norwegian dialects are generally mutually intelligible, but are still considered dialects.
 * Loial 04:10, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Needs a LEDE
The article really needs a LEDE explaining what a sociolect is and how it differs from a dialect. As it is, it dives directly into detail far too soon, with a tendency to use sociology jargon instead of plain language. For instance, there is a section on "code switching" but no explanation of what "codes" are or why one would switch.

I'm not an expert on the subject, but I'd use a couple of plain language examples. For instance, many "computer geeks" have a particular sociolect (the Simpson's "Comic Book Guy" is an example). Personally, I first became aware of this term during an on-line discussion of the vocal mannerisms of some American gay men, that it was a socilect. Again, not an expert, but perhaps someone knowledgeable on the subject could find references to these two examples, or others, to create a more useful introduction to the term? K8 fan (talk) 22:15, 23 April 2013 (UTC)

Expand Discrimination section
The discrimination section is exclusively focused on Albania, which is worthy of discussion, but someone should add more examples. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bewildered Oregonian (talk • contribs) 01:34, 14 February 2020 (UTC)

what on earth does this sentence mean?
Below are examples of the lack of the possessive ending -s is usually absent in AAVE but contains a rule As Labov shows states, "[the] use -s to indicate possession by a single noun or pronoun, but never between the possessor and the possessed."

it's gibberish. I'd re-write it but I have no idea of the author's intended meaning. it is, however, comically ironic in the context of a page that purports to explain a language issue.

duncanrmi (talk) 12:45, 20 May 2020 (UTC)