Monograph Series on Languages and Linguistics 23Rd Annual Round Table

Monograph Series on Languages and Linguistics umber 25, 1972 edited by Roger W. Shut 23rd Annual Round Table Sociolinguistics: Current Trends and Prospects Georgetown University School of Languages and Linguistics Report Of The Twenty-Third Annual Round Table Meeting on Linguistics and Language Studies Roger W. Shuy Editor Georgetown University Press Washington, D.C. 20007 © Copyright 1973 Georgetown University Press School of Languages and Linguistics Georgetown University Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 58-31607 ISBN 0-87840-03-25 CONTENTS Introduction v WELCOMING REMARKS Robert Lado Dean, School of Languages and Linguistics ix FIRST SESSION Chairman: Roger W. Shuy, Georgetown University Bruce Fraser Optional rules in grammar 1 Derek Bickerton The structure of polylectal grammars 17 William Labov Where do grammars stop? 43 Discussion 89 SECOND SESSION Chairman: James E. Alatis, Georgetown University John Gumperz and Eleanor Herasimchuk The conversational analysis of social meaning: a study of classroom interaction 99 Harvey Sacks On some puns with some intimations 135 in iv / CONTENTS THIRD SESSION Chairman: Charles A. Ferguson, Stanford University Joshua A. Fishman The historical dimension in the sociology of language 145 Jyotirindra Das Gupta Language planning and public policy: analytical outline of the policy process related to language planning in India 157 Wilfred Whiteley Sociolinguistic surveys at the national level 167 Discussion 181 FOURTH SESSION Chairman: Richard Thompson, United States Office of Education Aaron V. Cicourel Cross-modal communication: the representational context of sociolinguistic information processing 187 Vera P. John Sociolinguistic perspectives and education 223 Robert Frender and Wallace E. Lambert Speech style and scholastic success: the tentative relationships and possible implications for lower social class children 237 FIFTH SESSION Chairman: Francis P. Dinneen, S. J., Georgetown University Charles Fillmore A grammarian looks to sociolinguistics 273 Allen D. Grimshaw Rules in linguistic, social, and sociolinguistic systems and possibilities for a unified theory 289 Dell Hymes The scope of sociolinguistics 313 Appendix 335 INTRODUCTION The Twenty-Third Annual Georgetown University Round Table was held on March 16-18, 1972. The present volume represents the proceedings of the plenary sessions of that meeting. The theme of the meeting was: 'Sociolinguistics: Current Trends and Prospects'. It was with some hesitation that this topic was originally suggested since the development of sociolinguistics is so recent that the committee was not at all certain how widely it would be received. However, the re- sponse to the initial announcement was overwhelming. Fifteen papers were delivered at the five plenary sessions, fourteen of these are made available here. (It is regretted that the presentation by Erving Goff- man will not be included at the author's request.) The formal discussion which was submitted to the editor in writing has been included although general discussion from the floor has been omitted in this year's proceedings. The Sociolinguistics Committee of the Social Science Research Council originally proposed the topic and jointly planned the session with university representatives; members of that committee include Dell Hymes (Chairman), John Gumperz, William Labov, Charles Ferguson, Allen Grimshaw, and David Jenness who worked with the program chairman and devised nine small-group interest sessions which met for three hours each on March 16 and the five plenary sessions which began on the evening of March 16 and extended through noon, March 18. The purpose of the interest groups was to bring together active scholars and advanced graduate students in an inti- mate setting, discussing needed research in specific areas of sociolinguistics and evaluating current progress to date. It was decided that the group size should be limited to 20 when possible. Applicants for admission to the interest groups were requested to reserve space in advance. Interest group leaders, chosen by the planning committee, vi / INTRODUCTION were responsible for selecting their participants from among the applicants. The following interest groups were offered: (1) Ethnographic Semantics. Chairman, Brent Berlin, University of California. (2) Sociolinguistics and Religion. Chairman, William Samarin, University of Toronto. (3) Language Socialization. Chairman, Courtney Cazden, Harvard University. (4) Language Planning. Chairman, Joan Rubin, Stanford University. (5) Social and Ethnic Diversity in the American Speech Community. Chairmen, Roger W. Shuy and Ralph W. Fasold, Georgetown University. (6) Paralinguistics, Kinesics, and Teacher Training. Chairmen, Hugh Mehan, University of California, San Diego, and Bruce Fraser, Boston University. (7) Ethnography of Interrogation. Chairman, Lindsey Churchill, City University of New York. (8) Pidginization and Creolization. Chairman, David DeCamp, University of Texas. (9) Speech Performance and Repertoires. Chairman, Roger Abrahams, University of Texas. The interest groups took quite different formats, ranging from predistributed working papers, which were discussed at the meetings, to a more informal discussion format. Plans have been made to publish the papers of several of these sessions. Georgetown Uni- versity Press will publish the papers which grew out of interest- group sessions four and five, Language Planning: Current Issues and Research, edited by Joan Rubin and Roger W. Shuy and Language Attitudes: Current Trends and Prospects, edited by Roger W. Shuy and Ralph W. Fasold. Reports of these sessions are included as an appendix to this volume. The papers of the plenary session are intended to represent the wide scope of sociolinguistics as it is viewed today. Sociolinguists are concerned with ways of analyzing variability in the writing of grammars and the presentations by Fraser, Bickerton, Labov, and Bailey are addressed to this issue. The relationship of sociolinguistics to social interaction is the focus of the papers presented by Gumperz and Sacks, while sociolinguistic surveys are the topic of the presentations of Fishman, Das Gupta, Whiteley, and Haugen. The intersection of sociolinguistics with education is another current concern which is addressed by Cicourel, John, and Frender and Lam- bert. In concluding the session, broad overviews of the influence of INTRODUCTION / vii the fields of linguistics and sociology on sociolinguistics are presented by Fillmore and Grimshaw while Hymes summarizes the field in general in the final paper. Soon after the conclusion of the conference, the sad news of the death of Wilfred Whiteley was announced. His presence will be sorely missed by his colleagues and friends. As chairman, I would like to express my thanks to The National Science Foundation and The Social Science Research Council who helped support The Round Table. Specifically, David Jenness of the SSRC provided invaluable assistance along with the Sociolinguistics Committee of the SSRC. I would also like to thank all the graduate students in the Sociolinguistics Program at Georgetown University who provided valuable assistance in the planning and execution of the meetings. In particular, Douglass W. Gordon, the chairman of arrangements, Jan McDonald, departmental secretary, and Mary Lou Shuy, my wife, worked long and hard on hundreds of details. In addition, Marcia Whiteman, Al Rey, Marcel Charland, Jackie Pickett, James Woodward, Faye Vaughn-Cook, Lucienne Skopek, Joe Bellino, Jennifer Sullivan, O. G. Harper, Peg Griffin, Carolyn Bins, Bill Riley, Marilyn Glenn, David Minderhout, Mary Alice Minderhout, Jan Smith, Judy Riley, Elaine Gordon, Mark Connelley, Larry Biondi, Margaret Booth, Emmanuel Chia, Ed Anderson, Suzanne Podvoll, and Maria Ibba are to be thanked for their excellent assistance. Special thanks go to Miss Marieluise Baur who prepared photo- copy. Roger W. Shuy Editor WELCOMING REMARKS ROBERT LADO Dean, School of Languages and Linguistics Georgetown University Ladies and Gentlemen, on behalf of Georgetown University I am happy to extend to you a cordial welcome to this the Twenty-Third Annual Georgetown University Round Table. In keeping with a tradition of not being traditional, but rather of exploring the frontiers of scien- tific linguistic and related studies, the topic of this Round Table focuses on the most rapidly developing linguistic field today, that of Socio- linguistics, its trends and prospects. It is easier to say more or less cynically that 'man can travel to the Moon but cannot understand the problems of living with his cultural neighbor', than to do something about creating understanding through study, research, and discussion. The vigour, diversity, relevance, and sheer excitement of the field of Sociolinguistics is clearly visible in the topics listed for discussion and the names of the contributors and participants. The result is certain to be greater insight and understanding of the linguistic problems we live with, of the invisible webs that so often deny full flight and freedom to the spirit of man. Georgetown University is proud to share sponsorship for this Twenty-Third Round Table with the Committee on Sociolinguistics of the Social Science Research Council. We thank the speakers who have come to share with their colleagues the results of their labors, and we thank the participants for their contribution to the discussion and for their presence. OPTIONAL RULES IN GRAMMAR BRUCE FRASER Language

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