Sociolinguistics (Essay) [PDF]

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Language Choice (Yuni Kartika Harnum) Language is one of the most important factors in human life, by using language they can convey their opinions and questions clearly. In this era of globalization, the spread of language is easier to do, people can learn the variety of languages that exist so that the speaker can easily determining which language they want to use. The language choice is also one of the most important factors for speakers, they usually using the local language when they are in their city or village. Language is an essential part of any community, and in some countries speaking various languages is common. Sociolinguistics looks at how language is affected by community; these cultural norms, gender, occupation, social status, social setting, and other social constructs. Appropriate language for one social setting may not be appropriate for another and may not be appropriate at all in another culture. In sociolinguistics, language choice describes a society which communicate with more than a single word. In these bilingual societies, speakers usually can decide which language to use according they are speaking with, the setting of the dialogue, and the function of the dialogue. For example, in these communities, people may find it more suitable to talk to the elder or have an important conversation with their family in their first language. Or if the speaker relaxes in a social occasion (such as party) then the speaker may speaks casual language. Multilingual speakers may also experience code switching (code is use for different languages), where the speaker will switch between two languages in a conversation. In 1964, Dell Hathaway Hymes, one of the most noted world sociolinguists, suggested eight factors that bilingual, multilingual, or monolingual people may consider when choosing a code. The factors were formulated into an acronym,

namely SPEAKING, which stands for Setting and Scene, Participants, Ends, Act sequence, Key, Instrumentalities, Norms of interaction, and Genre. According to Managan (2004) also believes that the choice of dominant language provides people with prestige and the opportunity to socialize more with others which leads to the possibility of expanding social networks and getting more economic success. Once someone becomes a member of a particular language group, this group becomes a social network and develops a sense of identity that can be revealed through language choices and ways of speaking. Bentahila (1983) states that language choice may be influenced by factors related to individual speakers, certain languages and their associations, or aspects of the social situation. It seems that certain choices can be influenced by a number of variables, perhaps from different weights. Fasold (1990) argues that multilingualism serves as an interactional source for multilingual speakers. This means that one particular language can usually be used at home or with close friends, while other languages can be used for trade and trade, and even a third for dealing with government agencies. David (2006) argues that language choice is triggered by such factors as social status, gender, educational attainment, ethnicity, age, occupation, rural and urban origin, speaker, topic, place, media and situation formality. This finding is supported by Fasold (1990), Spolsky (2004) and Mugambi (2003). Coulmas (1997) explains that people make linguistic choices for various purposes. Individuals and groups choose words, registers, styles and languages to fulfil their various needs about communication of ideas, associations with and separation from others, domination or defence of domination. People are blessed with the ability to adapt their linguistic repertoire to new situations and build their language for a specific purpose.

From the definition above, the write can concludes that language choice is commonly used and found in life especially in bilingual and multilingual community. Therefore language choices are usually influenced by social status, culture, age and ethnicity. Based on Holmes (2013:22) language choices is a choice of language interaction that happens in many speech communications. It means that in someone communication, it usually find some people make a language choice in their communication. Moreover, in multilingual communities will find people using more than two languages. The use of more than one language by the speaker in communication indicates that they make language choice. In other words, they will choose one language or combine the languages when interact with each other. People choose an appropriate language when they speak, people switch language into other language, and they use different language in different context. They try to make themselves confident to communicate with other community, although sometimes they are not fluent to use the language. According to Giles (1987), the analysis of language selection in multilingual settings remains an important effort in sociolinguistic research. Early attempts by linguists and sociologists in describing the use of language in general quantitative terms have failed to explain the evidence for inter-community heterogeneity, individuals and opportunities. Theoretically, subtle tools are needed to explain why X languages are used in situation X, and why Y is used in situation Y. According to Somarsono (2009:201), there are three kinds of language choice in sociolinguistic field these are; code switching, code mixing, and variation in the same language. First code switching, the speaker influenced by some factors; participants, topic and situation. Second code mixing, it appears in phrases and words. The last is variation within the same language, it is combining the same language between formal and informal form. It is related with Fasold statement (as

cited in Chaer and Agustina, 2004:153) that language choice has three kinds of choices, these are: code switching, code mixing, and language variation. Everything that people do is usually influenced by something as well as language choice. When people communicate with others they usually influence by some factors like culture, age, ethnicity gender, and so on. For example, in Indonesia, people usually use their own local language and they also usually use Indonesian as the national language, some people even speak English, for instance, Buginese is being able to speak Bugis (as their mother tongue), also able to speak Indonesia as L2 some even speak English as L3. A native speaker of Arabian, for instance, might prefer to use their language wherever possible, but if he should himself in an environment where there are no other Arabian speakers in a foreign country, for example, they would choose to use their scond or third language.

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