Sociolinguistics: Dialect, Register, and Power

A systematic variety of a language tied to a region or social group, including accent, vocabulary, and grammar. Crucially, no dialect is linguistically superior to another — all are rule-governed.

AAE deletes the copula exactly where Standard English allows contraction ('He's working' → 'He workin''), but never where contraction is impossible ('Yes, he is'). This shows AAE is rule-governed, not sloppy speech.

Ongoing or regular action — 'He be workin'' means he works regularly. It's a tense-aspect distinction Standard English lacks and must express with extra words.

That stigmatized varieties like AAE are systematic and internally consistent, undercutting 'verbal deprivation' theories used to explain Black children's school performance.

Language as an unevenly distributed resource that converts into jobs, housing, credibility in court, and grades — the prestige of a dialect is borrowed from the power of its speakers.

The belief that one codified dialect — typically that of an elite, backed by schools, dictionaries, and the state — is the correct or neutral form of the language.

Variation by situation rather than by speaker group: legalese vs. text-speak, a doctor in a consult vs. at a barbecue, the 'customer service voice.' Everyone commands several registers.

Situational: you change varieties because the setting changed. Metaphorical: you change varieties to redefine the setting — e.g., dropping into vernacular to signal solidarity or formal speech to invoke authority.

Linguistic profiling: callers using AAE or Chicano English phonology were told apartments were unavailable that were then offered to the same caller using 'standard' phonology.

Lakoff claimed women use hedges, tag questions, and rising intonation. Later researchers like Penelope Eckert and Deborah Cameron showed these features are better explained by situation, power, and stance than by gender itself.