Table Of ContentMonograph Series
on
Languages and Linguistics
umber 25, 1972 edited by Roger W. Shu
t
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 pro-
ceedings 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 dis-
cussion 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 socio-
linguistics 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 sociolin-
guistics 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 pre-
sented 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 assist-
ance. Special thanks go to Miss Marieluise Baur who prepared photo-
copy.
Roger W. Shuy
Editor
