Social Class and Language

The relationship between social class and language is one of the most extensively researched areas of sociolinguistics. From the 1960s onwards, scholars such as Bernstein, Labov, Trudgill, and Milroy have demonstrated that linguistic variation correlates systematically with social stratification. This lesson explores the key theories and studies, evaluates their strengths and limitations, and considers how class-based language variation relates to broader questions about power, identity, and social mobility.

Key Definition: Sociolinguistics is the study of the relationship between language and society, examining how social factors such as class, gender, ethnicity, and age influence language use.

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Bernstein: Restricted and Elaborated Codes

Basil Bernstein (1971) proposed that social class influences not just what people say but how they say it. He identified two linguistic codes — systematic ways of using language associated with different social groups.

Key Definition: The restricted code is characterised by short, grammatically simple sentences, implicit meaning, context-dependent language, and a reliance on shared assumptions. The elaborated code uses longer, grammatically complex sentences, explicit meaning, context-independent language, and a wider vocabulary.