The Conceptualization of Language Analysis from the Perspective of Sociolinguistics: The Shift from Langue to Parole

Abstract

Since the second half of the twentieth century, the conceptualization of language analysis has been revisited several times. Modern Structuralism, for instance, focused on the study of langue rather than parole. Their justification is that the former is a self-contained system or social product of the faculty of speech deposited in the brains of individuals as a result of numerous experiences of listening to other persons. However, parole is the manifestation of that faculty in speech. On its part, Mentalistic linguistics though viewing that individuals are predisposed with language, almost maintained the same dichotomy leading to competence and performance. Since all language irregularities occur in performance, this trend emphasizes that language study should focus on competence. However, since the early seventies the pendulum of language analysis has fallen in favor of parole. Criticizing the failure of structural and mentalistic linguistics to account for the social, physical and temporal situations that language activity is taking place in, the father of sociolinguistics, Dell Hymes (1972b) proposed a model of communicative competence comprising four sectors: possibility (langue/competence), feasibility (psycholinguistic aspect), appropriateness (context) and the frequency of occurrences of speech acts. This paper attempts to trace the conceptualization of language analysis from the perspective of sociolinguistics.