• Explaining the role and significance of the social diversification of language to the class participants
• Systematization of the participants’ sociolinguistic knowledge
• Providing the participants with the ability to classify sociolectal lexical innovations (a formal analysis)
• Involving the participants in the process of analysing selected sociolects, including describing the linguistic picture of the world (LPW) held by a selected sociolectal group or analysing that group’s values (an analysis of the axiological sphere)
• Presenting the potential of sociolectal lexis in promotional and information activities
• Strengthening the social competence of the participants using the working methods suggested during the classes

• The student knows such terms as: sociolect, lexical innovation, linguistic picture of the world or axiology.
• The student can recognize sociolectal lexis in promotional utterances and texts.
• The student can search for, analyse and evaluate information.
• The student can perform the linguistic analysis of sociolects using sociolinguistic tools.
• The student can effectively communicate with others.
• The student understands that contemporary communication is diversified and multidimensional.
• The student can work in a team and play various team roles.

MS Teams/ZOOM, Mentimeeter, Padlet, LearningApps

The scenario concerns the diversification of the Polish language. However, it can be used as the basis for developing a scenario concerning the diversification of any other language (e.g. regarding territorial or professional differences).

The scenario uses the following exercises from the tool set (Toolbox):

1. Exercise 3: Student’s zone from the section Consolidating exercises
2. Exercise 3: Test yourself from the section Motivators

The basic target group is students of humanities and social sciences, but this scenario can be used as the basis for classes directed at other audiences, e.g. students at secondary schools (as part of formal education) or adults, especially local community leaders (as part of informal education).

‘Every community the members of which form strong bonds develops its own way of speaking and describing the reality’ (Kołodziejek 2002: 289). This need is reflected by the appearance, persistence and disappearance of sociolects in the communication space. The social varieties of language fulfil functions which are particularly important for the development of communities and groups (also in connection with the needs of the contemporary labour market): the identifying function, the unifying function, the distinguishing function and the interpreting function (see Grabias 1997).

The aim of the classes is to demonstrate the communication space diversification based on an analysis of sociolects and the different ways in which the users of social varieties of language perceive the world. The potential of that diversity will be captured via a linguistic analysis of texts containing sociolectal lexis, characterization of selected sociolects and jointly drawn conclusions based on the previously conducted interpretations. An important element of the classes will be tasks which also shape the social competence of participants (teamwork; exchange of experiences and ideas by creating a mind map together).

In the research on the linguistic diversification of the contemporary communication space, a significant position is held by scientific reflection on the professional and social varieties of language (see Wilkoń 2000) – sociolects. This term denotes ‘a variety of a national language related to the existence of a permanent social group joined by some kind of bond’ (Grabias 2001: 235). Sociolectal groups develop collective ways of perceiving and evaluating the surrounding reality which are actualized in their members’ utterances, most often as lexical and phraseological innovations.

A linguistic analysis of lexical units forming a given sociolect assumes paying attention to the characterization of structural and semantic neologisms (including, among other things, neosemantisms, univerbisms and expressive neologisms) as well as foreign elements – borrowings and neophraseologisms, which are new word combinations (Krasowska 2018: 105).

The aim of a linguistic analysis of sociolects is to reconstruct the linguistic picture of the world (LPW) – ‘a variously verbalized interpretation of reality which is contained in a language and can be captured as a set of judgements on the world’ (Bartmiński 2006: 12) – and discover the system of norms and values held by a given community, that is, to analyse the axiological sphere contained in the utterances of the sociolect users (see Piekot 2001, 2008).

STEP I
Introduction: The teacher presents the aim and the stages of the classes. Referring to the previously acquired knowledge, they recall such terms as language varieties, sociolect and lexical innovation, and discuss them using selected examples.

STEP II
The participants are asked to familiarize themselves individually with a fragment of a press article or another text which contains the sociolectal lexis of a given language (a sample for the Polish language is included in the additional materials, MATERIAL 1: Text for analysis – text in the Polish language), paying attention to the lexical and phraseological innovations found therein. The text may be provided by stating the source (a link to the text on the information website) or supplying a text file.

STEP III
The teacher shares the Padlet (view: Wall) and asks every participant to enter three lexical innovations that the participant remembered after reading the text for analysis (the examples already provided by others should not be repeated). The task is inspired by Exercise 3: Student’s zone from the section Consolidating exercises in the tool set (Toolbox).

STEP IV
Supported by the teacher, the participants discuss the resulting base of lexical innovations, the motivations behind their use in the sociolect and the elements of the world distinguished by those innovations.

Sample questions: What are the key objects and subjects in the sociolect? What is the nature of the lexical innovations (assigning value to objects)? What associations are used in the sociolectal lexis?

The participants discuss the lexis used and its impact on the picture of the world held by the professional group in question. Based on the conclusions from the discussion, the teacher introduces the term ‘linguistic picture of the world’ (LPW) and the criteria defining a sociolect (secrecy, professionalism, expressiveness).

STEP V
Then, the teacher asks the participants to perform another task by themselves (the task is inspired by Exercise 3: Test yourself from the section Motivators in Toolbox). The aim of the task is to learn or recall the meaning of the individual lexical innovations used in sociolects. The participants use LearningApps (option: Match table fields) to acquire or refresh their knowledge. They are allowed to use online dictionaries or other digital resources to carry out the task. Sample match sets are included in the additional materials, MATERIAL 2: Lexical innovations. The teacher summarizes the exercise and asks the participants to choose examples from the base obtained in STEP 3 and match them to the appropriate types of innovations.

STEP VI
The teacher presents a sociolect analysis outline, for instance one based on an analytical method proposed by a researcher of sociolects. For the Polish language, one can choose, for example, the method developed by Tomasz Piekot or Barbara Pędzich (see references: Piekot 2008, Pędzich 2012). The participants’ task is to carry out a brief analysis of a chosen sociolect (based on a sociolect glossary) and then use it as the basis for creating an advertising graphic (e.g. an Internet banner, a graphic for social media advertising) of any product or service intended for the representatives of that sociolect. The advertising graphic must contain at least one sociolectal innovation. It can be created in any online graphic software, e.g. Canva. The teacher divides the participants into teams of a few members each (this can be done using the option Breakout Room). Each team receives a glossary of a different sociolect for analysis. Sample online glossaries are found in the additional materials, MATERIAL 3: Sample glossaries of sociolects.

STEP VII
The teams present the results of their analyses and the advertising graphics they created. Time permitting, the listeners can ask questions and comment on the results of the analyses after the presentation. The teacher also summarizes the presentations.

STEP VIII
Summary: At the end, each participant is asked to enter three pieces of information on sociolects that they remembered and to indicate the most interesting advertising slogan, justifying their choice. The summarizing task is inspired by Exercise 3: Student’s zone from the section Consolidating exercises in the tool set (Toolbox). The teacher summarizes the class.