a) There are associations of regional dialects with regions and social status.
For eg: Bhojpuri Hindi, Andhra / Telangana Telugu
These are regional dialects which place someone as belonging to a region, and bring with it any connotations that.
Similarly there are dialects associated with social status. For eg: Tamil Caste dialects, African American Vernacular English, Received Pronunciation and Cockney English.
A great example that illustrates this is present in Tamil
| Gloss | Mudaliyar (non-Brahmin) | Iyengar (Brahmin) |
|---|---|---|
| Drinking water | tanni | tirrto |
| Water in general | tanni | jalo |
| Non-potable water | tanni | tanni |
b) The same language can convey the meaning of period based on the vocabulary and structure.
For eg: “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife”
The use of archaic language tells us the period which the sentence is from.
c) Different registers, such as legal, medical, etc. filled with jargon and structures characteristic to the kind of language used.
d) Singularity refers to the personal identity associated with how one uses a particular language. Eg: The way Premchand uses “persianized” vocabulary, or the way Shashi Tharoor uses inexorably extravagant words.
e) Status, referring to the politeness when we use high and low responsive pronouns, for example.
f) Colloquialism
Reflection of the personal feelings of the speaker, like for example the attitude of the speaker toward the listener or the topic.
Politeness used in speech can also be used sarcastically. A sarcastic tone completely inverts the meaning of the polite speech, clearly expressing an unpleasant attitude.
A word might acquire an association on account of words they are frequently used with.
Nimbu-paani -> nimbu-jal* Ganga-jal -> ganga-paani*
Idiosyncratic property of individual words:
‘pretty’ girl/woman/colour ‘handsome’ boy/man/car
‘sundar’ ladki ‘sudarshan’ ladka