Sociolinguistic Patterns in an Unstratified Society: the Patrilects of Kugu Nganhcara

Abstract

Considerable sociolinguistic work has been carried out in socially stratified literate societies, where social organization is typically reflected in language by sociolectal stratification oriented towards a standard. Unstratified societies are therefore interesting as potential sources of new types of sociolinguistic data and as testing grounds for sociolinguistic theory and techniques of analysis. Here different principles of social and linguistic organization are found; in particular the lack of an "upper" group means that there is no upper lect to exert a gravitational influence on linguistic organization. This paper reports on the linguistic correlates of social organization among the Nganhcara (Cape York Peninsula, Australia). The Nganhcara are organized into unstratified, generally exogamous, patrilineal clans (PATRICLANS). Actual land-using groups, however, consist of individuals from several different clans. Patrician membership is marked by, among other things, language. Each patrician is associated with a clan-lect, or PATRILECT in our terminology. The patrilects share a common syntax and are differentiated primarily at the lexical level; a few phonological and morphological differences are also found. Despite the linguistic diversity of the land-using groups, children growing up in them identify with and learn their father’s patrilect. Most speakers are receptively multi-lectal. There is considerable community agreement as to which features belong to which patrilect. Thus the patrilects are a sociolinguistic as well as a linguistic reality. Nganhcara patrilects differ from traditional sociolects in their lack of stratification and their clear boundaries. Although the patricians are associated with the particular lands they own, patrilects are not geographical dialects in either origin or current distribution. A comparison with the sociolinguistic situation in heshatshiu Montagnais (Clarke 1984, 1985) leads to the conclusion that the degree and type of differentiation among the Nganhcara patrilects are attributable to the social importance of the groups they mark and to the linguistically complex environment in which acquisition takes place.