„Bloga“ kalba ir sociolingvistinė kompetencija

Abstract

In the traditional view of language normativism, each variety of language that does not correspond to the ideal standard is viewed as “bad”, particularly in the case of media language. However, a sociolinguistic approach to language stresses the point that neither language varieties nor speakers should be judged as better or worse. The main question that we should be concerned with is the communicative and sociolinguistic competence of the speaker. The article offers a discussion of a case study dealing with the language used by a well known Lithuanian TV journalist who, for his digression from standard norms, is highly criticised as a bad speaker. In contrast to this view, the article shows that in fact the journalist’s ability to move from one register to another on the formal-informal scale while communicating with his interlocutors on different TV and radio programmes is reflected in the language he uses; moreover, this skill is seen as one of the main indicators of his sociolinguistic competence. The analysis demonstrates how the journalist adapts his speech in accordance with the needs of the audience and the interlocutors depending on the genre of the programme.