SOCIOLECTS THAT CREATE INDIVIDUAL SPEECH IN LITERARY DISCOURSE

Abstract

This article explores how sociolects function as resources for crafting individual speech in literary discourse, focusing on the ways writers stylize social voices to build character identity, world-building, and narrative realism. Drawing on sociolinguistics and discourse analysis, the study conceptualizes sociolects as indexical repertoires that invoke social personae, positions, and communities of practice within fictional worlds. We integrate corpus-assisted stylistics with qualitative micro-analysis to examine markers such as lexicon, morphosyntax, represented phonology, code-switching, and jargon. Results show that authors strategically orchestrate sociolectal cues to differentiate idiolects, manage stance, and produce heteroglossic textures that guide reader inference. The discussion situates these findings within current debates on stylization, indexicality, and critical discourse analysis, arguing that sociolectal representation both reflects and reshapes social stratification, authenticity norms, and language ideologies. The article concludes with implications for literary linguistics, translation, and pedagogy, advocating transparent, reflexive approaches to sociolectal portrayal that balance aesthetic aims with ethical responsibility.