1 - Language variation & change an introduction to sociolinguistics Flashcards

Question

over-report and under-report def

Answer 1

Over-report : : they say they use standard forms more than they actually do (they say they ‘speak better ’ than they actually do). Under-report : they say they use nonstandard forms more than they actually do (they say they speak ‘worse’ than they actually do).

Answer 2

overt prestige : tend to produce more standard forms: covert prestige : tend to use more non-standard forms

Answer 3

Middle class women Working class men

Answer 4

Instances of Contemporary Palatalisation (ICP’s) are new manifestations of the palato-alveolar fricatives and affricates /ʃ, ʒ, tʃ, dʒ/ in phonetic environments and lexical items in which they didn’t appear until recently. ( /ʃ/ = SEAN, /ʒ/ = GENRE, /tʃ/ = CHIP, /dʒ/ = JOHN) → variants mostly associated with younger speakers → often deemed ‘incorrect’ by conservative speakers. → sometimes considered ‘nonstandard’ by linguists

Answer 5

the continuation of a long, historic process whereby /ʃ, ʒ, tʃ, dʒ/ (palato-alveolars) have been developing and spreading in the English language. * A particular form of language change that started in Old English and that still seems to be in progress.

Answer 6

Age and French pronunciations For the majority of speakers between 40 and 50, and for virtually all the speakers under the age of 40, the phonemes /ɛ̃/ and /oẽ/ have merged, yielding /ɛ̃/. Brun and brin are therefore homophones.

Answer 7

These nonstandard pronunciations: a way for some people to indicate their solidarity with the island, to ‘move back in time’ to a period with less tourism. * Standard pronunciations: mostly associated with people who wanted to leave the island and become part of mainland Massachussets. => nonstandard pronunciations : markers of identity => In Martha’s Vineyard: a change from below. Sometimes speakers may adopt nonstandard features knowingly.

Answer 8

1. Indicators have no social significance. (Ex: John: British English /dʒɒn/, US English /dʒɔːn/ or /dʒɑːn/) 2. Markers have social significance.’ : the ‘harbingers’ of language change (Mc Worther, 2008) : they can indicate or foreshadow what is to come.

Answer 9

proposes an interactional perspective that takes into account the construction of social identities through the formation of social communicative styles. * → acts of identity

Answer 10

++ circles : socioeconomic class, gender, race, exceptionality, rleigion, language, sexual orientation.. multi-parameter analysis is a better reflection of people’s social identity We are complex, multi-faceted individuals who belong to several groups/communities/networks at the same time.

Answer 11

= moving back and forth between two langages. = 1 manifestation of belonging to several groups

Answer 12

1) William Labov initiated the first wave of quantitative studies  examine the relation between linguistic variability and major demographic categories (class, age, sex class, ethnicity). ==> establish the big picture of the social spread of change 2) second wave of variation studies employs ethnographic methods to seek out the relation between variation and local, participant-designed categories and configurations. => give local meaning to the more abstract demographic categories outlined in the first wave. → Jocks and Burnouts (1989), 3) Building on the findings of the First and Second Waves of variation studies, the Third Wave focuses on the social meaning of variables. => It views styles, rather than variables, as directly associated with identity categories, and explores the contributions of variables to styles. => In shifting the focus from dialects to styles, it shifts the focus from speaker categories to the construction of personae. => Finally, it examines variation as part of the wider performative system of language and its meaning as part of the wider meaning system. →  Gay doctor vs. gay diva.

Answer 13

she examined how the social practices in high school affect the degree to which students pick up new linguistic variants. → the social categories relevant in high school were much different from those relevant in early childhood or in adulthood. ♦ ‘Jocks’: upper half of the local socioeconomic continuum, constituted a middle-class, corporate culture, were college bound, and based their social lives in the institution of school and its extracurricular sphere. ♦ ‘Burnouts’, predominantly from the lower end of the local socioeconomic continuum, constituted a workingclass culture, were workplace bound, oriented to the local conurbation and the urban periphery in particular, and were alienated from the school institution. The Jocks’ and Burnouts’ differences were deeply ideological, and they maintained a mutual distinction using whatever means were at their disposal, many of which indexed urban versus institutional identities and practices—clothing, makeup, territory, activities, consumption patterns, and language. → Different vowels for DRESS /e/, STRUT /ʌ/ and PRICE /aɪ /.

Answer 14

Economy Expressiveness Analogy

Answer 15

= the principle of Least Effort * Tendency for human beings to be ‘lazy’: to reduce articulatory efforts as much as possible. → assimilation (* Ex: I do not know > I ‘dunno’) → apocope = abbreviation (automobile >auto)

Answer 16

to be more expressive Today  aujourd’hui = the day of today ou ne pas : je ne marche pas

Answer 17

weakening of consonants pater → father /θ/ → /ð/ = lenition (other pretty regular sound change)

Answer 18

The mind is constantly on the lookout for any signs of recurrent patterns, because the more regularity it can recognize, the easier its task of coping with the mass of linguistic detail it has to absorb. When the mind picks out a recurrent pattern, it naturally tries to extend it to whatever seems to fit French, then English : une orange, an orange, with a phonetic [n] * Decomposed as une/orange ; an/orange through a process of analogy. * Otherwise we’d have *a norange in English today. OU * All new French verbs are first-group verbs. Ex. tisser : the root is tiss- , from old French tisre, tist

Answer 19

♦ Grammaticalization → English : front / back (n.) → front / back (prépositions) ♦ misperception = error in perception

Answer 20

Latin → French (Old french, contemporary french) → Spanish → Italian

Answer 21

The wave model contact between varieties and between languages Middle English had lost Old English case. * In a way, Middle English was simplified. * Some linguists (McWhorter 2004, Crystal 2003 …): the influence of the Vikings (raids and invasion of England from the end of the 8th century). * The Vikings mingled very well = inter-marriages. * The Vikings learned Old English as a pidgin Children born from these marriages re-complexified the language which became a creole

Answer 22

(a simplified language, with no native speakers, that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common).

Answer 23

(a pidgin that has native speakers).

Answer 24

* External factors: contact and borrowings between languages. * 1066: England was invaded by the French (the Normans) * French became the official language of the higher classes, of Court, for more than 200 years. * French was the language of the Court, the governent, the law, the Church, the Army and Navy, fashion, meals, social life, art, education and medecine. sheep vs. mutton => situation of DIGLOSSIA French: the H language (the ‘high’ language, the prestige language). English: the L language (the ‘low’ language, the vernacular).

Answer 25

 Some innovations are ‘born’ but never get past the stage of variation.  Other innovations become the preferred variants → change.  Prestige for a group / for certain individuals.  Overt and covert prestige & acts of identity. (imitation, accomodation, social networks)

Answer 26

‘[The innovation] will spread only if it is imitated. It will be imitated only if it is felt to be in some sense admirable and worthy of imitation. This will happen only if the speakers who use it are perceived as setting the fashion

Answer 27

Social Change

Answer 28

 Accommodation implies a convergence between the linguistic features of interlocutors that are interacting.  The speaker alters his/her speech in order to make it closer to that of the interlocutor in order to get some sort of social recognition from the interlocutor.

Answer 29

 Individuals are multi-faceted and can belong to several networks at the same time.  Some communities are characterized by strong social links, few social changes, little contact with other communities and few linguistic innovations but intense social contact within them  dense communication networks. Communities with ‘weak’ social are newer communities. → Internal contact is less common. → There is considerable social change. => Loose communication network.

Answer 30

SN1 : Dense, few social changes, not much contact with other networks, intense internal contact SN2 : Loose, new community, social changes, not much internal contact, regular contact with other networks Agents of change = au milieu des 2

Answer 31

 Following communication and interaction → ‘re-negotiation’ of linguistic norms C’est ainsi que, par la conjugaison de facteurs sociaux, communicationnels et cognitifs, les normes statistiques deviennent des normes systémiques. « Une dynamique dans la synchronie » (AMH) : pourquoi ça change → une proposition pour expliquer l’activation du changement linguistique

Answer 32

The actuation of change * Smith’s model accounts for the diffusion of change into the community. There has to be an interaction between extra- and intralinguistic factors at a particular time for a particular change to occur and then to diffuse into the community. * The reason why some innovations catch on in the community is often related to social considerations. * The evolution may even originate in major historical events or ideological changes (Labov 2010: 44). * Ex : Viking invasion, Norman invasion + the resulting changes in society : quite obvious

Answer 33

Decades following World War Two: significant social changes in Britain. * Following the war: a general consensus that pre-war social inequalities were unacceptable * In the wake of the Beveridge report (1942), the Labour government implemented social reforms (a national commitment to reform, Speck 1993) * Beveridge had identified five ‘giant evils’:

Answer 34

1944: Education Act « the Butler Act » (a Conservative: consensus) * Before: secondary education wasn’t compulsory & wasn’t free * There was no Education Minister => All that changed with the 1944 Eucation Act => All Local Education Authorities had to provide free education to all children above 11 => 1944 – 1966: the number of universities doubled; universities became accessible to students from all socio-economic backgrounds. Democratisation of the educational system → Hannisdal (2006: 15) makes a link between this socio-historical context and the decline of RP => Professional and academic careers became open to people from the lower social strata: non-RP speakers. Possible to be educated and not be an RP speaker. ♦ 1970, Gimson (1970 : 18-19) noted ‘a rejection of the accent of the “Establishment”, i.e. RP’.COntexte of a more liberal ideology => Such social and historical factors are highly favourable to the actuation of linguistic change within the framework of cognitive linguistics. => ‘Cognitivists posit an intimate, dialectic relationship between the structure and function of language on the one hand, and nonlinguistic skills and knowledge on the other.’

Answer 35

The decline of RP as a sort of international standard after World War Two extended far beyond Europe at a time when Britain lost its Empire. * In the USA, some sort of international English based on RP served as a model in high society ‘r-less pronunciation, as a characteristic of British Received Pronunciation, was also taught as a model of correct, international English by schools of speech, acting, and elocution in the United States up to the end of World War II. It was the standard model for most radio announcers and used as a high prestige form by Franklin Roosevelt’ The art of oratory has long been part and parcel of American culture => the 20th century witnessed a gradual shift from formal and written-based types of public speaking to speeches that became more informal and much closer to real spoken English. This was part of a more general change. Possible: in shifting away from written-based, overarticulated speeches, modern speechmaking has participated in an overall change favourable to processes of phonetic reduction based on coarticulation and hypoarticulation, such as ICPs

Answer 36

In both the USA and Britain, the 1945-1970 period witnessed a radical change in speaking standards. Those innovations were triggered by social and ideological changes. → Incrementation Through successive generations, children develop linguistic changes to a higher level of evolution Parents : initiated the change after WW2 Their children took it to a higher level of evolution in 1960s- 1970s. Associated with the very liberal ideology that was prevalent in the late 1960s & in the 1970s * Increasing contact between varieties of English * A number of recent studies have shown some degree of levelling of accents in Britain. * ‘the product of social and demographic changes’ (Hannisdal 2006) * Consonant systems of British English varieties seem to be converging

Answer 37

1) Glocalization 2) 2/ For the first time in history, there are more L2 than L1 speakers of English. This is bound to have an influence. Already, there’s a tendency to regularize plurals such as advices*, luggages*, informations*.