Cours 4 : Language attitude

Question 1

language attitude

Answer 1

it’s the way people assess language variation to other people

people change their dialect and use language either to fit in or differentiate themselves from other people

Question 2

attitudes towards language in communities

Answer 2

linguistic groups correspond to social groups

> when you want to reinforce the positive of your group, you tend to associate the positive connotations of your group
there is also a tendency for groups to judge other groups

Question 3

examples of language attitudes

Answer 3

slurs : language varieties have a social status, because they are loaded with emotional social values
> you use a slur either to claim membership to a community or to distance yourself from it

prestige : something that has prestige is positively socially evaluated

Norwegian attitude : in order to exist as a nation state, they had to have a linguistic existence, so they turned vernaculars into standards
> Bokmal : dialect of the upper-class, national newspapers
> Nynorks : dialect of the rural class, local rural newspapers
> 1938 : new policy to have a “folk language” that failed

Question 4

measuring language attitudes

Answer 4

matched guise technique : record the same person sayinf both varieties, so that the variety used is the ONLY variant in the test

evaluating attitudes (= semantic differential) : the way we speak tells how intelligent, friendly, educated, competent we are and what our socio-economic background is (doesn’t mean anything)

Question 5

Standard English and its prestige in England

Answer 5

Standard English : autonomous standardised variety with its associated non-standard dependent varieties.

the stages of standardisation are determination, codification and stabilisation

but Standard English is NOT :
> a register
> a style
> a language in itself
> an accent
> not part of a dialect continuum