Diversity Part 2 165-179

Question 1

Geordie accent

Answer 1

Seen as soothing, friendly, unchallenging, honest and relaxed

Question 2

Yorkshire

Answer 2

Reassuring and trustworthy

Question 3

Alternative factors to the way we speak, besides geography

Answer 3

Age
Gender
Occupation

Question 4

Gary Ives

Answer 4

Carried out a survey in a Secondary School located in West Yorkshire, 63 teens of various ages were asked, ‘do you think people of different ages speak differently.’ 100 & replied yes.

Question 5

Penelope Eckert (1998)

Answer 5

Argues that there are different ways of defining the concept of age
Chronological Order (Number of years since birth)
Biological Order (Physical Maturity)
Social Age (Linked to life events such as marriage and having children)

Question 6

Anna-Brita Stenstrom

Answer 6

Discusses a range of features that she claims are common in teenage talk:

Irregular turn-taking

Overlaps

Indistinct Articulation

Word shortenings

Teasing and name calling

Verbal dueling (when teenagers try to outdo
each other)

Slang

Taboo

Language mixing - using language from other cultures

Question 7

Igancia Palacios Martinez (2011)

Answer 7

In spoken English, teenagers use negative more frequently that adults do. Roughly 1/3 of these negatives occurred in orders, suggestions and refusals, making the argument that teenagers are more direct in their speech

Question 8

Unni Berland (1997)

Answer 8

Findings of different groups of teenagers concluded that social class was also an important factor: ‘innit’ was more common among the working class teenagers while ‘yeah’ was used by more middle class group

Question 9

Anita Strenstrom, Gisle Anderson and Ingrid Kristine Hasund (2002)

Answer 9

Largely focus on the speech of 14-16 year olds in London, the researchers found that common features included; multiple negation, use of ‘ain’t’, ellipsis of auxiliary verbs, non-standard pronouns

Question 10

Christopher V. Odato (2013)

Answer 10

Carried out research on the use of ‘like’ in children’s speech. While you may consider this to be part of teen sociolect, Odato found that children as young as 4 were using ‘like’, Odato identified three stages in the use of ‘like’ as a discourse marker

Stage 1 - Children use ‘like’ infrequently and in ‘only a few syntactic positions’ mainly at the beginning of a clause: ‘like you won easily’

Stage 2 - Children uses ‘like’ more often and in ‘a greater number of positions ‘ Girls tended to move to this stage aged 5, boys when they were 7

Stage 3 - Children now use it more frequently in other positions, such as before a prepositional phrase: ‘Look at how yours landed like right on the target.’ Again, girls moved to this stage at an earlier age than boys

Question 11

UK Teacher Training Authority (2005)

Answer 11

Celebrated teenspeak when recruiting more teachers.

Question 12

Influential factors to Teenspeak (Written and Spoken)

Answer 12

Yours peers and the need to feel part of a group

Technology

Adults - either copying adult speech or diverging from adult speech

Zimmerman Argues:

The media and the press

New means of communication

Music

Street art and graffiti

Question 13

Vivian de Klerk (2005)

Answer 13

Young people have the freedom to ‘challenge linguistic norms’

They ‘seek to establish new identities’

The patterns of speech previously modelled on the speech of adults are ‘slowly eroded by the patterns of speech’ by their peer group

They need to be seen as ‘modern … cool, fashionable [and] up to date

They need to establish themselves as ‘different’

THey need to belong to a group whose ‘habits … are different from their parents, other adults and other young people’ distinguishing themselves as members of a distinctive social group

Question 14

Gender representation

Answer 14

Refers to how the image of men and women are portrayed and constructed.

Question 15

Jespersen’s Language: Its Nature, Development and Origin (1922)

Answer 15

Some features of language were used exclusively by males

Some features of language were used exclusively by females (and never by males) - there are clear links here to masculinity

Language use was clearly linked to maintaining an identity

Question 16

Robin Lakoff (1975)

Answer 16

Had undeniable influence of language and gender.

1. Hedges - Phrases like ‘sort of’, ‘kind of’, ‘it seems like’
2. Empty adjectives ‘divine’ ‘adorable’ ‘gorgeous’
3. Super-polite forms: ‘Would you mind…’ ‘is it okay if…’
4. Apologize more ‘I’m sorry, but I think that..’
5. Speak less frequently
6. Avoid coarse language or expletives
7. Tag questions - ‘You don’t mind eating this do you?’
8. Hyper-correct grammar and pronunciation - Use of prestige grammar and clear articulation
9. Indirect requests - ‘I’m so thirsty’ - really asking for a drink
10. Speak in italics - Use tone to emphasis certain words, e.g, ‘so’ ‘very’ ‘quite’

Question 17

Jenny Cheshire (1982)

Answer 17

Looked at certain grammatical variations in the speech of young children
Boys used the non-standard forms more frequently than girls did. Cheshire concluded that ‘variations is controlled by social and linguistic factors. In boys’ speech, variation is governed by norms that are central to the vernacular culture, and are transmitted through the peer group. Variation in the girl’s speech appears to be a more personal process and less rigidly controlled by vernacular norms.

Question 18

Pamela Fishman (1983) - The dominance model

Answer 18

She carefully listened to 52 hours of pre-recorded conversations between young American couples.
She agreed that Tag-question were used more by women, however she argued that women use tag questions to extend the conversation and start conversations which gives them conversational power.
Coining the term ‘conversational shitwork’
But also comments on how due to Male dominance and reluctance to do the the ‘shitwork’ because of what they perceive to be their dominant role

Question 19

Deborah Tannen (1990)

Answer 19

An advocate for the difference model, affirming that men and women do speak differently.
1. Status vs Support
2. Independence vs Intimacy
3. Advice vs Understanding
4. Information vs Feelings
5. Orders vs Proposals
6. Conflict vs Compromise

Question 20

Jennifer Coates (1989)

Answer 20

Coates argues that girls and boys tend to belong to same-sex friendship groups when growing up and subsequently develop different styles of speaking

Coates theorizes that female language is cooperative in single-sex conversations. She views tag questions and modality as characteristics that help to make women’s talk supportive and cooperative

Question 21

Jane Pilkington (1992)

Answer 21

Pilkington found that women in same sex conversation were collaborative and used positive politeness strategies. She found that men in same sex talk were a lot less collaborative, less complimentary and less supportive than women

Question 22

Deborah Cameron (2008)

Answer 22

Has criticized the idea that there are innate differences in male and female speech.
She argues ‘The idea that men and women…. use language in very different ways and for very different reasons is one of the great myths of our time.’