Language diversity Flashcards
Language and Social Class
Peter Trudgill: class is a greater determiner than gender, study in Norwich found higher classes tend to use the standard -ing suffix, whilst those of lower class use -in suffix
Malcom Petyt, Bradford: studied use of h-dropping in social classes, found that those of lower working class would use h-dropping at every point, whilst the upper middle class would only use it 1 in 10 times.
Unni Berland: working class teens use ‘innit’ more then middle class teens
Language and Age
Anna-Brita Stenstrom: found teen language included irregular turn-taking, overlaps, indistinct articulation, word-shortening, teasing, name-calling, verbal duelling, slang, taboo, language mixing.
Christopher Odato (2013) • Found children as young as four-years-old use ‘like’. • Also collected evidence that younger children copy the language of those older than them.
Kevin Watson: younger people use more dental fricative sounds within their scouse accents to make it more prevalent to show their identity.
COUNTER:Penelope Eckert (1998) argues that there are different ways of defining the concept of age:
• Chronological (number of years since birth)
• biological age (physical maturity)
• Social age (linked to life events such as marriage and children). Would the language of a single 20-year-old woman be the same as a married 20-year-old woman with 2 children?
2003 study: Slang used by teens to establish youth culture and identity. Rising intonation and multiple negation common, but not all teenagers speak alike
Language and social group
Emma Moore: studied Bolton high school and found that social groups decided language more then gender, different groups such as the Eden valley girls would speak differently to other groups outside their social group.
Penelope Ekert: Jocks and Burnouts
Jocks:The Jocks used a significantly higher proportion of the standard form. Their vowels were conservative and their grammatical constructions were practically all standard
Burnouts:The Burnouts were focused on the local surroundings and so used the Detroit vowels more severely. They also used significantly more negative concord.
Language and identity
Kevin Watson: younger people use more dental fricative sounds within their scouse accents to make it more prevalent to show their identity.
Joanna Thornborrow (2004) “One of the most fundamental ways we have of establishing our identity, and of shaping others’ views of who we are, is through our use of language”
Valentina and Halencik: Participants stated that there was a certain femininity in the voice of the homosexual men, such as elongated /l/ vowel (/l:/) sound in words like ‘towel’. Use more feminine pronunciation to further present their identity as a member of LGBTQ+
Language and location
Malcom Petyt, Bradford: studied use of h-dropping in social classes, found that those of lower working class would use h-dropping at every point, whilst the upper middle class would only use it 1 in 10 times. Location has a further impact on language to the lower classes
Kevin Watson: younger people use more dental fricative sounds within their scouse accents to make it more prevalent to show their identity.
Cambridge,Bern and Zurich university study:found dialect leveling occurring, concrete noun splinter had several regional variations: spelk, spool, speel- now splinter is the most universal and common
Language and occupation
John Swales (1990) - Swales discourse community:
· Have a shared set of common goals
· Communicate internally, using one or more mechanisms and genres of communication
· Use specialist vocabulary and discourse primarily to provide information and feedback
· Have a required level of knowledge and expertise to be considered eligible to participate in the community.
O’Leary: professional facilitators such as teachers, doctors, TV/Radio hosts use more tag questions.
Standard English
William Labov: research into store clerks use of post vocalic /r/ in NYC- standard English far more prevalent in higher end stores
Giles (1970) reported a very clear pattern of evaluation of the different accent labels: ‘standard English accent’ received the highest ratings for prestige and pleasantness, while various non-standard urban vernaculars (Liverpool, Cockney, Birmingham) were rated lowest.
