Research which suggests that who you want to be associated with has a role (social groups/communities of practise)

Labov overt and covert prestige

Overt prestige: when you change your voice to sound more like the standard - you are seeking overt prestige.

Covert prestige: when you move your speech away from the standard - you are seeking covert prestige.

Moore - Eden Valley Girls 2010

4 groups of girls at school - Populars, Geeks, Eden Valley Girls and Townies.

Looked at use of standard and non standard english dialect (was/were).

Conclusion: Eden Valley Girls - all higher class- all spoke with standard dialect. Class correlates with dialect. and Geeks- the 4 lower class girls- spoke with non standard.

Populars - rebellious at school - higher class girls used non standard dialect most. Was mixed for other girls. communities of practise influence dialect.

Eckert- Jocks and Burnouts 1989

Ethnographic research in Detroit. Observed and recorded a group of people in situ. Two distinct groups/communities of practise - not related to class. ‘Jocks’ engaged with school, respected authority and used standard dialect. ‘Burnouts’ less socially acceptable behaviour, rebellious and used less standard dialect. Language used at school does not correlate to class but more to communities of practice.

Jenny Cheshire- Reading teens 1982

Studied non standard forms of speech in teens. Took place in playgrounds in ‘troubled’ areas. Average use of non standard dialect in causal speech was 55%, dropped to 25% in presence of teachers. Girls conformed more to standard English in formal situations while boys less likely to change speech.

Giles - Accommodation Theory and George Osborne talking to Morrison workers 2013

Convergence- move towards- and divergence- move away- from others. Osborne adopts a ‘mockney’ accentwhen speaking to Morrison workers - to converge- while adopting a RP accent in house of lords. Political tactics to win over voters.

Suzie Dent Tribes

‘our lingo is our identity.. private languages are a loud marker of who we are or want to be and where we fit (or don’t fit) in society.

Drummond - role of grime music in PRU 2018

Method: studied pupils, mixed gender, at a referral unit in Manchester. Looked at pronunciation of ‘th’. Rap and ‘urban’ culture e.g grime music, used ‘t’ instead of ‘th’. The pupils did use ‘t’. Sign of MLE- makes them seem ‘rebellious’ and ‘tough’ . MLE used as covert prestige.

Labov- Martha’s Vineyard 1963

3 groups: fishermen, those of European descent and Portuguese. large scale tourism made accent stronger- resent/reject tourists so diverging from them. fishermen and younger people did centralisation most - part of identity. People who want to stay on island used centralisation to sound loyal. pronunciation and sense of belonging go together. Older generation not fully integrated with the island used centralisation less.