Social groups + class theorists
Studied by 1 person
Learn
Practice Test
Spaced Repetition
Match
Flashcards1/14
Name | Mastery | Learn | Test | Matching | Spaced |
|---|
No study sessions yet.
15 Terms
What did she research:
Whether Labov was correct in saying people’s demographic qualities (Age, Race, Gender, Class) has the biggest effect on language use.
\
Method: Observed two major groups in a school in Detroit. Observing a community closely is called Ethnography. The two groups were the “Jocks” who enjoyed school and the “Burnouts” who rebelled. Both groups had a mix of social class.
\
Findings: People tend to speak more like the people they spend time with than people of the same demographic category.
The use of the dipthong sound (long vowel sounds like aw and ay) such as in “mouse and mice” on Martha’s Vineyard, an American island on the east coast that had many despised tourists.
\
Method: He interviewed people from different ages and ethnic groups on the island.
\
Findings: Younger speakers (31-45) were using non standard language associated with the Chillmark fishermen locals.
They were viewed as courageous and strong, “Good old Yankee virtues” in comparison to tourists. They wanted to associate themselves with the fisherman and separate themselves from the tourists and mainland.
The use of h dropping in northern English accents
\
Method: Measured the frequency of H Dropping by people from different social classes (Middle and Working Class) not upper
\
Findings: Upper middle class h dropped 12% of the time.
Lower working class h dropped 93% of the time.
As people move up the social class scale they would modify speech to sound RP. Would also hypercorrect vowel sounds, for example using the /uh/ sound for cushion instead of incorrect /u/
How peers affected spoken grammar. She believed the higher the social class the more nonstandard forms would be used.
\
Method: Observed 3 groups in 2 playgrounds in schools from Reading. Recorded how often they used 11 nonstandard forms.
She created her own concept of social class by establishing two groups. A, who disapproved of criminal activities and B, who approved. A were considered middle class and B were considered working class. (Stereotypical, reduces validity)
\
Results: Both classes used nonstandard language, but the nonstandard “come” was used 60% more by group B. Group A used the nonstandard “what” 28% more than B but it was used infrequently by both groups.
\
Suggests younger language users are more varied in their language.
How social class affected how people spoke. He believed that the higher the social class the “rhotic r” - which is when the r is pronounced in words such as “car” would be used more as it had social prestige in New York.
\
Method: He studied three department stores, one which was top price, (Upper class) one which was middle price (Middle class) and one which was lower price (working class). A shop worker was asked a question which would make them respond “fourth floor” to see if they used the rhotic r. They would be asked to repeat it to see if they spoke differently when they were more aware of how they were speaking.
\
Results: The rhotic r was used most in the upper class shop and least in the working class shop. The middle class shop was more likely to change when asked again.
Method: Took 50 hours of recorded speech from 20 children from both a working class and middle class school.
\
Found that they would use it to exaggerate or be mocking and funny.
Peter Trudgill (1974) Norwich
What did he research: Differences in how working class and middle class people speak the velar ŋ sound (ng)
Method: Used a categorizing table based on the “head” of the household, basing it on the husband or father
Found that the alveolar /n/ was more likely to be in working class speech “runnin” “nothin”
The restricted code means context based, limited forms of language
The elaborate code means context free, unlimited forms of language
Method: Showed pictures to working class and middle class students and asked them to describe what was happening
Found that the working class students spoke as if the researcher was with them. The middle class students spoke as if the researcher wasn’t there
He believed this was because middle class students were more aware that this was an assessment
Nick Coupland (1984)
Compared a travel agent worker’s speech with that of her clients
Result: The sales assistant altered her accent to match the speaker, for example when she addressed speakers of a lower socioeconomic class, her speech shifted towards less standard phonological variants.
Concluded that the travel agent worker’s speech was as good of an indicator of the client’s social class as their own speech
Gary Ives (2000)
Did a secondary school questionnaire in West Yorkshire, asked 63 teenagers whether they thought people speak differently depending on their age. 100% said yes. There was an assumption that language becomes more standard when we get older
What did Penelope Eckhert say about teenagers in 2003?
She said “slang is used to establish a connection to youth culture…to signal coolness, toughness, or attitude.”
“Linguistic change is far more common in teenagers, for example the coining of new lexical terms”
Vivian de Klerk
Young people seek to “challenge linguistic norms” and want to look “cool.” However not all teenagers are alike.
Christopher Odato (2013)
Children as young as four use “like.” Also found that children copy the language of those older than them.
Stenstrom
Features of teen talk include irregular turn taking, taboo language and slang