Sociolect & Occupation: Theorists Flashcards

Accommodation Theory

Giles: Speakers adjust their speech to accommodate the other people in the conversation.

Prestige

Labov: Overt is associated with observing perceived social norms and behaving in a socially desirable manner, whereas covert derivies from behaviour that goes against perceived social normals and conventions.

Restricted & Elaborated Code

Bernstein: Restricted is the high sociolectal variety used when the audience shares similar interests and expectations, whereas elaborated is the idiolectal variety unconcerned with group attributes; expansive vocabulary.

Social Network Theory

Milroy: Says networks are either closed, where speakers communicate with other in-group members regularly but little from any other groups, or open where in-group seakers communicate with the out-group and don’t speak or know many other members of the in-group.

Anti-Languages

Halliday: extremes sociolects used by groups in marginal positions in scoeity, especially where activites of the group place them outside of the law.

Lexical Classification Of Sociolect

Coleman: slang is short, often colloquial lexis used by the in-group, jaron is professional and official lexis allowing for precision, and cant is lexis used to obscure meaning from the out-group, usually with criminal intent.

Teenage Talk

Strenstrom: Teenage language is found through irregular turn-taking, indistinct articulation, word shortening, verbal duelling, slang, taboo and language mixing - done to feel included with other teens.

Language & Adolescent Peer Groups

Eckert: Teenage language is found through use of ‘like’ and ‘okay’, rising intonation and multiple negation in their speech - done to push away older generations.

Audience Design Theory

Bell: A speaker uses language to take audiences into account.

• Addresses are ratified (allowed to listen) and are directly addressed.

• Auditors are ratified but are not directly addressed.

• Overhearers are non-ratified and are detectable.

• Eavesdroppers are non-ratified and are non-detectable.

• Referees are non-audience members that the speaker tries to identify.

Social Identity Theory

Tajfel & Turner: When an in-group becomes salient, people in that in-group emphasize characteristics of their group, including sociolect usage.

Institutional Talk At Work

Drew & Heritage: Institutional talk has goal orientation, turn-taking rules or restrictions, allowable contributions, professional lexis, structure and asymmetry.

Politeness In The Workplace

Holmes & Stubbe: Suggested that a great deal of workplace talk is embedded in social and organisation context, co-workers take things for granted such as shared assumpions and common jargon.

Institutional Power Imbalances

Habermas: Language is a medium of domination and social force, serving to legitimize relations of organized power.

Communities Of Practice

Wenger: Workplace groups that regularly engage with each other in the service of a joint enterprise, and who share a repertoire of resources which enables them to communicate in a verbal shorthand which is difficult for outsiders to penetrate.

Officialese And Enlistic Language Varieties

Levy: High variety is formal, includes levels of jargon, euphemistic and is taught, low that is more emotional and colloquial, and is picked up.

Patient-Doctor Discourse

Ong Et Al: Interaction between individuals in non-equal positions non-voluntary, concerning vital importance, emotional, requires close co-operation.

Doctor-Patient Discourse Structure

Paul Ten Have: Follows a specific structure:

• Preliminary sequences.

• Patient’s problems presentations.

• Questionings.

• Physical examinations.

• Diagnosis.

• Treatment.

• Leave-Talking.

Doctor-Patient Interference

Shuy: doctor-patient communication will fail if there is clear jargon difference, cross-cultural differences (such as different terminology or medical beliefs) and the discourse structure.

Diglossic Communities

Ferguson: Two varities of language exist together in a community, each with a role to play.

Teacher Language

Fillmore & Snow: Must use language for maximum clarity, must have stratergies for understanding what students are saying, teachers assume there is something wrong with students if they use the wrong language, and teachers play a strong role in the development of student’s language.