sociolinguistics

principle of accountability (Labov 1972)

any variable form should be reported with the proportion of cases in which the form did occur in the relevant environent, compared to the total number of cases in which it might have occurred

real time language study

• examine language at 2 or more different points in time

• 2 types - panel studies + trend studies

apparent time language study

examines language rom different age groups at the same point in time

panel study

• data gathered from same informants at differentpoints in time

trend study

data gathered from a sample of the population at different points in time

example of combined panel and trend study

• G. Sankoff and Blondeau (2007)

• the panel had 32 speakers (1971 - 1984)

• investigating the use of [R] vs. [r] - uvular trill

• higher % in younger participants

• 77.8% - young panel, 92.5% - young trend samples

• 50.7% - old panel, 74.9% - old trend samples

• becoming more frequent over time

adv. vs. disadvan. panel studies

• allows investigation of individual variation and lifespan change!! yay

• takes several vears to collect data

• speakers dropping out

adv. vs. disadvan. trend studies

• no need to rely on same speakers - easier to collect data

• if a community changes between point A and B, results will be affected

how do researcers measure how a change may have progressed in an apparent time study?

look at people of diff. ages at the same point in time

what is the apparent time hypothesis?

• Milroy and Gordon 2003

• apparent time analyses make an assumption ‘that an individual's speech remain stable throughout life’

• Tagliamonte and D'Arcy 2009:

• with the apparent time approach ‘generational differences are compared at a single point and are used to make inferences about how a change may have taken place in the (recent) past'

apparent time study example

• Chambers 1995

• use of couch and chesterfeild by age groups

• younger speakers hardly use chesterfeild and prefer couch - opposite for old ppl

apparent time study example Labov

• 1963 Martha's Vineyard!!!

• 7/8 people on the island at the time of this study were visitors

• studying PRICE and MOUTH vowels - islanders pronounced differently they were raised centralised vowels

• developed a scale from 0-3 based on how centralised the element was

• increase of centralisation over time and a peak among 31-45 year olds

• speakers w/ highst centralisation for (ay) are all fishermen aged 33-60 - wanting to be an authentic islander and separate yourself
  
  

Boberg on the apparent time hypothesis

• 2010

• the assumption that an individual's speech remains stable throughout life is assumed to be ‘largely valid for phonology and syntax', though less so for lexis

age grading wagner

• ‘the fixed association of a variant of a diachronically stable variable w/ certain portions of the life span, such as adolescence or old age' (Wagner 2012 based on Cheshire 2006 & Sankoff 2005)

age grading

• change NOT at the community level but at the individual level

• e.g. middle-aged speakers = generally more involved in the linguistic marketplace where this is increased ‘importance of legitimized language in the socioeconomic life of the speaker' (D. sankoff and Laberge 1978)

Age-grading example

• Chambers (2013)

• replcement of what he terms “nursery” words like mummy with other lexical alternatives

• happens generation after generation

• the nursery words are not becoming any more/less frequent in the community overall

• individal linguistic variation but stability in the community overall

the Uniformitarian Principle

linguistic processes observable today were applicable in the past

Labov (1990) - principl 1 of linguistic change

stable sociolinguistic variables: women use the standard more than men (e.g. Trudgill 1974)

Labov (1990) - principle 1a of linguistic change

change in progress above the level of consciousness: women use the prestigious variant more than men

• speakers are conscious of the incoming variant

• varianthas overt prestige

• there is style shiftng - w/ the more prestigious variant appearing more in careful speech styles

Labov (1990) - Principle 2 of linguistic change

change in progress below the level of consciousness: women use the incomin variant more than men

• little or no evidence of style shifting

problems w/ Labov's principles no.1

the gender paradox

• under Lbov's principles women are both more likely to use standard or prestige forms and use innovative vernacular forms

• Eckert (1989) argued this could b bc sociolinguists were aggregating data from many different individuals into one category (women vs men)

problems w/ Labov's principles no.2

the principles construe gender as a binary, biological construct

• i.e. using the terms ‘sex' and ‘gender' interchangeably

problems w/ Labov's principles no.3

the principles do not apply to every culture

• men + women have different roles in diferent societies which often results in different patterns

• e.g. Meyerhoff (2019: 245), based on daa from Bakir (1986)

Trudgill (1986)’s view on the role of media in linguistic diffusion

argues that face-to-face interaction is required for the diffusion of linguistic variables - he still maintains this view to this day

Quotative be like (Buchstaller & D'Arcy 2009)

• originated w/ valley girl but appears in geographically discontinuous locations around the world - America, England, New Zealand

• speaker gender and SES intersect in different ways in the 3 places

• Trudgill (2014) agrees that be like spread via the media but sees it as no different to “superficial” lexical change

geographical diffusion

linguistic features spread from influential centre to other locales in surrounding area

levelling

‘the reduction or attrition of marked variants' i.e. those that are ‘unusual or in a minority' (Trudgill 1986)

how to know if its geographical diffusion?

if a linguistic form appears to be spreading gradually over time from one location to surrounding areas

Trudgill 1974 - wave vs. hierarchical model

• wave model - change radiates out in geographical space

• hierarchical (or gravity) model - change radiates out but is most likely to hit more populous areas in the range of influence before more remote places

how to know if its levelling?

if a linguistic form seems to become more frequent in distinct geographical areas at the same time

th-fronting (Kerswll 2003)

• apparent spread of features from london to other communities appears to support hierarchical diffusion

• Derby - first used in 1960

• Norwich - first used in 1960

• Wisbech -first used in 1970

• however - some geographically distant communities all seemed to start using new variant around the same time e.g. Durham

Ethnolect

‘a variety of he majority language which is used and regaded as a vernacular for speakers of a particular ethnic descent and is marked by contact phenomena' (Androutsopoulos 2001)

multiethnolect

similar to an etholect but involves more than one ethnic group

MLE

• Multiethnolect that emerged in 1980's

• has been paroded in pop culture (Kerswill 2014)

• associated w/ young, working class Londoners

How did MLE develop?

• 1948 - 1970 Windrush Generation - spoke Jamaican creole

• immigration from other places - speaking Punjabi, Arabic, Turkish, etc.

• Cheshire et al. 2011

phonological features of MLE

• th-fronting

• th- can also be realised as [d]

non-phonological features of MLE

• 1st person singular man

• quotative this is + SUBJECT

why might speakers adopt innovations?

as an act of identity

• Le Page & Tabouret-Keller 1985)

what is a pidgin?

where speakers of diff. languages do not learn each other's native language but must find a means to communicate

Example of Creole development?

Jamaican Creole - developed from 17th century contact between slaves from Africa and slaveholders whose dialects were varieties of British and Irish English

acrolect

lexically related standard language (most formal, prestigious)

mesolect

intermediate language varieties

basilect

creole (most colloquial, least prestigious)

what % of the population spoke RP in 1974 (Trudgill)

around 3%

examples of changes in RP

• increase in /t/-glottaling - esp. word finally

• /u:/ fronting (GOOSE vowel)

• greater use of /l/ - vocalisation

development of standard English

• came from East Mids dialect of ME - spoken in places like Cambridge

• lots of ppl migrated from East Mids to London + became the dominant social class

• spoken SE norms based on writing developed in the late 19th century

example of regional variation in morpho-syntax

Tagliamonte & Smith (2002) Auxiliary/not contraction in UK dialects

• data came from recorded convos

• all speakers were over 60 + born and raised in their locale

• hypothesised that the frequency of auxiliary contraction increases the further North

• it was NOT variable across different UK localities - weirdly it doesn’t patter systematically according to region either