What did William Labov argue?
- Study on Martha’s Vineyard
- focused on the pronounciations of dipthongs specifically /au/ and /ai/
- he interviewed 69 people from different social groups including age, occupation and ethnicity and asked them specific questions that encourage participants to use words that contained these vowels.
- He found that a small group of fishermen in a less populated area of the island which was not as popular with tourists - they pronounced dipthongs more like /eu/ and /ei/ in order to establish an identity for themselves as vineyarders, distancing themselves from the tourists - a need to retain a social identity and propagate a ‘them and us’ approach.
What did Gary Ives study and argue?
- two case studies in London and Bradford
In Bradford:
- group of 8 teenage boys were interviewed about the way they speak and the language they use.
- increase in code-switching; swap between punjabi and english
- one boy said that most slang words he used has a lot to do with the music industry; hip hop, rap etc
- only use punjabi with friends - could conclude the idea of using language to create a group identity
- There is a clear and definite attempt to use language to exclude others and to feel included with their peers
In South London:
- Was apparent that some of the lexical choices made by these students originate from other countries - e.g ‘ends’ is jamaican slang, and ‘yard’ jamaican origin.
- Even british white teens used this language - it was about language being synonymous with group identity regardless of ethnicity or cultural background. Influenced their use of language.
- There is probably an assumption that a dialect doesn’t change, however it is evident that that is not the case as teenagers are easily influenced by their peers and adapt their language.
What does unmarked plurality mean?
When a singular form of a noun is used rather than the plural e.g twenty pound rather than twenty pounds.
What did Jenny Cheshire argue?
- She did a study on children in the playground and studied their language usage. She found that boys were more likely to use non-standard English than girls
What did Howard Giles argue?
Accommodation Theory;
convergence and divergence - language to stand out or to blend in.
For example, if an Englishman was having a conversation with a load of Jamaicans, he would either adapt his language/dialect to blend in, or he would continue speaking how he normally would and stand out.
What is an idiomatic phrase?
A phrase that has an accepted and known meaning that is different from the dictionary definition of each invidiual word - for example: He’s part of the furniture now, I wish you wouldn’t stick your oar in, i’d do that at the drop of a hat, you’ve hit the nail on the head
What did Trudgill argue about attitudes to accents?
'RP speakers are perceieved as unfriendly by non-RP speakers until they prove otherwise' 'Children with working class accents and dialects may be evaluated by some teachers as having less educational potential than those with middle class accents/dialects unless they also prove otherwise'.
What did Dixon, Mahoney and Cocks argue about ‘Matched Guise’ in Birmingham?
- 2002, used a matched guise approach to see if there was correlation between accent and how we percieve someone’s guilt.
- Using the Birmingham accent as the non standard form, participants listened to a dialogue between a policeman and a suspect. For some, the suspect spoke with a Birmingham accent, while others listened to a recording when the suspects accent was more standard.
- The results showed that the suspect was perceived to be significantly more likely to be guilty when he spoke with the non-standard birmingham accent.
What did Vivian De Klerk (2005) say about young people and language?
- Young people have the freedom to challenge linguistic norms
- They seek to establish new identities
- The patterns of speech previously modelled on the speech of adults are ‘slowly eroded by the patterns of speech’ by their peer group.
- They need to be seen as ‘modern, cool, fashion and up to date’
- they need to establish themselves as different
- they need to belong to a group whose habits are different from their parents, other adults and other young people’ distinguishing themselves as members of a distinctive social group.
What did Robin Lakoff argue about language and gender?
- Sees the language of women to be weaker than men, they hold less power
Argued these features show this:
- Hedges, ‘sort of’ ‘kind of’ seems like
- Empty adjectives; divine, adorable, lovely
- Super polite forms ‘would you mind if’, ‘is it ok if’
- Apologise more ‘i’m sorry but’
- speak less frequently
- tag questions ‘you don’t mind do you?’
- indirect requests; ‘i’m thirsty’ asking for a drink
- speak in italics - use tone to emphasise e.g ‘so’ ‘very’
What did Pamela Fishman argue about language and gender?
- Agreed with Lakoff’s findings that tag questions were far more common with females
- Questions are used to start conversations with males
- She claims that as men do not really reply to declaratives, females use tag questions to gain conversational power - trying to keep conversation going
Deborah Tannen?
STATUS VS SUPPORT: Men use language to show power and dominance whereas women are more likely to use language that support and agree with others
INDEPENDENCE VS INTIMACY: Men will use language to show they do not need to rely on others; women will prefer to use language as a way of connecting with others and maintaining closeness
ADVICE VS UNDERSTANDING: men are more likely to offer solutions to a problem through their language choices; women will show empathy and understanding to a given situation
INFORMATION VS FEELINGS: Men are more likely to be factual in their language, women will use language less factual and stem from a more emotional viewpoint
CONFLICT VS COMPROMISE: Men are more likely to use language to argue a point, women will use language to avoid conflict and more likely to negotiate with others to find a solution of compromise.
