CHAPTER 3Language & Social

Variation

• “Burridge (2004) quotation / ‘using the proper language of the time’ / the ‘slang’ of the time.

– Not everyone in a single geographical area speaks in the same way in every situation.

– Also education and economic status affect speech in different ways.

– The differences can be used as indication of membership in different social groups and speech communities.

• Speech community:– A group of people who share a set of norms and

expectations regarding the use of language.

Sociolinguistics

• Sociolinguistics:– The study of the relationship between language

and society.– Developed through the interaction of linguistics

with a number of academic fields.– It has connections with anthropology, sociology,

and social psychology.

• Social dialects:– Mainly concerned with speakers in towns and

cities.– Social class mainly used to define groups of

speakers that have sth in common.– Two groups: • “middle class”• “working class”• “upper” & “lower” used to subdivide based on

economic basis.

• Certain features of language are used in the analysis of social dialects:– Pronunciation– Words – Structure– E.g. “home”• [heim] [aint] lower-working-class speakers• [hom] middle-class speakers

• Social variable: ‘class’ • Linguistic variable: ‘pronunciation’ & ‘words’

• In studies of social dialect we count how often speakers in each class use each version of the linguistic variable.

Education & Occupation

• Idiolect:– A personal dialect.– We generally tend to sound like others with whom

we share similar educational backgrounds and/or occupation.

Education

• 1/ Education:– people who spent less time in education tend to

use certain patterns that are not frequent in the speech of more educated ppl.

– Derived from a lot of time spent with the written language./ “talks like a book”

– E.g.• “them boys throwed somethin’”• “it wasn’t us what done it”

Occupation

• 2/ Occupation & Socio-economic status:– Sociolinguist William Labov study• New York department stores (3)• “Where are the women’s shoes?”- “on the fourth floor”• Focused on the linguistic variable: the /r/ sound• Results: there was a regular pattern: the higher the

socio-economic status the more /r/ sounds were produced, and vice versa.• British study reverse results

Social Markers

• Social marker:– When a certain linguistic feature (variable) occurs

frequently in your speech it marks you as a member of a particular social group.

• Clip • E.g.– /r/– /ing/ ‘sittin’– /h/ dropping- ‘_ad’– Charles Dickens's example (see book)

Speech Style & Style Shifting

• Speech style:– As a social feature of language use./ Labov.– Most basic distinction:

• Formal / “careful” style / more attention to ‘how’ we speak• Informal / “casual” style / less attention

• Style shifting:– A change from one style to another.– E.g.

• 1/ Labov “Excuse me”/ to elicit a more “careful” style by repetition• The frequency of /r/ increased in all groups with paying more

attention to speech - but more in the middle-class speakers (macys)• 2/ asking someone to read a text out loud/ more careful pron

Prestige

• Overt prestige:– When ppl change their speech in the direction of the form

that is more frequent in the speech of ppl having a higher social status.

• Covert prestige:– Some groups do not show style-shifting as other groups– E.g. ‘lower-working-class’ speakers– They value the features that mark them as members of

their social group./ avoid changing/ value group solidarity.– Esp. younger speakers “I aint doin nottin”

Speech Accommodation• Speech accommodation:

– Variation in speech style is not only influenced by social class and attention to speech but also by the speech style of the listener.

– Our ability to modify our speech style toward or away from the perceived style of the person we’re talking to.

• Convergence:– Adopting a speech style to reduce social distance.– E.g. teenage boy talking to friend’s mother

• Divergence:– When a speech style is used to emphasize social distance.– E.g. Scottish teenager talking to his teacher.

Register & Jargon• Register:

– A conventional way of using language that is appropriate in a specific context.– E.g.

• Situational/ Religious register “Ye shall be blessed”• Occupational/ Legal register “take the witness stand”• Topical/ Linguistic register “morphology is the linguistic study of…”

• Jargon:– special technical vocabulary associated with a specific area of work or

interest/ used by those inside established social groups/ often defined by professional status.

– ‘insiders’ vs. ‘outsiders’– Clip– E.g.

• In medical register “arthritis”• Other e.g. (technical, religious, academic, culinary…)

Slang• Slang:

– Words or phrases that are used instead of more everyday terms among younger speakers and other groups with special interest. (not related to profession or occupation)/ “colloquial” speech

– Typically used among those outside higher status groups.– E.g.

• Bucks (dollars or money)• Mega- ‘a lot of’ (megabucks)• Benjamins ($ 100)

– Slang is an aspect of social life that is subject to fashion.• Esp. adolescents/ to distinguish themselves from others/ share same ideas &

attitudes/ a marker of group identity during a limited stage of life• Slang expressions ‘grow old’ rather quickly/ (groove, hip, super) Old, became

(awesome, rad, wicked) New – Thus, the age factor is another important factor involved in social variation of

language use.

• Taboo terms:– Words and phrases that people avoid for reasons

related to religion, politeness, and prohibited behavior.

– Often called ‘Swear’ words / ‘bleeped’ in broadcasting, or ‘starred’ in written context.

– More commonly found among ‘lower-status’ group.

– Differences in male & female usage

African American English• African American English (AAE) :

– Social variety according to historical origin of the speaker.– Black English/ Ebonics– A major variety used by many African Americans in USA./ carries many

characteristic features that form together a distinct set of social markers.

– Social barriers: Discrimination/ segregation, create differences between social dialects (just like geographical barriers)

– In AAE, the differences have been called ‘bad’ language by the dominate groups who described them as being ‘abnormal’

– The social dialect of AAE speakers has ‘covert prestige’ especially among younger speakers/ e.g. ‘music’/ rap…etc.

Vernacular Language• African American Vernacular English (AAVE):

– The form of AAE that has been most studied.

• Vernacular:– A term known from the ‘middle ages’ to describe any non-standard

spoken version of a language used by lower status groups.– Is a general expression for a kind of social dialect typically spoken

by a lower-status group / treated as “non-standard”.– E.g. “Chicano English” and “Asian American English”– AAVE shares a number of features with other non-standard

varieties./ e.g. in pronunciation (sounds) & grammar.

• The sounds of a vernacular:– A wide-spread phonological feature in AAVE (and other

vernaculars) is the tendency to reduce final consonant clusters.• ‘left’ & ‘hand’ = ‘lef’ & ‘han’• “I pass the tess”

– Initial consonants pronounced differently• ‘Think’ & ‘that’ = ‘tink’ & ‘dat’

– Possessive ‘s not used• ‘John’s friend’ = ‘john friend’

– Third person singular –s not used • ‘She loves her sister’ = ‘she love …’

– Plural –s usually not used• ‘Two Guys’ = ‘two guy’

• The grammar of a vernacular:– Criticized as ‘illogical’ or ‘sloppy’1/ Double negative construction/ ‘illogical’:

• “He don’t know nothin.” • “I ain’t afraid of no ghosts.”• However they are standard forms in other languages, such as, French.• Thus, it is not ‘illogical’/ It allows greater emphasis on the negative aspect

of the msg

2/ Frequent absence of “verb to be”/ ‘sloppy’:• “you crazy”• “she workin now”• However, this feature exists in other languages, such as, Arabic & Russian /

v to be not required.• Thus, it is not ‘sloppy’

3/ Using ‘be’ & ‘bin’ instead of ‘is’ & ‘was’ to express habitual action:• “She be workin downtown now” (habitual action in the present)• “ She bin workin there” (habitual action that happened in the past)• They are consistent features in the grammar of AAVE