CHAPTER 19 SOCIAL VARIATION What is Sociolinguistics Studies

CHAPTER 19 - SOCIAL VARIATION

What is Sociolinguistics? • Studies the relationship between society and language • Interested in the part that language plays in maintaining a community’s social roles • Tied to Anthropology Sociology and Psychology Anthropology – language and culture; sociology – role language plays in the organization of social groups; psychology – how attitudes and perceptions are expressed and in-group and out-group behaviors

Main Issues Think of at least one example for each category: • Language variation • Gender • Age • Education • Social class • Occupation

Speech Community • A group of people who share a set of norms and expectations regarding the use of language • Can you think of some speech communities?

“How ‘bout you? ” • Which speech communities do you participate in on a regular basis? • Do you speak the same way in all your speech communities? • Which speech communities might your students participate in? • Why do we want to know this, as teachers?

Teenagers: If only they would speak their mind…

Social Dialects ü Regional dialects: rural areas ü Social dialects: towns or cities ü Social class and its definition are used to define groups of speakers ü Social dialect or ‘sociolect’ ü When looking at examples of language use that might be characteristic of a social dialect we treat: ü Class as the social variable ü Pronunciation or word as linguistic variable

Social Dialects ü“Working-class” speech ü“Middle-class” speech ü“Upper-class” speech Labov and Trudgill “Fourth floor. ” “It’s marvelous, dahling!”

Speech Marker üA feature of speech that “marks” a person as a member of a certain group üLabov’s (1966) experiment : Production of post vocalic /r/ sounds (/r/ being the linguistic variable that marks the speech samples) ü-ing vs. -in’ üMaintaining or dropping [h]

Speech Style ü Speech style is a social feature of language use ü What are the features of formal vs. casual speech? ü An individual is able to select the appropriate speech style for a given situation. ü This is called style-shifting ü What happens when you ask a person to read a text out loud? ü Can you think of circumstances when you change your speech style? Why do you do that? https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=K 6 q. Gwm. XZts. E

Family Reunion Discussion • Think of a big family reunion • Would the person use the with the following people: same speech style with everyone? - grandparents; - older aunts and uncles; - same age cousins; - a very religious family member; - a very strict person, who speaks very ‘proper’ English • Do you speak the same way with your boss, your best friend, and a salesperson at the store? • Why is this important to you as an instructor?

Prestige üSome social varieties of a language take on higher status üPeople sometimes overuse forms they consider “classy” üWhy do you think they do that? üWhat do you immediately associate with the word “methinks”? üWould you use this language form today? Why or why not?

Shakespeare • • • Main Entry: me·thinks Pronunciation: mi-ˈthiŋ(k)s Function: verb impersonal Inflected Form(s): past me·thought -ˈtho t Etymology: Middle English me thinketh, from Old English mē thincth, from mē (dative of ic I) + thincth seems, from thyncan to seem — • Date: before 12 th century • archaic : it seems to me • From: http: //www. merriam-webster. com/dictionary/methinks

Prestige: Overt vs. Covert • Overt – the language variety is generally recognized as “better” by most members of the society • Covert – the language variety is generally considered “lower-class, ” but certain groups value it more highly and actually emulate it - There is a ‘hidden’ status in it - Group solidarity • What other reason might drive a person to speak this language variety (which holds less prestige value)?

Speech accommodation • The way your listener is perceived by you • Also known as ‘audience design’ • Convergence : attempts to reduce social distance • Divergence: emphasizes social distance • Does it remind you of another concept we discussed before, which is related to SLA? • In which ways are they similar? Krashen’s comprehensible input/accommodation of listener/

Some social considerations… 1. How well do the speakers know each 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. other? Formal or casual setting? What role does each speaker play? Is there an imbalance of power, such as between a judge and a defendant? What’s the purpose of the conversation? What’s the topic? What’s the background scenario?

Gender Speech Issues üAre women more talkative than men? üTraditional roles • Who is more likely to say something is “cute”? • Who is likely to swear more often? • Are there topics that women prefer vs. men?

Take a look at this cartoon strip. How much is not being said?

Yeah, um, it’s like, er, you know…. ü The word like has several non-traditional uses in informal speech § The stereotypical "valley girl" language is an exaggeration of the variants of California English spoken by younger generations § Used in Scooby Doo (which originated in 1969) : Shaggy: "Like, let's get out of here , Scooby!" ü To avoid using slang forms of "like", remember that there are only two correct usages: § § * Similarity - "This smells like roses. " * Enjoyment - "I like these cookies. "

Like, it’s like, like is like, everywhere! üAs an adverb o Like can be used as an adverb meaning "nearly" o I, like, died! o They, like, hate you! üAs a quotative o Like is used to introduce quotation or impersonation o She was like, "oh my gosh no way!" o He was like, "I'll be there in five minutes. " o I was like, "who do they think they are? "

More “like’ • Before non-verbal expressions and sounds • I was like [speaker rolls eyes]. • The car was like, "vroom!" • As a hedge • I have, like, no money. • The restaurant is only like, five miles from here. • As a filler • Like can also be used in much the same way as um. . . • I, like, don't know what to do.

Register üLanguage that is conventional, appropriate in a specific context o Situational register- used in a church/mosque o Occupational – used by lawyers, doctors, etc. o Topical – related to the topic at hand, sports, language, etc

Jargon ü A feature of ‘register’ ü Special technical vocabulary associated with a specific area of work or interest o Ex: Computer science lingo ü Socially, jargon helps to create & maintain connections among “insiders” and it also excludes “outsiders” ü Can you mention examples of jargon in our course?

Slang is actually the use of informal words which are not a part of standard language. Young people commonly make the most use of slanguage but it is used byhttp: //www. fluentu. com/english/blog/american-english-slang-words-esl/ social groups of other ages as well.

Vernacular • Any non-standard version of a language used by a lower-status group • Non-standard or markedly different from the standard language. • AAVE: shares a number of features with other nonstandard varieties • ‘Latino English’ (Northeast) • ‘Chicano English’ (South and East) • ‘Asian American English’

AAVE=African-American Vernacular ü Sounds: o Grammar : - Tendency to reduce final consonant clusters: left hand (becomes lef han) o o ü - Past tense –ed: iced tea (becomes ice tea) - Initial dental /th/. : Think, that (become tink, tat) Double negative: *I ain’t afraid of no ghosts; *He don’t never do nothin o o o Forms of ‘to be’ omitted: *You crazy, *she workin now Or used in base form: *She be workin downtown now. Bin for actions in the past/present: *She bin workin there. Labov argued that AAVE should not be stigmatized as substandard but respected as a variety of English with its own grammatical rules.

American Tongues by Andrew Crowley (1988) Southerners talk too slowly. New Yorkers are rude. New Englanders don't say much at all. Anybody who lives in the U. S. knows the clichés about how people in the various parts of the country handle the English language. American Tongues is the first documentary to explore the impact of these linguistic attitudes in a fresh and exciting manner. https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Qoj. Gc 9 M 0 W 2 s&list=PL 6089621 A 87373 FBE

Shifting style. . . or not https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=3 i_89 h. U j 4 GE https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=j. LP 6 tr. V oysk

“She’s not a woman, she’s a lady. ” • Was there an effort to shift style on anybody’s part? • In relation to elements such as social class and prestige, was American English “superior” or “inferior” in that environment? • Give one example from the scene that exemplified a facethreatening act and one of saving face. • What does the word ‘lady’ mean to you? Is this the meaning that is used in the scene? • What do the expressions“hubbly-jubbly”, “toodle-pip” and “hush-hush” mean?

“Translation” • Wah-Wah (noun) = incomprehensible manner of speaking by affected British ex-pats, a silly babyish way of talking • • • Toodle Pip (noun) = good bye, used when making exit Hoity-Toity (adj) = aloof manner of a person who is a terrible snob Hubbly-Jubbly (adj) = very nice, lovely La-Di-Da (adj) = silly, pointless Jolly Good Show (noun) = well done, excellent Old Bean (noun) = friend (male or masculine; woman who might play golf or smoke a pipe) • Scrubbed-Up (adj) = someone who looks presentable when they are clean (and they generally aren’t)

“Translation” • Chop-chop (adj. ) = get a move on, hurry up, generally said to females • Smarty-pants (noun) = know it all, not someone you would want to be sat next to at dinner • Bit of a to-do (noun) = fight or social gathering that goes wrong when you accidentally mix people who don't like each other (or have run off with other peoples partners who might be there and still feel rather miffed about it) • You-know-who (noun) = someone that everyone knows but can’t be mentioned by name, who might be important or have run off with someone important (or their husband or wife) • Brou-ha-ha (noun) = a lot of fuss by people who are a bit loud, possibly people who are a bit common - see "people who go caravanning"

“Translation” • Hush-hush (adj. ) = something that should not be talked • • about - but it is, like a secret that everyone knows Ding-dong (adj. ) = marvelous, very good, top hole Diddly-doozup (noun) = something like an event that you can’t describe any other way or have forgotten the word for, for example: if you are suffering from "a touch of sunstroke" Hooty-snooty (adj. ) = the manner of someone pretentious who speaks wah-wah Tra-la-la (noun) = something to say when you have forgotten what to say (see "touch of sunstroke")