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Chapter 19 - Language and Social Variation

This document discusses sociolinguistics and social variation in language. It summarizes research on social dialects based on class and studies conducted by Labov and Trudgill. Labov found American English speakers from higher socioeconomic statuses produced more /r/ sounds, while lower statuses produced fewer. Trudgill found working-class British English speakers produced more postvocalic /r/ than middle-class speakers. The document also discusses social markers, style-shifting, speech accommodation, and convergence vs. divergence in communication styles.

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Hussain K .Neama
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3K views10 pages

Chapter 19 - Language and Social Variation

This document discusses sociolinguistics and social variation in language. It summarizes research on social dialects based on class and studies conducted by Labov and Trudgill. Labov found American English speakers from higher socioeconomic statuses produced more /r/ sounds, while lower statuses produced fewer. Trudgill found working-class British English speakers produced more postvocalic /r/ than middle-class speakers. The document also discusses social markers, style-shifting, speech accommodation, and convergence vs. divergence in communication styles.

Uploaded by

Hussain K .Neama
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Chapter 19

The Study of Language by


George Yule

LANGUAGE
AND SOCIAL
VARIATION
What is Sociolinguistics?

Sociolinguistics: The study of the


relationship between language and
society.
This can be done by using research
from anthropology through the study
of language and culture, sociology
through the role of language in social
groups, and social psychology.
Social Dialects

 The study ofregional dialects focuses on


the speech of people in rural areas,
while the study of social dialects focuses
on speakers in towns and cities.
Social Dialect: Language of a certain
group of people from a certain social
class.
 Types of class involved:
1. Middle Class
2. Working Class
Types of Class
1- Middle class: (Upper and lower [economically])
They are people with more years of education performing
non-manual work.
2- Working class: (upper & lower)
They’ve spent few years of education, performing manual
work.
 In studying social dialects, features of language
pronunciation, words and structures are studied.
 Therefore, we can have “upper-middle class speech” which is a
type of a social dialect or a sociolect.
 Note: Each person has a personal dialect or idiolect, but we
generally sound like those with similar educational backgrounds
or occupations.
Labov (1966)
 Labov studied occupation and socio-
economic status by looking at the
pronunciation of salespeople in 3 department
stores in New York, USA: Saks, Macy’s and
Klein’s.

 He asked questions so that the salespeople


answer: “fourth floor”.
 This expression contains two opportunities
for the pronunciation of postvocalic /r/.
 i.e. /r/ after a vowel.
Studies by Labov and Trudgill
Labov found out that: (A study on American English)
 There was a regular pattern:
1- The higher the socio-economic status, the more
/r/ sounds were produced.
2- The lower the socio-economic status, the fewer
/r/ was produced.
 There was a similar study in reading on BRITISH ENGLISH in
(England) by Trudgill (1974). Results were Different.
Trudgill found out that: (A study on British English)
1- Middle-class speakers pronounced the postvocalic
/r/ fewer than working-class speakers.
2- Upper-middle class speakers didn’t pronounce the
postvocalic /r/ at all.
Social Markers
 Social markers: Certain speech sounds
that define the social group the
speaker belongs to.
 Examples of social markers:
1. Postvocalic /r/.
2. Pronunciation of –ing [n] (lower class) or
[ng].
3. [h] dropping, associated with lower class
and less education.
 Example: Head as /ed/.
Style
 Speech style: A social feature of language use.
1. Formal: careful style
2. Informal use: casual style
 We do not talk in one style all the time. We change our
speech styles according to the social factors.
 Style-shifting: A change from one style to
another by an individual.
 Labov also studied style-shifting: After getting
an answer ‘fourth floor’, he would ask ‘excuse
me?’ so that they would repeat the answer,
which was pronounced with more attention to
being clear.
Labov’s Conclusion

 When speakers repeated the phrase ‘fourth


floor’, the frequency of postvocalic /r/
increased in all groups, especially in the
Macy’s group (middle class).
 In general, middle-class speakers are much
more likely to shift in their style of speaking
significantly in the direction of the upper
middle class when they are using a careful
style.
Speech Accommodation

 People change
their styles when speaking according to
the accommodation style:
 Speech Accommodation: It is our ability to
modify our speech style toward or away
from the style of the person we are talking
to.
1- Convergence: The use of forms that are similar
to those of the person we are talking to. It
attempts to reduce social distance.
2- Divergence: The use of forms that are different
from those of the person we are talking to. It
attempts to increase social distance.

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