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English Language and Social Groups

Language and Class
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Language and Class

This article is about social class and how this can affect a person's
language use. There are many linguistic factors that can be linked
to class. Some of these are:

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Table of contents

A person's accent.

A person's dialect.

The use of standard vs non-standard language.

A common blanket statement regarding language and class in

Britain is that, generally, 'people of a higher class tend to speak
with an RP accent and use more standard English whilst people
of a lower class speak tend to speak with regional accents and
dialects.'

Definition
RP means Received Pronunciation and is the name given
to speech that does not have a regional accent but instead
is the most 'proper' version of standard English. You can
hear an RP accent in the way the Queen speaks or on old
radio broadcasts (from around wartime).

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Queen Elizabeth is the general standard for RP (Received Pronunciation).

Language and Social Class

The previous statement is a very basic way of explaining how
class can affect language. When we look at this claim in more
detail, it becomes clear that certain preconceptions of language
use (e.g. saying 'posh people speak like the Queen') are one of
the driving forces behind why we sometimes adapt our
language depending on the listener. This is the case for both
positive and negative preconceptions.

Language awareness
We may change our language in cases when there are negative
judgements associated with language use. For example, if a
person believes their accent or dialect will be judged negatively
by others in the group, they might acquire a different way of
speaking. We may also change our language in cases of positive
judgement. For example, if a person thinks they'll sound of a
higher class or more intelligent using Standard English and the
RP accent, they may adapt their language to have these traits.
This is an example of language awareness.

Preconceptions and judgements such as these are often rooted

in history and usually retain relevance in our modern world, and
have the power to change how we speak and adapt our
language use.

As social class differentiates us into different social groups,

there are language patterns and trends (dialects) that we use in
these groups. These social-group-specific forms of language are
referred to as sociolect.

Definition
A sociolect is a form of language used by specific social
groups based on social class, ethnicity, and age.

Social Class Definition

To understand how class affects language, we must first
understand this term.

Definition
A person's social class is defined by their socio-economic
status. This relates to their social standing in society and
their income. Other factors influencing social class include
wealth, education, and occupation.

When all of these factors are considered, a particular class can

be allocated to an individual. Try to conceptualise class based
on these examples.

Example

The upper class were the people of the highest status

who held considerable power. They often lived in huge
stately homes, did not do manual labour for work, and
owned land and estates. These people were usually
born into the upper class.

The middle class were people in the middle of the

hierarchy who had professional jobs such as doctors or
lawyers, earning a good income. These people often
worked their way up to their social standing.

The working class (or 'lower class') were the people

who had manual labour jobs, such as servants in a large
house, in a mill, or on a farm.

These distinctions between the classes are not as relevant

today as there is a much greater rate of social mobility. This is
primarily due to the greater rate of high-level education in the
modern world.

Definition
Social mobility is where someone can change social
classes. This can be through any means such as marriage, a
change of income, a change of education level, or
something else that allows a person's prospects to change.

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Language and Social Status

The connection between social status and language mainly
relates to attitudes towards accents and dialects. This means
that people who speak in a 'respectable' way will be viewed as
respectable. This is not as simple as it sounds, though, as
different people will perceive different accents and dialects as
'respectable.'

It used to be the case (and still often is) that the RP accent was
associated with the higher classes. Anyone who spoke this way
was instantly associated with positive attributes such as
intelligence, wealth, and education. If people instead spoke
with their regional accent, they were often deemed by the
upper classes as being unintelligent, poor, and of a lower class.
For those who could afford it, it was common to attend
elocution lessons to learn to speak in an RP accent to allow
themselves to change classes.

These attributes are not as relevant today as many people of

influence, wealth and intelligence do not speak with an RP
accent. Instead, the regional accent is often deemed desirable
as it is often associated with community and a sense of
belonging.

Did you know?

In the film My Fair Lady (1964), Eliza Doolittle is taught to
speak in an RP accent to convincingly mix with the upper
classes.

This perception of accent use relating to social status is now

somewhat outdated, but it still holds some weight in how
people choose to speak to others, even if they do not
consciously realise it. There have been numerous studies
showing that people of different classes in the modern world
still show differences in their language use - some of which will
be discussed further on in this article.

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Some accents are given higher esteem according to the class they're
generally associated with.

Understanding social status and

social class in the modern world
A person's social status can be determined by the individual
and their interests rather than just their class. In modern times,
class is a person's generic standing in society relating to their
income and job. Social status depends less on this and more on
the social group to which an individual belongs or aspires to
belong. There are many different areas of society where a
person can have different social standings.

Example
Someone who has many academic achievements but does
not speak with their regional accent may have a high social
standing in the academic world but may feel like an outcast
within their regional community if they do not share the
same regional accent.

There are also different statuses within a class. For example,

many people can be categorised as 'middle-class' due to their
job and income (teachers, doctors, lawyers, etc.). These people
can all be viewed as being on a continuum regarding their
language use. Within these groups, there will be people who:

speak with their regional accent (at one end of the

continuum)

speak in standard English and may have slight regional

accent features, but are otherwise nondescript in their
language and accent (in the middle of the continuum)

speak with an RP accent (at the other end of the

continuum).

These people can all still be classified as 'middle class' but are
further differentiated within the class by how they either
naturally speak or have chosen to speak.

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Perceptions of Language Based on
Social Class
As we've discussed, there have been some outdated views
relating to language use and class. Speaking with a regional
accent was associated with the working class, and speaking
with an RP accent was associated with the upper class.
However, some of these perceptions still hold true in today's
society.

Convergence and divergence

When it comes to perceptions of language use, people tend to
alter how they speak to accommodate the perceptions they
either want to associate themselves with or distance
themselves from. This is done through convergence and
divergence and can be either a subconscious or conscious
choice.

What is convergence?

Definition
Convergence is a type of change in which a speaker uses
an accent or dialect they view positively. Doing this, they
hope to be associated with the common perceptions of the
accent or dialect they're viewing favourably. Convergence
often occurs when a speaker wants to sound like someone
they look up to or try to impress someone.

Example
For example, someone may converge to an RP accent
because they think they will sound more intelligent and
confident. Alternatively, someone may converge to a
Yorkshire accent when wanting to sound more friendly,
approachable, and trustworthy.

What is divergence?

Definition
Divergence occurs when a speaker tries to distance
themselves from negative perceptions. If negative
perceptions are associated with a person's accent, they
may choose to diverge from their accent and use fewer of
their dialect features. Divergence also happens when a
person speaks to someone they don't like. If the
unfavourable speaker has a particular accent, their
interlocutor may diverge in an effort to not sound like them
and therefore not be associated with them.

Example
For example, two speakers (A and B) both have a
Birmingham accent. If speaker A strongly dislikes speaker B,
it is highly likely that speaker A will diverge from speaker B
and use fewer Birmingham accent and dialect features.

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Overt and covert prestige

People may use predetermined and known perceptions relating
to language use and class to exhibit either overt or covert
prestige.

Definition
Overt prestige is when a speaker takes pride in using more
standard, formal language as they associate it with a
certain level of prestige. This is most commonly seen by
those who aspire to be in a higher class as they're using
common preconceptions of language to give themselves a
high social status that is publicly acknowledged.

Definition
Covert prestige is when someone takes pride in using their
regional accent or other non-standard forms of language.
From doing this, the speaker gains status within their peer
group. This retains a high social status within a specific
social group without them needing to exhibit themselves
as being of a higher class.

Language and Social Class Theorists

There are many important theorists within the study of
language and social class. We're going to look at a few key
studies.

William Labov: New York

Department Store Study (1966)
In 1966, linguist William Labov carried out a study looking at
differences in accent across different socio-economic groups.
He focused on three department stores in New York: Saks, S.
Klein and Macy's. Of these stores, S. Klein was the cheapest,
Saks was the most expensive, and Macy's had average prices.
The different price ranges of the stores were used as indicators
of the socio-economic class of the people shopping in them. For
example, the people in Saks were assumed to be of the highest
socio-economic class in the study. Within the study, Labov was
looking at the /r/ sound and how the pronunciation differed
between different classes.

In each store, Labov asked random shoppers where something

was that would require them to reply with 'the fourth floor.' He
would then pretend not to hear them and get them to repeat it,
giving him two items of data to record. The first time they
respond would be completely natural language and the second
time would be more careful speech to ensure they're heard
correctly.

The results
The use of /r/ was highest in Saks and lowest in Klein's, showing
it to be a typical language feature of the higher socio-economic
classes of New York. In the careful speech of the lower-class
shoppers, the /r/ was also present, suggesting that they used
overt prestige and altered their speech when they were more
aware of being listened to by a stranger.

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William Labov: Martha's Vineyard

(1961)
Labov's other study carried out in America in the 1960s took
part on the island Martha's Vineyard, where he looked at the
changing pronunciation of the vowel sounds /au/ and /ai/.
Martha's Vineyard is a fishing port that has become a popular
tourist destination during the summer. A small group of local
fishermen began to subconsciously alter their language and
exaggerate the older, more traditional pronunciation that made
them different from tourists. This is an example of covert
prestige as the fishermen took pride in their language and local
identity.

The results
The change in language use was most noticeable in the
fishermen aged between 30 and 45 who wanted to actively
identify themselves as being from Martha's Vineyard. The
language change was then subconsciously adopted by other
islanders as they admired the traditional way of life associated
with the fishermen and the way they spoke. In this case, the
fishermen had high social status within their community due to
their way of life and traditional language features, even if they
didn't necessarily have an overall high socio-economic status.

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The Martha's Vineyard study showed how sense of belonging influences

accent.

Peter Trudgill: Norwich Study (1974)

In Norwich in 1974, Peter Trudgill analysed the variables (ng),
(t), and (h) to see if a person's use of particular variants was
related to their social class and the formality of the situation. He
tested this by recording people of different classes speaking in
different situations, recording their speech during a
conversation (the least formal situation), when they were
reading a passage from a book (more formal), and when they
were reading a list of words (the most formal). Doing this
allowed him to see if language differences were dependent on
both a person's class and the formality of the situation.

Deep dive
The variables (ng), (t) and (h) are the standard forms.
Instances of non-standard variants would be:

(ng) - G-dropping so words ending in (-ing) would

instead end in (-in), e.g. 'running' becomes 'runnin'.

(t) - T-dropping where the (t) in the middle or at the

end of words is dropped in favour of a glottal stop, e.g.
'twenty' is pronounced 'twenny'.

(h) - H-dropping where the (h) at the beginning of

words is dropped, e.g. 'house' sounds like 'ouse'.

The results
When the style was kept consistent, the incidence of the non-
standard variant was higher in the language of the lower
classes. When Trudgill only changed the formality of the
situation, the incidence of the non-standard variant was higher
in less formal speech. In the speech of a lower-class speaker, the
standard variants were still present, just less often than in the
speech of the higher-class speakers.

In summary:

Lower class speakers used more non-standard variants.

Higher class speakers used more standard variants.

All speakers used more non-standard variants in informal

speech.

All speakers used more standard variants in formal speech.

Malcolm Petyt: Bradford Study (1985)

In 1985, linguist Malcolm Petyt looked at the occurrence of H-
dropping (i.e. the omission of the /h/ variable) across different
social classes in Bradford, Yorkshire. Within this study, Petyt
looked at classes in detail, using subcategories of lower-
working class, mid-working class, upper-working class, and so
on, up to the upper-middle class. The two groups where he
expected to see the most difference in language use were the
lower working class and the upper-middle class.

The results
Petyt found that there were cases of H-dropping 93 percent of
the time in the lower-working class, while in the upper-middle
class, H-dropping only occurred 12 percent of the time. He also
found that, in cases of social mobility, where people had moved
up the socio-economic scale, speakers tended to modify their
language further towards an RP accent. In some people, this
caused hypercorrection.

Definition
Hypercorrection is where someone uses a feature
associated with prestige to the extent where they use it
 where it doesn't need to be. In Petyt's study, this means
adding /h/ to the beginning of words where it was not, such
as pronouncing the 'h' in 'hour.

These findings show the linguistic division between the working

class and the upper-middle class, specifically regarding h-
dropping.

Language and Class - Key Takeaways

Class is a way of dividing society according to socio-
economic status. It is defined by factors such as their job,
income, and position in their social group and in wider
society.

Class can affect a person's language use. For example,

higher-class speakers typically speak with more standard or
received pronunciation features, whilst lower-class
speakers typically use more accent or dialectal features in
their language.

Social mobility occurs when someone can change social

classes; this usually occurs in an upwards trend.

Speakers exhibit overt prestige when they take pride in

using standard forms of language - often seen in the higher
classes.

Speakers exhibit covert prestige when they take pride in

non-standard language forms - often seen in the lower
classes or those proud of their heritage.

Flashcards in
Language and Class
3

Start learning

Which social class tends to use more non-

standard varieties of English?

Lower social classes

In Labov's Martha's Vineyard study, were

fishermen considered to have high or low social
status by locals?

High

Linguistic preconceptions rooted in history have

the power to influence language use even in the
modern world. True or false?

True

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Frequently Asked Questions about

Language and Class
What is social mobility?
Social mobility is when someone changes social classes
through a change of authority, job, or income. This change is
often reflected through language use, too, as people higher up
the class hierarchy tend to use more standard and RP features.

How does language relate to social class?

People of different social classes often exhibit differences in
their language use. Studies have found that higher-class
people tend to speak with Standard English and/or an RP
accent. Lower-class speakers often exhibit more regional
accents and dialect features.

What is social class in linguistics?

A person's class refers to factors such as their income and job,
which give them status in society. Social class can also include
factors such as the influence someone has within a particular
social group; for example, if someone is popular in their social
group but has a low income, they can retain a high social
status, but they may technically be of a low class.

Is language a power?
The way someone uses language can be done to manipulate
the perceptions associated with different ways of speaking. For
example, power, intelligence, and wealth are associated with
the RP accent, so speaking with this accent can give a speaker
power in certain social situations.

What is language and class?

Language and class is a part of linguistic research into how
social groups affect language use. In this instance, the social
group being analysed is class.

What is an example of language and class?

A person's class can affect their language use. For example, a
working-class speaker will often exhibit accent and dialect
features such as h-dropping in their language. An upper-
middle-class speaker will often exhibit fewer accent and
dialect features - perhaps never h-dropping - and instead
speak with standard language.

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