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Language and Social Class or Ethnicity

The document discusses the relationship between language, social class, and ethnicity in Britain, highlighting how language use varies across different socio-economic groups. It explains concepts such as sociolect, social mobility, convergence, and divergence, as well as the notions of overt and covert prestige in language. Various studies by theorists like William Labov and Peter Trudgill illustrate how language reflects social class distinctions and identity.

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Jerichi Capalis
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385 views22 pages

Language and Social Class or Ethnicity

The document discusses the relationship between language, social class, and ethnicity in Britain, highlighting how language use varies across different socio-economic groups. It explains concepts such as sociolect, social mobility, convergence, and divergence, as well as the notions of overt and covert prestige in language. Various studies by theorists like William Labov and Peter Trudgill illustrate how language reflects social class distinctions and identity.

Uploaded by

Jerichi Capalis
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 PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Language and

Social Class or
Ethnicity
Jericho Capalis and Mega Ross Sumbise
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.'
Language Awareness
• We may change our language
in cases when there are
negative judgements
associated with language use
• We may also change our
language in cases of
positive judgement.
Sociolect
• A sociolect is a form of
language used by
specific social groups
based on social class,
ethnicity, and age.
Social Class
• 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
Social Mobility
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.
Perceptions of Language
Based on Social Class
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
• isConvergence?
a type of change in
which a speaker uses an
accent or dialect they view
positively
• often occurs when a
speaker wants to sound
like someone they look up
to or try to impress
someone.
What is
• Divergence?
Occurs when a
tries to distance
speaker

themselves from negative


perceptions
• Will choose to diverge
from their original accent
and use fewer of their
dialect feature
Overt Prestige
• When a speaker takes pride in
using more standard, formal
language as they associate it with
a certain level of prestige
• 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
Covert Prestige
• 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
•
Theorist
William Labov: New York
Department Store Study
• William Labov: Martha's Vineyard
• Peter Trudgill: Norwich Study
• Malcolm Petyt: Bradford Study
William Labov: New York Department Store Study
• William Labov carried out (1966)
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
Percent of /r/ in “Fourth
Floor”
William Labov: Martha's Vineyard (1961)
• Was 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.
William Labov: Martha's Vineyard (1961)
RESULT

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.
Peter Trudgill: Norwich Study (1974)
• Peter Trudgill analyzed 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.
Peter Trudgill: Norwich Study (1974)
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.
Malcolm Petyt: Bradford Study (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
• 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.
Malcolm Petyt: Bradford Study (1985)
RESULT
• 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.
Conclusion
• 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.
• 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.
Thank you!

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