1.03 English: Language and Social Class Flashcards
He investigated the /au/ and /ai/ vowel sounds - called a diphthong in linguistic terms
Studied a small island off America’s north-east cost
• Normal population was around 5,800 but summer months would bring up to 60,000 American tourists
Interviewed 69 different people who were representative of different ages and ethnicities
He subtly encouraged participants to say the vowel sounds by making the conversations as natural as possible
William Labov: Martha’s Vineyard study (1963)
Locals tended to pronounce the diphthongs with a more central point - differed from the standard American pronunciations
Fisherman centralised the /au/ and /ai/ vowel sounds more than any other occupational group
• Done subconsciously to establish themselves Vineyarders
Young men were the heaviest users of the centralised variation - wanting to identify themselves as natives and reject mainland values
The fishermen in particular resented the wealthy tourists - believed it infringed on their traditions.
• Their unique diphthongs helped retain their social identity (SOLIDARITY)
William Labov: Martha’s Vineyard study findings (1963)
Examined overt prestige involving both class and gender
Studied the ‘post-vocalic’ /r/ sound in American speech (comes directly after a vowel in words like the middle of ‘fourth’ and the end of ‘floor’)
Went into three different NY department stores representative of different social classes - Saks (upper), Macy’s (middle) and S. Klein (lower)
Asked shop assistants the location of departments he knew were on the fourth floor (/r/ pronunciation in both)
Pretended he didn’t hear them and asked them to repeat their answer - saw if pronunciation had changed now their speech was careful rather than spontaneous
William Labov: New York Department Store study (1966)
Found Saks assistants used the /r/ sound most
• Showed that the current overt prestige form in NY was to pronounce the /r/
Found Klein’s used it the least as they would have used more covert prestige - so they wouldn’t have pronounced the /r/ sound
Macy’s showed the greatest upward shift of pronouncing ‘floor’ rather than ‘flaw’ when asked to repeat their utterance
He found the pronunciation of /r/ increased as the class of the store increased
• Also found hyper-correctness to be strongest in the language conscious middle class women - showing the overt prestige seemed more common in women than men
William Labov: New York Department Store study findings (1966)
Studied how and why people’s ways of speaking varied in Norwich
One variable he studied was the final consonant in words like ‘walking’ being omitted when speaking (would sound as if it was spelt walkin’)
• Noted that this feature wasn’t unique to Norwich
Peter Trudgill: The Social Differentiation of English in Norwich (1974)
He found that:
In all social classes, the more careful the speech, the more likely people were to say walking rather than walkin’
The proportion of walkin’ type forms was higher in lower classes
The non-standard -in’ forms occurred much more often in men’s speech than women’s - this was true for all social classes
When questioned about what they thought they were saying, women tended to say they used the standard -ing forms more often than they really did
When questioned about what they thought they were saying, men tended to say they used the non-standard in’ forms more often than they really did
Peter Trudgill: The Social Differentiation of English in Norwich findings (1974)
Wanted to find out if different social classes in Bradford had different accents
Studied the following classes: middle-middle, lower-middle, upper-working, middle-working and lower-working
Studied whether the /h/ at the start of words like ‘hat’ and ‘here’ were present or omitted when they spoke (h-dropping is when it’s omitted)
Malcolm Petyt: H-dropping in Bradford (1985)
93% of the lower-class h-dropped (therefore using the non-standard regional accent)
Only 12% of the upper-class h-dropped (not h-dropping was considered the standard form)
His study shows that as you move up the social class scale, the greater regional accent use in the working class diminishes
Also found when people moved up the social class scale, they would speak in a style closer to RP and use fewer non-standard features (such as h-dropping) - known as upwards convergence
Those who converged upwards consciously tried to change their vowel sound pronunciations however, the new form was hyper-correct
• (EG: saying cushion with an /uh/ instead of an /u/)
Malcolm Petyt: H-dropping in Bradford findings (1985)
Used long-term participant observation to get data about the relationship between use of grammatical variables and adherence to peer group culture by boys and girls in Reading
Gained acceptance from three groups (two of boys, one of girls) in two adventure playgrounds in Reading - recorded their usage of eleven variables
Some of the variables included:
• Non-standard was (EG: you was with me)
• Non-standard come (EG: I come down here)
Jenny Cheshire: Reading Adventure Playgrounds (1982)
Made a distinction between girls who didn’t approve of group activities like carrying weapons and fighting (Group A) and the girls who didn’t) Group B)
• Compared the usage of the variables she was studying between the two groups
Found the group with the most adherence to the vernacular subculture were the group who used more non-standard features
Whereas, the group who didn’t adhere used the features less frequently
Shows language performance is highly constructed - the boys involved in criminal activities and carrying weapons were the ones that used the non-standard features most frequently
Jenny Cheshire: Reading Adventure Playgrounds findings (1982)
