Accent and Dialect Theorists Flashcards
William Labov
-Martha’s Vineyard Study
-Labov focused on realisations of diphthongs (combination of two vowels into one syllable) such as “aw” and “ay” in words such as “mice” and “mouse”.
-Also, on centralised onset, and observed variants within a small group of fishermen, people aged 31 – 45 and original inhabitants of the area.
-Found both interspeaker and intraspeaker variation within vineyarders.
-Concluded that this was done to differentiate from the tourists and establish themselves as ‘vineyarders’.
-Labov argued that linguistic variation served the purpose of social differentiation.
Gary Ives
(Teenage Language)
-IVES CASE STUDY
- 63 teenagers in West Yorkshire secondary school questioned whether they believed people speak differently according to their age, and 100% agreed that they do.
Eckert (1998)
(Teenage Language)
-Argued that there are many ways of defining the concept of age:
Chronological age (number of years since birth)
Biological age (physical maturity)
Social age (life events and experiences e.g. marriage)
-Would a single 20-year-old female speak the same way as a 20-year-old married female with two children.
Jenny Cheshire (1987)
(Teenage Language)
-Argued that “adult language as well as child language, develops in response to important life events that affects the relations and attitudes individuals”.
-READING STUDY
-Long-term observation for data about the relationship between the use of grammatical variables and adherence to peer group cultures by boys and girls in Reading. Showed that those who conformed to the conventions of the different group categories, used the linguistic standards of that group.
Douglas S. Bigham (2012)
(Teenage Language)
-Stated that ‘important life events’ are likely to occur post-18 at an age termed -emerging adulthood’.
Gary Ives
(Teenage Language)
-WEST YORKSHIRE SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDY
-17-year-olds reported they could remember only a few ‘tig’ and ‘kissy-catch’ but said it was difficult to recall many words specific to this time in life.
-Recognised the differences between this and their language as teenagers, common words being linked with informal register.
-Slang was part of the teenage vernacular and believed it may not be understood by the other generation.
Anna-Brita Stenstrom
(Teenage Language)
-Published “Teenage Talk” and claims that following features are common:
Irregular turn-taking
Overlaps
Slang
Word shortening
Taboo
Eckert (2003)
(Teenage Language)
-Slang is used to “establish a connection to youth culture and set themselves off from the older generations” and to signal “coolness, toughness or attitude”.
-Claimed linguistic change is more common within teens e.g. coining of words.
David Crystal (2005)
(Standard English)
-Role of Standard English “enable members of a community to understand each other” and the “reading national institutions adopt it as their primary means of expression”.
Janet Holmes (2008)
(Standard English)
-Defines a standard variety of a language as “generally one that’s written and which has undergone some degree of regularisation and codification; it is recognised as a prestigious variety or code by a community”.
Jean Aitchison
(Standard English)
- “All language can have their rules in the sense of reoccurring patterns…Without these rules, communication would break down, but real rules need to be distinguished from artificial ones”.
Lindsey Johns
(Standard English)
PRESCRIPTIVIST
-Language is power.
-Positive correlation between power and language – to be taken seriously by those with power.
-Speaking proper English allows to ascend up social ladder.
-Unstandard English = violence and low reading age etc.
-To blame on young people.
Tony McEnery
-A professor at Lancaster University, analysed 10 million words of transcribed speak but only 100,000 gathered from teenager’s blogs.
