education

Question 1

what did jenny cheshire look into?

Answer 1

long-term participant observation to gain data about the relationship between use of grammatical variables and adherence to peer group culture by boys and girls in Reading.

Question 2

what did cheshire study?

Answer 2

the relationship between use of non-standard variables and adherence to peer group norms.

Question 3

what did cheshire identify?

Answer 3

11 non-standard features and measured their frequency of use in boys and girls in a Reading playground, differentiating between those who approved or disapproved minor criminal activities

Question 4

what did cheshire find?

Answer 4

-all children who approved of peer-group criminal activity were more likely to use non-standard forms, but boys more so
-all children who disapproved of such activities used non-standard forms less frequently but the difference between groupings of girls were more stark
-suggests that variation in dialect is a conscious choice, influenced by (declared) social attitude
-males are more susceptible to covert prestige, but social attitude is more of a determining factor than gender

Question 5

how is our language influenced by our education?

Answer 5

although the unique circumstance of every life result in each of us having an individual way of speaking, a personal dialect or idiolect, we generally tend to sound like others with whom we share similar educational backgrounds and/or occupations

Question 6

what are social markers?

Answer 6

-social status can be illustrated in the way that people speak, particular speech sound functions therefore form social markers
-having this feature occur frequently in your speech marks you as a member of a particular social group, whether it is realised or not
-e.g. h-dropping (associated with those who are of lower class)

Question 7

what did penelope eckert come up with the idea of?

Answer 7

-‘social practice’
-this is whereby we as speakers, engage in activity together