Ethnicity / Social Class

Question 1

Ben Rompton

Answer 1

He said: Creole was seen as cool and good to use.

- Associated with opposition to authority, assertiveness and verbal resourcefulness.

Question 2

Jenny Chesire

Answer 2

She identified a new form of English used by young people in London. She named this Multi-cultural English
- This was due to many cultures using this new form of English. Youth groups had adopted these forms

Question 3

John Pitts

Answer 3

Noticed a shift in young black English speakers who felt ignored by mainstream society.
They moved towards a resistance identity through language and created new forms of language for themselves.

Question 4

Hewitt and Sebba

Answer 4

They identified different styles of language eg “black cockney”. Groups would create new styles of speech

Question 5

Social Class

Answer 5

A social system where people are classed on factors such as Income, education, employment and housing

Question 6

Cheshire

Answer 6

Found that Middle-class teens use glottal stops less than working-class children. They found other grammatical differences that working-class teens use:

• Double negatives
• Non-standard use of was “we was”
• Non-standard use of relative pronouns “the house what we saw”

Question 7

Bernstein

Answer 7

He said that working-class children were being failed educationally. They used a “restricted code” that had

• Fewer adjectives and adverbs
• Non-standard syntax
• Simple coordinators such as “and” and “but”
• More focus on communicating feelings and attitudes
• Middle class children used “elaborate code”
• Standard syntax
• logical connectives “ moreover”
• Fewer unfinished sentences
• More ‘original content’

He suggested uses of “elaborate code” may do better in society whilst those using “restricted code” may distance themselves and bond as a group together.