gender and speech Flashcards
what did Giles study
hierachy of accents
what did Giles find
RP => most intelligent
regional accent => divided opinion often seen as friendly
Liverpudlian and Brummie => least intelligent and untrustworthy
what does Giles’ study reveal
there is a perceived hierarchy of accents
different accents have different associations and characteristics
people are prejudice towards certain accents
what did william labov study in his NY study
post vocalic /r / which is the prestige form
saks => upperclass shop macys =>middle class kleins => lower class
what method was used for labovs ny study
spoke to sales assistant in stores and measured the use of the p-v/r/
he asked them a question and got them to repeat
what did labov find in his NY study
Saks had used the p-v/r/ most which is overtly prestige
Macy’s hyper corrected the most from covert to overt prestige
what does labov’s NY study show
effects of overt prestige on language and that class has a subtle effect on sociolect
code-switching is used for clarity and for prestige
what did labov measure in his Martha’s Vineyard study?
centralised diphthong
what did Labov find in his Martha’s vineyard study
- local fishermen accentuated their accents in response to tourists
they do this subconsciously establish and identify themselves, rejecting tourists - settlers used diphthong more than down-islanders out of respect for fishermen and associate with island life
what does labov’s marthas vineyard study tell us
people use sociolect to associate with certain social groups and show awareness to certain values and how accent can exclude others
what did trudgill study
in Norwich
non-standard variants of language and differences between class and gender
what did Trudgill measure
elison => missing off the ‘g’ at end of words
h-dropping => missing ‘h’ at beginning of word
glottal stop => replacing ‘t’
what did trudgill find
middle class used non-standard forms the least
women tend to use non-standard forms less then men
everyone used n-s f in informal contexts
what did Eckert study
non-standard variants of language in American schools
how language reflects identity in social groups
who did Eckert research
2 scoial groups :
jocks
burnouts
what did Eckert measure
use of phonological variant sounds
eg ‘ae’ ‘uh’ ‘ay’
what did Eckert discover about the jocks
accept authority
middle class
conservative adult-like speech
what did Eckert discover about the burnouts
focus on rejecting school authority lower/working class more varied, urban speech
what did Eckert find
- people speak like their friends
2 .shared social practices have impact on language more than background - teens use language to conform or rebel; signifies values
what did milroy study
the effect of close nit communities on the use of non-standard english
what did milroy do
gave each person from 3 ship yards in Belfast a network score from 1-5
1 =>low net work score ; networks more open
5 => high net work score ; closed network, worked and socialised together
what did milroy find
people with a high network score used non-standard english more often => stronger accent and dialect
people with low network score used more standard english
what did milroy conclude
women often had open networks
close knit communities reinforce linguistic normas which leads to stronger accent and dialect.
who proposed the deficit model
robin lakoff
what does the deficit model suggest
- women speak in a genderlect that socially reduces them and linguistically disempower women.
- their genderlect makes them subordinate to men
what are the features of women’s language proposed in the deficit model
tag Q’s
hedging
empty adjectives
avoiding taboo
who proposed the dominance model
Zimmerman and West
what does the dominance model suggest
- women are in a position of social weakness
- men deliberately behave in an uncooperative way when talking to women to undermine and dominate.
what did Z&W find in their study (dominance model)
- there’s a difference in how turn taking is managed between same sex and mixed sex conversations
- men interrupted women but not other men
what did pamela fisherman find (dominance model)
women used tag Q’s in an attempt to stimulate a response from their significant other
when tag q’s are repeated, this indicates malfunction in turn taking
who came up with the difference model
Deoborah tannen
what does the difference model suggest
- males and females belong to different communities of practice and speak different genderlects
- differences start at childhood and lead to misunderstanding between genders
what main differences does the difference model suggest
status Vs support
conflict Vs compromise
orders Vs proposals
what critcisms are there of the difference model
- huge generalisation
- ignores factors like context
who proposed the diversity model
deborah cameron
what does the diversity model suggest
- individuals vary so much it is difficult to generalise
- more differences within genders than between
- the difference model is based on simplistic steryotypes
who creates the idea that ‘gender is a performance’
judith Butler
what does the ‘gender is a performance’ idea suggest
- people act upon their beliefs which are created by social pressures
- gender is performed differently in different contexts and situations
what did butler suggest about policing gender
some of our language polices gender norms:
- women => butch, ladylike
- men => bit of a girl
what is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
linguistic determinism => language we use and hear determines our ideas about the world
linguistic reflectionism => language we use reflects out beliefs
