Key theorists/Concepts

Question 1

Thornborrow (2004) - 4 identities

Answer 1

Master - Unchanging (gender, age, ethnicity, origin)
Interactional - Roles people take on in a communicative context
Personal - Stable and unique, how you act as yourself
Relational - Changing with certain people

Question 2

Whorfianism -
(1956)

Answer 2

Structure of a language effects it’s speaker’s worldview.

Question 3

Tajfel (1979)

Answer 3

An individual acts not as an individual, but as a member of a group they identify with.

Question 4

Grice (1975) - cooperative principle

Answer 4

Quality - truthful
Quantity - Concise
Relevance - Relevant to topic
Manner - Clear and brief

Question 5

Goffman (1955)

Answer 5

Using language to present a particular image of ourselves (‘face’)

Question 6

Giles (1971) - Accomodation theory

Answer 6

Behavioural changes people make to change communication to appear attuned to their audience.

Question 7

Concious change

Answer 7

Overt prestige -Language to fit in with the dominant spoken language
Covert prestige -Speech to seem exclusive from dominant members
Hypercorrection - emphasis on certain syllables

Question 8

Prototype theory (Rosch 1975, Lakoff 1987)

Answer 8

Our knowledge of the world is organised by ideal cognitive models, words don’t capture the complexity of reality ( Meaning + context = reality)

Question 9

Social Penetration theory (1973)

Answer 9

Developing relationships leas to sharing more intimate information (self-disclosure)

Question 10

Norm of Reciprocity

Answer 10

We are expected to reciprocate information shared by those involved in conversation as to not cause awkwardness.

Question 11

Cramer (1998)

Answer 11

Relationships make people feel optimistic, therefore more comfortable with eachother

Question 12

Gayle and Priess (2002)

Answer 12

We actively seek maximising rewards and minimising costs of a friendship. When they do outweigh the other, relationships become more intimate.

Question 13

Lakoff (1975)

Answer 13

Ten lexical features of women, man made language.
( Hedging, fillers, tag-questions, empty adjectives, hypercorrect grammar, intensifiers, superpolite forms, emphatic stress (italics) to name a few)

Question 14

Tannen (1990)

Answer 14

Men talk for power / women talk for status
Men want status / Women want rapport
Men-women talk is cross-cultural and often leads to misunderstandings

Question 15

Coates ( 1996)

Answer 15

Women’s talk forms a connection over shared interests.

Question 16

Spender (1980)

Answer 16

Man-made language, language has been biased towards women and stopped them from having the same power as men (marked terms.)

Question 17

Labov’s Gender Paradox (1990-2001)

Answer 17

A sociolinguistic phenomenon. Women prestige their language more than men, but will also lead language with innovative forms of variables and ways of using language - shows conforming and not conforming.

Question 18

Otto Jeperson (1922)

Answer 18

Men’s language was the norm and didn’t need discussion but argued that women much more often than men break off without finishing their sentences because they start talking without thinking what they are going to say.

They argued that women’s language could be typified as “lively chatter” since their roles consisted of:
“The care of children, cooking, brewing, baking, sewing. washing etc, things for that the most part demanded no deep thought”

Question 19

Trudgill (1972)

Answer 19

Explored whether people from Norwich pronounced the ing Suffix on verbs like “walking” and “going.”

Their findings showed a marked difference between men’s and women’s use of the more “correct” Standard English form. As women used the standard form more frequently in formal situations despite using the non-standard form in their casual speech, he concluded that women saw the standard form as a way of signalling or gaining social status and, consequently, prestige.

Question 20

Zimmerman and West (1975)

Answer 20

Found out that men were responsible for 96% of the interruptions in conversation occurring between men and women. Men’s dominance seems from these to lie in their conversational management- i.e speaking more, having longer turns and, in conversations with women being interrupted less and interrupting more.

Question 21

Drew and Heritage, Institutional talk (1992)

Answer 21

Goal orientation - Participants in workplace conversations usually focus on specific tasks and
goals.

Turn taking rules or restrictions - In some professional contexts (e.g. courtroom) there are special turn-taking rules in operation. But even when no special rules exist, there may be unwritten restrictions on who speaks when; for example in doctor-patient consultations, it is the doctor who tends to ask the questions.

Allowable contributions - There may be restrictions on what kinds of contributions are considered
‘allowable’, i.e. on what participants may say.

Professional lexis - The professional/ workplace context may be reflected in the lexical choice,
i.e. in special lexis or vocabulary used by the speakers.

Structure - Workplace and professional interactions may be structured in specific ways.

Asymmetry - Workplace and professional interactions are often asymmetrical, that is
often one speaker has more power and/or special knowledge than the
other. Examples are conversations between a boss and an employee, or a
doctor and a patient.

Question 22

Holmes and Stubbe, power in the workplace (2002)

Answer 22

Small talk:
- Small talk is flexible, adaptable, compressible and expandable.
- Express social affect, manage relationships in environments.
- ‘Positive facework’, constructs solidarity, maintains power relationships in jobs.
- Higher ups act as equals in small talk, or dont to form rapport and use ‘repressive discourse’ (Pateman 1980) to achive organisational goals.

Humour:
- Humour is another flexible discourse used in the workplace.
- It is used to hedge things like critisisms and prompt social cohersion
- Can be orientated to a person’s face needs
- In an asymmetric power relationship it can be used to gain referent power (F&R) or may lisence a challenge when the humour used is unacceptable or inappropriate, and subverts overt control.

Question 23

Aitchison (3 theories)

Answer 23

Infectious disease theory - We catch language changes from those around us. Might not be a ‘disease’ and rather just people changing their sociolect to fit in with a certain group.

Crumbling castles theory - English is deteriorating from a ‘perfect’ point that we need to revert to. However there is no proof a ‘perfect’ English ever existed, and must change to fit society. (Prescriptivists)

Damp spoon theory - Language changes because people are lazy with it, when changes are really to economise our language.

Question 24

Aitchison (4 stages of new words entering language - PIDC)

Answer 24

Potential - A need for a new world arises because of something new.

Implementation - A few people use this new language.

Diffusion - Innovation spreads and is used more widely.

Codification - New language enters the dictionary and is now standard. (A long process, ~>5 years)

Question 25

Prescriptivism

Answer 25

An ideology that makes judgements about language - what is right and what is wrong. (Tend to argue for RP/Standard English)

Question 26

Descriptivism

Answer 26

An ideology that describes and observes language change without judging wether it is right or not. (Argue that all change is not good nor bad, just change.)

Question 27

Jespersen (1941)

Answer 27

Language change leads to increased linguistic efficiency - ease of articulating thoughts and maintaining distinctness. (Language Evolution)

Question 28

Decay | Evolution | Stalemate

Answer 28

Decay - Concerns about decline of English due to lack of care and maintenance (Prescriptivists)

Evolution - Language is becoming more efficient and adapts to the needs of the time (Descriptivists.)

Stalemate - Advance and decline is held in check by opposing forces (Neither are progressing.)

Question 29

Bloomfield (1933) - Semantic change (Hint: M, M, S, H/M, D/E, N/W)

Answer 29

Metaphor - When a word’s meaning is changed by another meaning that is similar to the original meaning.

Metonymy - When the name of a noun is replaced by another that is closely associated.
( E.g. Hollywood - Is a place, but describes films/ The crown - is an item but describes the monarchy)

Synecdoche - When a word for a part of something is used to reference the whole. (E.g. Idioms such as ‘hit the road’ or ‘All hands on deck’)

Hyperbole/Meiosis - Exaggeration or understatements to change the meaning of the word. ( E.g. Tree hugger - understates activists, Lap dog - exaggerates the clinginess of someone)

Degeneration/Elevation - The meaning of the word is given a lower or higher status than original. ( E.g. Knave - Dishonest man to Dishonest person, Pretty - pure to ridiculous)

Narrowing/Widening - A words meaning becomes more specific or generalised.