Language and Social Class Flashcards
Language contact
When languages make contact in the following ways:
- Borrowing Vocabulary
- Creolisation and mixed languages (Creole)
Creole
When children learn the language of their parents it becomes Creole
Social categories
They are formed when people identify themselves with others based on characteristics.
The role of social identity
Social identity can only exist if we compare ourselves to other people
Dialect Continuum
The further north, south, east and west England, the more likely they are different in dialect.
Cultural Capitol
When you adopt the characteristics of a social group.
Class consciousness
Each class hopes and fears not to be like one another, in which they live their life in accordance to those distorted views.
Defining social class:
Education
Wealth
Income
Occupation
Social Mobility
In modern society, we have more social mobility in which we can go up or down the social class scale, despite the wealth of your family etc.
idiolect
The speech pattern of a person
Combining social class and dialect continuum:
Lowest class - More localised form of language, non-standard
Higher class - Standard form of language
Who uses hypercorrection the most?
Lower-middle class people, not upper. - This is because of sociopolitical salience, in which a class of people use language to try and covert to what they think is the standardised form.
Hypercorrection:
When a speaker will use a specific form of speech (for example, you and I) based on the false analogy that it is more prestigious, and therefore, the standardised form.
Bordieu:
When you learn a second language, you begin to have Cultural Capitol which means that you adopt the characteristics of that social group.
What did Bordeui do ?
- By being in Canada and working socially, she wanted to learn more English.
- By improving her English, she faced less discrimination at work
(Cultural capitol)
Labov’s case for social class:
He studied how often the postvocalic ‘r’ was used in 3 manhattan stores:
- He based it on the phrase; “fourth floor.”
- He found the sales assistance from Saks used it most, Kliens used it least, and Macy’s showed a great upwards shift when asked to repeat it again.
What did Labov find in the social class case study?
Individual speech patterns were defined by social class:
- Prestigious stores will use “r”
- Middle ranked stores will attempt.
- Lower ranked stores will have least.
What were the 3 stores in Labov’s case study?
Saks (used it most)
Kliens (used it least)
Macy’s (showed upward shift when asked to repeat)
Trudgill’s case on social class and gender:
Studied the use of: “ŋ” in Norwich
- Found that standardised “n” was used in lower social classes.
- “n” was also used by men in all social classes.
What is shared norms?
People who share acceptable group conducts such as:
- Grammar
- Lexical forms
- Phonology
