language and social group

Question 1

What was Giles’ ‘CAT Theory’?

Answer 1

Communication Accommodation Theory:

The notion that people change their speech to signal their feelings about who they’re speaking to

• Convergence: Changing your speech to match the person you’re talking to
• Divergence: Changing your speech to distance yourself from the person you’re talking to

Question 2

What was Labov’s ‘NYC dept stores’ study?

Answer 2

• Believed social class affected how people spoke; predicted that higher the social class, the more people would pronounce the (r). Due to the (r) having considerable social prestige
• Decided to study the speech of 3 sales assistants in 3 Manhattan stores, drawn from the top (Saks), middle (Macy’s) and bottom (Klein’s)
• Founded out assistants from Saks used (r) the most and those from Klein’s used it the least
  Macy’s showed the greatest upward shift when asked to repeat

Question 3

What was Labov’s ‘Martha’s Vineyard’ study?

Answer 3

• A group of fisherman exaggerated a tendency already existing in their speech, they did this seemingly unconsciously to establish themselves as an independent social group w/ superior status to the tourists
• A number of islanders regarded this group and subconsciously imitated the way its members talked.

The pronunciation was an innovation and as more people came to speak in the same way, the pronunciation gradually became the norm for the island