Language Diversity) Language And Age Flashcards
Sociolect
Dialect associated with a social group - such as a socioeconomic class, ethnic group, age group etc
Convergence
Eg
Mirroring the way people act and talk in order to fit in with a particular group
Eg going abroad and adopting that accent
Divergence
Eg
Speak and act differently to group in attempt to distance yourself from them
Eg teacher trying to sound different to student
Why does convergence occur
So you can be in there in group as it helps form relationships and bonds
Why does divergence occur
To show dominance and keep someone in an out-group
Difference in lexical and grammatical choices of kids and old people
Old ppl use lot more reminiscing (nostalgia), have much heavier accents, and less americanisms
What was Eckert’s study
Age not just a number
Can be defined in 3 ways:
Chronological - number of years that have passed since born
Biological - how physically mature body is
Social - how socially mature you are (linked to events like marriage, having kids etc)
Who’s study was it of age is not just a number
Eckert
Difference in stereotypes between goth’s, chavs and teachers
Goths - quiet, rude, pessimistic
Chav - slang, violent, homophobic, jd clothes
Teacher - formal, mature, dominant language like imperatives
Why may schools be ideally suited to enforcing linguistic norms
Helps students fit in with each other, especially when it’s hard to make friends
Also divergens helps teachers differentiate themselves from students so it doesn’t feel like a friend
Difference in in group and out group
In group is group you or someone else is part of
Out group is group you don’t belong to
What are teenagers often vilified for Thus... Evidence Led to worry that... This raises concerns of... To stop this, ... Evidence of this
Use of slang and non standard variations
Widely held belief teenagers are becoming more illiterate, due to supposed decline in reading and increased phone usage
Daily mail article said teenagers had 800 word vocab, but need 15k word vocab to passed gcse english exam
Teenagers are becoming unemployable
‘Woefully low standards‘ in schools
Mrs Gross wants children under age 2 to be limited to 30 minutes of tv a day, as it crowds at conversation
Research found almost a quarter of boys and one in seven girls develop speech problems - often due to TV background noise which makes it difficult for babies to understand adults around them.
Overt prestige
Refers to dialect used by culturally powerful group
Covert prestige
Refers to where non standard languages or dialect are regarded to be of high linguistic prestige by members of a speech community, but not by the culturally powerful
Colloquialism
a word or phrase that is not formal or literary and is used in ordinary or familiar conversation – casual communication
Code switching
Ability to switch linguistically between 2 languages, dialects, sociolect etc under different circumstances
Bidialectalism
Speakers ability to use 2 dialects of same language
Neologism
A newly formed or coined word
Vernacular
Language or dialect spoken by the ordinary ppl in a particular country or region
Taboo language
Words or phrases that are considered inappropriate in certain contexts
Bucholtz San Francisco Bay study
Bucholtz studded group of all girls, who embraced a geek identity and distanced themselves from their perrs’ concerns of coolness
Found girls prided themselves on intelligence and used prestigious forms of English to constant a distinctive style, in a way to disassociate themselves from the status system altogether
Who was the study of girls who embraced themselves as geeks
Bucholtz
Trudgill’s stidy
Used zone sampling to question people, in which final consonant in words like walking, running etc was studied in Norwich
Found, proportion of in’ type forms was higher amongst lower social classes
Also found non standard in’ forms more common amongst men than women
Who was the zone sampling Norwich study
Trudgill
Ives study
Interviewed 63 16-17 year olds, and asked if they thought ppl spoke differently depending on age: 100% said yes
Teens believed they use slang specific to their age: ‘chatting rubbish’, ‘bare’, ‘beef’ etc, wouldn’t be understood by older ppl as felt this was to distance themselves from older ppl
Who did the study on speaking differently depending on age
Ives
DeKlerk study
Thanks young people have the freedom to challenge linguistic norms
Teenagers or young people seek to establish new identities through the use of linguistics, Due to a need to be seen as modern, cool, fashionable and up-to-date
Who did the study on challenging linguistic norms
DeKlerk
Studies associated with language and age. 5
DeKlerk Ives Trudgill Bucholtz Eckert
