session 4 = 5 Flashcards
reasons for language variation
Geographical location
Social characteristics
Diachronic developments
performativity
“Performativity can be understood as the way in which we perform acts of identity as an ongoing series of social and cultural performances rather than as the expression of a prior identity.
Clear role of agency
Linguistic performances are part of this
Identity does not exist unless performed
Out performance is somehow constrained
Repeated performance gives the ilusion of being real
Identity practices
Positive identity pratices
Actively constructing a chosen identity “who is the best nerd?”
Negative identity pratices
Distancing from a rejected identity “who counts as a nerd?”
men in socioling
Most language and gender research focuses on women
Men are more or less invisible
Men are taken as a homogenous group
Men are the norm
But the dominance of men depends on their invisibility
How do they stay invisible?
Invisible norm (male, white, straight, middle class, well educated, non-disabled, christian, cisgender, standard lang)
four discourses of masculinity
Four dicourses of masculinity:
● gender difference — a discourse that sees men and women as naturally and categorically different in biology and behaviour;
● heterosexism — the definition of masculinity as heterosexual; to be masculine in this discourse is to sexually desire women and not men;
● dominance — masculinity is identified with dominance, authority, or power; to be a man is to be strong, authoritative and in control, especially when compared to women, but also when compared to other men;
● male solidarity, or homosociality — this discourse takes as given a bond among men; men are understood to normatively want and need to do things with groups of other men exclusive of women.
semantic derogation
Semantic shift that
results in a word
acquiring more
negative associations
or meanings.
Linguistic
relativism
Weaker position than
determinism. Holds
that the value of one
factor is not wholly
independent of the
value of another
factor, but instead is
somehow constrained
by it. Associated
with the Sapir-Whorf
hypothesis, which
suggests that the way
we perceive the world
around us is in some
way reflected in the
way we talk. (See also
Reflexive.)
Determinism/
deterministic
The idea that there
is a strong causal
relationship between
two factors (i.e., one
determines how the
other will be). The idea
that if you know the
value for one factor,
you can automatically
and reliably predict
the value for another.
(See also Linguistic
relativism .)
Perceptual
dialectology
The study of people’s
subjectively held
beliefs about different
dialects or linguistic
varieties. The focus on
lay perceptions about
language complements
the regional
dialectologists’ more
objective focus on
the way people are
recorded as speaking
Salient/salience
Sometimes refers
to how readily a
particular variant
is perceived/heard
(this may be due
to physiological
factors affecting
perception, or social
and psychological
factors that prime
speakers and make
them attend to a form).
Sometimes refers to a
non-linguistic factor
that the context or
participants appear to
have foregrounded in
discourse.
Accommodation
theory
The process by which
speakers attune or
adapt their linguistic
behaviour in light of
their interlocutors’
behaviour and their
attitudes towards their
interlocutors (may
be a conscious or
unconscious process).
Encompasses both
convergence with
or divergence from
interlocutors’ norms.
Communication
accommodation
The full term for
accommodation in
which accommodation
between individuals’
linguistic behaviour is
seen as only one way
in which individuals
may converge or
diverge from each
other.
attunement
A term sometimes
preferred over
accommodation
because of the strong
(but incorrect)
association of the
specific strategy
convergence with
the more general
phenomenon of
accommodation. Just
as instruments in an
orchestra have to be
in tune with each
other, speakers attune
their behaviour to
the situation and in
relation to the way
their interlocutors are
behaving
convergence
Accommodation
towards the speech of
one’s interlocutors.
Accentuates
similarities between
interlocutors’
speech styles, and/
or makes the speaker
sound more like
their interlocutor.
It is assumed to be
triggered by conscious
or unconscious desires
to emphasise similarity
with interlocutors we
like, and to increase
attraction. (See also
Divergence; Social
identity theory.)
divergence
Accommodation away
from the speech of
one’s interlocutors.
Accentuates
differences between
interlocutors’ speech
styles, and/or makes
the speaker sound less
like their interlocutor.
It is assumed
divergence is triggered
by conscious or
unconscious desires to
emphasise difference
and increase social
distance. (See also
Convergence; Social
identity theory.)
Symmetric and
asymmetric
accommodation
Symmetric
accommodation means
both interlocutors
converge or diverge.
Asymmetric means
one interlocutor
converges while
the other diverges
(can be motivated
by mismatch in how
interlocutors perceive
the interaction).
Subjective and
objective measures
A speaker’s
perceptions of their
own performance and
their performance
evaluated by some
external measure.
Exclusive and
preferential
features
An exclusive feature is
one associated solely
with a particular user
or group of users or
solely in a particular
context. A preferential
feature is one that
is distributed across
speakers or groups,
but is used more
frequently by some
than by others.
Direct and indirect
indexing
A relationship of
identification. The
distinction between
direct and indirect
indexing was
introduced by Elinor
Ochs. A linguistic
feature directly indexes
something with
social meaning if the
social information
is a conventional
implicature (e.g.,
speaker gender is
directly indexed by
the form of some
adjectives in French,
je suis pret [prε]
(male speaker); je
suis prete [prεt]
(female speaker)).
However, most
variables associated
with, e.g., male vs
female speakers, only
indirectly index gender.
Their distribution is
sex-preferential, not
sex-exclusive. They are
generally associated
with several other
social meanings,
e.g., casualness and
vernacularity with
masculinity. Because
these other factors help
to constitute what it
means to be ‘male’, the index between
vernacular variants
and male speakers/
masculinity is indirect.
Conventional
implicature
An inference that
arises from the
meaning (or semantics)
of a word or phrase.
This means if you
try to cancel the
implicature, it sounds
bizarre or can’t be
understood. (See
also Conversational
implicature.)
Constitutive
Sometimes people think that the way we talk or use language is connected to something else that is not language-related, like our culture or society. They believe that this connection helps to create and shape the meaning of certain social groups or categories.
Reflexive
The view that a
correlation between
linguistic behaviour
and a non-linguistic
factor is due to the
fact that language
reflects identification
with a social category
or a personal stance.
Often contrasted
with constitutive
interpretation of
variation.
Performative/
performativity
Judith Butler
argued that gender
is performative in
the sense that the
iteration of actions
and ways of talking
in a social context
acquires constitutive
force within a
community. This
underlies the social
meaning associated
with actions, events or
categories.
Individual agency
Recent approaches to
sociolinguistics have
tried to emphasise
individuals’ freedom
of choice in their
analyses. Analysts
argue that speakers are
social actors or agents,
(re)defi ning themselves
through linguistic and
other social behaviour.
(See also Acts of
identity; Community of
practice .)
Illocutionary force
The force of a speech
act . Saying ‘I promise’
has the illocutionary
force of promising
if the speaker is
genuinely committed
to what they utter
(and is not lying or
hoaxing)
Conversational
implicature
An inference
that arises from
interlocutors’ shared
understanding
of the norms of
conversation. Not
part of the semantics
or inherent meaning
of a word/phrase.
Unlike a conventional
implicature , you can
cancel a conversational
implicature (e.g., They
have two cats if not
more ).
Dialect levelling
Reduction of
differences
distinguishing regional
dialects or accents.
One possible outcome
of contact between
speakers of different
varieties.
Quotative verbs
Verbs introducing
reports of discourse,
(e.g., direct and
indirect speech or
thought). They include
older, more stable
variants such as say
and think, as well as
newer ones such as be
like, be all.
Evidentials
Forms or structures
that provide an
indication of how the
speaker knows the
information being
conveyed (e.g., direct
experience vs reports
from a third party).
Globalisation
The increased contact
between people of
different social and
linguistic backgrounds
across broad swathes
of geographical
space. Commonly
portrayed as a recent
phenomenon and
strongly associated
with (and often
attributed to) the new
communication technologies (e.g.,
internet, mass media,
etc.). The dominance
of a small number of
language varieties (in
particular US English)
is seen as an important
factor decreasing the
ethnolinguistic vitality
of lesser-spoken
languages world-wide.
It is worth bearing in
mind that globalisation
has been an issue
in some parts of the
world at least since the
colonial period.
Lingua franca
Language used as a
common means of
communication among
people whose native
languages are mutually
unintelligible.
Pidgin
Generally, a language
variety that is not very
linguistically complex
or elaborated and is
used in fairly restricted
social domains and
for limited social or
interpersonal functions.
Like a creole , arises
from language contact;
often seen as a
precursor or early stage
to a creole. It is often
said that pidgin can
be distinguished from
a creole in having no
native speakers.
Creole
A language variety
arising out of a
situation of language
contact (usually
involving more than
two languages).
A creole can be
distinguished from
a pidgin : (i) on the
grounds that it is the
fi rst language of some
community or group of
speakers, or (ii) on the
grounds that it is used
for the entire range
of social functions
that a language can
be used for. (See
also Creolisation;
Vernacularisation .)
Expanded pidgin
A term used sometimes
instead of creole
to describe contact
varieties that have
spent longer as
pidgins (lacking native
speakers) within a
community. (See also
Vernacularisation .)
Vernacularisation
The process by which
a contact variety
becomes used with
the full range of
social and personal
functions served by a
language of the home.
Also the linguistic
changes associated
with the expansion
of the variety in
this way. (See also
Creolisation .)
Creolisation
The process by which
a pidgin becomes the
fi rst language of a
group of speakers. The
linguistic outcomes
of the expansion
of the pidgin into a
wider range of social
functions. (See also
Vernacularisation .)
Lexifier
The language that
has provided most of
the vocabulary (i.e.,
lexicon) to a pidgin or
creole
Substrate
The languages other
than the lexifier that
are present in pidgin or
creole formation. The
substrate languages
often contribute to
the grammatical
structure of a creole,
or they may constrain
the semantics of
words that have been
taken over from the
lexifier – e.g., han
meaning ‘hand’ and
‘arm’ in Bislama
(same denotation as
equivalent words in
the Eastern Oceanic
languages of Vanuatu)
and not the more
restricted sense of
English hand.
Wave model
The theory that
language change
emanates from a single
starting point and is
gradually incorporated
into the speech of the
nearest neighbours.
Gravity model
Model of the diffusion
of innovations
introduced to
sociolinguistics by
Peter Trudgill. Social
innovations (including
linguistic innovations)
have been observed
to ‘hop’ between
large population
centres in a (spatially)
discontinuous manner.
At its simplest, the
gravity model predicts
that the larger the city/
town, the sooner an
innovation is likely to show up there. (i.e., the
‘gravitational force’ is
provided by the weight
of numbers of people).
This is also known as
cascade diffusion .
Acts of identity
Le Page’s proposal
that intraspeaker
variation is a result of
the speaker’s desire to
present or foreground
a different social
identity under different
circumstances.
Strongly associated
with Le Page’s work
on creole language
speakers who often
display extensive
variation between
consistent use of the
vernacular norms
of a creole and the
standard variety of the
lexifi er . Contrasts with
attention to speech
and accommodation -
based models of
style-shifting such as
audience design .
What is the influence of conversational factors?
Interlocutor
Accommodation
Addressee design
Conversation topic
Referee design
Topic design
Accommodation:
People will attempt to converge linguistically towards the speech patterns believed to be characteristic of their recipients when they (i) desire their social approval and the perceived costs of so acting are proportionally lower (identity maintenance function) than the rewards anticipated; and/or (ii) desire a high level of communication efficiency.
Different dimensions of accommodation:
Convergence ←→ divergence
Linguistic ← → social
Objective ←→ subjective
Usually we assume objective linguistic convergence
summary accomodation
accommodation: adapting your speech to your interlocutor
Based on stereotypical persona rather than actual speech
Ineractional factors: stance and familiarity
Social factors: age and gender
Linguistic factors: range and features
A lot is unknown: what is the baseline?
dialect change
Sustained accommodation can lead to permanent dialect change
medium + long term accomodation
Medium term accommodation
Big brother
Antarctic expedition
Long-term accommodation
Small-sclae migration
Large-scae migration
migration
Over two or three generations, dialect differences get evened out
New towns, colonial englishes
Accommodation is the driving force
Computer modelling
Social factors play a role
Is face-to-face contact a prerequisite?
Lexicon: definitely not
Grammar: probs not
Phonology: maybe?
Glasgow t may may have spread through TV
Non-mobile speakers
Engagement with East Enders
referee design
In referee design, speakers diverge away from the style appropriate to their addressee and towards that of a third party, a reference group or model.
Referees are third persons not physically present at an interaction but possessing such salience for a speaker that they influence language choice even in their absence.
Topic design:
In contrast to interlocutor-based effects, where changes in speech can be attributed, at least in part, to the recent, external input from the interlocutor, in topic-based shifting the shifts can only be driven by speaker-internal representations of the activated dialects/variants. Therefore, topic-based shifting allows us to explore what exactly is activated when people think of a dialect, and how and when these thoughts impact their own speech production.
