Social Class And Accents Flashcards
What date did Labov carry out his department store study?
1972
Name two case studies used for social class
- Labov’s NY rhoticity in department store study
- Trudgill’s Norwich -ing study
What year was Trudgill’s Norwich study carried out?
1974 in response to Labov’s NY study
What was the methodology of Labov’s department store research?
A researcher entered 3 different classed department stores in NY and asked an assistant for an item with the answer “forth floor” this was then asked to be repeated for emphatic and casual responses
What was the aim of Labov’s NY study?
Pronouncing the rhotic -r carries higher prestige, did the assistants fit this
What were the three department stores used in Labov’s study?
Upper market - Saks
Middle - macys
Lower - kleins
What was Labov’s hypothesis for his department store study?
The higher the social prestige, the more likely and the stronger the rhoticity in ‘forth’
What were the percentage results of Labov’s department store study?
62% Saks
51% Macys
20% Kleins
All used some rhoticity
What was the main feature that Trudgill’s Norwich study focused on?
Pronunciation of the suffix -ing
Were there any possible problems with Trudgill’s Norwich study methodology?
Observer’s paradox
What was the main aim of Trudgill’s investigation into -ing?
To test whether pronunciation reflected social differences and gender
What were the findings of Trudgill’s Norwich study?
The lower the social class the greater the likelihood of non-standard usage e.g. 'Jumpin' Women were found to use non-standard variations less than men
What were the conclusions found from women using the non-standard variations less than men?
That women are more ‘status conscious’ and are more aware of the social significance
What are Howard Giles’ 3 criteria on which people base attitudes? And what is the added 4th (not by giles)?
- precision
- correctness
- aesthetics
- associations
Who identified the 3 criteria on which people base attitudes to linguistic varieties?
Howard Giles
What is Howard Giles’ idea on precision about?
- people often use the words ‘lazy’ or ‘sloppy’ when talking about non-standard varieties
- glottaling
- h dropping
What is Giles’ idea on correctness about?
- people object to non-standard varieties for being ‘incorrect’
- all about context
What is Gilea’ 3rd criteria on aesthetics about?
- talk about accents as being harsh sounding or ugly
- apparently based on sound quality
What is the 4th criteria on which attitudes of linguistic varieties is based on called? And what is this?
Associations
Urban localities are often sEen in a negative light due to crime and deprivation
People’s negative attitudes towards a place which a variation is associated with causes negative views towards accent
What is a matched guise study? What can they be used to research?
Where a lecturer appeared in a different guise
Used to study attitudes to different accents and regional variations
Explain the Giles matched guise study
What year was this done in?
1975
A university lecturer gave the same lecture to 16-18 year old students
1 in RP and one in a Birmingham accent
Both sets of students were asked to rate him on intelligence and friendliness
RP was considered significantly higher intelligence than Birmingham
Birmingham was rated as friendlier
What was the Wood matched guise study?
What date was this?
2002
A group of young female students were given a talk in RP, Norwich and West London accents
RP was rated higher than average intelligence but less pleasing than the Norwich and west London
There was no difference in the rated social class
What can we conclude by comparing the two matched guise studies from 1975 and 2002?
Attitudes changes slightly as RP is no longer considered as more beautiful or higher class
What does Trudgill’s Triangle show?
Variation in accent Wider variation in the working class Little variation in the upper class
