Social Groups

Question 1

Who conducted the Detroit School study and in what year

Answer 1

Penelope Eckert’s Detroit School study in the year 2000

Question 2

Who were the ‘jocks’ in Detroit school study

Answer 2

The jocks embodied middle class culture: they were upwardly sociably mobile individuals who wanted to prosper and academically succeed.

Question 3

Who were the burnouts in Detroit school study

Answer 3

the burnouts were rebellious, resented school and often engaged in illegal activity.

Question 4

How did the jocks and the burnouts differ in their use of language?

Answer 4

Jocks- used more standard, grammatically correct language, for example the absence of double negation and the pronunciation of their lexis in a way that conformed. Burnouts- This group did not conform to the standard forms of English

Question 5

Detroit study shows that social groups affect your language use because

Answer 5

those part of the same group shared collective language features so there was a correlation between language use and social groups. It also shows language was used to appear like you belonged in a group so you could easily be linked to their values and attitudes.

Question 6

Who also supports this study

Answer 6

Jenny Cheshire’s ‘Reading Study’ supports Eckert’s point that social groups are the key factor in a speaker’s use of language.

Question 7

Cheshire’s method

Answer 7

She used thirteen boys and twelve girls to discern their attitudes towards drugs and crime.

Question 8

Cheshire’s Reading study findings

Answer 8

It was found that the people who were considered tougher and who engaged in criminal activity, for example those part of gangs, conformed to the non-standard forms of the English Language. They used the negative concord ‘It ain’t got no pedigree or nothing’, the non-standard use of ‘what’, ‘do’ and ‘come’

Question 9

Reading study demonstrates how social group is the main influencer of our language because

Answer 9

the use of non-standard English reflected the social groups the participants belonged to. The tougher groups established themselves as part of the group through doing things such as using ‘ain’t’ as the auxiliary ‘have’ and using non-standard forms. By creating their own rules through language, they could express their rebellious nature and their right to be a part of the social group they actively sought to be a part of.

Question 10

Limits of Eckert and Cheshire

Answer 10

However, this study was only conducted on thirteen boys and twelve girls in Reading, therefore the sample size may not be large enough to determine the whole population, and the results could be unique to Reading alone. In addition, both Cheshire and Eckert’s studies were in artificial situations, like the school environment in Cheshire’s research. This means the study could be limited as the findings cannot be generalised to everybody in every situation.

Question 11

Who conducted the Code Switching study?

Answer 11

Nicholas Copeland

Question 12

Code Switching findings

Answer 12

he discovered that when people move from private to public discourse, their language changes so it is situationally based.

Question 13

Code switching method

Answer 13

His study included a travel agent who was evaluated speaking to a variety of people holding a different relationship with him: clients from different classes (working and middle class) and colleagues. The participant’s language use differed substantially, with professionalism wearing away with familiarity and their accents becoming less RP.

Question 14

How does this demonstrate how social groups are not the key factor in our language use

Answer 14

it depends on who the person you are talking to is and the degree of formality the situation holds.

Question 15

What bolsters Code Switching study?

Answer 15

Howard Giles’ ‘Accommodation Theory’

Question 16

What does ‘Accommodation theory’ imply

Answer 16

This implies language can be changed based on the situation we are presented with

Question 17

Norwich study

Answer 17

Peter Trudgill’s

‘Norwich’ study in 1974.

Question 18

Norwich method

Answer 18

He investigated the influence of class on a speaker’s language; his focus was on the final ‘ng’ velar nasal.

Question 19

What did the pronunciation of the ‘g’ show

Answer 19

The more prestigious standard linked to the pronunciation of the ‘g’. It was discovered that the upper Working class and lower Middle class were more likely to use the prestigious form when conscious of their language. This demonstrates how class influences our language because those who want to be identified as a higher class pronounce their ‘g’s’ and those of a lower class who strive to be associated with having more prestige, recognised this was a key identifier as being part of a higher class and social group.

Question 20

Labov’s ‘New York Study’ 1966

Answer 20

His focus was on the post-vocalic /r/. The three department stores he researched were ‘Saks’, ‘Macy’s’ and ‘S.Klein’. The staff at ‘Saks’, holding the most prestige, pronounced the /r/. Non-rhoticity occurred amongst the Lower class store ‘Klein’. Macy’s, the Middle class store, showed the greatest upshift of pronouncing the /r/ when asked to repeat themselves (so their speech changed from spontaneous to careful). This hypercorrection was to sound like they possessed overt prestige and improve their position in society.

Question 21

Limitation of Trudgill’s study in Norwich

Answer 21

Trudgill’s study is extremely outdated and, as proven by the constant addition of neologisms to the dictionary and the introduction of new accents such as MLE, language is very dynamic. Therefore, using a study from 1974 may not replicate the environment of 2021, so it could be limited in use.

Question 22

What did Labov avoid

Answer 22

Observer’s paradox and demand characteristics