Social Groups Flashcards
Howard Giles
COMMUNICATION ACCOMMODATION THEORY:
CONVERGENCE - ADAPTING your LINGUISTIC CHOICES to CONFORM language MORE CLOSELY to the PERSON you are SPEAKING TO or the SOCIAL GROUP you BELONG TO
DIVERGENCE - ADAPTING your LINGUISTIC CHOICES to DIFFER your LANGUAGE AWAY from another INDIVIDUAL or SOCIAL GROUP ‘you and them’
William Labov 1966
LEXIS
HYPERCORRECTION - Sign of SPEAKERS INSECURITY IN SOCIAL SITUATIONS
COVERT PRESTIGE - The STATUS of a SPEECH STYLE or FEATURE as having a POSITIVE VALUE which is HIDDEN or NOT VALUED SIMILARLY among the LARGER COMMUNITY
OVERT PRESTIGE - STATUS that is GENERALLY recognised as better or more positively valued in the larger community in contrast to covert prestige
Penelope Eckert
Argues there are DIFFERENT WAYS OF DEFINING AGE:
CHRONOLOGICAL AGE - Number of YEARS SINCE BIRTH
BIOLOGICAL AGE - PHYSICAL MATURITY
SOCIAL AGE - Linked to LIFE EVENTS e.g. marriage and having children
> AGE is a PERSON’S PLACE at a GIVEN TIME in RELATION TO their SOCIAL ORDER
BUILT ON the IDEA OF SOCIAL NETWORKS with her OBSERVED RESEARCH on the SOCIAL PRACTICES of AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL
JOCKS - They ENGAGE with SCHOOL TO AN EXTENT and ENJOY the SOCIAL SIDE of coming to SCHOOL, they WON’T DIVERT THEIR LANGUAGE
BURNOUTS - REBELS who DON’T ENJOY SCHOOL and AREN’T INTERESTED in it at all, they are JUDGED for NOT USING PRESTIGE LANGUAGE and are LIKELY TO DIVERT THEIR LANGUAGE
Lesley Milroy
WEB OF TIES:
DENSITY - The NUMBER OF CONNECTIONS THAT PEOPLE HAVE
MULTIPLEXITY - The NUMBER OF WAYS in which TWO INDIVIDUALS might RELATE TO EACH OTHER
> The focus on INNER-CITY WORKING-CLASS COMMUNITIES and FOUND that LANGUAGE VARIATION could be EXPLAINED by RESIDENTS SOCIAL NETWORKS
Jenny Cheshire (1982) - Teenagers and their Sociolects
OBSERVED TEENAGERS in ADVENTURE PLAYGROUND to look for EFFECTS OF PEER GROUP CULTURE
> Observed that the ‘TOUGHEST GIRLS’ and ‘TOUGHEST BOYS’ CONFORMED TO THE GROUP
> They used NON-STANDARD GRAMMATICAL FORMS like ‘AIN’T’
> DIVERGING LANGUAGE
> LANGUAGE DEVELOPS IN RESPONSE TO IMPORTANT LIFE EVENTS THAT AFFECTS SOCIAL ATTITUDES AND RELATIONS OF INDIVIDUALS
Ignacio Palacios Martinez (2011)
In SPOKEN ENGLISH, TEENAGERS use NEGATIVE MORE FREQUENTLY THAN ADULTS do
> Roughly ONE-THIRD OF THESE NEGATIVES OCCURRED in ORDERS, SUGGESTIONS and REFUSALS
> Argues that TEENAGERS TEND TO BE MORE DIRECT WHEN THEY SPEAK whereas ADULTS are more CONSCIOUS of WHAT THEY SAY and HOW THEY SPEAK because of a FEAR OF COMING ACROSS TOO DIRECT and THREATENING THE SPEAKERS FACE
Anita Strenström, Gisle Anderson and Ingrid Kristine Hosund (2002)
Largely FOCUSING on SPEECH of 14-16 YEAR OLDS in LONDON
THE RESEARCHERS FOUND THAT COMMON FEATURES INCLUDED:
> MULTIPLE NEGATION
> USE OF ‘AIN’T’
> ELLIPSIS OF AUXILIARY VERBS
How Do Social Groups Affect Language?
Language variation is influenced by ethnic groups, since they are usually required to learn the language that is most prominent in their area. Language is a part of their identity, but they must compromise their languages and substitute them with another, or combine them.
