social groups

Question 1

social class, peter Trudgill

Answer 1

• peter trudgills (1974) norwich study looked at the pronunciation of the words ‘walking’ and ‘talking’. trudgill was looking for the non-standard forms walkin’ and talkin’ (this is called ‘g-dropping’ or a ‘g-drop’).
• he also looked at the use of the ‘-s’ in verbs like ‘he goes to school’ and the non-standard ‘he go to school’

Question 2

trudgill, social class, research method

Answer 2

• he asked participants to state how often they used standard and non-standard forms. he found that:
• women of all classes over-reported the number of standard forms they used which showed that they CARED SBOUT OVERT PRESTIGE
• men over-reported their use of non-standard forms, showing the COVERT PRESTIGE they desire
• women used more standard forms than men in a direct class-for-class comparison
• the higher the class, the more use of standard forms

Question 3

trudgill, social class, research conclusion

Answer 3

• the research concludes that class is MORE OF A DETERMINER THAN GENDER

Question 4

social class, Petyt’s Bradford study

Answer 4

• Petyt (1985) looked at h-dropping (losing the ‘h’ in words like horse and hold), and the RP (‘u’) sound in words like good and the (‘uh’) sounds in words like ‘put’ in the city of Bradford

Question 5

petyt’s Bradford study findings

Answer 5

• the lower the social class, the more likely the speaker was to drop the h
• the socially aspirational speakers incorrectly used the sounds in words like cushion pronouncing it differently

Question 6

social class, basil bernstein

Answer 6

• in the 1970s, basil bernstein conducted research in the way classes talk
• he asked groups of boys to describe a comic strip containing a football smashing a window
• from this he defines 2 codes: restricted (inherently deictic, relaxed syntax and many simple coordinating conjunctions) and elaborated (the opposite, standard syntax and more subordinate clauses and subordinating conjunctions)

Question 7

bernsteins analysis of code use

Answer 7

• he claims that whilst middle-class children can use both codes, it is rare to see a lower-class child using anything other than restricted code
• saying this, both classes did understand both codes when spoken to them
• there are obviously times when it is advantageous to be able to use both codes

Question 8

willaim labovs support of basil bernsteins code use

Answer 8

• william labov conucted research in 1969, which featured black boys speaking in what would be classed as restricted code, but with a logical argument
• this suggests that there is an issue with linguistically articulating ideas rather than there being a cognitive deficit

Question 9

william labov department store study

Answer 9

• investigated the use of the post-vocalic rhotic -r in words like banter and mark
• he visited 3 stores in NY of different price and fashion status : high end (Saks), middle end (Macy’s) and low status (Klein’s)
• labov asked a question about the location of a department which would evoke the answer ‘fourth floor’. he would then tell the assistant that he had not heard them and ask them to repeat
• at this point, the speech stops becoming spontaneous and starts becoming more conscious

Question 10

labov department store findings

Answer 10

• the lower middle class were most aware of the overt prestige (biggest change from casual to spontaneous speech), indicative of their need to SOCIAL CLIMB
• the lower classes tested were more aware of the prestige form and so more likely to change the way they spoke when consciously speaking
• the upper middle class changed the least, indicative of their already higher social class

Question 11

Age - jenny Cheshire

Answer 11

• looked at 11 non-standard forms used by children against their adherence to the law on the playground at a school in Reading
• the features included: multiple negation (double negatives), non-standard use of ‘what’ and ‘aint’ used as a copular verb

Question 12

Cheshire, age, findings

Answer 12

• all children that approved of criminal activities within their peer group were more likely to use non-standard forms
• more boys approved than girls : this means we can deduce that non-standard variations are conscious choices in language
• there is a clear prestige around standard and non-standard forms
• those who abide by the law clearly gain their prestige in an overt way from behaving
• the covert prestige of using the non-standard forms fits in with the breaking of laws - rebel against these rules in the sawe way they rebel against societal norms

Question 13

Penelope eckert - jocks vs burnouts

Answer 13

• the jocks used a significantly higher proportion of the standard forms. Their vowels were conservative and their grammatical constructions were practically all standard (no negative concord)
• the burnouts were focused on the local surroundings and so used the Detroit vowels more severely. They also used significantly more negative concord.