Social Network Flashcards
Milroy 1980/1987
They investigated 3 working class communities in Belfast (2 protestant & 1 Catholic)
- All three areas were poor, working class with high levels of unemployment
- Milroy took part in this study as “a friend of a friend” - so she could embed herself within the communities
- They were investigating the correlation of integration of individuals in the community and the way those individuals speak
Types of Network:
Open Network: (LOW density) an individual whose contacts tend to not know each other
Closed Network: (HIGH density) an individual whose personal contacts all know each other
Multiplex network→ when individuals from different networks know each other
Density refers to the portion of potential connections that are actual connections (that person could know someone)
What did Milroy measure?
Knowledge of other people in the community, workplace and leisure activities
(gave a network strength score of 1-5)
Use of several linguistic variable
(‘th’ in mother & ‘a’ in hat)
Milroy’s findings 1980-1987
High network score correlated with the high use of Non-Standard english
Overall, men who used Non-standard English were part of tight knit groups.
Non-standard English was less common in women because they were part of less dense social networks
Penelope Eckert 2000
Social categories and identity in the high school
Observational Research:
‘Jocks’ - a group who participated in school life enthusiastically
‘Burnouts’ - actively rebellious and refused to take part in school activities
She found people tended to speak more like those whom they shared social practices with
Eckert’s findings
Jocks were more concerned with speaking in a socially prestigious way - sometimes reflecting their middle class backgrounds
Burnouts more often used the exaggerated pronunciations associated with the urban accent of their Detroit
However, even within the burnouts there were sub groups who spoke slightly differently from more established group members
Labov + Martha’s Vineyard
Dipthong Vowel on an island in Massachusetts, USA.
These three groups are:
- The older Chilmark fishermen.
- The younger population.
- The tourists.
looks at /aw/ and the /ay/ phonemes in words like ‘house’ and ‘spice’.
Overt and Covert Prestige
Overt prestige = using forms that are regarded highly in society → used occupationally –things like rp and standard english
Covert prestige = more to do with identity - what we associate with using non- standard form → being less ‘bothered’ about money and status - ‘fashionable’ ways of speaking that’s used on social media → not using standard forms - still prestige
Labov’s research findings
The younger population used the vowels to appear distant to the tourists.
The Chilmark fishermen exaggerated their vowel sounds.
This is an example of covert prestige in order to diverge from a different social group.
Found that there was a distinct group (fishermen) that was using language differently
To mark themselves as different as the tourists → examples of covert prestige and convergence as they wanted to differ from the social group of tourists
