social stratification theorist

Question 1

Labov social New York study

Answer 1

(1966)
- studied if the pronunciation of the rhotic ‘R’ differed with social class
- in order to prove this theory he went to 3 different department stores (of various budgets)
1. Saks
2. Macy
c. S. Klein

Findings:
- In casual speech the upper middle a class use post vocalic ‘R’ (confirming his hypothesis)

• Alternatively the lower class use the rhotic r in my formal situation

Question 2

Trudgill Norwich study

Answer 2

• G dropping study observing the social factors that impact Norwich speech

Utilised 6 factors:
1.occupation
2.education
3.income
4.type of housing
5.locality of residence
6.father’s occupation

Divided participants into 4 social classes:
1.lower WC
2.upper WC
3.lower MC
4. upper MC

findings:
- ALL social classes increase the g sound sound according to the formality of the situation

Question 3

Petyt

Answer 3

• studied the phonological variable ‘h’ (h dropping)
• conducted interviews in Bradford, paying particular attention to words using the ‘H’ sound

Findings
upper middle class- 12%
lower middle class- 28%
upper working class- 89%
middle working class- 93%

Question 4

Bernstein

Answer 4

1971
Restrictive code-speaking in large groups can be exclusionary, often involves more slangs and idiomatic lexis.
Elaborative code-speaking in large groups a slang is not context dependent

Code-switching- the ability to switch in and out of elaborate and restrictive codes depending on pragmatics

Question 5

Milroy

Answer 5

(1980-1987)
open network: an individual whose contacts tend to not know eachother
closed network: an individual whose personal contacts all know eachother

They investigated 3 WC communities in belfast (2 protestant & 1 catholic)
- All three areas were poor & WC with high levels of unemployment
- They were investigating the correlation of individuals in the community and the way those individuals speak
Measured:
- Immersed herself in a lower working class in a place with high levels of unemployments network
- gave network strength score of one to five

• use of the several linguistic variables
• ‘th’ in mother & ‘a’ in hat
  Findings:
• Overall, men who used non-standard english were part of more dense/tight knit social groups.
• Non-standard english was less common in women because they were part of a less dense social networks.