Studies

Question 1

John Gumperz
(Language and Socio-Economic Status)

Answer 1

One of the 1st studies to look at caste-based language difference (late 1950s). Shows how rather small linguistic differences can effectively distinguish sub-gropus in society (village of Khalapur).

Different castes were distinguished both phonologically and lexically, with each castle having a vocabulary specific to their subculture.

Question 2

Basil Bernstein
(Language and Socio-Economic Status)

Answer 2

1971
Observation that sSsfrom higher social classes tended to perform better at language-based subjects that those from lower social classes.

Question 3

Penelope Eckert
(Language and Socio-Economic Status)

Answer 3

book-lenght study comparing language use in the 2 main youth groups in a suburbian high school in Detroit.
Jocks& Burnouts

Negative concord (=double negative) was taken into consideration

Question 4

Peter Trudgill
(Language and Socio-Economic Status)

Answer 4

Linguistic variation in Norwich (England)
distinguishes 5 social classes: MMC, LMC, UKC, MKC, LWC.

Key variables:
a) S-V agreement
b) Pronunciation of -ing ending of words.
word-list style / reading passage style / formal style / casual style

LWC failed S-V agreement more than 80%

Question 5

Martin Joos
(Variation Style)

Answer 5

distinguishes 5 styles: Frozen, Formal, Casual, Intimate and Consultative.

Question 6

William Labov
(Variation Style)

Answer 6

In variationist sociolinguistics, style refers to the degree of attention the addresser affords to their speech. The more attention they give to it, the more formal the context.

Style summarized in 2 principles:
a) All spk control and use more than 1 style
b) Styles can be ranged along a single dimension

Question 7

Lesley Milroy
(Variation Style)

Answer 7

research in Belfast
showed that conversational styles and reading styles were not located on a gradual continuum.
=/ She argued that speech is characterized by 2 sharply separate norms (practices), one employed in CONVERSATION, and one used in READING STYLES.

Question 8

Howard Giles
(Variation Style) ACCOMODATION THEORY

Answer 8

Convergence
Divergence

Question 9

Allan Bell
(Variation Style) AUDIENCE DESIGN

Answer 9

same as Accomodation theory, but involving 3rd person and audience.

Question 10

Ervin Goffman
(Variation Style) POLITENESS THEORY

Answer 10

premise: ppl have universal desire to be trated with politeness

concept: ”face”

Question 11

Brown and Levinson
(Variation Style) 3 sociological variables (politeness theory)

Answer 11

social distance
power difference
level of seriousness of the potential face threat (= the greater the imposition on the listener, the higher level of politeness is required)

Question 12

sociolects

Answer 12

speech characteristics of members of social groups

Question 13

idiolects

Answer 13

speech characteristics and linguistic behaviours of individuals

Question 14

Lesley Miroy
(Language and Socio-Economic Status)

Answer 14

According to Milroy, there are two main
types of networks:
a) closed social network: the more closed the group, the more is the control over the language
b) open social networks.

When two individuals are, say, both friends and work colleagues, this relationship is considered to be multiplex.

Lesley Milroy integrated herself in 3 communitites in Belfast into each community, posing as a “friend of a friend” and being subsequently introduced into the members of her informants’ communities.

RESULTS: informants in close-knit networks use vernacular (=non-standard) varieties more frequently.

Some of the key linguistic variables observed in the study
include:

phonological variable /th/ as in “mother”

phonological variable /a/ as in “hat”

Question 15

Otto Jespersen
(Language and Gender)

Answer 15

1922 Language: Its Nature, Development and Origin, entire chapter entitled, “The Woman,”

describing differences in women’s compared to men’s speech and voice pitch.

Question 16

Robin Lakoff’s 1975 Language and
Woman’s Place.
(Language and Gender) DEFICIT APPROACH

Answer 16

Lexical hedges or fillers: e.g., “you know,” “sort of,” “well,”
“you see.”

Tag questions: e.g., She’s very nice, isn’t she?

Rising intonation on declaratives: e.g., It’s really good!

“Empty” adjectives: e.g., divine, charming, cute.

Precise color terms: e.g., magenta, aquamarine.

Intensifiers: e.g., I like him so much.

“Hypercorrect” grammar: consistent use of standard verb
forms.

“Superpolite” forms: indirect requests, euphemisms.

Avoidance of strong swear words: e.g., “fudge,” “my
goodness.”

Emphatic stress: e.g., It was a BRILLIANT performance.

Question 17

Don Zimmerman & Candace West (1975) ”Sex Roles, Interuptions and Silences in Conversation”
(Language and Gender) DOMINANCE APPROACH

Answer 17

in same-gender conversations, interruptions were
distributed fairly evenly among male and female
speakers (→ “doing gender”: speech styles do not
necessarily coincide with one’s gender)

in mixed conversations, however, men were responsible
for 96% of the interruptions. They attribute this
finding to men’s attempt to dominate the discourse.

Question 18

Deborah Tannen’s 1990 You Just Don’t Understand
(Language and Gender) DIFFERENCE APPROACH

Answer 18

“genderlect (i.e., gendered language variety) theory”:

The male genderlect uses
communication:
to exchange information (‘Report’ talk)
to show independence
to show status

The female genderlect uses
communication:
to network (‘Rapport’ talk)
to connect
to develop intimacy

Question 19

Chomskyan linguistics

Answer 19

Chomsky (1957, 1965) set the goals of linguistics as accounting for the child’s capacity to acquire the
language or languages in common use in the environment.

Chomskyan linguistics seeks to ascertain what general properties of language exist and what aspects are
specific to individual languages.

The Chomskyan approach to the study of language is:

• generative: it seeks to formulate a small core of principles which “generate” the sentences possible in a
  language
• modular: it analyses language as composed of distinct yet interlocking components (syntax, semantics,
  phonology and the lexicon) → a necessarily abstract view of language

Question 20

Thomas C. Hudson

Answer 20

the term “sociolinguistics” was apparently coined by Thomas C. Hudson