studies of language and social class

Question 1

labov’s the social stratification of english in new york city (1966)

Answer 1

he studied the use of the rhotic r as since WW2 it was considered socially prestigious. labov believed that the higher the social class of the speaker, the more likely they would be to pronounce it

Question 2

what did labov find (labov’s the social stratification of english in new york city- 1966)

Answer 2

he found that in casual speech upper middle class speakers used to rhotic r more than lower class speakers however in more formal situations it was the reverse. this suggests that lower middle class speakers were much more conscious of their own speech

Question 3

trudgill’s study of language in norwich (1982)

Answer 3

examined the relationship between social class and a number of different linguistic variables

Question 4

social group

Answer 4

individuals who share interests and connections with others, or who are classified as having something in common

Question 5

trudgills findings (norwich 1982)

Answer 5

the lower the social class the more likely they were to drop the ‘g’.
for all social classes, the more formal the situation the more likely they were to pronounce the ‘g’. confirms people are conscious of their speech.

Question 6

petyts study of language in bradford (1980)

Answer 6

found that there was a close relationship with ‘h’ dropping and social class
lower working class- 93%
upper working class- 67%
lower middle class- 28%
upper middle class- 12%