Week Eleven - Language, Culture & Gender: Pidgins & Creoles Flashcards
Sociolinguistics?
language as a method for establishing and maintaining social relationships.
Speech style choice depends on?
person and context
Regional accent
distinguishable by pronunciation alone, within and between countries
Regional dialect
features of pronunciation, but also vocab and grammar
Observer’s paradox?
People often change when they know they’re being recorded
Language variety/code/style?
a set of linguistic forms used under specific social circumstances with a distinctive social distribution
Converge vs diverge
C: aus in UK might pronounce better with a T
D: northern english moving to london might emphasise northern accent
How to vary linguistic style?
vocab
pronunciation: bank manager vs friend
grammar: to friend vs grandma
entire language: local vs national
Linguistic choice is influenced by?
participants (who)
social context
topic of convo
function of convo (why they are talking)
Men vs women in pronunciation?
women standard, men more vernacular eg g and h dropping
Men vs women in grammar?
women standard, men more vernacular eg double negation
Men vs women in vocab?
women use more pleasant adjectives eg adorable, non-primary colour words
Men vs women in intonation?
women use patterns of surprise/politeness
rising intonation
tag questions
women vs men more generally with language in english?
women use language more fluently, use more words, and express more emotion, social warmth
men vs women in digital language/messages?
women more likely to use expressiveness and friendliness and affection
men more likely to use aggression
accommodation to speech of listener findings?
women more co-operative than men, men might even react with greater vernacular language
accommodation to speech of listener WHY?
interviewer is often a middle-class, well educated academic, so need to be careful generalising these results
male terms vs female terms?
male terms are unmarked (prince, actor)
female terms are marked (bound morpheme eg princess, actress)
Origin of pidgins and creoles?
The need to find a common system of communication between speakers of different language
Function of pidgins and creoles?
A regular means of communication between different linguistic groups in a multilingual speech community
Pidgin?
A language with no native speakers (contact language)
Creole?
A pidgin that has become the first language of a new generation of speakers (eg children) 6-17 million people
How do pidgins develop?
By simplifying the dominant language of the two or more groups
Where are pidgins and creoles mainly spoken?
In developing countries
Equatorial belt
Places with direct or easy access to oceans
theoretical implications of pidgins and creoles?
As they are usually developed by children, suggests we have an innate bioprogram/mechanism that compels children to develop a full language
