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Correlations between linguistic features and class

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Correlations between linguistic features and class

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First Wave sociolinguistic research studies focus on how social categories correlate with particular linguistic variables. In Labov's study of rhoticity in three different New York City department stores and in Trudgill's study of phonological variables in Norwich, England each researcher chose participants based on perceived social status groupings. Both studies hypothesized that the informants from lower social classes would produce more of the nonstandard variants. Trudgill's research greatly differs methodologically than Labov's in that social groupings were assigned in the Norwich study based on six relevant factors and 5 groupings were used (Trudgill, 1974 as cited in Wardhaugh & Fuller, 2015 p.154)  when Labov only distinguished 3 discrete classes based on perceived status of department stores. Labov makes a large assumption in assuming that a person from the lower class wouldn't be in Macy's or Saks or vice versa, he simply lets location decide the social class of his participants. Trudgill also includes ten schoolchildren and uses age as a categorization from which he may draw correlations and conclusions while Labov simply ignores age as a pertinent factor to rhoticity. What's missing from Trudgill's study is the Upper Middle Class and a participant from the Upper Class. A question I would have for each researcher is how these variables may be produced differently by these participants at different points in their lives. Is there any age grading present in either study? I wonder if in Labov's study rhoticity might increase with age.

Wardhaugh, R. & Fuller, J. (2015) An introduction to Sociolinguistics. West Sussex, UK: Wiley Blackwell.

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According to Wardhaugh and Fuller, the pronunciation of the /n/ variable has been part of the English language for a long time and the awareness of its variants as part of the communicative competence of English speakers has been the focus of multiple studies (2008). One early study by Fischer conducted interviews with New England children noting their use of -ing and -in' in formal and informal situations and determined their use was related to sex, class, personality, mood, and the formality of the situation (as cited in Wardhaugh & Fuller, 2014, p. 170-171). It showed that in more formal situations significantly more girls used -ing than boys did. Similarly, a 1998 study by Kiesling recorded conversations of American male college students and found that their use of -ing and -in' were closely linked to the formality of the situation (as cited in Wardhaugh & Fuller, 2014, p. 188). While Fischer's study focused on gender variation to reinforce other studies that demonstrate women using standard variants more than men, Kiesling sought to highlight the individual linguistic variations that came up among a homogeneous group. Through the analysis of individuals that diverged from the group pattern, he discovered that the use of -ing and -in served specific social purposes for each individual in helping them create identity. However, based on the small sample size of the divergent individuals (3) in Kiesling's study, more research may be needed on individual linguistic variations.

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Positioning Oneself Within a Conversation

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Positioning Oneself Within a Conversation

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The third wave of studies has a focus of certain variations a speaker might use in order to position oneself within a conversation.  This does not stop at formal and informal status but extends to indication of membership within a community or mocking of an outsider, distancing from or connecting to a speaker, etc.  One example is Podesva’s study of Heath and his use of a falsetto tone, mocking that of a “diva” personality.  Not only will he position himself as a person who loves fashion and high style but the tone also is used to regain power within a conversation.  (Podesva, 2004, 2007 as cited in Wardhaugh & Fuller, 2005, p. 190)

Another example of mocking a certain character in order to position oneself is the study of teenaged females and their use of neck-rolling, teeth sucking and phrases such as “whatever” in an effort to mock a girl who is attempting to fit into a social group.  Sarah is mocking Angela’s character further isolating her from the group and solidifying her own alliance within then group.  (Goodwin and Alim, 2010 as cited in Wardhaugh & Fuller, 2005, p. 190 -191).

Both studies presented by Podesva and Goodwin & Alim show how a subject can use certain linguistic styles to assert their powerful position within any given conversation.

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                   Social Class and Level of Formality                                                       Labov ( 1966) and Trudgill (1974) investigated  the connection between different phonological variables  and social class  as well as the level of formality.  Labov   looked at the incidence of “r’ use among people employed at three department stores in New York city while Trudgill analyzed the use of the phonological  variables : “ng”, “t” and “h” in Norwich, England. Both researchers found a clear connection between the use of the targeted phonological variables and social class   and that the amount of the use of the variables increases by social class and the formality of style.  According to Labov’s study,  lower middle class speakers tend to  use the  “r” pronunciation more frequently than  the upper middle class  speakers,  depending on the type of the task: word lists and  minimal pairs  and  he explains that this is  due to  hypercorrection which  happens  when the speakers  carefully monitor their speech and   they use the “r “ variable because they  desire to sound like a person  from upper middle class ,  in which case social aspiration is a factor. Similarly, Trudgill noticed that lower working class speakers  tend to pronounce the “ng” with the [n] sound  when they read lists of words,  emphasizing that  the speakers  also tend to  carefully monitor their speech. While Labov’s study  suggested that there is a connection between the age of the speakers and  the  occurrence of “r” pronunciation, Trudgill  demonstrated that there is a connection between  gender and  the use of variable “ng’ ,  with females  using the  prestigious [n] pronunciation more than men, no matter the  speakers’ social class. 

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                   Social Class and Level of Formality                                                       Labov ( 1966) and Trudgill (1974) investigated  the connection between different phonological variables  and social class  as well as the level of formality.  Labov   looked at the incidence of “r’ use among people employed at three department stores in New York city while Trudgill analyzed the use of the phonological  variables : “ng”, “t” and “h” in Norwich, England. Both researchers found a clear connection between the use of the targeted phonological variables and social class   and that the amount of the use of the variables increases by social class and the formality of style.  According to Labov’s study,  lower middle class speakers tend to  use the  “r” pronunciation more frequently than  the upper middle class  speakers,  depending on the type of the task: word lists and  minimal pairs  and  he explains that this is  due to  hypercorrection which  happens  when the speakers  carefully monitor their speech and   they use the “r “ variable because they  desire to sound like a person  from upper middle class ,  in which case social aspiration is a factor. Similarly, Trudgill noticed that lower working class speakers  tend to pronounce the “ng” with the [n] sound  when they read lists of words,  emphasizing that  the speakers  also tend to  carefully monitor their speech. While Labov’s study  suggested that there is a connection between the age of the speakers and  the  occurrence of “r” pronunciation, Trudgill  demonstrated that there is a connection between  gender and  the use of variable “ng’ ,  with females  using the  prestigious [n] pronunciation more than men, no matter the  speakers’ social class. 

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Wardhaugh, R. & Fuller, J. (2015). An introduction to sociolinguistics. West Sussex, UK: Wiley Blackwell.

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The first wave of variation studies in sociolinguistics primarily aimed to look at class, age, race/ethnicity, and gender. One of the first studies done on gender variation was examining the use of the /n/ variable (Fischer, 1958 as cited in Wardhaugh & Fuller, 2005, p. 170). Fischer was seeking to find variations among genders and also personality types. What he found was that generally, as children relaxed in a given situation, they began to use more informal language (in this case ending words with -in' instead of the proper -ing). Fischer also found that girls/women used formal speech more often than men of a similar socioeconomic class.
Another study completed during the first wave was Labov's famous Fourth Floor study (Labov, 1966 as cited in Wardhaugh & Fuller, 2005, p. 172). In contrast to Fischer's study, Labov was interested in r-pronunciation after vowels and if whether or not it was used was related to the age of the speaker. He also compared r-pronunciation use by social class. He asked for help finding something on the fourth floor in three department stores that are aimed at different classes (high, middle, and low). Labov concluded from his study that people belonging to the upper and lower classes do not change their pronunciation after it is learned in adolescents. In contrast, members of the middle class sometimes do change their pronunciation. Labov also found that the more prestigious r-pronunciation was used more often by the upper class than the lower class and that it's use increased with the formality of the situation.
These studies both look at pronunciation as it is used by different classes in different situations. These studies found that both children and adults have an understanding of what is considered the 'correct' or 'prestigious' pronunciation and are more likely to use it in a formal situation. Labov's study found that people of certain classes do not change the pronunciations they establish in adolescents so I think this makes comparisons of pronunciation use among children and adults very interesting. It leads one to the question of when do these pronunciations become solidified?

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In the first wave of variation studies, much research was done on the correlation between various social categories and linguistic variables. Socioeconomic class, one of the prominent social categories, was included in, or encompassing of, two studies done by Macaulay (1966) and Labov (1977) respectively (as cited in Wardhaugh & Fuller 2015, p. 172, 180). In these studies, both Macaulay and Labov make clear correlations between aspects of language variation and socioeconomic class, but by using somewhat different methods. While they both choose groups to study that they knew would contain the socioeconomic differences important to their studies, Labov’s was not as carefully chosen as Macaulay’s. This careful attention to the members of his group though were of importance as he was combining several social categories to look at in his study all at once; social class, age, and gender; though interestingly, social class came out as the dominant social factor. So with this in mind, it is interesting to point out some of the similarities between their findings in this area. Primarily, both Macaulay and Labov concluded in their work that linguistic variation does occur as social class changes. But more significant in reference to class, are each of their observations that there can be overlap between the classes, specifically between neighboring classes. When Macaulay (1977) concludes that despite the considerable variation of linguistic behavior between the four classes in his study, and though each class remained fairly homogenous (p. 180-181), that there was individual behavior overlap between neighboring classes, it is reminiscent of Labov’s (1966) study of ‘r’ pronunciation where we see him point out that “members of middle social groups sometimes do” (p.173) change their pronunciation. In other words, the middle class both keeps characteristics of the lower class and gains characteristics of the upper class all while maintaining distinction as well. Labov goes on to speak of the high value put on a pronounced ‘r’ sound in New York in 1966, stating that it would even lead those in the Macy’s, or middle class, test group to “hypercorrect” (p.174) showing a consciousness of the perceived social superiority of pronounced r’s. Labov directly concludes from this that those who hypercorrected did so because they wanted to be like those in higher societal statuses. This is in contrast to Macaulay’s conclusion that the distinctions he observed were not occurring simply out of a desire to be like another social group (p.181). On this note, it would be interesting to investigate more deeply, the psychology behind the linguistic observations made by both Labov and Macaulay. Is there more to what drives the “cross-over,” as Labov calls it?

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Social class differences in /r/ and /z/ realizations among Detroit residents

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Social class differences in /r/ and /z/ realizations among Detroit residents

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Two second wave linguistic studies sought to examine a possible link between consonant cluster simplification or deletion and social class. The first one, conducted by Wolfram (as cited in Wardhaugh & Fuller, 2015, pp. 178-180),  in 1969, examined the speech of 48 Black and 12 White Detroit residents of varying age groups and social classes and found an absence of the third-person singular verb tense-marker /z/, showing a sharp stratification between working class and middle class residents of Detroit, with the former group being far less likely to realize /z/ in their speech than the latter group.

Again in 1974, Wolfram & Fasold, (as cited in Wardhaugh & Fuller, 2015, pp. 179-180), looked at Black speech patterns among Detroit residents, this time focusing on  /r/ absence in words such as farm and car. In this case, researchers found a milder correlation--a gradient stratification--between those who dropped the /r/ and those who vocalized it, with the higher social classes falling into the latter category. Wolfram concluded that participants' social status in both studies was the single most important predictor of these linguistic variables -- the vocal realization or deletion of the /z/ and /r/ phonemes.

Wardhaugh, R. & Fuller, J. (2015). An introduction to sociolinguistics. West Sussex, UK: Wiley Blackwell.

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Two second wave gender variation studies take a closer look at linguistic variables in gender variation in W&F.  The first study by Cheshire (1978) (as cited in Wardhaugh and Fuller, 2015, pp. 187-189) studied the (s) variable, the extension of third-person singular  verb marking all other persons. The study discovered that (has) only occurs as a full verb, or before an infinitive, but never as an auxiliary.  Additionally, it was discovered that high frequencies of of -s usage correlated with a degree of toughness in boys and that girls shifted their use of (s) variable toward Standard English norms more than boys in formal situations.  Similar to Cheshire (1978), Kiesling (1998) (as cited in Wardhaugh and Fulller, 2015, pp. 188), found that speakers also changed their use of -in’ as social situations became more formal.  By looking at these two studies and their analysis of linguistics variables in formal situations, we can begin to see patterns in how language choices change depending on context.

Wardhaugh, R. & Fuller, J. (2015). An introduction to sociolinguistics. West Sussex, UK: Wiley Blackwell.

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Shuy (1968) (as cited in Wardhaugh & Fuller, 2015, p. 177-78) researched the linguistic variable of multiple negations. Shuy focused their study in Detriot and on four social classes, upper middle class, lower middle class, upper working class and lower working class. Shuy was able to concur that there is an adjacent relationship between multiple negation and social class. However, they found that using multiple negations is not exclusive to certain classes. All of the classes use multiple negation at times. Multiple negations is variable depending on the social class. Upper middle class only uses multiple negation on 2 percent of occasions while lower working class uses multiple negation on 70 percent of occasions.

Wardhaugh, R. & Fuller, J. (2015). An introduction to sociolinguistics. West Sussex, UK: Wiley Blackwell.

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Research from Goodwin and Alim (2010) and Podseva (2004, 2007) (as cited in Wardhaugh & Fuller, 2015, p. 190-1) focus on analyzing the language of speakers’ stylistic choices to understand how they position themselves socially in a conversation. While Podseva analyzed the speech of one man in different settings to understand how his speech reflects different aspects of his identity, Goodwin and Alim looked at the language and nonverbal gestures of a group of adolescent girls to see how they use verbal and nonverbal information from each other to position themselves socially. While we know from these studies that speakers adjust their language based on different factors, it is less clear how aware speakers are of their actions. Furthermore, are people with less social power more aware of their linguistic choices and stancetaking in conversations than those who hold more social power? And how can researchers evaluate speakers’ awareness levels?

Wardhaugh, R. & Fuller, J. (2015). An introduction to sociolinguistics. West Sussex, UK: Wiley Blackwell.

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Labov (1972) and Trudgill (1974) (as cited in Wardhaugh & Fuller, 2015, p. 172-7) sought to understand how variants in phonological pronunciations are related to social class. Labov studied these variants in a strictly casual setting, only eliciting different pronunciations by asking clerks to repeat themselves in the guise of not understanding the first time. Trudgill studied not only casual speech but also formal speech, reading from passages of text, and reading from word lists. Both found a correlation between social class and certain pronunciations. Of course, much of the results of these studies could be swayed by the observer’s paradox, but these findings could suggest that language is affected just as much by social status as by location or age.

Wardhaugh, R. & Fuller, J. (2015). An introduction to sociolinguistics. West Sussex, UK: Wiley Blackwell.

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Both Fischer (1958) and Trudgill (1995) studied the /n/ variable. The Fischer study focused more towards children ranging from ages 3 to 10. This study looked at both boys and girls, however at one point they also looked at a model boy and a typical boy to see if they could distinguish a difference in their speech. Ex. singin' and singing. Trudgill focused his studies more on social class and how that effects our formal, casual, and reading speech. It showed that the higher class you were, the more formal and sharp your speech was. Trudgill also went into  detail with breaking down his data into gender to see if their was a linear change by gender across the social classes. The women actually had lower scores as a whole, indicating use of the more formal [ŋ] variant, and that the scores become higher as a social class becomes lower, indicating more use of the informal [n] variant by speakers assigned to the lower class. (as cited in Wardhaugh and Fuller, 2015, pp. 176-177) Fischer noted that the children's use of -ing [ŋ] and -in’ [n] through three different social situations: very formal (test administration), less formal (interview), and informal (casual conversation), which is similar to what Trudgill did in his study. However, Fischer found that it went behind gender and social class. It also had to do with personality, mood, formality of the conversation, and the specific verb spoken. Both Fischer and Trudgill found that informal, relaxed situations produce more informal, relaxed language (-in’ [n]). By comparing these two studies, we found that it goes beyond age, gender, and social class when identifying informal and formal speech, more specifically with the /n/ variable.

Wardhaugh, R. & Fuller, J. (2015). An introduction to sociolinguistics. West Sussex, UK: Wiley Blackwell.

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Both Eckert (1989) and Goodwin and Alim (2010) (as cited in Wardhaugh and Fuller, 2015, pp. 188-191) studied adolescent girls’ use of linguistic variation. The Eckert study examined high school girls’ use of a vowel system associated with urban areas or a vowel system that reflected suburban norms. The study found a correlation between vowel system usage and affiliation with either the jocks group - students from a middle class socio-economic background, or the burnouts group - students from a working class background. The author hypothesized that the girls used this linguistic variation as a means to assert their affiliation with the groups because they did not have the same opportunities as the boys did to participate in the activities that were associated with group membership (for instance, sports or cars). Similar to Eckert, Goodwin and Alim also noted a correlation between stylistic variation and affiliation with socio-economic groups. However, the Goodwin and Alim study took a deeper look at both variation and social function. Goodwin and Alim took a multi-modal approach to examine non-verbal as well as verbal variation in the interactions of a group of pre-adolescent girls. In this study, the authors cited an example of Sarah, a marginal member of a clique using a pattern of interaction that included verbal and non-verbal stylizations to further ostracize an outsider and more firmly establish herself in the clique. In this study, Sarah was observed using gestures and linguistic choices in her interactions with the outsider to mock her based on her race and social class. The authors note that Sarah’s use of variation in this pattern of interaction reflects a cumulative construction of social identity that is perpetuated in pop culture and the media and therefore, reaches far beyond her peer group interactions. By comparing these two studies, we are able to see that variation exists not just as a static, social affiliation function, but it also functions on an interactional level with far reaching societal implications.

Wardhaugh, R. & Fuller, J. (2015). An introduction to sociolinguistics. West Sussex, UK: Wiley Blackwell.

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The idea that women tend to speak more formally has come up in several studies. Take as example the findings of females of differing ages in the two very different locations. The first is a group of girls ages 10-13 in New England who were part of a study conducted by J. L. Fischer in 1958. The second is P. Trudgill’s work with adults in 1974 in Norwich, England.

Both studies look at the ŋ variable. Fisher collected data from twelve boys and twelve girls in two situations, one formal and one less formal. He found that 83% of girls used the /ŋ/ pronunciation of the ing suffix rather than changing it to /n/ in the more formal situation (as cited in Wardhaugh and Fuller, 2015, p. 170). This was almost double the number of boys who kept the /ŋ/.

Similar results were discovered after Trudgil’s work, which focused on different social classes. Results for both sexes were recorded with the use of the /ŋ/  /n/ variables. The results showed that generally, women used the /n/ pronunciation less than men in almost every class distinction (as cited in Wardhaugh and Fuller, 2015, p. 177).

Gender differences were not the focus of either study. The New England study was comparing the substitution of /n/ for /ŋ/ in situations of different formality as cited in Wardhaugh and Fuller, 2015, p. 170). Alternately, the Norwich was centering on distinction of social classes and levels of formality (as cited in Wardhaugh and Fuller, 2015, p. 175). However, both gathered there data in situations of varying formality.

Both of these studies raise the question of why women and girls hold on to the /ŋ/ ending in formal situations to a great extent than do men and boys. The fact that Fischer recorded children’s responses and Trudgil adults from different contents is quite intriguing. Is there something innate in females in formal situations? It would be great to look at even more data about this. And if it were truly a female quality, wouldn’t it be true in any language?

Resource
Wardhaugh, R., & Fuller, J. M. (2015). An introduction to sociolinguistics. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley Blackwell.

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Gender and Formality in First Wave Studies

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Gender and Formality in First Wave Studies

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Two studies from W&F examined the effect of the variables of gender and levels of formality on specific phonological variations and found similarities, even though the studies were conducted on two different continents and almost 20 years apart. Fischer's study in 1958 was conducted with young children in New England on the [ing] and [in] ending variants (as cited in Wardhaugh & Fuller, 2015). He found that not only  were there notable differences between girls' and boys' usage, the level of formality also affected which variable was used. The Trudgill study of 1974 took place in England and examined adult use of a greater variety of phonological variables, including the [ing] ending. He found similar variation: women were more likely to use the standard form, regardless of social class and there existed a pattern with regards to how formality affected the use of the standard form. The less formal the setting, the more likely it was for the nonstandard variant to be used. (as cited in W & F, 2015). While each of these studies also looked at other factors, it is striking that, despite the difference in location, time, and age of the subjects, similar patterns of usage could be established between them.
Wardhaugh, R. & Fuller, J. (2015). An introduction to sociolinguistics. West Sussex, UK: Wiley Blackwell.