Anna Wood - Conducting Sociolinguistics Research Journal by Anna Wood https://padlet.com/sumeiwood/bpk2wmnkupdipz69 en-us 2022-10-19 09:05:38 UTC 2026-02-08 16:27:56 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f197.png 1: Prescriptivism and nonstandard usage sumeiwood https://padlet.com/sumeiwood/bpk2wmnkupdipz69/wish/2346672308 My mom teaches grammar in college, so I speak a pretty standard variant of English. At the same time, I'm from Hawaii, where there's a large influence from Hawaiian Pidgin even in English speech. Examples of this are removing articles/ prepositions from phrases ("let's go beach" instead of "let's go to the beach") or just looser pronunciation of English phrases ("braddah/ faddah" instead of "brother/ father"). Above I attached a video talking about the history of Hawaiian Pidgin, which originated in the sugar plantations, where many immigrants couldn't speak a common language. 

Within Hawaii, there's a divide between people who can and cannot speak it, and further, who think it's prescriptively "broken English" or not. For me, sometimes I struggle to understand it, but I respect it as an integral part of Hawaii's culture. Most people who speak it are from multi-generation immigrant households in Hawaii. There's an association with the working class, and local people (compared to other, often wealthier, people who move to Hawaii for jobs or development). Those who speak it as their primary language are constantly disadvantaged in academics and the workplace, where there are usually never accomodations for Pidgin. People in government have even implied that the existence of Pidgin is the reason why Hawaii scores poorly on standardized tests-- but to me, this isn't because Pidgin indicates "lower intelligence", but because those students are being tested in, essentially, a second language. Furthermore, while not enough research and sampling has been done on Hawaiian Pidgin, it has its own established patterns of grammar and pronunciation. In terms of language used for communication, it's highly productive within Hawaii.

In the paper I link below, there are definitely people advocating for Pidgin to be used and preserved. This is because of how connected Pidgin is to Hawaii's unique cultural background and community. Despite so much gentrification and development from tourism, I've found that that has only made people from Hawaii hold greater pride in our local identity. While I was never around people who spoke Pidgin heavily (though I know many people who can codeswitch and I can slip into a Pidgin-influenced English at home), I think it's a really cool part of Hawaii. It's a bit of linguistic independence we've maintained from the mainland US and a reflection of the warm, local aloha spirit. Also the second link is something I found from the University of Hawaii about Pidgin grammar.

https://laulima.hawaii.edu/access/content/user/jaydene/ED294/ED294.Article.Pidgin%20and%20Education.pdf
https://www.hawaii.edu/satocenter/langnet/definitions/hce.html]]> 2022-10-19 09:07:09 UTC https://padlet.com/sumeiwood/bpk2wmnkupdipz69/wish/2346672308 2: Language varieties in the neighborhood sumeiwood https://padlet.com/sumeiwood/bpk2wmnkupdipz69/wish/2356987121 When walking around I hear a lot of Swabian, particularly in smaller stores. Swabian is associated with Baden-Württemberg. For example, one of the bakeries near my house has a sign that labels the products as "süße Stückle", which confused me until I realized it was Swabian. Honestly, since I'm still learning German, I can't always tell when the dialect is being spoken, I just assume it's Hochdeutsch I don't yet understand. I only realized the contrast when I visited a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, where (I was told) their dialect is most similar to Hochdetusch, and I found I could passively understand a lot more than in Tübingen. I do know certain traits of Swabian, such as the -le affix and vowel changes, but I definitely need to hear more to become better at identifying it.

Another language variety I hear a lot is Mandarin Chinese. I've actually run into quite a few Chinese immigrants here and can occasionally overhear Mandarin in the streets. Likewise, I go to the restaurant Sanbao a lot and the workers there speak Mandarin. It's interesting to hear that because in Oregon (where I go to college in the US), most of the immigrants are specifically from Guangzhou and speak Cantonese, so I can't understand what they're saying. Mandarin is associated with China as a whole, most mainland Chinese speak Mandarin along with either regional/ village dialects. I do know they're speaking mainland Mandarin Chinese by the vowels (Cantonese uses different and has over double the tones Mandarin does), and even consonants (Taiwanese accent/ dialect cuts out "h" sound in certain words). It could be a Chinese variety I'm not familiar with, but it sounds similar enough to Mandarin that I can pick up a few words.

When I enter the conversation in German, people usually speak Hochdeutsch or just English to me. Interestingly, I've found that people in stores are pretty good about speaking German with me even if I'm struggling, when I've heard Germans will tend to just switch to English if it's easier. In the Chinese restaurant, we speak German (honestly my German is becoming better than my Chinese at this point). Something not inherently linguistic but is tied to culture/ social group, I have noticed that depending on who I go to the restaurant with, the servers will give us chopsticks and bowls to share food with or not. This does reflect a shift in behavior based on perceived social group.

I think these varieties persist, partially because of pride in the associated social group and also because that's what the person grew up with. One of my friends usually just speaks Swabian with his family because that's what he grew up doing, but normally speaks Hochdeutsch around me. Additionally, while I can't speak for the owners of the Chinese restaurant, I assume they're multigenerational immigrants to Germany and so speak Chinese in their family, but are also fluent in German. Chinese is deeply tied to the culture of China, with idioms and literature.

I selected Swabian because it's the German variety I hear the most here, outside of Hochdeutsch. It's cool that it's still used so much here, even as dialects are being used less. I wrote about Mandarin since I study it and am Chinese. Interestingly, I've found I've heard Chinese a lot more here. Many of the Chinese people I know in the US, even if they can speak a variety of Chinese, are usually integrated enough that they don't default to it. ]]> 2022-10-26 09:42:06 UTC https://padlet.com/sumeiwood/bpk2wmnkupdipz69/wish/2356987121 3: Language change over time sumeiwood https://padlet.com/sumeiwood/bpk2wmnkupdipz69/wish/2376799630 1. Declining: "floppy disk"
After a rapid increase in the 1970s following their invention, the term "floppy disk" has been continually declining in usage. This reflects the usage of technology and the rapid development of data storage. Around 2000 is when the term more rapidly declines, also overlapping with the invention of and fast increase in usage of "flash drive" (though that starts to decline in 2012). This was externally motivated by changing technology as computers developed. Interestingly, I searched for how "printer" was used and its peak overlaps with the peak of "floppy disk", after which both words decline (though "printer" was used far more overall). The rate of technology and this language shift shows how adolescents shape language. Now, the generation that are teenagers now have never experienced floppy disks and older technology, much less know about them. It makes sense that these terms have so rapidly fallen out of usage.

2. Increasing: "mental health"
From being virtually unmentioned in any books in 1920, the term "mental health" has been continually increasing (with a mild peak in the 1970s). This is slightly correlated with the increase of the term "therapy", though that appears to begin in 1900 (and begins declining in 2013, though not drastically). I searched in English and so I  guess that this change started to come with greater self-awareness of mental health, especially post WW1 with "shell shock" being observed in soldiers. Additionally, in 1962, Silent Spring was released, which signaled a greater concern in American culture about how the environment was influencing the psyche of people. Interestingly, the point that "mental health" increases in literature coincides with the gradual decrease of "insanity" as a term. This implies that maybe there is an internal language and cultural reason for these trends. As people were given more attention as "mentally unwell" and not simply insane, this reflects further care and research into the field.

3. Fad: "ice bucket" and "among"
I chose these two words and based these on Google Trends, as I needed more recent data than 2019. More specifically, both of these words related to global internet trends that I experienced and, as I guessed, there is a huge spike in the googling of these terms during those periods. "Ice bucket" trended in 2014 due to the ALS ice bucket challenge, where online creators would dump buckets of ice water on themselves to raise money toward ALS research (which is crazy to think that happened when I was 12 since I remember watching Youtube at that time so clearly). 
During the height of the pandemic, the game "Among Us" became wildly popular, as a free mobile game that could be played with friends. This brought forth a wave of memes and online discussion around the game, resulting in a search peak during October 2020. This became so widespread due to the game being so accessible. Combined with the pandemic, many people who would have not played the game became interested in it.

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=among,ice%20bucket]]> 2022-11-09 13:32:25 UTC https://padlet.com/sumeiwood/bpk2wmnkupdipz69/wish/2376799630 4: Prestige and stigma in language use sumeiwood https://padlet.com/sumeiwood/bpk2wmnkupdipz69/wish/2386364312 1: "quasi"
I noticed in my German class, there's one girl who uses "quasi" frequently but no one else does. This struck me as interesting, and I wonder if, even though "quasi" is still a fairly common German word, this was an example of hypercorrection. I don't think this was conscious, the word was probably functioning as well as a placeholder word (perhaps a part of her own idiolect), similar to using "kind of" in English to soften statements (a feature of speech I'm guessing is more common in women/ linguistically insecure people as well). I would say this is an indicator, since it's mostly just a speech pattern and non-salient (to myself), but I would need more knowledge about German to know the nuances of that word.
Since quasi does come from Latin, I wonder if it is perceived as a more academic word (perhaps overperceived, hence the hypercorrection). In which case, this would be change from above, with quasi being a prestige variant.

2: “slay”
This term is a compliment of someone having done something well, that comes from AAE. However, oftentimes I hear it, even here in Tübingen, from non-black people, and it comes off as strange. The American culture of co-opting black language to seem cool and “street smart” I suppose has spread to other countries— I’ve even see people use it in a German/ Denglish context. This would be an example of change from below— while AAE usage such as “she slayed” is not a prestige variant of English, it is adopted by people because it carries a different kind of prestige from peers. It also seems to be an unconscious change, at least in the sense that most people don’t know it comes from AAE. More recently, I’ve seen more and more people coin AAE markers/ stereotypes as “TikTok speech” and before that it was attributing it to Twitter, rather than the actual black speakers of it. I don’t believe this is a form of hypercorrection, but definitely a misunderstanding of AAE. Honestly, hearing non-black people butcher AAE so much can be painful— it reflects the overall disrespect English-speaking communities hold for black people (from using it to erasing AAE influenced speech from its origins). From what I found online, it looks like “slay” being used in a similar way to today was first seen around the 1920s in black communities, for when someone looked fashionable.

3: internet lingo
A language feature that, I suspect has spread in a similar way to AAE phrases is borrowed internet lingo. The primary example I experienced in the past week was being on the bus and overhearing two people taking in German. But mid-sentence, one of the girls says “my brother in Christ” in English. Contrary to being an actual religious statement, this has been a meme within the past year, showing exasperation. What struck me was that they were speaking very fast German yet seamlessly codeswitched to the phrase (which has probably been automated to a degree as a combination of words often seen together). This was very casual conversation and so I am inclined to say this is a change from below, since naturally internet speech is not being institutionally enforced anywhere outside of the internet. However, the fact that the English phrasing is used in German feels to me another way that English continues to dominate online spaces, perhaps making it a pressure from above to conform (especially since Germans are able to, as most people here are bilingual in both). The usage probably came from below consciousness— oftentimes I find myself falling into internet speech mannerisms (there is a certain tone of speech that can be associated with different social media platforms, e.g. Twitter, TikTok, Tumblr all have different tones). 
I do think people fall upon certain internet meme soundbites in an attempt to be funny (a sort of linguistic insecurity with their own story telling). At the same time, I also think memes in particular can be an incredibly efficient way of communicating. What I mean by this is that memes have such an ingrained culture around them that if you are speaking with someone who knows the history of the specific meme, it may be faster to say “my brother in Christ (usually followed by an opinion)” than the whole explanation. Such as saying, “my brother in Christ, how have you never had Chipotle before?” It coveys exasperation, disbelief, as well as the degree that the speaker enjoys Chipotle. 

4: “Ich glaube…”
This feature is a German phrasing used to introduce an opinion, similar to the English “I think/ I’m thinking that…”. My friend, who is a L2 German speaker, uses this phrase a lot. She is aware of it herself, having told me about it. I do feel I don’t really hear L1 German speakers using this phrase, at least to the degree she does, which suggests this is a form of hyper correction. Additionally it could be linguistic insecurity as a woman, since women tend to use more tentative/ soft language (diluting statements with “I guess/ think/ suppose”). I wouldn’t say the phrase itself is salient in any way, unless if the fact that German speakers don’t tend to use it a lot is because it’s a marker of more basic German. I could also see it as something that is unconsciously an English translation, since we do say “I think” as an interjection, but maybe doesn’t work in German (akin to “in meiner Meinung” being ungrammatical). 
]]> 2022-11-16 10:27:54 UTC https://padlet.com/sumeiwood/bpk2wmnkupdipz69/wish/2386364312 5: Social networks and language use sumeiwood https://padlet.com/sumeiwood/bpk2wmnkupdipz69/wish/2395766776 Family Group
This family group is made up of the direct members of my mom's side of the family, starting with her parents (my grandparents) MH and BH. The following 5 people are their children/ my mom's siblings/ my aunts and uncles. Outside of my nuclear family, this is probably one social network that I have spent the most time in, since my family often has family gatherings. Additionally, they are my only family on Hawaii, the rest (my father's side of the family/ more extended family) are all on the mainland or elsewhere.
My aunts and uncles are naturally older than me, but still speak in fairly standardized and casual speech. This is probably helped by the high contact with younger people (my cousins and I, and most of them are teachers), so this network is not entirely ignorant of youth speech. My family is generally white, middle class, and suburban and all of the people in this network (that's shown in the graph) grew up on the mainland, so no one has a Pidgin accent. The one who I would say has the strongest influence of Pidgin is my aunt SB, as she works in an elementary school in a less gentrified area (I have heard her and her family use Pidgin variants, like "faddah" instead of "father").
Additionally, a person that is of interest is JH. This is my uncle who is in the foreign service and so is often abroad for a year at a time so we don't always see him. Additionally, his personality is a bit antagonistic and often argues with his parents, meaning I definitely see MH's speech become more careful around him/ use defensive phrasing ("I was just saying...").
Since the English that my family speaks is fairly standard for Hawaii/ West Coast, I would say we simply use these variants because it's most convenient (though I'll be seeing in my research project for this class if there actually is an influence of Pidgin in English speech).
I do see examples of external, non-common speech interactions with this group a lot since one of my cousins is special needs. Because of this, his speech is different and can be more difficult to understand. I notice people speak clearer to him so he can understand, but they don't infantilize him. My family also volunteers a lot at Special Olympics events because of this and naturally interacts with many of the athletes there. Throughout that, I've never seen this social network look down on people for speaking differently or being marginalized.

Friend Group
This second group focuses on a group of Korean students I have befriended while here in Germany. I know many of them are connected in their own ways (Kakao Talk, group chats, etc) and so it's an interesting example of how through different degrees of separation, many of my Korean friends know each other. In terms of expressions I hear being used differently within and outside the group, the obvious contrast is the usage of Korean versus English. Sometimes when I'm there, they'll speak Korean but they try to be mindful of the fact that I don't speak any. Sometimes we will speak German (since we met in German language courses) but most of the time we communicate in English.
I notice that when people (often Germans) approach us and say they can speak Korean, the default will become Korean, since the students are interested to meet people who are learning Korean. The common languages are definitely Korean and English and I think the ties of this group are based on convenience. I mean this in the sense that if I were to try to speak only German, they would accept it but be frustrated since it's ultimately less efficient for us. This is seen in how there is a higher rate of communication between the Korean students who know each other than with me, since they can text and talk to each other in Korean. This shows that the selection of language features to use is based on quick judgments of what would be most effective with the group of people one is with.]]> 2022-11-23 15:53:16 UTC https://padlet.com/sumeiwood/bpk2wmnkupdipz69/wish/2395766776 6: Stylistic differences in language use sumeiwood https://padlet.com/sumeiwood/bpk2wmnkupdipz69/wish/2406356380 For myself, I notice that I speak very differently between with my family, with close friends, and in formal settings. With my family, I speak a lot more casually and clearly (less hedging), since I trust my parents enough to not judge me. There are also certain inside jokes that are present in any relationship, and I think my family and I tend to use a lot of idiomatic phrases (one favorite is "is the pope catholic?"). Within my larger family, respectful behavior is always used but we're very casual about language for respect. For example, my cousins and I have always called our aunts/uncles by their first names and grandparents "mom and dad" (passover from hearing parents call them that and it's stuck). With my youngest cousins, my aunt tried to get them to call our grandparents "grandma and grandpa" and that sounds too formal to me.
With my close friends, I incorporate more slang and swearing (swearing was the only language prescriptivism my parents ever really enforced when I was a kid, so it's instinct to not do that around them). I have noticed a difference in my language style here, as I'm making more international exchange friends. I try to speak more clearly (e.g. less omissions of parts of words like "em" instead of "them") when speaking to my L2 English friends who sometimes struggle with understanding. In these cases, I definitely don't speak in overly simplified English but do try to place the burden of communication on myself, since they are accommodating me by speaking English.
In formal situations, I fall into using more "I statements" since I want to be clearly understood. Since I did a lot of Model UN as a high schooler, I think that also shaped how I speak to groups a lot, which means I can come off as accidentally aggressive (in MUN it was typically the loudest person who was listened to).  
An interesting contrast of style speech I observe in one of my cousins. She's my age and doesn't always agree with her dad in views, so can speak more cautiously around her main family. Additionally, her siblings continue to call their mom "mommy" as adults, which is strange to me but just a style choice. From my outside perspective, it feels like she doesn't feel comfortable or confident to really be herself around her family, since they tease her a lot too. When talking to her parents, she hedges ("well, I was thinking...") and gives up on her arguments a lot. Meanwhile, when we talk one on one, we can easily talk for hours and share conversation space. She's a lot less serious and her intonation relaxes (isn't requesting/ asking for things and so doesn't use as much rising intonation).
These contrasts reflect perceived differences in authority, often correlated with age. At the same time, there is not a huge contrast in English, such as compared with Korean speech honorifics. My extended family is very connected (on my mother's side) and everyone will usually get together and gossip. Since most of my family are teachers, there are further implicit understandings that make conversation flow/ require less careful speech. In summer, we'll usually hang out in my cousins' pool, which increases the feeling of a casual environment. I feel for myself that I have always been taken seriously by my parents, and from this expectation, I feel free to speak my mind and make jokes, even with older members of my family. At the same time, topics of conversation are still largely family-friendly and centered around catching up on events in our life, since it is within the context of familial gatherings (and the expectations that come with that). There isn't as dramatic of topic-shifting that can happen with my friends.]]> 2022-12-02 08:50:08 UTC https://padlet.com/sumeiwood/bpk2wmnkupdipz69/wish/2406356380 7: Gender differences in the media sumeiwood https://padlet.com/sumeiwood/bpk2wmnkupdipz69/wish/2413436046 Article: "Why we think women sound shrill"

This article is from UC Berkley and discusses women's use of vocal fry and how this is perceived by listeners. Anecdotes are used such as recalling how Hillary Clinton's voice was critiqued during the 2016 Presidential Election. However, this article doesn't cite any studies that follow the awareness and actual users of vocal fry-- are women really the only ones using it frequently, or are they the only ones noticed for using it due to external, social factors? The article argues that women use vocal fry in order to show prestige. Additionally, as microphones were designed around the average range of male voices, women's voices often sound distorted (the source of this information is a linked Atlantic article).
The article specifically ties vocal fry to "a long history of insulting how women speak" and gives many female celebrity examples of those who use it. While the article does try to portray vocal fry in a positive light, it feels just as biased and unscientific as those against it, considering the article concludes with criticizing Donald Trump. This is clearly has a left-wing bias, which makes sense as California is a traditionally blue state and it's an article from a university. I do wish instead of using vocal fry as another point to criticize Donald Trump, that the article brought attention to the fact that women shouldn't be stigmatized for this trait anyway. Men use vocal fry (to the degree, I don't know definitively) as well, and continuing to focus this issue on women ignores the larger sociolinguistic issue of features being negative markers in women but not necessarily for men. Not mentioning men allows the assumption that this issue only involves women (and is a "woman's issue" and not an issue of society's perception) to continue.
I chose this topic as someone with a relatively deep voice for a woman (when I play video games people have mistaken me for a boy). Me and my friends also often use vocal fry unintentionally, and I think personally there is also an aspect of not controlling the voice when using vocal fry. Instead of up-talking, where my voice is controlled and higher pitched, I fall into my more natural register. It's disappointing that that is then stigmatized.]]> 2022-12-07 20:03:41 UTC https://padlet.com/sumeiwood/bpk2wmnkupdipz69/wish/2413436046 8: Language and Youth Identity Markers sumeiwood https://padlet.com/sumeiwood/bpk2wmnkupdipz69/wish/2425023810 1: Group around video games
This first group is one of (mostly) adolescents/ young adults who play video games. The game I specifically play a lot online (and therefore have speaking interactions with others) is Valorant, a first-person team shooter game. Around this game, there has developed certain phrasing and jargon. For example, an important part of the game is communicating player positions to your team. On every map there are agreed-upon names for areas ("callouts") and not knowing these names is a sign of being new to the game and not in this social group. Additionally, every game has it's own jargon and culture around it. For example, the sheriff gun in Valorant has increasingly been called a "deagle" (short for "desert eagle" gun), a name from Call of Duty that spreads as people play both games or just through general gaming culture.
There is also a stereotype that has developed, called the "Valorant accent". It's actually just one person on TikTok who popularized it, but it includes exaggerated, deepened speech, and certain phrasings such as "no cap" (meaning "no way"/ doubting the truth of a statement) or calling someone "braindead". But even if this did originate from one person, this persona has become so viral that I often hear people talk like this in games, or I will do this with my friends as a joke.
With the development of the self, I do notice that oftentimes women/ girls speak far less in voice chat. This is because there are still high levels of sexism and racism in video game communities, and depending on the team you're matched with, it can be unpleasant. I've learned to not care, but there have definitely been moments where after I speak, another player on the team feels more comfortable speaking. When I'm paired with a nice person, I'll often play with the person more afterward. These sorts of interactions for me build my sense of community in these online games.
In terms of internal linguistic factors, there's a certain tone I notice myself using when I do give callouts. My voice becomes slightly louder and has an upward intonation, even though I'm giving a statement and not a question. I think this may be because I'm used to having a bad microphone, so I overenunciate to make sure my teammates can understand me. It does seem to be a form of up-talking, which I believe is also used as an attention-getter, which could be why I use it to distinguish my normal speech in-game.

2: International online groups
As someone who has met various people online from different forums (games, art communities, etc), naturally many of the people of these groups are not from the US or speak English as a first language. As a result of this, a unique culture develops within these groups.
In one of these groups we bond over playing various video games together. We are also a generally young, liberal, and queer group, and so bond over the various linguistic markers that come from these different groups. This includes using gender-neutral language, and not using slurs (using words like the r-word for special needs people, for example, is still fairly normalized in adolescents). Our main mode of conversation is on Discord, so we text, send reaction images/ memes, and also talk in voice chats with each other.
A very specific example of in-group behavior is that we have roles set up on Discord. Roles function as tags that are attached to your profile, so other members can remember or learn information about you (e.g. pronouns, hobbies, games enjoyed, as well as a custom name color). All role selection is optional and self-chosen, but not choosing it makes the person feel less integrated with the community. In addition to roles, people in this group create their identity also based on nationality and we have fun discussing what's going on in each other's lives (Christmas markets, parties, etc).
Additionally, because I'm currently playing on EU servers, by happenstance a lot of my friends are Norwegian. Additionally, most of the speakers are not L1 English speakers and so everyone has different accents. However, everyone does mostly speak English and it could perhaps be considered group-internal assimilation to do so (though it also serves the functional purpose of being understood). It is fun to pick up different phrases, and the Norwegian phrase "hva faen" (translating to "what the fuck") has become an inside joke for our groupo.
Occasionally, the other members will talk to each other in their own languages (Swedish and Norwegian being mutually intelligible). Additionally, there will be occasional codeswitching or saying certain phrases in another language and then switching back to English.


I chose both of these examples as a member of both and I also thought they were interesting examples of interacting with very different groups of people. In both of these cases, the people are geographically far from me and I rarely (or never) interact with them face-to-face. At the same time, there are still opportunities for linguistic community to develop, especially as the online becomes more integrated with society.]]> 2022-12-19 17:12:34 UTC https://padlet.com/sumeiwood/bpk2wmnkupdipz69/wish/2425023810