L23B: Sociolinguistics
2005-2006
Please Turn off all cellular phones & pagers
L23B Website:
www.mona.uwi.edu/dllp/courses/l23b
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Course Assessment
6/30/2016
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Incourse Test (40% of total
grade)
TEST DATE: MONDAY, APRIL
3, 2006 (2-4pm)
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Final Exam
(60% of total grade)
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Topics for this Session
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Brief Review
Language Change cont’d
Theories
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Language change in progress
Examples of Researches
 Chambers & Trudgill (1980)
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Labov’s work - Martha’s Vineyard –
Wardhaugh (pg.197)
Trudgill’s work in Norwich
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Martha’s Vineyard
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Variables (Diphthongs):
(aw) variable – [a] vs. []
eg. house, out
(ay) variable – [a] vs. []
eg. While, pie, night
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Martha’s Vineyard
Labov’s findings:
 change initiated by fisherman
[occupation]
 change was picked up and
imitated particular by people aged
30-45 [age]
 change more typical in Chilmark
[residence].
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Language Change
Related to:
 Age
 Social Class
 Gender
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Women’s language
(Lakoff, Cameron)
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Lexical hedges & Fillers
Tag questions
Rising Tones on Declaratives
Empty adjectives
Precise Colour terms
Intensifiers
Over-use of Standard, Polite terms
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THEORIES developed to account
for variation & change
Social Networks
Accommodation Theory
Acts of Identity
Ideology & language use
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Sources
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1. Social Network
Prescribed Text ch. 16, Wardhaugh
(pg.127-130, 180-183), Holmes (pg.183191).
2. Acts of Identity
LePage (on reserve), Prescribed Text ch.
20.
3. Accommodation Theory
Prescribed Text ch. 18, Holmes (pg. 230234).
4. Language and Ideology
Prescribed Text ch. 6, Woolard (available
at DITTO).
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Social Networks
Lesley Milroy research in Ireland (1980)
Clonard, Hammer & Ballymacarret
 geographically defined
 industrial/residential areas
 non-standard would be the norm
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Milroy - Ireland
Milroy wanted to find out if
informants were:
(a) members of a working club group?
(b) had any relatives living in the
community?
(c) worked similar places with at least
2 members of the community?
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Networks
2 main distinctions:
 Networks can be Dense (closed) or
sparse (open)
 Network ties may be multiplex or
uniplex
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Networks
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close knit networks will create value for
variety of network
close knit networks will create a counter
balance/ “resistance”
those with loose network ties will be more
susceptible to change
gender difference –in language production
hence difference in networks.
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Social Networks
MILROY & MILROY (1992)
 network strength
“to the extent that ties are strong,
linguistic change will be prevented,
whereas to the extent that they are
weak, they will be more open to
external influences and so
linguistic change will be facilitated”
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