Class and Race
Speech Community
a group of people who use language in a unique yet similar way
that is mutually accepted among themselves.
Speech communities can be social groups such as neighbourhoods,
members of a profession with a specialized jargon, classes, ethnic
groups, age groups, interest groups, hip hop fans, chat rooms etc.
Sociolinguistics use it to analyse language variation and change and
their relation to social organization
New York Speech Community
Standard language
 The variety or form of a particular language that is usually
considered by speakers of the language to be the "correct"
"educated" or "proper".
 It has a "standard " vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar.
 It is usually the language of education, media, government and
business.
In some cases the standard form is given official or quasi legal
status by government institutions that define and promote the
proper norms of use. E.g Académie française
 Standard English is the form used by educated users but because
English does not have a governing body there are no set rules or
vocabulary
standard english
Dialect
a variety of language (usually geographic, or social) distinguished from other
varieties in such aspects as pronunciation grammar, lexicon, and semantics
Accent
refers to the manner of pronunciation only, particularly stress, not to the
sound of speech; i.e. there is no such thing as a “southern accent” but there is
a southern dialect.
New York City Speech
Members of different speech communities
use distinctive styles of speaking that differ
in the pronunciation, words, or grammar,
from the standard language
These styles are consistent and rule –
governed
but – they are not wrong – just different
 However, social distinctions influence both
the production of speech and its evaluation
by community members

William Labov
new York accent
American r-less speech
Great American Vowel shift
In What Areas of social life do Inequalities Exist?
 Gender
 Race
 Age
 Ethnicity
 Religion
 Kinship
 Region
Stratified Societies
Societies divided into horizontal layers of
equality and inequality called strata.
Marked inequalities in access to wealth,
power, and prestige
passed from generation to generation.
Has a significant effect on individuals’ “life
chances.” (Weber)
 Speakers of these strata exhibit differences
in frequency of use of certain sounds, words,
grammatical features
 Members are also aware of the speech styles characteristic of
various social strata, and they use this knowledge in assessing their
own and other people’s speech
Ranked divisions are called strata.
Stratification systems
vary in
1. the number of ranked
2.
3.
4.
5.
groups,
the degree to which
there is agreement
regarding their
hierarchical placement
the size of the strata
The ability of
individuals to move
within strata
Supporting ideology
Caste
A stratification system where cultural or
racial differences are used as the basis for
ascribing status
Castes are named, territorially delimited,
and membership is determined by birth
and unchanging
a rigid system of occupationally
specialized, interdependent groups
the fundamental social institution in India
organises political, economic and ritual life
 Lower caste groups are often denied
opportunities even though a quota system
exists in India and caste discrimination is
outlawed
Language too is a marker of social
hierarchy
Higher castes use the standard form while
lower castes use variants of the standard
form
 The speech styles of dalits are often
characterized as ignorant or backward while
the speech style of the Brahmins is the
prestige form
It is not language per se that is evaluated
negatively or positively but language as it
used by specific segments of a population
The standard form is viewed positively
because it is spoken by the Brahmins, and
the variants negatively because they are
spoken by the lower castes
Criticizing linguistic variants is actually a
mask for the social denigration of speakers
What is Class?
 Class
is essentially a
fuzzy theoretical
concept
 Classes are strata of
a particular kind.
 defined primarily in
terms of roles and
economic and
political relationships.
Because there are no physical markers or signs of class we
need cultural ones.
So How are Social Classes Manifest?
 through verbal evaluation
 through patterns of
Dress
Form of recreation
Residential location
Material Possessions
through language
 through symbolic indicators
People of different classes make different linguistic
choices
These choices both reflect and reinforce class
differences
Most speakers use upper and lower class features but
it is the frequency of usage that identifies speakers
Audrey Hepburn Cockney
Class and Network
Classes are large social groups in society that differ in terms of social,
economic and political relationships.
Class systems are based on inequality and difference
Different classes have different lexicons, pronunciations and
grammatical forms
Social networks relates to community and
interpersonal level of social organization and
are held together by shared values, attitudes,
culture, and language - through consensus
Members of close-knit networks often live in
the same neighbourhood, work together, have
common family ties
Because of this there is pressure to conform
to group norms and consequently Members of
social networks speak similarly
Higher class networks tend to be loose because of greater geographic
mobility, minimal emphasis on kinship, and greater variety of
relationships and so on
Close-knit networks are more typical of lower-class communities
Characterized by strong interpersonal bonds which exert pressure to
conform linguistically
They are therefore more likely to have distinctive forms of speech
These forms may be stigmatized
the meaning of class (low, high) is therefore enacted through speech
Because we speak like other members of our class, both out language
and our class become part of our personal identity
In interaction between people of different classes the linguistic
choices reflect are class identity
In general higher class individuals exert their rights to speak, to
introduce and direct topics of conversation, and to ratify or dismiss the
contributions of others
Lower status people limit their rights to speak and in other ways
allow themselves to be treated as subordinate participants
these choices are rarely made consciously but through socialization,
become normative and natural
what to do with the
lower classes
William Labov examined the speech of employees
in three NYC department stores.
Stores ranked according to prestige based on
differences in the quality and cost of merchandise,
attracting a clientele from specific social classes :
 Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy’s and S Klein
New York postvocalic /-r/
Focussed on the postvocalic /-r/
the pronunciation of /-r/ following a vowel e.g. car and card
The presence of /-r/ is a linguistic marker of standard American
English
Asked where women’s shoes were – answer fourth floor
Tested occurrences of /-r/ in fourth and floor
Rates of /-r/ pronunciation among employees paralleled the
stratification of the stores
Highest in Saks, lees in Macy’s
and lowest in Klein’s
Labov concluded that workers
identified with the prestige of
their employer and customers
and that this identification was
reflected in language use
In another study Labov group people into four classes based on
income and education
Then he compared the use of /-r/ in 5 different contexts
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
casual speech – with
member of family
careful speech – recorded
during interview
reading style – of a story
word lists – read lists of
random words
minimal pairs – subjects read
lists of minimally
differentiated words e.g.
dock, dark, sauce, source
Wanted to see if people change their pronunciation in different contexts
Hypothesized that as people become more aware of their (usually unconscious)
speech that they will unconsciously select variants that they perceive to be
closer to standard or prestige forms
Conclusions
1. Members of different classes use different amounts of /-r/ in their
speech demonstrating that the variable is a significant marker of
social stratification
2. second members of all classes increase their use of /-r/ as context
focussed more attention on pronunciation, indicating that they are
aware of the same general norm giving value to /-/-r/
pronunciation
3. the most careful contexts , members of the second class (Lower
Middle Class) use more /-r/ that members of the highest group
(Upper Middle Class)
• according to Labov such cross-over patterning demonstrates
linguistic insecurity among LMC speakers
• A reflection of social insecurity they are most sensitive about
negative evaluations of their own speech and most desirous of
achieving prestige norms
Other Examples
Standard Form
•Fricatives /th/ and /dh/ e.g. This, and
that thing
•Nasal /ng/ walking running
•Stop /t/ - butter bet
•Aspirant /h/ hammer and hat
Non-Standard form
•stops /t/ and /d/ e.g. tirty (thirty) and
dese (these)
•replacement of by /-n/, walkin runnin
• glottal stop /?/ bet bu?er, be?
•dropping the /h/ ‘ammer and ‘at
 Various studies have shown that all speakers decrease their use of
stigmatized non-standard forms as context invokes more attentive speech
 the higher the class the greater the use of the standard form
Lower class more often uses the non-standard forms
 Speech styles associated with members of upper classes obtain and retain
prestige because of the status of their speakers
 People with lower status often exhibit speech patterns (e.g. crossover
behaviour) reflective of their linguistic and social insecurity
 Their awareness of negative judgements toward their speech, judgements
they also hold, makes them attempt to use prestige norms of upper-class
speakers
Elaborated and Restricted Codes
 introduced by Basil Bernstein in 1971, as a way of accounting for
the relatively poor performance of working-class pupils on
language-based subjects, when they were achieving as well as
their middle-class counterparts on mathematical topics
Elaborated codes are comparatively complex and formal use of
language, not restricted to immediate situations (context free) It
expresses “universalistic” meanings by use of nouns, adjectives
and verbs having explicit referents characteristic of middle-class
speakers
 restricted code is used in relatively informal situations, stressing
the speaker's membership of a group, relying on context for its
meaningfulness, and lacking stylistic range.
One of Bernstein's research studies involved showing a
group of children a strip cartoon and recording their
account of what it depicted. Some said things like:
"They're playing football
and he kicks it and it goes through there
it breaks the window and they're looking at it
and he comes out
and shouts at them
because they've broken it
so they run away
and then she looks out
and she tells them off"
others said:
"Three boys are playing football and one boy kicks the ball
and it goes through the window
the ball breaks the window
and the boys are looking at it
and a man comes out and shouts at them
because they've broken the window
so they run away
and then that lady looks out of her window
and she tells the boys off."
 the first account makes sense if
you have the strip cartoon in front of
you, but means much less without it.
This is an example of restricted
code.
The second can "stand on its own",
and is an example of elaborated
code.
The essence of the distinction is in what the language is suited
for.
The restricted code works better than the elaborated code for
situations in which there is a great deal of shared and taken-forgranted knowledge in the group of speakers.
It is economical and rich, conveying a vast amount of meaning
with a few words, each of which has a complex set of
connotations and acts like an index, pointing the hearer to a lot
more information which remains unsaid.
"If you're going to town, get Rupert a new April from you-know-where" (Restricted)
"If you are going into Bedford, please get a new toy for Rupert the dog from the petshop (which we can't name because if the dog hears it he will go mad), to replace the
one which we have come to call "April", which he has almost chewed to bits."
(Elaborated)
because it draws on a store of shared meanings and background
knowledge, a restricted code carries a social message of inclusion, of
implicitly acknowledging that the person addressed is "one of us".
 Everyone uses restricted code communication some of the time.
 Elaborated code spells everything out: not because it is better, but
because it is necessary so that everyone can understand it.
Bernstein makes a correlation between social class and the use of
either elaborated or restricted code
 Bernstein's argued that working-class students had access to their
restricted code(s) - but middle-class students had access to both
restricted and elaborated codes, because the middle classes were
more geographically, socially and culturally mobile.
use of different styles or codes may affect the ways that speakers
participate in society
 Because members of different social classes use different modes of
expression, they develop different patterns of thought, and thus
understand and experience their world in different ways
Elaborated codes allow speakers to think about meanings and
relationships separate from the immediate context
 Because restricted codes are
limited in their ability to
express abstract meanings,
speakers understand their
experience primarily in
relation to a specific context
lack of familiarity and competence in middle class elaborated
styles makes working class speakers uncomfortable with members
of higher classes
This discomfort with elaborated codes makes it difficult for them
to read and write using formal styles of language
Which makes it harder to move up the social hierarchy
It is in the context of family life that people are socialized into their
roles, not only as actors but also as speakers
Children learn their rights and obligations from the kinds of
communicative interactions in which they are enmeshed
Erica Huls looked at children in Dutch upper and working families
Looked at turn taking processes, issuing and receiving directives
Discoveries
two families different in turn taking interruptions, issuing and receiving directives,
and overlaps
Children in the High status family are socialized to compete with each other, to
attempt to hold their own in conversation, and even to compete with people of
higher social power such as their parents and older siblings
In high status families directives are more often embedded in complex linguistic
structures that appeal to the wishes or needs or rights of the speaker i.e. politely
in low status families directives are more often stated directly and stress theduties
of addressee and sanctions that might result from non-compliance
High status families also used more positive reinforcement (e.g. praise, ratification,
agreement), corrections and continuations
The two families different in socializing their children into different expectations
about their rights and obligations, their orientation to others in interaction
High family children learn to compete with others, to develop strategies enabling
them to hold their own in conversations and to value explicit rules of grammar and
behaviour
Low family children are less used to and less skilled at competitive verbal
interactions, learn to comply with directives based on appeals to external rules and
sanctions and less practice
Conclusions
speakers who manipulate the prestige forms are able to
present themselves as people worthy of respect by others
In this way language use contributes to the production
and reproduction of social inequality
Race
Race has an impact on
language use
Many, but not all, African
Americans in the USA speak
a variety of American English
known as African-American
Vernacular (AAVE)
although it may have
originated in the south it is
now a national not a
regional dialect
Origins of AAVE
Yo, Big Daddy upstairs,
You be chillin
So be yo hood
You be sayin' it, I be doin' it
In this here hood and yo's
Gimme some eats
And cut me some slack, Blood
Sos I be doin' it to dem dat diss me
Don't be pushing me into no jive
Ang keep dem crips away
Cause you always be da man, G
Straight up.
Aa-men.
AAVE has grammatical rules
many identical to standard
English
Much debate about origins of
AAVE – derived from regional
southern speech traits or African
languages current consensus is
both
Some features are derived from
speech of southern white
southerners whose language
reflects the dialects of their
Scotch-Irish ancestors
Others from earlier creoles –
another definition
Characteristics of AAVE
Phonological Features
Consonant Cluster Simplification, or Reduction –Williams [wIms]
Final Consonant Simplification, or Deletion –band [bæn]
Final and Post-vocalic -r Variation –figure [fIga]
[I] + [n] is realized as [æ ] and [I] + [nk] is realized as [ænk] –sin
[sæn], think [tænk]
[theta] > [f] in Word/Syllable-final Position --with [wif]
[ð] > [d] in Word/Syllable-initial Position --then [dIn]
[ð] > [v] in Word/Syllable-medial Position –either [iver]
[l ]Deletion or Reduction, in Word/Syllable-medial or
Word/Syllable-final Position help [hep] or [hewp]
Morphological features
Suffix -s Variation
Plural -s (contextual signals) [I got three
sister.]
Possessive -s (contextual signals) [That
Jim bike. This you hat?]
Third person Singular -s [She sit on the
chair.]
Past Tense Markers [We walk to school
yesterday.]
Syntactic Features
Copula Deletion, or Variation –He talking now. She grouchy. They
Possessive –They took they toy an wen home.
It Expletive-- It wasn’t any difference in the two.
Gon –a future marker: She gon leave.
Multiple Negation –He don’t never say nothing.
Aspectual Verb -s Suffix Pronominal Apposition –My brother, he took me
home.
Perfective, or Completive, done –The cat done bit me.
Stressed, or Remotive, been –She been gone.
Aspectual, or Immutable, be –She be happy.
Future be -- She be ready later.
Deviant verb forms –She begun working just yesterday.
Deviant prepositional usage –different to me, married with him
Use of aint rather than haven’t (hasn’t) –as an auxiliary –I ain’t been told.
Use of a instead of an before words beginning with a vowel sound –You
want a orange?
Inversion after an interrogative adverb that introduces a subordinate
AAVE e.g
clause –He ask me when did I come.
Code Switching
using more than one language or variety in conversation.
People use different stylistic alternatives depending on the degree
of familiarity and solidarity with co-participants
Features of AAVE appear with greatest frequency in informal
context when speakers share life experiences, expectations and
social values
Speakers sue standard English in situations of formality and social
distance
When relaxed more likely to use AAVE
most African Americans switch back and forth between some
variety or varieties of SE and some variety of AAVE
code switching
AAVE is often used to display solidarity between speaker and
addressee
code switching from standard speech to the vernacular
emphasizes and creates emotional and supportive bonds
Use of AAVE conveys shared experience affective experience
which the words themselves cannot
there is pressure from both within and without the
community to conform to standard American
There is pressure to be proficient at AAVE
educational media, government and business exert pressure
on African Americans to conform to standard norms in order
to obtain employment and be taken seriously in public spheres
But African Americans who speak only Standard English may
face negative reactions from their families and peers because
AAVE is a marker of group solidarity.
Therefore an African American who completely rejects AAVE
is perceived as rejecting his or her identity and community
Black English and racism
Ebonics
From "ebony" and "phonics since 1996 it has been largely used to refer
to African American Vernacular English
children’s desire to succeed in school is sometimes incompatible with
their desire to be accepted by their peers
Some teachers find it difficult to understand AAVE or misinterpret it
 others have a negative attitude towards it and the children who use it
Children refusing to learn or use SE are often seen as hostile or disabled
The more prestige boys had in their group
the lower their reading scores
Difficulties in reading clearly affect
attainment of other educational skills and
can result in lifelong underachievement
with concomitant economic impact
Parents recognize need to speak SE but
also recognize the social and cultural
validity of AAVE
poor performance of African American
children on reading and language arts
tests prompted Oakland California
school board passed a resolution to
implement new methods and goals of
teaching and reading and language
skills -Dec 1996
poor performance was judged to have
derived from differences between the
vernacular that they used at home and
in the community and the standard
speech demanded in the school
the board resolved to implement a
program of instruction that would
inform and train teachers in the
legitimacy of AAVE and that would
enable speakers of the vernacular to
acquire SE.
Ebonics Debate
Ebonics Debate
most parents rejected the use of
Ebonics in school reading and
writing
But not in the community or for
speaking and listening
Both forms are needed for
African American survival
Ebonics language for use in the
community where talking proper
is negatively equated with talking
white,
Standard English for use in
attempts to get admitted to the
White American mainstream
AAVE and Standard American English
 There is evidence to show that children’s
reading improves when instruction and
testing are carried out in their “primary
language”
people thought that children would be
taught to read and write in AAVE and not to
communicate in SE
real question is how to teach reading and
language skills to children whose home
language differs from the standard
dual language approach or immersion in SE
problem is that African American children
are stigmatized when they use their own
language but ostracized by their own
community if they do not
Therefore educational programs that
respect their home speech and encourage
their community based verbal skills may
facilitate their acquisition of the standard
AAVE Discussion - code switching
English First
English First is a national, non-profit grassroots lobbying organization
founded in 1986. The goal is to Make English America's official language
TERMS
Speech Community
Standard language
Accent
Dialect
Social Stratification
Strata
Caste
Class
Social networks
postvocalic /-r/
Elaborated Code
Restricted Code
AAVE
Ebonics
Code Switching