presented by Anouk Caria and Flavio Castelo on the
14th of September, 2023
Language and Identity: Language and social status / class (sociolects)
Part 1; How does language affect social status?:
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people have the tendency to categorize any input in the world but when
categorisation is applied to people it leads to social biases
language is one of the primary categories that people use to evaluate
each-other
people who speak with an accent or dialect that isn’t typical for the area they
are in, are more likely to be perceived as unintelligent or less trustworthy
social studies have shown that this is likely due to difficulties in processing
information
dialects and accents that are commonly associated with areas that have
higher criminal activity are more likely to be associated with less intelligence
Part 2; How does language reflect social status?:
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the way speak can be seen as a marker of who we are and with whom we
identify
we talk like the other people around us
no one speaks the same way in all situations and contexts, but there are
some consistencies that are associated with many of these categories
people can indicate social class by the way they speak
the closer to the standard version their dialect is, the more they are seen as a
member of a higher social class because the dialect reflects a higher level of
education
a language variety is often associated with an ethnic group when it’s members
use it as a marker of solidarity
(Sources used:
https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Courses/HACC_Central_Pennsylvania's_Community_College/ANTH_205%3A_Cultures_
of_the_World_-_Perspectives_on_Culture_(Scheib)/05%3A_Language/5.07%3A_Language_In_Its_Social_Setting ;
www.languagetrainer.com ; www.sciencedaily.com ;
https://commission.europa.eu/select-language?destination=/node/1 ; www.unualreviews.org )