by Labov
"The argument of this paper may be outlined as follows:
• African American Vernacular English [AAVE] is not an endangered dialect; on
the contrary, it is continuing to develop and diverge from other dialects.
• The primary condition for such divergence is residential segregation.
• Residential segregation, combined with increasing poverty, has led to a
deterioration of many features of social life in the inner cities.
• In these conditions, a majority of children in inner city schools are failing to learn
to read, with a developing cycle of poverty, crime and shorter life span.
• A reduction of residential segregation will lead to greater contact between
speakers of AAVE and speakers of other dialects.
• If at some future date, the social conditions that favor the divergence of AAVE"
Showing posts with label sociolinguistics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sociolinguistics. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Sustaining language diversity
by Wolfram
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=eEjl6gZfmhwC&oi=fnd&pg=PA187&dq=dialect+awareness&ots=is4C16fJ70&sig=bmJ4btBUqOsAiCAynpX_EYEKex4#v=onepage&q=dialect%20awareness&f=false
Linguists are obligated to get the message of language diversity out. Unfortunately, service is devalued in the academy.
There is a market for documentaries on language diversity.
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=eEjl6gZfmhwC&oi=fnd&pg=PA187&dq=dialect+awareness&ots=is4C16fJ70&sig=bmJ4btBUqOsAiCAynpX_EYEKex4#v=onepage&q=dialect%20awareness&f=false
Linguists are obligated to get the message of language diversity out. Unfortunately, service is devalued in the academy.
There is a market for documentaries on language diversity.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Teachin’ Good: Using Informal Language as a Bridge to Standard English in the Classroom
by Marlow
Teachers shouldn't correct nonstandard english in the classroom because it doesn't help students codeswitch. Includes background info on dialects in the classroom and practical advice for teachers
Teachers shouldn't correct nonstandard english in the classroom because it doesn't help students codeswitch. Includes background info on dialects in the classroom and practical advice for teachers
Monday, March 29, 2010
Do Language Learners Recognize Pragmatic Violations? Pragmatic Versus Grammatical Awareness in Instructed L2 Learning"
Bardovi-Harlig
1. These authors take both a functional/pragmatic perspective, as they are interested in ELLs’ SL pragmatic competence, and a sociolinguistic perspective, as they consider the authors’ sociocultural contexts (ESL or EFL). This article was an interesting amalgamation of social approaches.
2. The article addresses transition theory. It is interested in learning how learners’ contexts affect their attitudes towards pragmatic acceptability.
3. I find it interesting that the authors suggest awareness-raising in the pedagogy section, since they did not directly test awareness-raising! My literature search ofr the paper for this class, and my experience teaching, suggest to me that awareness-raising seems like an easy answer for many language teachers. It allows them to continue teaching without switching to a more methodologically sound but perhaps more cutting-edge and radical teaching method. Overall, though, I liked this article. It had a large N and tested something I had not really considered testing before.
1. These authors take both a functional/pragmatic perspective, as they are interested in ELLs’ SL pragmatic competence, and a sociolinguistic perspective, as they consider the authors’ sociocultural contexts (ESL or EFL). This article was an interesting amalgamation of social approaches.
2. The article addresses transition theory. It is interested in learning how learners’ contexts affect their attitudes towards pragmatic acceptability.
3. I find it interesting that the authors suggest awareness-raising in the pedagogy section, since they did not directly test awareness-raising! My literature search ofr the paper for this class, and my experience teaching, suggest to me that awareness-raising seems like an easy answer for many language teachers. It allows them to continue teaching without switching to a more methodologically sound but perhaps more cutting-edge and radical teaching method. Overall, though, I liked this article. It had a large N and tested something I had not really considered testing before.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Whose speech is more standard?
Penelope Eckert 2003
The linguistic forms we consider "feminine" actually indicate something else, like refinement, and that only indirectly indicates femininity.
But at Belten High in Detroit, bad grammar is associated with rebelliousness. Burnouts sue it a lot more than jocks. Jock girls use use almost no negative concord; burnout girls use it almost exclusively. It signals their rebellious attitude toward authority and school.
Nonstandard grammar is associated with toughness, and lower class girls must be tough. In "the halls of the academe or government," women cannot convey a folksy demeanor because they are more easily discredited as professionals than men. They cannot chance it.
The linguistic forms we consider "feminine" actually indicate something else, like refinement, and that only indirectly indicates femininity.
But at Belten High in Detroit, bad grammar is associated with rebelliousness. Burnouts sue it a lot more than jocks. Jock girls use use almost no negative concord; burnout girls use it almost exclusively. It signals their rebellious attitude toward authority and school.
Nonstandard grammar is associated with toughness, and lower class girls must be tough. In "the halls of the academe or government," women cannot convey a folksy demeanor because they are more easily discredited as professionals than men. They cannot chance it.
Sex and Covert Prestige
by Trudgill 70s
In Norwich, as one goes down the social class ladder, instances of -in increase and instances of -ing decrease. But at each stratus, more males use -in than females.
In Norwich, women over-report their use of status-ful forms and men under-report them. In general, people form Norwich under-report more than Labov's New York informants.
In Norwich, as one goes down the social class ladder, instances of -in increase and instances of -ing decrease. But at each stratus, more males use -in than females.
In Norwich, women over-report their use of status-ful forms and men under-report them. In general, people form Norwich under-report more than Labov's New York informants.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Overlapping Talk and the Organization of Turn-Taking for Conversation
by Schegloff
Don't call them interruptions. Call them overlap or simultaneous talk.
Hitches in the turn-taking may be marked by louder speech, higher pitch, or faster speech. SOmetimes speakers let their speech be long and dran-out to wait for the end of someone's simulaneous talk.
Post-resolution hitches are common and include nervousness (repetition), pauses and drawn-out speech.
Don't call them interruptions. Call them overlap or simultaneous talk.
Hitches in the turn-taking may be marked by louder speech, higher pitch, or faster speech. SOmetimes speakers let their speech be long and dran-out to wait for the end of someone's simulaneous talk.
Post-resolution hitches are common and include nervousness (repetition), pauses and drawn-out speech.
Overlapping Talk and the Organization of Turn-Taking for Conversation
- Language in Society, Vol. 29, No. 1 (Mar., 2000), pp. 1-63
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Bilingual Education
by Nessa Wolfson
1988
Many Americans do not speak English as a mother tongue. We have always been a pluralistic society. Bilingual education is a political issue.
Bilingual education was widespread in America until World War I, when English-only became a nationalistic policy point.
In 1963 middle-class Cuban refugees flooded Dade COunty, Florida. Their teachers taught them in Spanish. At Coral Way school, 50% Anglo and 50% Cuban, half the instruction was in each language. Both groups came out bilingual and biliterate. At this time the civil rights movement made being ethnic a point of pride and contributed to the political pressure to educate bilingual children fairly.
The federal govt passed laws intended to help bilingual children receive the schooling they needed. Unfortunately, the laws are vague.
There are different ideas as to what should constitute bilingual education:
The AIR report found that bilingual education did not change students' scores in language and math. There are numerous problems with methodology, however. Test scores themselves are not a measure of whether bilingual education lessened drop-out rates or helped students get jobs after schooling. It measures academic ability and not interpersonal language skills.
TESOL will always play an important part in bilingual education.
1988
Many Americans do not speak English as a mother tongue. We have always been a pluralistic society. Bilingual education is a political issue.
Bilingual education was widespread in America until World War I, when English-only became a nationalistic policy point.
In 1963 middle-class Cuban refugees flooded Dade COunty, Florida. Their teachers taught them in Spanish. At Coral Way school, 50% Anglo and 50% Cuban, half the instruction was in each language. Both groups came out bilingual and biliterate. At this time the civil rights movement made being ethnic a point of pride and contributed to the political pressure to educate bilingual children fairly.
The federal govt passed laws intended to help bilingual children receive the schooling they needed. Unfortunately, the laws are vague.
There are different ideas as to what should constitute bilingual education:
- Submersion. They should be taught only in English. They'll catch on, as "millions" of people did in the early years of teh twentieth century.
- ESL. Instruction in English as a Second Language, although Lau v. Nichols found that ESL by itself could not be considered adequate. "Pull-out" classes stigmatize students.
- Immersion. Early grades: target language. As fluency in English increases, instruction in mother tongue introduced. First was St. Lambert experiment in Canada: parents voluntarily pt their English-speaking children in French immersion program. Very successful. Unfortunately, doesn't work in America very well.
- Transitional Bilingual Education. Instruction in the mother tongue during early years, with gradual increase of instruction in English. The hope is to "mainstream" ESL students by high school. The problem is that it's hard to find teachers who can teach in the native language of EVERY minority group. Also, some groups, like the Hmong, have no background in formal schooling.
- Maintenance Bilingual Education. Purpose of bilingual education is to maintain ethnic identity, language and culture. Often inspires fear and anger in conservative people who fear minority succession.
The AIR report found that bilingual education did not change students' scores in language and math. There are numerous problems with methodology, however. Test scores themselves are not a measure of whether bilingual education lessened drop-out rates or helped students get jobs after schooling. It measures academic ability and not interpersonal language skills.
TESOL will always play an important part in bilingual education.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Review: African American English and the Composition Classroom
review by David west brown
praises the book in general, but has two caveats: register is a far more complicated issue than the authors make it out to be, and cite Hillocks and Smith 1986 as proof of that sentence-combining is useful in teaching grammar.
The book is fair and balanced, written for the layperson, and makes complex ideas accessible to teachers.
praises the book in general, but has two caveats: register is a far more complicated issue than the authors make it out to be, and cite Hillocks and Smith 1986 as proof of that sentence-combining is useful in teaching grammar.
The book is fair and balanced, written for the layperson, and makes complex ideas accessible to teachers.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Gender and Sociolinguistic Variation
by Eckert
We cannot consider gender an independent variable, but must consider it in relation to other variations such as socioeconomic status, identity, and regional variation.
Eckert challenged Labov's generalization that women's speech is more conservative than men's by examining two groups of white teenagers at a Detroit high school. The groups were the jocks and the burnouts, who together accounted for about half the school's populations.
Eckert examined phonological variation among jock and burnout males and females. She found that there was a complex relationship between nonstandard vowels and identity, concluding that we cannot look at gender differences without examining the communities of practice in which the women and men use language.
We cannot consider gender an independent variable, but must consider it in relation to other variations such as socioeconomic status, identity, and regional variation.
Eckert challenged Labov's generalization that women's speech is more conservative than men's by examining two groups of white teenagers at a Detroit high school. The groups were the jocks and the burnouts, who together accounted for about half the school's populations.
Eckert examined phonological variation among jock and burnout males and females. She found that there was a complex relationship between nonstandard vowels and identity, concluding that we cannot look at gender differences without examining the communities of practice in which the women and men use language.
Sex-based differences in compliment behavior
by Herbert
1990
Americans, more than other English-speaking nationalities, use compliments to negotiate social relationships; Americans are more apt to disagree or downplay a compliment than South Africans. Our compliments seem insincere to other nationalities because the compliment is not actually ABOUT the item or the wearer, but about negotiation of relationships.
American women give more compliments than American men. When men compliment men or women, the addressee is more likely to accept the compliment and say thank you. WHen women compliment women, the addressee is more likely to give some other response, like a history of the item.
1990
Americans, more than other English-speaking nationalities, use compliments to negotiate social relationships; Americans are more apt to disagree or downplay a compliment than South Africans. Our compliments seem insincere to other nationalities because the compliment is not actually ABOUT the item or the wearer, but about negotiation of relationships.
American women give more compliments than American men. When men compliment men or women, the addressee is more likely to accept the compliment and say thank you. WHen women compliment women, the addressee is more likely to give some other response, like a history of the item.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Intensive and quotative all: something old, something new
by Rickford et al.
"the intensifier all is not new but has expanded in syntactic environments." quotative all is new and dates from CA in the 80s.
Intensifier all has been used since Old English, but has recently expanded its usage to before full verbs.
Rickford believed that quotative all was on the decline after peaking in the 1990s (I think he's probably wrong here).
In their corpus they found the most frequent intensifiers were: really- 52.3%, so- 18.9%, very- 9.4%, all- 7.4%, totally- 2.7%.
"intensifier all most frequently modifies present participles, PPs, and adjectives..."
Quotative all was the most frequent quotative among CA teenagers in 1990 and 1994, accounting for 45.9%. Quotative like: 17.5%. Unframed quotes: 15.9%. Say: 10.6%
All was much less likely to occur in 2005. Like: 69.3%. Say: 12%. Unframed: 10.7%. all: 4.3.%
"the intensifier all is not new but has expanded in syntactic environments." quotative all is new and dates from CA in the 80s.
Intensifier all has been used since Old English, but has recently expanded its usage to before full verbs.
Rickford believed that quotative all was on the decline after peaking in the 1990s (I think he's probably wrong here).
In their corpus they found the most frequent intensifiers were: really- 52.3%, so- 18.9%, very- 9.4%, all- 7.4%, totally- 2.7%.
"intensifier all most frequently modifies present participles, PPs, and adjectives..."
Quotative all was the most frequent quotative among CA teenagers in 1990 and 1994, accounting for 45.9%. Quotative like: 17.5%. Unframed quotes: 15.9%. Say: 10.6%
All was much less likely to occur in 2005. Like: 69.3%. Say: 12%. Unframed: 10.7%. all: 4.3.%
Linguistic ruin? LOL! Instant messaging and teen language
by tagliamonte and denis in toronto
The authors studied thousands of IMs gathered from teen mentees in Toronto and analyzed quotatives, future modals, and abbreviations stereotyped as being IM language. The authors found that "Contrary to
expectation, speech has a more innovative proļ¬le in comparison to IM. The
incoming forms so, be like, and have to are all more frequent in the speech
data. At the same time, speech tends to be more vernacular, containing
higher rates of going to than will. In contrast, IM language is consistently more
varied, exhibiting a wider range of variants than speech and, in particular,
containing a higher proportion of standard forms than speech."
Haha is more commonly used than lol, despite popular perceptions.
Tagliamonte says that the "language police" are exaggerating the amount of lols and colloquialisms in IM speech and that IM speech has the same linguistic variation and change as written and spoken language.
It is a register where people can fuse formal and colloquial language and therefore is a free space, ripe for language innovation.
The authors studied thousands of IMs gathered from teen mentees in Toronto and analyzed quotatives, future modals, and abbreviations stereotyped as being IM language. The authors found that "Contrary to
expectation, speech has a more innovative proļ¬le in comparison to IM. The
incoming forms so, be like, and have to are all more frequent in the speech
data. At the same time, speech tends to be more vernacular, containing
higher rates of going to than will. In contrast, IM language is consistently more
varied, exhibiting a wider range of variants than speech and, in particular,
containing a higher proportion of standard forms than speech."
Haha is more commonly used than lol, despite popular perceptions.
Tagliamonte says that the "language police" are exaggerating the amount of lols and colloquialisms in IM speech and that IM speech has the same linguistic variation and change as written and spoken language.
It is a register where people can fuse formal and colloquial language and therefore is a free space, ripe for language innovation.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Dialogue introducers: the case of be + like
by Ferrera
be + like was introduced as a quotative since at least 1981. Speakers have a choice between say, go, and be like.
In Old English there was cwethen, secgan, and tellan (quoth, say, and tell). Cwethan was, at one time, used most frequently. In Beowolf say and cwethan are used interchangeably. Eventually say assumed uses that once belonged to cwethan and lost some of its uses to tell.
Ferrera gathered data from a diverse population (in terms of age, race, an gender) and documented the "evolution of the grammatical category of the quotative."
18-25 year olds of both genders use be +like. No one 40+ used it. For 40+, they only used say or go.
"functional expansion into third person"
Few rural speakers used it, but blacks and Hispanics did use it. Usage is uneven within speakers.
Usage is spreading and expanding.
be + like was introduced as a quotative since at least 1981. Speakers have a choice between say, go, and be like.
In Old English there was cwethen, secgan, and tellan (quoth, say, and tell). Cwethan was, at one time, used most frequently. In Beowolf say and cwethan are used interchangeably. Eventually say assumed uses that once belonged to cwethan and lost some of its uses to tell.
Ferrera gathered data from a diverse population (in terms of age, race, an gender) and documented the "evolution of the grammatical category of the quotative."
18-25 year olds of both genders use be +like. No one 40+ used it. For 40+, they only used say or go.
"functional expansion into third person"
Few rural speakers used it, but blacks and Hispanics did use it. Usage is uneven within speakers.
Usage is spreading and expanding.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Like is, like, focus
by Underhill
Like "functions with great reliability as a marker of new information and focus."
It also introduces new concepts or entities, marks focussed information, marks the focus in questions, marks the answers to questions, can be used as a hedge, sets off unusual notions (not meant to be taken seriously), sets off stereotyped expressions. It can also be sentence initial.
It could have derived from the use of like to mean for example.
Like "functions with great reliability as a marker of new information and focus."
It also introduces new concepts or entities, marks focussed information, marks the focus in questions, marks the answers to questions, can be used as a hedge, sets off unusual notions (not meant to be taken seriously), sets off stereotyped expressions. It can also be sentence initial.
It could have derived from the use of like to mean for example.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
MIDDLE-CLASS AFRICAN AMERICANS: REACTIONS AND ATTITUDES TOWARD AFRICAN AMERICAN ENGLISH
by rahman
Rahman asked middle-class blacks at her university to listen to audiotapes of other blacks speaking and rate them according to perceived blackness.
"Findings here show that there is a strong correlation between the dense
use of certain grammatical and phonological features of AAVE, including
intonation, and strong judgments of African American ethnicity. But the attenuation
of AAVE features and use of features associated with other groups
can reduce the salience of speech as African American. The next section
will show that while the heavy use of AAVE features leads to the belief that
a speaker is black, being identifiable as black does not equate with low
judgments of standardness. Yet, it does appear that judgments of “black” or
“white” can be closely related to judgments of standardness and to judgments
of social class and appropriateness"
Use of falsetto voice or highly contoured intonation is one marker of ethnicity. SO is use of /a/ instead of /ay/.
Black Standard English was deemed appropriate at an all-black family barbeque or at a corporate meeting, whereas SE and AAVE were each only appropriate for one.
Rahman asked middle-class blacks at her university to listen to audiotapes of other blacks speaking and rate them according to perceived blackness.
"Findings here show that there is a strong correlation between the dense
use of certain grammatical and phonological features of AAVE, including
intonation, and strong judgments of African American ethnicity. But the attenuation
of AAVE features and use of features associated with other groups
can reduce the salience of speech as African American. The next section
will show that while the heavy use of AAVE features leads to the belief that
a speaker is black, being identifiable as black does not equate with low
judgments of standardness. Yet, it does appear that judgments of “black” or
“white” can be closely related to judgments of standardness and to judgments
of social class and appropriateness"
Use of falsetto voice or highly contoured intonation is one marker of ethnicity. SO is use of /a/ instead of /ay/.
Black Standard English was deemed appropriate at an all-black family barbeque or at a corporate meeting, whereas SE and AAVE were each only appropriate for one.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Where are the dialects of American ENglish at anyhow?
by Preston
http://americanspeech.dukejournals.org/cgi/reprint/78/3/235.pdf
Preston wishes Labov, Ash and Boberg had surveyed people who live outside major cities.
He proposes that there IS a Midland, but it is very skinny and begins north of Indianapolis!
http://americanspeech.dukejournals.org/cgi/reprint/78/3/235.pdf
Preston wishes Labov, Ash and Boberg had surveyed people who live outside major cities.
He proposes that there IS a Midland, but it is very skinny and begins north of Indianapolis!
Monday, September 28, 2009
The Social Stratiication of 'r' in New York City Department Stores
by Labov
1972
Because tape-recorded interviews interferred with natural speech, Labov conducted 'rapid and anonymous observations.
He went to 3 stores--S. Klein (low status), Macy's (middle), and Saks (high status) and asked salesladies where were women's shoes to elicit the response "fourth floor." He then said "excuse me?" to elicit an emphatic pronunciation.
The results of r-fulness in al three stores were examined. ue to linguistic insecurity, the middle-class women at Macy's adopted the newly prestigious Midwestern r; the linguistically secure older women at Saks retained their r-lessness; the lower-classed women at Kelin's did not know that their r-lessness was not prestigious.
He also found differences in race, gender, and what floor of the store he was on.
1972
Because tape-recorded interviews interferred with natural speech, Labov conducted 'rapid and anonymous observations.
He went to 3 stores--S. Klein (low status), Macy's (middle), and Saks (high status) and asked salesladies where were women's shoes to elicit the response "fourth floor." He then said "excuse me?" to elicit an emphatic pronunciation.
The results of r-fulness in al three stores were examined. ue to linguistic insecurity, the middle-class women at Macy's adopted the newly prestigious Midwestern r; the linguistically secure older women at Saks retained their r-lessness; the lower-classed women at Kelin's did not know that their r-lessness was not prestigious.
He also found differences in race, gender, and what floor of the store he was on.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
EVERYONE UP HERE: ENREGISTERMENT AND IDENTITY IN MICHIGAN’S KEWEENAW PENINSULA
by Remlinger
in American Speech
People in Copper Country, above the mitten in Michigan, have a distinctive dialect which is associated with a particular set of ideals. They call themselves "Yoopers."
"The aim of this article is to demonstrate that the articulation of language,
people, and place is not only an effect of discursive practices, but also a
result of historical, economic, and ideological processes. I argue not only
that Copper Country English has become recognized as a regional dialect,
but also that certain features have become normed through discursive and
metadiscursive practices that collectively function to create and maintain the
idea of a local dialect. This awareness (re)shapes perceptions about what the
local dialect is—and is not—and affects the use of particular features and
defines beliefs about those who speak it."
"As examples of talk about
talk, shibboleths are key in enregisterment and defining local identity as they
forge links among identity, dialect, and local knowledge—knowledge based
on language awareness and use."
in American Speech
People in Copper Country, above the mitten in Michigan, have a distinctive dialect which is associated with a particular set of ideals. They call themselves "Yoopers."
"The aim of this article is to demonstrate that the articulation of language,
people, and place is not only an effect of discursive practices, but also a
result of historical, economic, and ideological processes. I argue not only
that Copper Country English has become recognized as a regional dialect,
but also that certain features have become normed through discursive and
metadiscursive practices that collectively function to create and maintain the
idea of a local dialect. This awareness (re)shapes perceptions about what the
local dialect is—and is not—and affects the use of particular features and
defines beliefs about those who speak it."
"As examples of talk about
talk, shibboleths are key in enregisterment and defining local identity as they
forge links among identity, dialect, and local knowledge—knowledge based
on language awareness and use."
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Dialect Features Affecting the social mobility and economic opportunities of the disadvantaged in Fort Wayne, IN
thesis
by Charles Edward Billiard
1969
p. 107 "cultivated speakers distinguished /o/ and {backwards}/c/ in such words as cot and caught...WOrking class and lower-class Latin-Americans have difficulty attaining proper distinctions in the English vowel systems, particularly in pronouncing the phonemes, /I?, /ae/, /schwa/, u/,...."
p.205 --Southern and SOuth Midland forms were less tolerated than Northern forms (greazy rejected by prestigious groups)
by Charles Edward Billiard
1969
p. 107 "cultivated speakers distinguished /o/ and {backwards}/c/ in such words as cot and caught...WOrking class and lower-class Latin-Americans have difficulty attaining proper distinctions in the English vowel systems, particularly in pronouncing the phonemes, /I?, /ae/, /schwa/, u/,...."
p.205 --Southern and SOuth Midland forms were less tolerated than Northern forms (greazy rejected by prestigious groups)
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