Toward a theory of social dialect variation

1978 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony S. Kroch
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Phonological Variation ◽  
Stylistic Variation ◽  
Linguistic Change ◽  
The Past ◽  
Dialect Variation ◽  
And Diffusion ◽  
Theoretical Reflection

Over the past ten years the study of language in its social context has become a mature field with a substantial body of method and empirical results. As a result of this work we are arriving at new insights into such classical problems as the origin and diffusion of linguistic change, the nature of stylistic variation in language use, and the effect of class structure on linguistic variation within a speech community. Advances in sociolinguistics have been most evident in the study of co-variation between social context and the sound pattern of speech. The results reported in numerous monographs have laid the basis for substantial theoretical progress in our understanding of the factors that govern dialect variation in stratified communities, at least in its phonological aspect. The formulation of theories of the causes of phonological variation that go beyond guesswork and vague generalities appears at last to be possible. Therefore, we offer the following discussion, based on the material that is now available, as a contribution to the development of an explanatory theory of the mechanisms underlying social dialect variation. Although we shall state our views strongly, we know that they are far from definitive. We present them, not as positions to be defended at all costs, but as stimuli to further theoretical reflection in a field that has been, thus far, descriptively oriented.

Investigating “self-conscious” speech: The performance register in Ocracoke English

1998 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie Schilling-Estes
Keyword(s):  
North Carolina ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Stylistic Variation ◽  
Frequent Contact ◽  
The Past ◽  
Island Community ◽  
Style Shifting ◽  
New Residents ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Regular Patterning

ABSTRACTThis article examines PERFORMANCE SPEECH in the historically isolated island community of Ocracoke, North Carolina. Over the past several decades islanders have come into increasingly frequent contact with tourists and new residents, who often comment on the island's “quaint” relic dialect. In response, some Ocracokers have developed performance phrases that highlight island features, particularly the pronunciation of/ay/ with a raised/backed nucleus, i.e. [Λ-1]. The analysis of/ay/ in the performance and non-performance speech of a representative Ocracoke speaker yields several important insights for the study of language in its social context. First, performance speech may display more regular patterning than has traditionally been assumed. Second, it lends insight into speaker perception of language features. Finally, the incorporation of performance speech into the variationist-based study of style-shifting offers support for the growing belief that style-shifting may be primarily proactive rather than reactive. (Keywords: Ocracoke, performance speech, style-shifting, stylistic variation, register, self-conscious speech.)

scholarly journals ILM AL LUGHAH AL IJTIMAI WA TALIM AL LUGHAH AL ARABIYYAH LI AL NATHIQINA BI GHAIRIHA

ALSINATUNA ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 186
Author(s):  
Ahmad Ubaedillah Fathuddin
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship

Language learning cannot work without integrating other fields of knowledge such as psychology, anthropology, sociolinguistics, etc. Sociolinguistics is a branch of linguistics which discusses about language due to social factors. It has an important role in language learning especially in making it easily understandable for the language learners by understanding the language use of the native speakers. The contribution of sociolinguistics in Arabic language learning for foreign language learners can be seen from the relationship between language and social environment. In this case, it does not only learn about the elements or internal systems of Arabic language such as phonology, syntax, and morphology, but also the social context such as speech community, social class, language use and culture. It means sociolinguistics gives information about the definition and use of Arabic language based on the social context.

An historical analysis of species references in American English

Corpora ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 327-349
Author(s):  
Craig Frayne
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Sentiment Analysis ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
American English ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
The Past ◽  
Corpus Studies ◽  
Google Books

This study uses the two largest available American English language corpora, Google Books and the Corpus of Historical American English (coha), to investigate relations between ecology and language. The paper introduces ecolinguistics as a promising theme for corpus research. While some previous ecolinguistic research has used corpus approaches, there is a case to be made for quantitative methods that draw on larger datasets. Building on other corpus studies that have made connections between language use and environmental change, this paper investigates whether linguistic references to other species have changed in the past two centuries and, if so, how. The methodology consists of two main parts: an examination of the frequency of common names of species followed by aspect-level sentiment analysis of concordance lines. Results point to both opportunities and challenges associated with applying corpus methods to ecolinguistc research.

Variation and third age: A sociolinguistic perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (s2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Schreier
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Change ◽  
National Council ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Linguistic Change ◽  
Third Age ◽  
Quantitative Evidence ◽  
Style Shifting ◽  
Age Grading ◽  
Ethnic Group Membership

Abstract The correlation between external factors such as age, gender, ethnic group membership and language variation is one of the stalwarts of sociolinguistic theory. The repertoire of individual members of speaker groups, vis-à-vis community-wide variation, represents a somewhat slippery ground for developing and testing models of variation and change and has been researched with reference to accommodation (Bell 1984), style shifting (Rickford, John R. & MacKenzie Price. 2013. Girlz II women: Age-grading, language change and stylistic variation. Journal of Sociolinguistics 17. 143–179) and language change generally (Labov, William. 2001. Principles of linguistic change, vol. 2: Social factors. Oxford: Blackwell). This paper presents and assesses some first quantitative evidence that non-mobile older speakers from Tristan da Cunha, an island in the South Atlantic Ocean, who grew up in an utterly isolated speech community, vary and shift according to external interview parameters (interviewer, topic, place of interview). However, while they respond to the formality of the context, they display variation (both regarding speakers and variables) that is not in line with the constraints attested elsewhere. These findings are assessed with focus on the acquisition of sociolinguistic competence in third-age speakers (particularly style-shifting, Labov, William. 1964. Stages in the acquisition of Standard English. In Roger Shuy, Alva Davis & Robert Hogan (eds.), Social Dialects and Language Learning, 77–104. Champaign: National Council of Teachers of English) and across the life-span generally.

scholarly journals Transmission and diffusion: Linguistic change in the regional French of Béarn

2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 327-352
Author(s):  
DAMIEN MOONEY
Keyword(s):  
Individual Change ◽  
Vowel Quality ◽  
Linguistic Change ◽  
Local Varieties ◽  
Transmission Process ◽  
Non Local ◽  
Diffusion Interface ◽  
Successive Generations ◽  
And Diffusion ◽  
Shed Light

ABSTRACTThis article examines the seemingly dichotomous linguistic processes of transmission and diffusion (Labov, 2007) in the regional variety of French spoken in Béarn, southwestern France. Using a sociophonetic apparent time methodology, an analysis of nasal vowel quality provides evidence for the advancement of linguistic changes from below taking place between successive generations during the transmission process, as well as for change from above taking place in the variety as a result of exposure to diffusing non-local varieties of French. The results address Labov's (2007) assertion that it is rare to investigate incremental changes occurring from below in European dialectological studies and shed light on the transmission–diffusion interface by showing the adoption of an individual change from above to instigate a faithfully-transmitted counterclockwise chain shift in the regional French nasal vowel system.

Education through and to love - Sexuality as a source of conflict in German pastoral care of youth and the possibilities of practice in sex education

2003 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-103
Author(s):  
Stefan Gärtner
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Young People ◽  
Pastoral Care ◽  
Sex Education ◽  
Life Situation ◽  
Positive Potential ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
The Past

The climate in German Catholic pastoral care of youth with regards to sex education is in a sorry plight. This is due to the fact that the conflicts of the past are still very much alive. At the same time, however, there is a positive potential for development in this field of pastoral care of youth. This is especially significant, because friendship and sexuality are such important themes for children and young people. Indeed, pastoral care of youth will have to take into account their special life situation and the changed social context. Individualised, postmodern society offers a large number of sexual options. Against this background, we will end by outlining some fundamental perspectives for sex educational concepts in pastoral care of youth, in which teaching them to love and the ability to form relationships is central.

scholarly journals Hearing through the théâtrophone: Sonically constructed spaces and embodied listening in the late nineteenth-century French theatre

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Van Drie
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Teenth Century ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
French Theatre ◽  
Subscription Service ◽  
Theoretical Reflection ◽  
A Performance

This article presents a historical and theoretical reflection of the théâtrophone, a late nine- teenth-century telephone broadcast service that allowed users at a distance to listen in live to local theatre performances (spoken theatre, opera and musical concerts). Often cited as the first binaural experience in 1881, the théâtrophone’s much longer history as a subscription service, which operated in Paris from 1889 through the mid-1930s, is relatively unknown. This article considers what hearing through a théâtrophone meant to nineteenth- and twentieth- century users beyond its initial 1881 prototype. To hear through the théâtrophone means adopting a methodology mirroring the artefact itself: moving between social, professional, artistic, sensory registers. In doing so, the ways in which the théâtrophone was attuned to dis- course and practice emerge, as do more subtle processes involved in new nineteenth-century constructs of hearing and listening. Precisely the théâtrophone’s development is examined in relation to its particular social context: its installation on the spectacular Parisian boulevards and its relation to fin de siècle theatre culture. The article first investigates how theatrophonic listening was accorded to existent practices of theatre-going. Second, the article explores the more radical propositions of the théâtrophone in relation to important aesthetic and prac- tical changes occurring simultaneously in theatre culture. The théâtrophone’s virtual sonic experience multiplied the forms of a performance and its modalities of creation and recep- tion. Through accounts of ‘listening in’ the aspects of the new sonically constructed space are described, as are postures of early mediatised listening. The article posits that new modalities of listening are articulated through the théâtrophone, with certain users, including Proust, defining it as a monitoring and creative tool. In this capacity, ‘theatrophonic’ listening contrib- uted to the development of a refined ear, capable of detecting sonic nuance, which was central to artistic sensibilities at the time. 

scholarly journals A Bridge to Portugal: Language and Identity in Bridgeport, CT

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-140
Author(s):  
Fabio Scetti
Keyword(s):  
Identity Construction ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
American English ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Language And Identity ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Status

Here I present the results of BridgePORT, an ethnographic study I carried out in 2018 within the Portuguese community of Bridgeport, CT (USA). I describe language use and representation among Portuguese speakers within the community, and I investigate the integration of these speakers into the dominant American English speech community. Through my fieldwork, I observe mixing practices in day-to-day interaction, while I also consider the evolution of the Portuguese language in light of language contact and speakers’ discourse as this relates to ideologies about the status of Portuguese within the community. My findings rely on questionnaires, participant observation of verbal interaction, and semi-structured interviews. My aim is to show how verbal practice shapes the process of identity construction and how ideas of linguistic “purity” mediate the maintenance of a link to Portugal and Portuguese identity.

scholarly journals Glassy Polymers—Diffusion, Sorption, Ageing and Applications

Coatings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 1049
Author(s):  
Raj Kumar Arya ◽  
Devyani Thapliyal ◽  
Jyoti Sharma ◽  
George D. Verros
Keyword(s):  
Small Molecules ◽  
Drug Delivery Systems ◽  
Sorption Isotherms ◽  
Glassy Polymers ◽  
Gas Separations ◽  
Fickian Diffusion ◽  
Physical Ageing ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Subject ◽  
And Diffusion

For the past few decades, researchers have been intrigued by glassy polymers, which have applications ranging from gas separations to corrosion protection to drug delivery systems. The techniques employed to examine the sorption and diffusion of small molecules in glassy polymers are the subject of this review. Diffusion models in glassy polymers are regulated by Fickian and non-Fickian diffusion, with non-Fickian diffusion being more prevalent. The characteristics of glassy polymers are determined by sorption isotherms, and different models have been proposed in the literature to explain sorption in glassy polymers over the last few years. This review also includes the applications of glassy polymers. Despite having many applications, current researchers still have difficulty in implementing coating challenges due to issues such as physical ageing, brittleness, etc., which are briefly discussed in the review.

scholarly journals German experiences in documenting and presenting information about past crimes to the public

Temida ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 5-21
Author(s):  
Vesna Nikolic-Ristanovic
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Social Memory ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past

This paper aims to present German experiences in documenting the crimes of the past using Berlin as a case study. The first part provides a brief overview of the history and the broader social context in which the process of dealing with the past took place in Germany in general, and in Berlin in particular, as well as the most important characteristics of data on crimes that were presented to the public. The second part provides an overview and analysis of the data presented in two memorials: the Topography of Terror and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. These two memorials are examples of presenting information about war crimes that can be considered as fairly inclusive, thus the goal of their presentation is to highlight the potential that these approaches may have in creating a social memory and the overall attitude of society toward the past. The findings presented in this paper are the result of the research carried out by the author in Berlin in June 2011.

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