scholarly journals O locus da língua: reflexões metateóricas acerca da noção de língua como um fato social em William Labov (The locus of language: metatheoretical reflections on the notion of language as a social fact in William Labov)

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
Daniel Marra ◽  
Sebastião Elias Milani
Keyword(s):  
Speech Community ◽  
Linguistic Change ◽  
Social Fact

Este artigo trata da noção de língua como um fato social e de sua reelaboração empreendida por William Labov. Adotando uma postura antirreducionista, Labov considera desnecessário recorrer às bases psiquicoindividuais ao explicar o fenômeno da mudança linguística. Recorre, para tanto, à noção de comunidade de fala como o legítimo locus da língua. Tal postura deixa emergir certas incongruências teórico-metodológicas.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: William Labov. Língua. Fato Social. Comunidade de Fala. Indivíduo. ABSTRACT This article deals with the notion of language as a social fact and its reworking undertaken by William Labov. Adopting an antireductionist posture, Labov considers it unnecessary to rely on the psychoindividual bases to explain the phenomenon of linguistic change. He resorts, thus, to the concept of speech community as the legitimate locus of language. Such attitude allows the emergence of certain theoretical and methodological inconsistencies.KEYWORDS: William Labov. Language. Social Fact. Speech Community. Individual.

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.

Linguistic change in El Pont de Suert: The study of variation of /3/

1990 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nuria Alturo ◽  
Ma. Teresa Turell
Keyword(s):  
Social Factors ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Linguistic Variables ◽  
Linguistic Change ◽  
Geographic Factors

ABSTRACTCatalan sociolinguistics has investigated in depth the uses of Catalan and the attitudes toward it but has only analyzed very sporadically the mechanisms of linguistic change in this language. The study presented in this article is an attempt to describe an ongoing linguistic change that has been observed in a speech community (E1 Pont de Suert) of the Alta Ribagorça, a region in Catalonia (Spain) where the borderline between Catalan and Aragonese, a variety of Spanish, can be delimited. The purpose of this article is twofold. First, the article seeks to demonstrate that a gradual substitution of the autochthonous variant [t∫] by the normative [3] of the phoneme /3/ appears to be taking place in El Pont de Suert, and to determine, at the same time, the linguistic and social factors that favor this substitution. Second, its purpose is to analyze the variation of this phoneme in relation to not only geographic but also social and linguistic variables; this is because a study that considers only geographic factors would describe the characteristics that differentiate the Ribagorca speech from other Catalan speech varieties but would not account for the existing variation in the use of both the voiceless affricate and the voiced fricative.

Variable data and linguistic convergence: Texts and contexts in Chipewyan

1979 ◽  
Vol 8 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 223-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald Scollon
Keyword(s):  
Considerable Extent ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Linguistic Change ◽  
Joint Product ◽  
History Of Linguistics ◽  
French And English ◽  
History Of ◽  
Variable Data

ABSTRACTIn the contemporary speech community of Fort Chipewyan, Alberta, there is evidence that the four languages, Chipewyan, Cree, French, and English, have converged to a considerable extent. Although at first this convergence appears to have developed since Fang-Kuei Li's 1928 work on Chipewyan in the same community, an examination of other sources which have been considered unreliable shows this convergence to have been stable for as long as 100 years. The view of Chipewyan as a discrete, historical variety, unaffected by convergence, is then shown to have been a joint product of the interaction between the linguist, Li, and his informant, François Mandeville. (Linguistic convergence, linguistic change, fieldwork, ethnography of speaking, history of linguistics; Chipewyan (Athapaskan) of Fort Chipewyan, Alberta, Canada.)

scholarly journals Revisiting Rivera: Palatalization of dental stops in a border town

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 28
Author(s):  
Rosa-Maria Castaneda
Keyword(s):  
Social Stratification ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Linguistic Change ◽  
The Social ◽  
Border Town ◽  
Preceding Context ◽  
Time Construct ◽  
Uruguayan Portuguese

I present a follow-up study of the social stratification of palatalization of /ti/, /di/ in Uruguayan Portuguese (UP). Carvalho’s (1998) provided apparent-time evidence suggesting that palatalization of /ti/, /di/ in Rivera was undergoing linguistic change. I test the apparent-time construct with the objective of substantiating the change in progress hypothesized by Carvalho (1998). The examinations of linguistic factors indicate that following and preceding context and tonicity of the syllable condition the variability. Data results confirmed the hypothesis that younger speakers tend to prefer the innovative variant, however, cross-sectional comparisons point toward a state of relative stability at the speech-community level.

Well weird, right dodgy, very strange, really cool: Layering and recycling in English intensifiers

2003 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
RIKA ITO ◽  
SALI TAGLIAMONTE
Keyword(s):  
Multivariate Analyses ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Linguistic Change ◽  
Conditioning Factors ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
Strong Indicator

This article examines variable usage of intensifiers in a corpus from a socially and generationally stratified community. Using multivariate analyses, the authors assess the direction of effect, significance, and relative importance of conditioning factors in apparent time. Of 4,019 adjectival heads, 24% were intensified, and there is an increase in intensification across generations. Earlier forms (e.g. right and well) do not fade away but coexist with newer items. The most frequent intensifiers, however, are shifting rapidly. Very is most common, but only among the older speakers. In contrast, really increases dramatically among the youngest generation; however, the effects of education and sex must be disentangled. The results confirm that variation in intensifier use is a strong indicator of shifting norms and practices in a speech community. Studying such actively changing features can make an important contribution to understanding linguistic change as well as to discovering current trends in contemporary English.

«Muchas gracias por las felicitaciones a todos. Me habeis emocionado. Les debo una copita»

2019 ◽  
Vol 135 (2) ◽  
pp. 399-425
Author(s):  
Elia Hernández Socas ◽  
Héctor Hernández Arocha
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Canary Islands ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Linguistic Competence ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Linguistic Change ◽  
Use Of Data ◽  
The Social ◽  
Peninsular Spanish ◽  
Pronominal System

Abstract The aim of this paper is to study the process of linguistic change recently detected in the pronominal system of the Spanish variety from the Canary Islands. According to a number of parameters which define the domain of study, such as age, gender, sociocultural level, origin, residence and possible influence of other varieties, the survey makes use of data extracted from the social network Facebook comments to try to find out to what extend the pronominal system generally used in the Canary Islands has undergone a relevant change and what kind of system(s) can best represent the linguistic competence of at least some part of this speech community. Finally, it discusses whether or not the attested change can be related to linguistic self-esteem problems or the influence of peninsular Spanish.

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.

Dialectal variation in republican Latin, with special reference to Praenestine

1990 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 1-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Coleman
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Special Reference ◽  
Education System ◽  
Local Change ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Standard Language ◽  
Linguistic Change ◽  
Dialectal Variation ◽  
Linguistic Data ◽  
Range Of Variation

1.1 Dialectical diversity is common to all languages. It comes about when groups of speakers of the same language become isolated from one another and from the conformist pressures of an administrative or cultural centre. The tendency to local change can be accelerated by the presence nearby of another language and the growth of bilingual interaction in settled conditions over several generations. Like linguistic change in general, dialectal diversity tends to be retarded by improved communications and a universal homogeneous education system.1.2 Modern dialect geographers go about their work with a questionnaire, a tape-recorder and a note-book, listing items of pronunciation, vocabulary, morphology and syntax that distinguish particular localities from one another. If their aim is not the purely linguistic one of establishing an underlying diasystem and the range of variation within it, but is more concerned with the sociological aspects of the linguistic data, then they will plot the dialectical variations against the ‘standard’ language, viz. the dialect which because of its association with an administrative or cultural capital has in an elaborated and artificial form acquired prestige and dominance throughout the whole speech community. If researchers find that their information is incomplete, they can simply return to the field with further questions.

The intersection of sex and social class in the course of linguistic change

1990 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Labov
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Sexual Differentiation ◽  
Lower Class ◽  
Social Classes ◽  
Social Awareness ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Linguistic Change ◽  
Initial Acceleration

ABSTRACTTwo general principles of sexual differentiation emerge from previous sociolinguistic studies: that men use a higher frequency of nonstandard forms than women in stable situations, and that women are generally the innovators in linguistic change. It is not clear whether these two tendencies can be unified, or how differences between the sexes can account for the observed patterns of linguistic change. The extensive interaction between sex and other social factors raises the issue as to whether the curvilinear social class pattern associated with linguistic change is the product of a rejection of female-dominated changes by lower-class males. Multivariate analysis of data from the Philadelphia Project on Linguistic Change and Variation indicates that sexual differentiation is independent of social class at the beginning of a change, but that interaction develops gradually as social awareness of the change increases. It is proposed that sexual differentiation of language is generated by two distinct processes: (1) for all social classes, the asymmetric context of language learning leads to an initial acceleration of female-dominated changes and retardation of male-dominated changes; (2) women lead men in the rejection of linguistic changes as they are recognized by the speech community, a differentiation that is maximal for the second highest status group.

scholarly journals Linguistic Variation and Change in Nawfija Speech Community

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 741-749
Author(s):  
Nwagalaku Chineze ◽  
Obiora Harriet Chinyere ◽  
Christopher Chinedu Nwike
Keyword(s):  
Linguistic Variation ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Linguistic Change ◽  
Equal Footing ◽  
The Creation

The focus of this study is on linguistic change and variation in the Nawfija speech community. It distinguished dialect from other similar words and contrasted the traditional Igbo dialect with the Nawfija dialect of the Igbo language on an equal footing. The types of dialectal variations found in the Igbo Nawfija dialect were investigated in this study, as well as the question of dialect supremacy. For the creation of standard Igbo, some suggestions have been made.

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