SPOKEN LANGUAGE & SOCIAL GROUPS
Alicia Smith
Sydney Brock
Paycen Evans
CONTEXT
Context of Spoken Language
"The way in which our language is spoken is linked to the context - the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea in terms of which it can be fully understood."
CAT - Communication Accommodation Theory
C.A.T.
- Developed by Howard Giles
- Argues that when people interact, they adjust their speech to accommodate others
School settings
Meetings
Fan Groups
Convergence
"Where we make our language more similar to the speakers around us, often for social reasons or to be part of a group."
Convergence
Divergence
"When an individual adjusts his or her speech patterns to be distinct from those of people belonging to another group or social identity; this is usually to indicate greater status."
Language used to Include and Exclude
Language used to Include and Exclude
"The language of inclusion and exclusion is frequently accompanied by the more sociological concepts relating to ethnicity and the politics of a country." Also, in addition to your geographical location.
Examples of Exclusion
Examples of Inclusion & Exclusion
Exclusion in North America
North America
The slave trade between Africa and America had a huge impact on language.
A variety of the slaves spoke all different types of languages and were completely excluded from their rights.
Plantation owners in the South were afraid of rebellion, so they paired different language speaking people in the same area.
This created a functional language between the people with no common language - called pidgin.
The basic languages of pidgin advanced and became more complex - turning it into a creole language.
Exclusion in Religion
Religion
The Roman Catholic Church strongly opposed of the first translation of the Bible from Latin to English (England 1300s)
"Many people were burned as heretics because of their wish to worship in English."
William Labov
In 1966, he researched the post-vocalic /r/ sound in New York City.
This type of pronunciation is widely used in North American and British English where the ending of these words is weakened making it sound like /ca/ and /fa/ (instead of car and far)
This pronunciation of English is a schwa - just meaning the syllable is unstressed.
Concerns of Language Change
Teenage Groups
- Will new abbreviations and text words make it into traditional speech?
- Will the lack of spaces in web addresses turn into general use?
- Will the lack of standardized spelling and grammar turn into general use?
- Will groups who do not write/speak this way be excluded/
Cyberspace
Cyber-bullying amongst teens has become a huge concern over the Internet - usually social media.
Concerns of Cyberspace
"Cyber bullying can be very damaging to adolescents and teens. It can lead to anxiety, depression, and even suicide. To compound the problem, in this digital age, once things are circulated on the Internet, they may never disappear. The hurtful actions often resurface in the future to renew the pain of cyber bullying." (www.theorganicagency.com)
Statistics
According to www.theorganicagency.com:
- Nearly 43% of kids have been bullied online
- 70% of students report seeing frequent bullying online
- 68% of teens agree that cyber bullying is a serious problem
- 81% of young people think bullying online is easier to get away with than bullying in person
- Only 1 in 10 victims will inform a parent or trusted adult of their abuse
Teen Cyberspace Statistics
Cont.
- Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people, resulting in about 4,400 deaths per year, according to the American Center for Disease Control. For every suicide among young people, there are at least 100 suicide attempts. Over 14 percent of teenage students have considered suicide, and almost 7 percent have attempted it.
- Bully victims are between 2 to 9 times more likely to consider suicide than non-victims, according to studies by Yale University
- A study in Britain found that at least half of suicides among young people are related to bullying
- 10 to 14 year old girls may be at even higher risk for suicide, according to the study above
Statistics Cont.
Non-standard Features of English
Non-standard Features of English
"Language which differs from the usual, accepted and recognizable speech of native speakers."
Standard and Non-Standard Language
Standard & Non-Standard
- Non-standard speech is a term for language that differs from the usual, accepted and recognizable speech of native speakers.
- Prescriptivist: Language should have a strict set of rules must be obeyed.
- Descriptivist: No Language use is incorrect.
- Formal: Standard English is followed.
- Colloquial: Everyday, casual language.
- Slang and non-standard: Basic and informal variety of language.
- Frozen Language: Language is unchanging and full of archaisms (Used in earlier times).
Language Change
- Language must change with society.
- Four major trends of language change:
- Pejoration: Acquires negative association.
- Amelioration: Acquires positive association.
- Widening: Acquires broader meaning.
- Narrowing:Acquires narrower meaning.
- Some reasons for language change:
- Technology
- Geography
- Social Conditions
- Increasing Specialization
- International Travel and Contacts
- Changing Communities
Slang
- Slang: Unusual, direct, sometimes offensive language that is not standard.
- Always changing and become dated quickly.
- Identity marker.
- Can include or exclude people from groups.
- Bad Language:
- Most cultures have some form of "bad language."
- Focused on body parts and functions.
- Slang and bad language changes with social values.
Jargon
- Jargon: Non-standard language that is mainly technical words and phrases.
- Used by doctors, lawyers, etc.
- Can be similar to slang:
- Restricted to a certain group.
- Ensures mutual and precise understanding between group members.
Jargon
Speech and Sound Accents
Speech Sounds and Accents
"You will know basic information about the alphabet and the sounds associated with each letter, and this is relevant here as it adds information about the sounds of the accent in our speech."
Speech Sound Production
- Accent: Characteristic pronunciation associated with a geographical area or social group.
- The air we breathe out is given voice by vocal cords and the mouth and tongue.
- Vowels: No restriction of air through mouth, sound is formed by mouth shape.
- Consonants: Some restriction of air by the tongue, teeth, or lips.
- Purpose of the International Phonetic Alphabet is to accurately transcribe sounds of speech independent of any language.
International Phonetic Alphabet
Phonetic Alphabet
The Sound of Speech - Our Accent
The Sounds of Speech - Our Accent
- Received Pronunciation: An accent that does not indicate a person's geographical location.
- Accents change quicker than spelling of the words. This is why words are pronounced differently than how they’re spelled.
- Social Accents:
- Women are more likely to use standard pronunciation than local accent, helped with status in the past.
- US has no prestige accent unlike the UK.
- Association of accents with personal qualities.
- Rural accent = low intelligence.
Theories and Studies of Social Variation
Theories & Studies of Social Variation
"This section furthers demonstrates how recent social changes have changed our attitudes towards certain groups"
Language Links
Political Correctness
- The link between political correctness and language is in some ways affects our views of the world
- Through things like Language determinism which is the words we use that directly frame our thoughts
- As well as language relativism which is language that contributes fact to our thoughts
- Other key factors affect our language such as their social group, age, and gender
Gender in Language
Language and Gender
- There are many examples where language describes gender differently such as Miss,Mr
- There is also different speaking patterns in between men and women
- women are more adept to be intertwined in the conversations and use tag questions while men are less likely to give feedback
Cont.
- Men however are simple they are less likely to give supportive feedback
- They don't use key phrases such as Thank you and please
- as well as women are said to do the hard work keeping the conversation alive such as using turn taking or key phrases to further the conversation
Extended
Dialect, Sociolect, and Idiolect
Dialect, Sociolect, Idiolect
DIALECT
Dialect
"A particular form of language which is peculiar to a specific region"
However broad dialect is, it is comprehensible to other speakers of the language
- dialects and accents are completely different, accent is how we pronounce words
- Unless there is a range of mountains or physical boundary, linguists use a isogloss to determine the start and end of a dialect or linguistic region
Sociolect
"The dialect of a particular class or group."
- Sociolect and dialect are easily confused however sociolect is socioeconomically based instead of by location
- Due to the diffrences within classes, code switching exists.
- Code switching is the use of one type of language around the same class but switching when talking to people of a diffrent class
Idiolect
"The speech habit of an individual; the words and phrases they choose."
- We alter our speech based on who and what we are talking about
Idiolect
Gould, Mike and Marilyn Rankin. Cambridge International AS and A Level English Language. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 2014.
Work Cited
-, Digital Humans. “The Life and Death Consequences of Cyber Bullying.” Organic, 7 Mar. 2019, theorganicagency.com/blog/life-death-consequences-cyber-bullying/.