Social Class

• Petyt (1980)

  Bradford H-dropping

  • lower class dropped most (every time)
  • middle class dropped less (1 in 10 times), hypercorrection found within the middle class

  Although from same area, social class determines language
• Bernstein (1971)

  • asked children to describe image, working class not able to be understood without context
  • elaborated code, advanced standard English
  • restricted code (working class), limited use of standard grammar
  • working class use restricted code
  • middle class use both restricted and elaborated code
  • working class fail in English lessons
  • both the middle class and the working class performed well in maths
• Labov (1966)

  NYC department store study of the use of the post-vocalic /r/ sound

  • Saks (upper class), used overt prestige
  • Macy’s (middle class), evident hypercorrection
  • S. Klein (lower class), use covert prestige
  • overt prestige is not prestigious in the UK, associated with Farmers
• Cheshire (1982)

  • study in Reading
  • relationship between use of non-standard variables and adherence to attitudes towards crime
  • working class use non-standard forms (mostly boys as are more open to covert prestige)
  • middle class use non-standard forms less (mostly girls)

  limitations -

  • only in Reading
  • limited sample group
• Trudgill

  Norwich Study:

  • looked at the pronunciation of words which end with -ing
  • looked at whether the pronunciation had the word-final /g/
  • asked participants to estimate how many times they used standard and non-standard forms and compared this to what they actually did

  Found that :

  • the higher the social class, the lower the number of non-standard forms
  • the lower the social class, the higher the number of standard forms
  • women of all classes reported higher usage of standard forms than they actually used
  • women used more standard forms than men
  • men of all classes reported higher usage of standard forms of than they actually used
  • social class influenced language more than gender
• Giles (1970s) - Accommodation Theory


  where we try to make ourselves closer to our partner in a conversation by adapting our speech to be more like them
• Rosen (1974) - opposed Bernstein

  • said they were vague and lack evidence
  • are a myth
  • only refer to the lower working class, not the working class as a totality
• John Honey

  • the standards of English are falling due to an increase in slang used
  • standard English is class-based
  • although accents vary, grammar is fixed
  • rejects standardisation
  • variation in age
• Eckert (2000) - Jocks VS Burnouts, Detroit Study

  • Jocks = middle class, school-orientated
  • Burnouts = rebellious
• Lave and Wenger (1991)

  communities of practice