English Theory (my notes)

• Social Stratification


  The system of social standing or ranking based on factors like; wealth, income, education, race, gender, power or privilege
• Labov studied the employees in 3 different department stores -> various budgets (Saks, Macy's, S. Klein) to see if phonological variable 'R' pronunciation changed based on social class
• Labov's hypothesis was that any 2 subgroups of NYC speakers are ranking in a scale of social stratification then they will be marked by their differential use of 'R'
• Labov found that in casual speech, the upper middle class speakers used the post vocal 'R' more than the lower middle class, confirming his hypothesis
• Labov found that the lower class used the rhotic R in more formal situations as they wanted to fit in more and felt they were more under pressure
• Trudgill investigated whether social factors impacted how the people of Norwich speak, looking at the '-ing' sound at the end of words
• Trudgill divided his participants into 4 social classes (lower middle class, upper middle class, upper working class, lower working class) and found that the final 'g' sound increased according to formality of the situations for all social classes
• Malcom Petyt studied the phonological variable 'h' - 'h-dropping' and found that lower class speakers on average dropped 93% 'h' sounds whereas upper-middle class speakers only 12%
• Elaborative code


  A manner of speech closest to being universally understandable and not context dependent because the language is understandable and includes sufficient detail and clarity
• Restricted Code


  Speaking to larger groups that could exclude some listeners, including dialect and sociolectal usages or just speaking very colloquially
• Code switching


  Our ability to switch in and out of elaborate and restricted codes depending on pragmatics/context
• According to Bernstein, "Clearly one code is not better than another; each possesses its own aesthetics, its own possibilities"
• Open Network


  An individual whose contacts tend to not know each other
• Closed Network


  An individual whose personal contacts all know each other
• Milroy investigated the correlation of integration of individuals in the working class communities in Belfast and the way those individuals speak, finding that high network score correlated with the high use of Non-Standard English
• Penelope Ecklert found that 'Burnouts' more often used the exaggerated pronunciations associated with the urban accent of their Detroit, while 'Jocks' were more concerned with speaking in a socially prestigious way
• Labov's research on Martha's Vineyard found that the younger population used the vowels used by the Chilmark fishermen to appear distant to the tourists, and the Chilmark fishermen exaggerated their vowel sounds, as an example of covert prestige and convergence towards one social group in order to diverge from a different social group
• This study investigated the effect of regional accent on the perception of intelligence and physical attractiveness, finding that a Yorkshire accent is considered to be more intelligent than RP which, in turn, was considered to be more intelligent than a silent condition
• Giles' research found that status could easily be ranked in the following order: RP, National Accents, Regional Rural Accents, Regional Urban Accents
• Giles' research found that personality traits associated with RP were cold, ruthless, intelligent, ambitious, while Northern accents were associated with warm, sincere, funny
• Accommodation Theory


  Suggests we adjust our speech to 'accommodate' the person we are addressing, which may result in convergence or divergence
• Dixon, Mahoney & Cocks found that a suspect was viewed as significantly more guilty when he employed a Brummie accent rather than RP, suggesting that an individual's accent plays a big role in how they are perceived
• Face Theory


  About maintaining the representation of yourself that you project
• Politeness Maxims


  Don't impose, Give options, Positive reinforcement
• Lakoff proposed that women's speech could be distinguished from men's, and that women were more likely to use hedging, empty adjectives, and apologise more frequently
• Coulthard and Sinclair identified the 'IRF' model in a one-to-one classroom, consisting of Initiate a question, Initiate response, Give them feedback
• Positive Face


  Desire to be seen in overtly prestigious ways (funny, intelligent, attractive, likeable etc)
• Negative Face


  Desire to have control over our being (to be left alone, to exist unimpeded by others)
• Drew and Heritage's theoretical model studies the structures, patterns and interactions in institutional settings to understand how discourse shaped the roles and identities of the workers/participants
• Louhiala-Salminen found that business letters are more formal than emails or faxes as the conventions of business letters are well-established, whereas electronic modes are not as established
• Instrumental Power


  Establishing power through rules (power established through consequences opposed to just persuasion)
• Influential Power


  Advertising and the media/journalism etc – things that change our thoughts/feelings/opinions
• Cameron found that call centre conversations were highly formulaic rather than spontaneous, with questions asked by agents and the order in which they are asked determined by the software they are dealing with
• Nelson found that business English had little focus on: Existence of weekends, Personal issues, Society, Family, Housing & Personal activities
• Power in Discourse


  The way in which power is manifested in situations through language
• Power Behind Discourse


  The focus on the social and ideological reasons behind the enactment of power
• Koester identified phatic talk as important to getting jobs done, as workers need to establish interpersonal relationships and have interactions that are not just about work-related procedures
• Kim and Elder found that Korean pilots had difficulty communicating with American ATC colleagues due to mistranslation and the American speakers' use of unnecessary abbreviations and idioms
• Lingua Franca


  A language that is adopted as a common language between speakers whose native languages are different
• Discourse Community


  A community that has members who share a set of common goals, communicate internally using specialist lexis and discourse, and possess a required level of knowledge and skill to be considered eligible to participate