Key Theorists

• 1990 Alvin Toffler


  'Prosumer' + 'Consumers' of the internet
• 2001 David Crystal


  Netspeak = hybrid of spoken + written forms
• 2007 Herring


  Language exists on a continuum of asynchronous + synchronous
• Caroline Tagg


  Karinthy's 6 degrees of separation ->intro of tech has made it easier to connect with people
• Naomi Baron


  Convenience of communication, its impact on language + people's attitudes towards it
• Gretchen McCulloch


  Social media platforms -> impacted language use + communication - ensures all our needs + desires are met
• 1999 Shan Wareing


  Types of power = political, personal and social group

  Divided into: instrumental + influential
• 1989 Fairclough


  Synthetic personalisation
• 1987 Brown + Levinson


  Politeness theory
• 1967 Goffman


  Face Work theory
• 1975 Sinclair + Coulthard


  Initiation-response-feedback-model
• 1975 Grice


  4 Maxims: manner, relevance, quality + quantity
• 2011 John Swales


  Discourse communities + members who..
• 2004 Almut Koester 


  Importance of phatic talk
• 2000 Michael Nelson


  Manchester Uni + business lexis
• 1989 Herbert + Straight


  Compliments + authority
• 1992 Drew + Heritage


  Institutional talk + 6 characteristics
• 1994 Hornyak


  Shift from work talk to personal talk
• 1990 Deb Tannen


  Difference theory
• 1975 Zimmerman + West

  Dominance model - interruptions
• 1922 Otto Jeperson


  Deficit theory
• 2012 Deb Cameron


  Verbal Hygiene
• 2001 Labov


  Gender paradox
• 1975 Robin Lakoff


  Deficit Model
• 1980 O'Barr + Atkins

  Dominance Model
• 1983 Pamela Fisherman


  Dominance Model
• Dialect levelling 


  regional accents are dying as more people are moving to big cities
• Harvey + Shalom


  One problem of language -> lots of variations of a concept, which lacks one single form: technical, euphemistic + dysphemistic
• 1963 Labov Martha's Vineyard

  Group of fisherman exaggerated their speech to establish an independent social group, appear superior to tourists -> change our language to be associated with one group
• 1997 Jean Aitchison - what people perceive to be language decay/erosion + what she thinks:


  Crumbling castle = English is like a home + should be preserved -> she argues that language change is constant

  Damp Spoon Syndrome = new forms arise from laziness, dipping a damp spoon into sugar -> she argues that the only true lazy speech in drunken speech

  Infectious disease = changes in language are infectious -> she argues people adopt new forms of speech because they like them.
• Petyt + Trudgill:


  Found that lower the class, the more likelt the use of non-standard English
• Howard Giles - Accommodation theory


  Convergence, divergence
• Aziz Corporation - survey to rate UK accents to business appeal


  79% strong regional accent = disadvantage

  77% home counties accents = successful

  Cockney accent = successful, not trustworthy

  Geordie accent = warm + caring

  Asian accent = hardworking + reliable
• Labov New York


  Saks, Macy's + S Klein -> found increase in 'r' in careful speech, rhotic 'r' used most in Saks
• Bernstein 


  Restricted + elaborated codes
• Milroy + Milroy Belfast


  close knit networks = important for dialect maintenance as it promotes solidarity + identity
• Kachru's 3 circles - the use + spread of English


  Inner circle - norm providing

  Outer circle - norm developing

  Expanding circle - norm dependent
• British English


  All varieties of UK English
• American English
• West African Pidgin English