Sociolinguistics October 29, 2008

Sociolinguistics: Methods 1. Observation 2. Observation of a small group over a period of time 3. Interview 4. Surveys and questionnaires Surveys and questionnaires 5. Accent Judgment Test Accent Judgment Test 6. Language attitude studies Language attitude studies 7. Role-playing 8. Discourse Completion Tests

6. Language Attitude Studies How do you conduct language attitude studies? examine what people think about certain dialects and why they think it examine what effect these attitudes have on the way people think about the speakers of the dialect examine what effect these attitudes have on the way people interact with speakers of the dialect This type of research is sometimes called “folk linguistics”

social perceptions and dialects Two types of social perception: Status (we admire these people): intelligence, businesslike, correct, dependable Solidarity (we like these people): friendly, pleasant, funny, similar to you Do we perceive speakers of some varieties of English as being more intelligent or more friendly?

background: Preston’s (1992, 1999) research on language attitudes Tested Northerners (Michiganders) and Southerners (Alabamans) on their perception of northern and southern speech Participants rate speakers from different states on scales of solidarity and status: Example: Politeness Language attitude studies

perceptions of American English

perceptions of American English 2

correctness by Michiganders

correctness by Alabamans

pleasantness by Michiganders

pleasantness by Alabamans

background: results Who scored highest on status characteristics? Michigan Who scored highest on solidarity characteristics? Alabama In other words, we tend to admire speakers of some dialects, but think they are unfriendly. We think speakers of other dialects are friendly, but kind of dumb

background: child attitude studies How old are you when you acquire these attitudes? Rosenthal, 1974 Standard English and African American English speaking children Interacted with two boxes—one that spoke standard English and one that spoke African American English

background: child attitude studies Taking Which box has nicer presents? Which box sounds nicer? Which box talks better? Which box do you like better? Which box do you want to take your present from? Giving Which box wants it more? Which box needs it more? Which box sounds nicer? Which box do you want to give it to?

background: child attitude studies Who did they want to take from? The Standard English box Who did they want to give to? The African American English box How old were the children? 3-5 years old

social perception of dialects (David Bowie) Replication of Preston’s work, but with Californians, Floridians and Utahans Status: correct, intelligent Solidarity: pleasant, similar to you States marked in red on the following maps indicate that participants thought this state “very strongly” had this characteristic; pinks and blues indicate that participants thought this state “very strongly” did not have this characteristic

California Utah Florida 1. correct

California Utah Florida 2. intelligent

California Utah Florida 3. pleasant

California Utah Florida 4. similar to you

conclusions Californians: think they are correct, pleasant and very intelligent Floridians: think they are correct, intelligent and pleasant and that no one is like them Utahans: Don’t think they are correct, don’t think anyone is intelligent and think everyone is pleasant Utahans display the most linguistic insecurity Californians and Floridians think they score high on both status and solidarity characteristics Don’t see as strong north/south prejudice as in eastern U.S.

Sociolinguistics: Methods 1. Observation 2. Observation of a small group over a period of time 3. Interview 4. Surveys and questionnaires Surveys and questionnaires 5. Accent Judgment Test Accent Judgment Test 6. Language attitude studies Language attitude studies 7. Role-playing 8. Discourse Completion Tests

Which of the speakers is male? Which is female? How do you know? M: What kind of salad dressing should I make? K: Oil and vinegar, what else? M: What do you mean “what else”? K: Well, I always make oil and vinegar, but if you want we could try something else. M: Does that mean you don’t like it when I make other dressings? K: No, I like it. Go ahead. Make something else. M: Not if you want oil and vinegar. K: I don’t. Make a yogurt dressing (M. makes a yogurt dressing, tastes it,and makes a face) K: Isn’t it good? M: I don’t know how to make yogurt dressing. K: Well, if you don’t like it, throw it out. M: Never mind. K: What never mind? It’s just little yogurt. M: You’re making a big deal out of nothing. K: You are!

Conversation Analysis: Some terms Some definitions: 1. Face 2. Power and Solidarity 3. Politeness (directness) 4. Speech Acts 5. Floor solidarity power +p, +s -p, +s +p, -s -p, -s

Politeness SituationPositive (desire to include) Negative (desire to avoid) 1. Person walks into room and trips make a jokepretends doesn’t happen 2. Friendlinessinclude person in all activities allow person to do things on their own 3. Sees someone with zipper undone tells the persona. ignores b. tells person later 4. Requestincludes in activity “Let’s take the garbage out hedge: “I wonder if you could help out?” 5. Complaintmake a joke “you sure are a good housekeeper” nominalize: “Your poor performance on the exam...

Conversation Analysis: Holding the floor a. P: Your Honor, we request immediate sentencing and waive the probation report. J: What's his record? P: He has a prior drunk and GTA. Nothing serious. This is just a shoplifting case. He did enter the K-Mart with the intent to steal. But really all we have here is a petty theft. J: What do the people have? D: Nothing either way. J: How long has he been in? D: Eighty-three days. b. D: I wonder how our parents and grandparents thought about Thanksgiving. S: Could we get this off the table? D: Y'know, if they used to do it for the kids or whether they really felt it. P: I'd like to get this off the table. S: It keeps coming back on the table.

Example Speech Act: Compliments 1. Who gets compliments? 2. Who gives compliments? 3. Who evades/deflects/rejects compliments? 4. What do men/women compliment (appearance, possessions, skills?)

Who gives/receives compliments?

Who accepts, rejects and evades compliments?

Compliments and Types of Compliments that vary by Social Distance