SOCIOPHONETICS
Labov, 1966 The Social Stratification of English in New York City “Investigating the r pronunciation after vowels.”
Method 1. Walking around three New York City Department Store (Saks, Macy’s, and S.Klein). 2. Asking the location of department he knew to be situated on the fourth floor.
Result 1. r -pronunciation after vowels was being reintroduced into New York speech from above.
Result 2. r -pronunciation after vowels was a feature of the speech of younger people older people rather than of
3. r -pronunciation after vowels was more likely to occur as the formality level increased
Result 4. r -pronunciation after vowels would be more likely at the ends of words before consonants than
Trudgill, 1974 The Social Differentiation of English in Norwich How the use of variants is related to social class and level of formality Analysis of the variables (ng), (t), and (h)
Result 1. The higher the social class, the more frequent is the use of the [ ], [t], and [h] variants rather than the corresponding [n], [ ], and [ ] variants.
2. The higher the level of formality, the more frequent is the use of the [ ], [t], and [h] variants rather than the corresponding [n], [ ], and [ ] variants.
Result 3. The use of [ ] is not only related to social class, but also to gender. Females show greater preference for [ ] than males.