1. L23B: Sociolinguistics 2005-2006
Please Turn off all cellular phones & pagers
L23B Website:
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2. Course Assessment Incourse Test (40% of total grade)
TEST DATE: MONDAY, APRIL 3, 2006 (2-4pm)
Final Exam
(60% of total grade)
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3. Topics for this Session
Brief Review
Data Collection & Analysis cont’d
Variation Studies
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4. Variation Studies - Micro
Process – identify:
linguistic variables
social variables
relationship between (1) & (2)
data collection method
sample to be used
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5. Types of collection method:
Self–reported method: Questionnaires or Interviews (structured or open-ended)
Audio/Visual recording
Overt or covert Observation
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6. Questionnaire Structured:
Which language do you use at work? Creole_ English_ Other_
(ii) Which language do you use at home?
Creole_ English_ Other
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7. Questionnaire Open-ended
Which language or languages do you use at home and why?
Possible response – “I use Creole sometimes, to speak to my grandma, but English to speak to my parents. They do not like to hear me speak Creole, since I am now at ‘university’. It creates a problems for me to speak sometimes when I am at family functions…”
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8. Levels of Formality: casual speech careful speech reading
wordlist of specific variables
minimal pairs
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9. Formality Word list: ‘ng’ variable Sing Singing Eating Contemplating
Minimal Pairs
Ring vs. sing
Sin vs. sing
Run vs. rung
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10. SAMPLING
Types of sample: (taken from Wolfram & Fasold- Prescribed Text, ch.9, pg.89-90)
Random – “each person in the total population has an equal chance of being selected from the sample”.
Representative sample – used by Labov
“the social composition is pre-determined and then informants are chosen to represent these categories”
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11. Trudgill (Norwich) Main Conclusions drawn:
Men and women had different notions of ‘prestige language’
Hence distinction between:
Overt & Covert Prestige.
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12. THEORIES developed to account for variation
     Social Networks
    Accommodation Theory
      Acts of Identity
      Ideology & language use
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13. Readings – Next Class
Readings on Social Network, Acts of Identity, Language Ideology, Accommodation Theory, etc.
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