Theorists for Language and Prestige
- Created by: Gillian1999
- Created on: 11-04-17 20:24
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- Theorists of Language and Prestige
- Main Theorist: William Labov (1966)
- He studied the differences in language used between people of different prestige
- Labov found that people of a lower status can gain a 'covert prestige' from using non-standard English. This could be when speaking with peers they 'seek' covert prestige by using their language in a non-standard way.
- He found that people of a
lower prestige strayed further from standard English in general conversations
- However, in formal situations they hyper corrected, speaking more clearly and speaking closer to standard English
- Peter Trudgill (1983)
- He found that working class men exaggerated their own non-standard use when asked about it.
- Whereas women were more likely to seek to use standard language to gain overt prestige
- Jenny Cheshire
- Cheshire did a study on a boy (Noddy) who used non-standard forms.
- Noddy also had a reputation for being tough and having deviant behaviour, but this caused him respect from his peers
- This shows how the different use of language caused the boys to have different levels of prestige
- In contrast, another boy (Kevin), used non-standard English less and was rated low on tough behaviour and was often the victim of jokes from other boys and excluded from group activities
- This shows how the different use of language caused the boys to have different levels of prestige
- Noddy also had a reputation for being tough and having deviant behaviour, but this caused him respect from his peers
- In contrast, another boy (Kevin), used non-standard English less and was rated low on tough behaviour and was often the victim of jokes from other boys and excluded from group activities
- Cheshire did a study on a boy (Noddy) who used non-standard forms.
- Main Theorist: William Labov (1966)
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