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Outward bound: Language as a property of the speech community. William Labov University of Pennsylvania. Pozna n 2010 . WL home page www.ling.upenn.edu/~labov. The central dogma of sociolinguistics: . The community is conceptually and analytically prior to the individual. .
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Outward bound: Language as a property of the speech community William Labov University of Pennsylvania Poznan 2010
The central dogma of sociolinguistics: The community is conceptually and analytically prior to the individual. In linguistic analysis, the behavior of an individual can be understood only through the study of the social groups of which he or she is a member.
Durkheim’s social facts . . .ways of behaving, thinking and feeling, exterior to the individual, which possess a power of coercion by which they are imposed on him (1937, p. 5, my translation)
Durkheim on individualists “. . . the word compelling, by which we define [social facts], has a risk of irritating the zealous partisans of an absolute individualism. As they believe that the individual is perfectly autonomous, they feel that the individual is diminished each time that it seems that he does not act entirely by himself. (Durkheim 1937:6).
The individual as primary input “The linguist should be able to pin-point the development of a language as a result of individual choices, and that the sociolinguist should try to relate changes in social structure to changes in individual cultural values as expressed through speech in social interaction. Individual behavior is thus seen as the proper starting point for sociolinguistic investigation.” –Janet Holmes, Sociolinguistics and the Individual
What is to be learned? 1. What comes first. The learner copies faithfully the forms first acquired and makes minimal modification thereafter
What is to be learned? 2. Everything. Within the critical period, the learner is sensitive to each exposure and continually modifies the linguistic system in proportion to the frequency of each type observed in interaction.
What is to be learned? 3. What is local. The learner is oriented towards the linguistic forms of a given social group with which he or she is in contact.
What is to be learned? 4. What is new. When the language learners perceive change in progress. they are oriented to acquire new forms in preference to the old.
What is to be learned? 5. What is general. Language learners exhibit a preference for forms and patterns that are the general medium of communication across all subgroups of the speech community.
1. Evidence against imprinting: children do not acquire non-native features from their parents.
Acquisition of Philadelphia variables by children of out-of-state families in King of Prussiabyage of arrival from Payne 1976
Development of local phonetic forms for the GOAT vowel in Milton Keynes by age. [From Kerswill and Williams 1994].
. Phonological variables for subjects with foreign- and native-born parents in New York City
The Philadelphia Neighborhood Study [N=120] Upper class Chestnut Hill WicketSt. Kensington Nancy Drive King of Prussisa Mallow St. Overbrook Clark St. So. Phila Pitt St.: So. Phila
Stepwise regression of second formant of F2 of /aw/ in the Philadelphia Neighborhood Study with gender, age, social class, neighborhood and ethnicity factors..N=112. Adjusted r2 = 56.6 Variable Coefficient Probability Female 122 ≤ 0.0001 Age (*25 years) -120 ≤ 0.0001 Upper working class 138 0.0026 Wicket St. neighborhood 171 0.0007 Pitt St. neighborhood 101 0.0329 Italian -14 0.804 Jewish -94 0.293 Irish 16 0.776 WASP -25 0.681 German -174 0.029 Generation in U.S. 1.6 0.945
Low back vowel systems in Seekonk children by grade and parental system. Elementary schools: A = Aitkin, M = Martin, N = North. (Johnson 2010: Fig. 5.3)
2. Averaging: remains of parental influence on children’s changing pattern
Reduction of future bai ( < baimbye) in TokPisin Parent Child embaii-go emb-i-go he will go he will go
Percent secondary stress on future marker BAI by parents and children (source: G. Sankoff).
Index of Centralization on Martha’s Vineyard as a symbol of local identity Persons Attitude towards Centralization index the island (ay) (aw) 40 Positive 63 62 19 Neutral 32 42 6 Negative 09 08
The Northern Cities Shift desk busses bosses mat head block socks
Local development of the backing of /ʌ/ in but, bunk, in Belten high school in the suburbs of Detroit (Eckert 2000)
Backing of / ʌ/ in but, bunk, etc. by gender and social group inBelten high school in the suburbs of Detroit (Table 5.7, Eckert 2000). Factor weights for advanced tokens of backed /ʌ/ Burnout girls Burnout boys Jock girls Jock boys .79 .63 .22 .30
Local development of the fronting of /ʌ/ in but, bunk, etc. in Farmer City, Illinois high school (Habick 1980) ,
Distribution of fronting of /ʌ/ in but, bunk, etc by social groups in Farmer City, Illinois (based on Table 9-2, Habick 1980) Distance from /e/ Group OverlappedClose Far Burnout 6 3 0 Redneck 3 6 1 Parents 1 2 4 Grandparents 0 1 5 Kentucky 0 0 7
All intermediate speakers under 20 in 1971 were categorical [R]-users by the age of 33 in 1984 Louise L. Louis-Pierre R. Guy T. Paul D.
Putative trajectories for speakers under 20 in 1971 who were already categorical [R]-users
Tensing of short-a in Philadelphia in closed syllables pttʃk bddʒg mnŋ fθsʃ vðzʒ
Lexical diffusion of short-a tensing in Philadelphia Tense Lax pan panning panel ham hamming hammer plan planning planet fan fanning flannel
Lexical diffusion of tensing of planetamong adults and children in Philadelphia (Roberts and Labov 1995)
Lexical diffusion of planet among younger and older children in Philadelphia (Roberts and Labov 1995)
Proportion of –t,d deletion for eleven members of the Jets in single interviews Labov, Cohen, Robins and Lewis 1968
Proportion deleted of monomorphemic –t,d clusters before consonants and vowels for eleven members of the Jets.
Tensing of short-a in Philadelphia in closed syllables mad, bad glad pttʃk bddʒg mnŋ fθsʃ vðzʒ
