Download
1 / 4
40 likes | 162 Vues
This article discusses the social implications of using the colloquial term "wanna" in spoken American English. Based on Dennis Preston's 1985 study in "American Speech," it reveals how speakers using faster, non-standard speech like "wanna" may be perceived as lower in education and social status. Utilizing a case study of a lawyer in Honolulu, the findings illustrate the contrast between formal speech at work and informal language outside of it, shedding light on language as a marker of social identity.
E N D
What does wanna tell you? from: Dennis Preston 1985 The Li’lAbner Syndrome: Written representations of speech. American Speech 60(4). 328-336.
What did wanna trigger? • ‘Speakers’1 & 2 • NO non-standard; YES fast speech for ‘Speaker’ 2 • Higher scores on social attributes like education, wealth, status than ‘Speakers’3 & 4 • Marking fast speech has some social cost: • ‘Speaker’ 1 ranked higher than ‘Speaker’2 • the wanna ‘speaker’ sounds less educated, lower status, not as rich
Language as style Guy is a lawyer in Honolulu. In court, and when meeting with clients, he wears a suit and tie and he speaks the “General” variety of American English he acquired growing up in a family that moved often. Outside work hours, he wears T-shirts and jeans, and when he stops an employee at the drugstore to ask for help, he switches into Pidgin, “Cuz, get dakine pukka beads here?” (‘Hey mate, do you have any of those, like, surfer beads here?’).
