Natalie Ramos

Alexander Caro
By:
Slang: very informal language that is used esp. in speech by particular
groups of people and which sometimes includes words that are not polite.

Speech community: is a group of people who share a set of norms and
expectations regarding the use of language.

Social class: is used to define groups of speakers that have something in
common.

Speech style: a social feature of language use. The most common
distinction in speech style is between formal uses and informal uses.


Dialect: a form of a language that people speak in a particular part of a
country, containing some different words and grammar, etc.

Social marker: a feature that occur frequently in your speech (or not) wich
marks you as a member of a particular social group, whether you realize it
or not.

Prestige: a way of explaining the direction in which certain individuals
change their speech.




The study of the relationship between language and society

Anthropology

Sociology

Social psychology
Concept:



Two main groups :
1. Middle Class
2. Working class
upper and lower



a form of a language that people speak
in a particular part of a country, containing some
different words and grammar, etc.
Example: Edinburgh, Scotland.

Word: Home

oLower working class speakers: [hem]
oLower-middle-class speakers: [hom]


Example:

Them boys throwed somethin
It wasnt us what done it

Those expressions are generally associated with
speakers who have spent less time in education.




Labov (1966)
Where are the womens shoes?

1. Saks Fifth Avenue (Expensive items, upper-
middle class status)
2. Macys (medium-priced, middle class status)
3. Kleins (with cheaper items, working class status)



A feature that occur frequently in your
speech (or not) wich marks you as a member of a
particular social group, whether you realize it or not.


Pronouncing Postvocalic /r/
The final pronunciation of ing with [n] rather than
[]
[h] Dropping



Concept:
Examples:

Formal Style: more careful attention to how
were speaking (careful style)

Informal Style: Less attention (casual style)

Style shifting


middle-class speakers are much more likely to
shift their style of speaking significantly In the
direction of the upper middle class when they
are using a carefully style

Concept:



Overt Prestige
Covert Prestige
a way of explaining the direction
in which certain individuals change their
speech.

Two main concepts:
Convergence

Divergence




Register
Situational
Occupational
Topical

Jargon



Colloquial speech
Age

Examples:
Bucks
Benjamins
you stupid a**hole!

like clothing and music, slang is an aspect of
social life that is subject to fashion, especially
among adolescents. It can be used by those
inside a group who share ideas and attitudes
as a way of distinguishing themselves from
others.

African American English (AAE)
A distinct set of social markers

Discrimination
Segregation
Vernacular

African American Vernacular English (AAVE)
It is the form of AAE that has been most studied




The sounds of a vernacular
Tendency to reduce final consonant clusters
Left hand (lef han)

Initial dental consonant
Think, that (tink , dat)

Possessive s and thid person singular s are not used
Johns Girlfriend, she loves him. (John girlfriend, she love him)




The grammar of a vernacular
The double negative construction
He dont know nothin
I aint afraid of no ghost

Frequent absence of forms of the verb to be
You crazy
She working now
+ be





She be working now