...“W. Labov: Case Study Martha’s Vineyard and New York” Sprachwissenschaft Englisch Hausarbeit “Sociolinguistics“ Maria Juchem 2003 List of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Labov’s motivation for studying Sociolinguistics 3. Labov’s observations in Martha’s Vineyard 3.1 Geographical and historical basics of Labov’s studies 3.2 Repetition of the studies in 1961 by Labov 3.3 Labov’s explanation of the observations 4. Labov’s studies in New York 4.1 The Social Stratification of (r) in New York Department Stores 4.1.1 Preliminary Überlegungen 4.1.2 The experiment 4.1.3 The results of the department store study 4.2 Study of Lower East Side 4.2.1 The MFY Survey 4.2.2 The ALS (American Language Survey) 5. The meaning of Labov’s studies for modern sociolinguistics 6. Conclusion 1. Topic and Introduction The topic of this term paper are “Labov’s studies in New York and Martha’s Vineyard”. Labov’s observations in Martha’s Vineyard served Labov as a model for his Master’s essay and his observations in New York as a model for his dissertation. The second chapter will give a survey of William Labov’s motivation for studying sociolinguistics. Chapter 3 is about his observations in Martha’s Vineyard. After that I’ll give a detailed description of his studies in New York (chapter 4) divided up into the two parts: First, the social stratification of (r) in New York City Department Stores (4.1) and second The Lower East Side (4.2). These studies are Labov’s most famous works and...
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...1. The object of Lexicology. The main lexicological problems. Lexicology is a branch of linguistics, the science of language. The term Lexicology is composed of two Greek morphemes: lexis meaning ‘word, phrase’ (hence lexicos ‘having to do with words’) and logos which denotes ‘learning, a department of knowledge’. Thus, the literal meaning of the term Lexiсolоgу is ‘the science of the word’. The literal meaning, however, gives only a general notion of the aims and the subject-matter of this branch of linguistic science. Lexicology as a branch of linguistics has its own aims and methods of scientific research, its basic task being a study and systematic description of vocabulary in respect to its origin, development and current use. Lexicology is concerned with words, variable word-groups, phraseological units, and with morphemes which make up words. Distinction is naturally made between General Lexicology and Special Lexicology. General Lexicology is part of General Linguistics; it is concerned with the study of vocabulary irrespective of the specific features of any particular language. Special Lexicology is the Lexicology of a particular language (e.g. English, Russian, etc.), i.e. the study and description of its vocabulary and vocabulary units, primarily words as the main units of language. Needless to say that every Special Lexicology is based on the principles worked out and laid down by General Lexicology, a general theory of vocabulary. There is also a close relationship...
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...linguistics lɪŋgwɪstɪks/ noun 1. 1. the scientific study of language and its structure, including the study of grammar, syntax, and phonetics. Specific branches of linguistics include sociolinguistics, dialectology, psycholinguistics, computational linguistics, comparative linguistics, and structural linguistics. Discourse[edit] A discourse is a way of speaking that emerges within a certain social setting and is based on a certain subject matter. A particular discourse becomes a language variety when it is used in this way for a particular purpose, and is referred to as a register.[25] There may be certain lexical additions (new words) that are brought into play because of the expertise of the community of people within a certain domain of specialisation. Registers and discourses therefore differentiate themselves through the use of vocabulary, and at times through the use of style too. People in the medical fraternity, for example, may use some medical terminology in their communication that is specialised to the field of medicine. This is often referred to as being part of the "medical discourse", and so on. Dialect[edit] A dialect is a variety of language that is characteristic of a particular group among the language speakers.[26] The group of people who are the speakers of a dialect are usually bound to each other by social identity. This is what differentiates a dialect from a register or adiscourse, where in the latter case, cultural identity does not always...
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...identity in language and sexuality research M A R Y B U C H O L T Z Department of Linguistics 3607 South Hall University of California, Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA 93106-3100 bucholtz@linguistics.ucsb.edu K I R A H A L L Department of Linguistics Campus Box 295 University of Colorado at Boulder Boulder, CO 80309-0295 kira.hall@colorado.edu A B S T R A C T The field of language and sexuality has gained importance within socioculturally oriented linguistic scholarship. Much current work in this area emphasizes identity as one key aspect of sexuality. However, recent critiques of identity-based research advocate instead a desire-centered view of sexuality. Such an approach artificially restricts the scope of the field by overlooking the close relationship between identity and desire. This connection emerges clearly in queer linguistics, an approach to language and sexuality that incorporates insights from feminist, queer, and sociolinguistic theories to analyze sexuality as a broad sociocultural phenomenon. These intellectual approaches have shown that research on identity, sexual or otherwise, is most productive when the concept is understood as the outcome of intersubjectively negotiated practices and ideologies. To this end, an analytic framework for the semiotic study of social intersubjectivity is presented. (Sexuality, feminism, identity, desire, queer linguistics.)* I N T R O D U C T I O N Within the past decade the field of language and sexuality...
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...Switching languages can mean a variety of things. As the articles I annotate below indicate, language switching can occur without notice, between dialects of a language, between different languages, and so on. Due to its broadness, it is important to focus on a topic of interest when researching code switching. I decided to focus on the advantages and benefits that Code Switching provides. The articles I reviewed give reasons why code switching happens, and some articles present many explanations. However, the main reasons as put forth by Arnfast and Jorgensen (2003), imitate the three main reasons that code switchers give for using their skill. These reasons are: to fill in linguistic gaps for words, acquisition or maintenance of social power, and social acceptance. After much research and by reading several studies of these approaches, I came to the conclusion that code switching is used rarely for one purpose. It is also doubtful that the users are completely aware of all the reasons that they switch code. Through my research, I interviewed four of my fellow teacher co-workers, as well as two of the professors at Northeastern Illinois University. During my interview, I asked them a series of questions regarding their experiences with students who are able to code switch. These questions were: What do you know what Code Switching means? Given the brief explanation,...
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...and broadcast genres, that is anything from newspaper to chat show and, latterly, much more besides, as new media emerge in line with technological leaps. The study of ‘the media’ comes under the remit of media studies from perspectives such as their production and consumption, as well as their aesthetic form. The academic area of media studies cuts across a number of disciplines including communication, sociology, political science, cultural studies, philosophy and rhetoric, to name but a handful. Meanwhile, the object of study, ‘the media’, is an ever-changing and ever-growing entity. The study of ‘the media’ also comes under the radar of applied linguistics because at the core of these media is language, communication and the making of meaning, which is obviously of great interest to linguists. As Fairclough (1995a: 2) points out, the substantively linguistic and discoursal nature of the power of the media is a strong argument for analysing the mass media linguistically. Central to the connection between media studies and studies of the language used in the media (media discourse studies) is the importance placed on ideology. A major force behind the study of ideology in the media is Stuart Hall (see, for example, Hall 1973, 1977, 1980, 1982). Hall (1982), in his influential paper, notes that the study of media (or ‘mass communication’) has had a chequered past. He charts its early years from the 1940s to the 1960s as being dominated by what he terms sociological...
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...What is linguistics? Language is central to our human nature, and linguistics is the systematic study of human language. Although on the face of it there is huge variation among the world's languages, linguists not only describe the diverse characteristics of individual languages but also seek to discover the deeper properties which all languages share. These common properties may give us an insight into the structure of the human mind. Part of the appeal of linguistics is that it draws on methods and knowledge from an unusually wide range of scholarship and transcends the usual subject boundaries. For instance, the study of meaning draws on work by philosophers, whereas the part of our course concentrating on the sounds of speech takes place in our Phonetics Laboratory. Here computers are used to display and analyse the speech signal using methods from physics and engineering. This variety is what makes linguistics fascinating: at one moment you might be poring over a medieval text for evidence of how the grammar of a language has changed, and the next, learning about how the larynx creates sound energy for speech. The flexibility of language as a tool for communication depends on combining smaller elements into larger structures. Language does this at several 'levels', and the description of languages involves different levels of analysis. Syntax describes the combination of words to form sentences; morphology describes the building of words from components such as roots...
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...PORTFOLIO 1. What is research and what is a research carried out for? Find a research report in an applied linguistics journal (such as TESOL Quarterly, Language Learning) and point out the objectives and how these objectives are achieved. a. What is research? Research has been defined in a number of different ways. A broad definition of research is given by Martyn Shuttleworth - "In the broadest sense of the word, the definition of research includes any gathering of data, information and facts for the advancement of knowledge." Another definition of research is given by Creswell who states that - "Research is a process of steps used to collect and analyze information to increase our understanding of a topic or issue". It consists of three steps: Pose a question, collect data to answer the question, and present an answer to the question. The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines research in more detail as "a studious inquiry or examination; especially : investigation or experimentation aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts, revision of accepted theories or laws in the light of new facts, or practical application of such new or revised theories or laws" Scientific research is a systematic way of gathering data, a harnessing of curiosity. This research provides scientific information and theories for the explanation of the natureand the properties of the world. It makes practical applications possible. Scientific research is funded...
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...Phonostylistics as a branch of phonetics; its linkage with other linguistic disciplines. Extralinguistic factors causing phonetic modifications of speech. Definition and overall info. Pronunciation styles The term phonostylistics stands for the phonological processes conditioned by style, i.e. style-sensitive or style-dependent ones. A scale of styles may be set up in a variety of ways, still it is generally encompassed within the extremes of emphatic vs. informal, with formal in between. Emphatic style is well-exemplified by motherese and citation forms, informal styles include casual, colloquial, intimate, while a speech, a lecture, or a job interview are examples of a formal style. For the purposes of clarity, I will refer to a simplified binary distinction between formal vs. informal only. As far as the informal style is concerned, there exists the whole array of terms in the literature used to refer to approximately the same type of speech: fast, rapid, allegro, casual, connected, informal, real, spontaneous, or conversational. With respect to the primary style-differentiating criteria, the term casual seems to be the most adequate or, indeed, the least narrow or vague. The criteria are: tempo of speech and attention paid to speech. The criteria take on different values depending on the situation in which a speech act takes place (topic, aim, relation to the interlocutor, place of a conversation) and on the individual features of the speaker. Most commonly, exactly...
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...find any clean socks. (Jean Kerr) Do men and women speak differently? Can Language be sexist? Is there vocabulary that is more typical for women than for men? My term paper shall try to answer those questions, look at typical forms of language use in relation to gender and I will aim to find possible reasons that explain a gender-based difference. But first it is important to explain why in sociolinguistics the term gender is used rather than sex. While sex refers to biological characteristics, gender is “a social category that is connected to the roles of women and men in society” (Becker & Bieswanger 2010: 185). My term paper will start with some general definitions about gender and language like gender-exclusive speech difference, gender-preferential speech features and gender and class. I will focus especially on women´s linguistic behaviour and answer questions like “Do women talk more than men?”. I will try to find explanations for a different linguistic behaviour. After focusing on explanations for a possible different use of language I will finally give features of women´s language that will make differences obvious. At the end of my paper I will also try to explain what is meant by a “sexism in language” and whether or not English is a sexist language and what could be done to reduce it. I often find myself in a situation were I realize that I sometimes use quite a sexist language and have trouble to avoid it, for example when I am writing a school paper. Because...
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...ethnography Field work in a particular culture. ethnology Cross-cultural comparison; the comparative study of ethnographic data, of society, and of culture. Ethnography is a field of anthropological research based on direct observation of and reporting on a people’s way of life. Cultural groups, such as communities, tribes, or dialect groups. However, classes or institutions within complex urban societies are also subjects of study. Ethnography consists of two phases: the process of observing and recording data, usually called fieldwork, followed by the preparation of a written description and analysis of the subject under study. Originally, ethnographic studies often included random anecdotes and facts about so-called primitive peoples whose way of life was thought to be disappearing. As the field of anthropology became more professional, however, ethnography became more systematic, and ethnographers attempted to interrelate the various aspects of a way of life. In recent years ethnography has become more specialized. Sometimes it involves studying small segments of large societies or focuses on specific, practical, or theoretical problems in anthropology. In conducting an ethnographic study, an anthropologist usually visits or lives for an extended period of time in a society that is not his or her own. The ethnographer’s research can then be used to test social scientific propositions, to add to the body of literature on human societies in general, and to inform others...
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...America Social network and social class: Toward an integrated sociolinguistic model1 LESLEY MILROY AND JAMES MILROY Departments of Speech (L.M.) and English Language (J.M.) University of Newcastle upon Tyne Queen Victoria Road at St. Thomas' Street Newcastle upon TyneNEi 7RU, United Kingdom ABSTRACT In sociolinguistics, approaches that use the variables of socioeconomic class and social network have often been thought to be irreconcilable. In this article, we explore the connection between these variables and suggest the outlines of a model that can integrate them in a coherent way. This depends on linking a consensus-based microlevel of network with a conflict-based macrolevel of social class. We suggest interpretations of certain sociolinguistic findings, citing detailed evidence from research in Northern Ireland and Philadelphia, which emphasize the need for acknowledging the importance of looseknit network ties in facilitating linguistic innovations. We then propose that the link between network and class can be made via the notion of weak network ties using the process-based model of the macrolevel suggested by Thomas Hejrup's theory of life-modes. (Sociolinguistics, sociology, quantitative social dialectology, anthropological linguistics) One of the most important contributions of Labov's quantitative paradigm has been to allow us to examine systematically and accountably the relationship between language variation and speaker variables such as sex, ethnicity, social network...
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...MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, SCIENCE, YOUTH AND SPORT OF UKRAINE IVAN FRANKO NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF LVIV THE FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES LINGUISTIC MEANS OF POTRAYING MAIN CHARACTERS IN “THE CANTERBURY TALES” BY GEOFFREY CHAUCER COURSE PAPER PRESENTED BY LILIA YAREMA a fourth year student of the English department SUPERVISED BY SPODARYK O. V. an assistant professor of the English department LVIV 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………… 3-4 CHAPTER I. THEORETICAL ISSUES IN LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS…… 5-16 1.1 Linguistic analysis……………………………………………… 5-8 1.2 Discourse and Text analyses….…………….………………….. 9-11 1.3 Stylistic analysis ………………………………………………… 12-16 CHAPTER II. LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF CHAUCER’S CHARACTERS 17-28 2.1 “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” ……………………………………… 18-22 2.2 “The Pardoner’s Tale” ………………………………………….. 23-28 CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………. 29-30 REFERENCES...… ………………………………………………………….. 31-32 INTRODUCTION The theme of the course paper is “Linguistic means of portraying main characters in “The Canterbury tales” by Geoffrey Chaucer”. This paper intends to make an analysis of the language in the collection of stories “The Canterbury Tales”, written by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of 14th century. We will analyze the language used to describe characters. It was based on the idea that every choice made by the author of a sentence is meaningful. Therefore, once we understand the choices...
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...Cultural Anthropology is the study of human cultures, their beliefs, practices, values, ideas, technologies, economies and other domains of social and cognitive organization. This field is based primarily on cultural understanding gained through first hand experience, or participant observation within living populations of humans. What is Anthropology? Anthropology is the scientific study of human beings as social organisms interacting with each other in their environment. Anthropology can be defined as the study of human nature, human society, and the human past. It is a scholarly discipline that aims to describe in the broadest possible sense what it means to be human. Anthropologists are interested in comparison. To make substantial and accurate comparisons between cultures, a generalization of humans requires evidence from the wide range of human societies. Anthropologists are in direct contact with the sources of their data, thus field work is a crucial component. The field of Anthropology, although fairly new as an academic field, has been used for centuries. Anthropologists are convinced that explanations of human actions will be superficial unless they acknowledge that human lives are always entangled in complex patterns of work and family, power and meaning. While it is a holistic field, anthropology is typically considered to consist of five sub-disciplines, each focusing on a particular aspect of human existence: * Archeology: The study and interpretation of ancient...
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...example from applied linguistic studies. 1. Ethnographic research and Linguistic ethnographic. - Ethnography is the in-depth study of naturally occurring behavior within a culture or social group. It seeks to understand the relationship between culture and behavior; with culture referring to the beliefs, values and attitudes of a specific group of people. - Ethnographic research usually involves observing target users in their natural, real-world setting, rather than in the artificial environment of a lab or focus group. The aim is to describe, analyze, and interpret the culture of a group over time to understand the group’s shared beliefs, behaviors, and language. Wilson (1982) identifies the roots of ethnography in anthropology and sociology. Wilson related the tradition ecological hypothesis and the quantitative – phenomenological hypothesis. - As a term designating a particular configuration of interests within the broader field of socio- and applied linguistics, ‘linguistic ethnography’ (LE) is a theoretical and methodological development orientating towards particular, established traditions but defining itself in the new intellectual climate of late modernity and post-structuralism. According to Rampton (2004, p. 2) Linguistic ethnography generally holds that language and social life are mutually shaping, and that close analysis of situated language use can provide both fundamental and distinctive insights into the mechanisms and dynamics of social and cultural production...
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