Evaluate the idea that a person's language is completely determined by the social groups they belong in
Evaluate the idea that a person's language is completely determined by the social groups they belong in A person's language can be determined by the particular social groups they belong to. This can include gender, ethnicity, age and social class. William Labov studied the population of Martha's Vineyard and found that the fisherman in the 'up-island' were a desirable kind of social group as they had old-fashioned values. This then affected their language as they spoke non-standard language and had different pronunciations of diphthongs. This was a change from standard pronunciation as the fisherman were from rural areas and had inhabitants that grew up at the time this language was at its peak. It's also worth noting that young men would use this type of pronunciation to identify themselves as native speakers and reject the way of speaking from the mainland. This then shows that language is determined by our social groups as young men actively decided to us...
Comments
Post a Comment