Thursday, 30 March 2017

Sociolect Theorists

William Labov - 1966 New York Study

  • Speech of sales assistants in three Manhattan stores- Saks(1), Macy's(2) and Klein's(3) in order of price and fashion scale.
  • Each unaware assistant approached with an enquiry designed to elicit the answer 'Fourth floor' then asked to repeat
  • In order to study the variable (r)
  • Sales assistants from Sak's used it most and Kleins least
  • Macys showed the greatest upward shift when they were asked to repeat
  • Upper middle class changed the way they spoke less than any other social class when asked to repeat
William Labov- Martha's Vineyard study
  • Island on the east coast of the USA with permanent population of about 6000
  • Summer people(tourists)- over 40000 every summer


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