Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-m8qmq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T11:25:57.424Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sex, covert prestige and linguistic change in the urban British English of Norwich

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

Peter Trudgill
Peter Trudgill
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistic Science, University of Reading
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Women use linguistic forms associated with the prestige standard more frequently than men. One reason for this is that working-class speech has favourable connotations for male speakers. Favourable attitudes to non-standard speech are not normally expressed, however, and emerge only in inaccurate self-evaluation test responses. Patterns of sex differentiation deviating from the norm indicate that a linguistic change is taking place: standard forms are introduced by middle-class women, non-standard forms by working-class men. (Sociolinguistic variation; linguistic change; women's and men's speech; contextual styles; social class; British English.)

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , October 1972 , pp. 179 - 195
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1972

References

REFERENCES

Crystal, D. (1971). Prosodic and paralinguistic correlates of social categories. In Ardener, E. (ed.), Social anthropology and language. London: Tavistock.Google Scholar
Fasold, R. W. (1968). A sociolinguistic study of the pronunciation of three vowels in Detroit speech. Unpublished mimeo: Center for Applied Linguistics.Google Scholar
Fischer, J. L. (1958). Social influences on the choice of a linguistic variant. Word 14, 47–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldthorpe, J. & Lockwood, D. (1963). Affluence and the British class structure. Sociological Review 11. 133–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haas, M. (1944). Men's and women's speech in Koasati. Lg. 20. 142–9.Google Scholar
Hertzler, J. (1954). A sociology of language. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Jespersen, O. (1922). Language: its nature, development and origin. London: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Kurath, H. & McDavid, R. I. (1961). The pronunciation of English in the Atlantic states. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Labov, W. (1966). The social stratification of English in New York City. Washington, D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics.Google Scholar
Labov, W. (1966b). Hypercorrection by the lower middle class as a factor in linguistic change. In Bright, W. (ed.), Sociolinguistics. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Levine, L. & Crockett, H. J. (1966). Speech variation in a Piedmont community: post-vocalic r. In Lieberson, S. (ed.), Explorations in sociolinguistics. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Martin, F. M. (1954). Some subjective aspects of social stratification. In Glass, D. V. (ed.), Social mobility in Britain. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Mayer, K. B. (1955). Class and society. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
O'Neil, W. (1968). Paul Roberts' rules of order: the misuse of linguistics in the classroom. The Urban Review 2, 12–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newmeyer, F. J. & Edmonds, J. (1971). The linguist in American society. Papers from the the 7th regional meeting of the Chicago linguistic society. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.Google Scholar
Orton, H. & Tilling, P. M. (1969). Survey of English dialects: volume III East Midlands and East Anglia. Leeds: Arnold.Google Scholar
Sapir, E. (1929). Male and female forms of speech in Yana. Reprinted in Mandelbaum, D. (ed.) (1949), Selected writings of Edward Sapir in language, culture and personality. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Shuy, R. W. (1969). Sociolinguistic research at the Center for Applied Linguistics: the correlation of language and sex. Giornata internazionali di sociolinguistica. Rome: Palazzo Baldassini.Google Scholar
Shuy, R. W., Wolfram, W. A. & Riley, W. K. (1967). Linguistic correlates of social stratification in Detroit speech. Cooperative Research Project 6-1347. East Lancing: U.S. Office of Education.Google Scholar
Trudgill, P. J. (1971). The social differentiation of English in Norwich. Edinburgh University: Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis.Google Scholar
Wolfram, W. A. (1969). A sociolinguistic description of Detroit negro speech. Washington, D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics.Google Scholar