Mode
This refers to the means of communication e.g. written and spoken. Language varies greatly according to its MODE. For example, written English, such as magazines and newspapers tend to be more formal than spoken English, such as speech and debates.
There are different styles of English that relate to the different formality of a situation.
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Standard English (SE) – grammatically ‘correct’ English. Relates to formality of a situation by having grammatical rules. These rules are taught to children at school. Written SE is different to spoken SE. Standard English is considered most appropriate in education.
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Received Pronunciation (RP) – Also known as, BBC English, Queen’s English. RP has a regionless accent. It can tell what social class someone is in. Normally people with a higher status speak RP.
- Slang - Informal vocabulary. Also known as Colloquial. Slang is short lived, it is transient. Slang is spoken rather than written. Slang is usually associated with social groups, ‘social identities’ and sometimes can be widely known.
- Informal English – Language spoken in a relaxed setting. It is about grammar rather than words. Contains contractions and abbreviations. Informal English is more direct than Formal English. It is used in active rather than passive sentences.
- Taboo- Words associated with ‘socially sensitive subjects’. Taboo words are sometimes regulated by law. Reasons for using taboo include expressing of emotions, emotional outlet, humour, and cultural upbringing.
- Jargon - English used by professional groups, technical language, words that only certain people will understand. Jargon is often used to be negative. It can sometimes be inappropriate, can intimidate people and elitist – remains superior to others that will understand.
William Labov’s New York research (1966) proved that people had ‘high prestige’ when the letter ‘R’ could be heard when pronounced in a word, e.g. car and beer. In the careful pronunciation, Labov found that the lower the prestige, the greater the increase in use of ‘R’ when speaking more carefully.
Formality is defined in Labov's experiment, in terms of the amount of attention that the speaker directs towards her/his own speech.
This approach is based on the theory that the speaker can, and does, shift between a low-prestige dialect which s/he uses in relaxed moments, and a alternative higher and more obvious prestige, which the school system has taught her/him is 'better', or better suited, for less informal situations.
With this approach, Labov defined the kind of speech his informants produced in an interview situation, as representing formal style. In order to get access to more informal speech, Labov, for example, ask the person, 'could you tell me about an occasion when you thought you were going to be killed?’ Naturally, that person would get involved in her/his story, forget about the interview situation and change dialect in her/his speech.
Milroy’s Social Networks theory discovered that working class communities had an ‘opposing set of norms’. She found that people valued Standard English and was used in formal contexts and socially, dominant groups valued the use of Standard English more. Milroy found that speakers were proud of the local speech patterns.
Milroy studied 2 groups of working class women in Belfast from different areas, Ballymacarrett – a traditional working class, respectable community. Most women were housewives, and Clonard – where a high percentage of men were unemployed.
Her results showed that in Ballymacarrett, more men used non-Standard English, but in Clonard, younger woman spoke the most non-Standard English. They ‘actively promoted’ it.
Using similar methods to Labov, Peter Trudgil carried out research into the ways the formality of a style affected pronunciation in Norwich in 1983.
-in’ forms used in four contextual styles in Norwich.
Trudgill’s study of Norwich, showed clear social stratification (by ‘class’) of variables including dropping of final –s in third-person verbs, -in instead of –ing, glottal stops, h-dropping, and vowel qualities.
The work carried out by Peter Trudgill on language change in Norwich,can be compared with the studies made by Labov in New York. Both studies are focused on social class and speech styles. However, whereas Labov found movements toward the prestige variants of the upper social class, Trudgill found movement toward variants of the lower classes. This fits in with what we know about the development of Estuary English. Trudgil’s use of self-report data is used as a way of identifying prestige variants, and the major role played by covert prestige.
