Language Variation: Focus on Use, Summaries of English Language

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LANGUAGE VARIATION:

FOCUS ON USE

Language varies

according to its uses as

well as its users,

according to where it is

used

and to whom, as well as

according to who is

using it (Holmes, 2001).

STYLE

language variation which reflects

changes in situational factors, such as

addressee, setting, task or topic

often analyzed along scale of formality

ADDRESSEE AS AN INFLUENCE ON

STYLE

SOCIAL DISTANCE/SOLIDARITY

 The better you know someone, the more casual

and relaxed the speech style you will use to them.

 People use considerably more standard forms to

those they don’t know well, and more vernacular

forms to their friends.

ADDRESSEE AS AN INFLUENCE ON

STYLE

AGE OF ADDRESSEE

Some features in speaking to children:

 Using short and grammatically simple structures

 Using simple range of vocabulary

 Using We rather than You to refer to addressee

 Using the sing-song intonation which characterizes

baby-talk

ADDRESSEE AS AN INFLUENCE ON

STYLE

FOREIGNER TALK

The speech used by native

speakers to foreigners who do not

speak English well.

ADDRESSEE AS AN INFLUENCE ON

STYLE

AUDIENCE DESIGN

• the influence of the addressee on a speaker’s style

Example:

A US study demonstrated that features of AAVE occurred

more frequently in an interviewee’s speech when she was

interviewed by an African American as opposed to a white

female fieldworker.

ACCOMMODATION THEORY

People modify their speech, vocal

patterns, and gestures to either

converge or diverge from their

conversational partner's

communication style.

ACCOMMODATION THEORY

UPWARD vs DOWNWARD CONVERGENCE

ACCOMMODATION THEORY

REFEREE DESIGN

 Speakers deliberately diverge both

from their own usual speech style and

that of their addressee(s) towards the

style of a “third party” for special

effect.

ACCOMMODATION PROBLEMS

• (^) Overdoing convergence might offend listeners.
• (^) Listeners might react differently to different types of convergence.
• Reasons behind convergence or divergence are very important.
• Deliberate divergence are regarded as uncooperative or antagonistic.
• (^) “Context” of the speech is one of the best way to avoid

accommodation problems.

• (^) Speech accommodation or style shifting which often occurs

unconsciously in casual contexts may not be appropriate in more

formal context.

FORMAL CONTEXTS AND SOCIAL

ROLES

People’s roles in formal

contexts strongly

influence the appropriate

speech forms.

FORMAL CONTEXTS AND SOCIAL

ROLES

HYPERCORRECTION/SUPER-STANDARD

 misguided application of a real or

imagined rule – typically in response to

prescriptive pressure – in which the

speaker's attempt to be ‘correct’ leads

to an ‘incorrect’ result

 Examples:

I vs me , who vs whom , as vs like

FORMAL CONTEXTS AND SOCIAL

ROLES

REGISTER

 the language of groups of people with

common interests or jobs, or the

language used in situations associated

with such groups