Re: Labov's latest discovery in sociolinguistics

On Mar 21, 2:28 am, "Paul J Kriha" <paul.nospam.kr...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
"Marc" <marc.ad...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:8e591e80-571e-4cbf-96dd-fbb357b89146@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On Mar 20, 6:19 pm, "Peter T. Daniels" <gramma...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

so. This is the first linguistic trait they've discovered to kick in
at so late an age, and they don't have an explanation; but they
haven't yet investigated non-college people of that age (it's harder
to recruit them!).

Might this have to do with the "scientific" notion that the human
brain doesn't fully develop until ... <drumroll> 25 years of age?

My bet is that the younger Americans (and not just Americans
of course) are more likely to parrot PC attitudes of their
teachers. They are more likely to think about and say what
they think they are expected to say.

Sociolinguistic markers work completely below the level of conscious
awareness; of course the subjects weren't told they were being
investigated for their evaluation of "quality" of speaking!

Young people in the older age bracket are likely to be more
openly discerning, more self-assured and care less about
pleasing the organising interviewer.

There was no interviewer, just the playing of the tapes with the
request to rank each reader on the "Professional > Lousy" 7-point
scale.

As I say, I am betting on that, it's just my hunch.

In my childhood, by the age of six or seven I was absolutely
required to reliably and quickly identify social status of any
stranger participating in the conversation. I wouldn't be
surprised if the similar Labov tests performed in different
societies did not produce significantly different results.

Explicitly "required"? Your mom & dad taught you to "identify social
status"? Do children need to be explicitly taught to use tu/vous
appropriately? (etc. etc. etc.)
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Labovs latest discovery in sociolinguistics
    ... in at so late an age, and they don't have an explanation; but they haven't yet investigated non-college people of that age. ... If the test audience is told to pick the candidate with the most careful and prestigeous speech, I'd look for differences in the norms of carefulness and prestige. ... Which, it seems, is what Labov suggests by saying that they haven't yet investigated non-college people. ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Labovs latest discovery in sociolinguistics
    ... haven't yet investigated non-college people of that age (it's harder ... to recruit them!). ... brain doesn't fully develop until ... ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Labovs latest discovery in sociolinguistics
    ... haven't yet investigated non-college people of that age (it's harder ... to recruit them!). ... My bet is that the younger Americans (and not just Americans ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Labovs latest discovery in sociolinguistics
    ... haven't yet investigated non-college people of that age (it's harder ... to recruit them!). ... brain doesn't fully develop until ... ...
    (sci.lang)
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