Age and Language Variation

This page explores the relationship between age and social interaction in language variation, highlighting key theories and studies in sociolinguistics.

Eckert's Three Forms of Age:

1. Chronological: How long someone has been alive
2. Social: How someone interacts socially (e.g., marriage, birth of first child)
3. Biological: Physical maturity

Reading Study Findings:

• Examined children's use of non-standard forms, including multiple negation and "ain't"
• Boys were more likely to approve of criminal activity
• Children approving of criminal activity were more likely to use non-standard forms
• Link between covert prestige and use of non-standard forms

Vocabulary:

• Expletives: Swear words
• Multiple Negation: Using more than one negative in a sentence (e.g., "I ain't done nothing")
• Standard forms: Socially accepted way of saying things (using Standard English)
• Overt Prestige: Social value gained from using standard forms
• Covert Prestige: Social value gained from using non-standard forms

Language and age theorists provide valuable insights:

Parrott: Teenage identity is characterized by rebellion, forbidden behavior, exclusion, and idolization.

Eckert: Teenspeak distances teenagers from adults.

Tagliamonte: Teenagers use more intensifiers online, with no evidence of grammar decline.

Definition:

• Convergence: Language becomes more similar
• Divergence: Language becomes more different
• Code: A form of language
• Genderlect: The language of a gender
• Sociolect: The language of a social group
• Ethnolect: The language of an ethnic group
• Teenspeak: The language of teenagers

Bernstein's Code Theory:

• Two types of codes: Restricted and Elaborated
• Restricted code: Uses conjunctions, context-dependent language, and non-standard syntax
• Elaborated code: Uses more standard English
• Research findings:
  • All children understand both codes when spoken to
  • Working-class children speak using restricted code
  • Middle and upper-class children speak using elaborated code but can use restricted code
  • This disadvantages working-class children in formal situations

Highlight: The language group examples presented here demonstrate how social groups language diversity impacts communication and identity formation across different age groups and social classes.

Sexuality and Language:

• Leap coined "lavender linguistics" to study language and sexuality
• Lakoff: Gay men adopt deficit features to mirror women's language
• Baker: Gay speech uses puns, acronyms, and specific lexical items
• Kulik: Language alone cannot determine sexuality
• Butler: Language use and behavior can perform an identity

Stenstrom's Teenspeak Features:

• Slang
• Expletives
• Contractions
• Name-calling
• Insult battles

Zimmerman's Teenspeak Influences:

• Media
• Music
• Internet

Labov's Studies:

1. New York Stores Study:

   • Examined presence of post-vocalic rhotic /r/ in different class stores
   • Found class-based differences in pronunciation

2. Martha's Vineyard Study:

   • Younger members converged to older members' vowel pronunciation when tourists arrived

Multicultural London English (MLE):

• Variety of English popular among young Black teenagers in London
• Features:
  • Lexical: "peng" (pretty/good), "creps" (shoes)
  • Grammatical: Unique sentence structures
  • Phonological: th-stopping

Example: In MLE, "Why you eating that for?" demonstrates a unique grammatical structure.

Theories on MLE:

• Kerswill: MLE will replace Cockney
• Rampton: MLE spreads through friendship groups
• Drummond: Identified Multicultural Urban British English (MUBE) in Manchester
• Khan: Ethnicity is a central factor influencing language
• Rampton & Harris: Four ways to categorize ethnolects: Deficit, Difference, Dominance, and Crossing

Quote: "Does the language you speak affect your identity?" This question is central to understanding the complex relationship between language and social groups.