Aye, I watch it but: Individuals, television and language change Jane Stuart-Smith and Claire...
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Transcript of Aye, I watch it but: Individuals, television and language change Jane Stuart-Smith and Claire...
“Aye, I watch it but”: Individuals, television and language change
Jane Stuart-Smith and Claire Timmins
University of Glasgow; Queen Margaret University Edinburgh
UKLVC 6, Lancaster University,11-13 September 2007
“Aye, I watch it but”: Individuals, television and language change
Paper overviewThis paper represents a shift in position. After summarizing the key correlational results, we consider the possible interpretations for TV in terms of causality based on the regression models. The fact that the TV factors may be entered alongside those from social practices (and others) demonstrates a degree of independence. It is not possible to assume that the TV links are indirectly related via social practices (though there may be factors involved, such as covert attitudes, Kristiansen pc). Whilst it is awkward, we must seriously entertain the possibility that TV is a direct causal factor in these changes. However, this does not mean that we must assume blanket transmission of features to passive viewers. Analysis of individual speakers, as opposed to just group measures, emphasises: (1) the different possible profiles, and so the individuality of each speaker (2) the role of personality (here dealt with in terms of ‘innovativeness’) in modelling these changes.We conclude by presenting the bones of our model of linguistic appropriation from the media, which requires several key components, and in particular reference to speech perception, appopriation, stylistic variation, and time.
JSS/CT 22/12/07
Two Glaswegian adolescent boys talking about EastEnders …
R have you been watchin’ EastEnders?L Phhhh, uuh.R Do you watch it?L Aye ah watch it but.R Brilliant manL No’ saw it (inaudible)R They two nearly got caught aff ay,L AyeR Sam was it?L Sam, an,R (laughs)L She hid behind the couch.R Aye. (laughs)L That’s the last one ah saw ah think.R Ah know she wants tae break it up now an’ he doesnae.L (laughs)R Pure shockin’ innit?L Aye, ‘cause he’sR Mad Barry’s left in his cell man, pure makes, things for him an’ aw that. So he does, ‘s
quite shockin’
Context
• Debate concerning influence of broadcast media, especially TV, on speech– e.g. Trudgill (1986); Chambers (1998); Stuart-Smith
(2006)
• Specifically with reference to consonant changes in UK accents– e.g. TH-fronting, DH-fronting, L-vocalization
(e.g. Foulkes and Docherty 1999)
The Glasgow media project
Is TV a contributory factor in accent change in adolescents? (2002-5)
ESRC R000239757
• Gwilym Pryce (statistics)• Barrie Gunter (media studies)
Methodology
• sample– 36 adolescents; 12 adults (working-class)
• data– speech: wordlist and spontaneous– questionnaire; informal interviews
• design– experiment; correlational study
• analysis– auditory transcription– all tokens of wordlist– first 30 tokens of spontaneous speech
Linguistic variables
• TH-fronting: [f] for [] in e.g. think, both• DH-fronting: [v] for [] in e.g. brother• L-vocalization: /l/ vocalized to high back (un)rounded
vowel e.g. people, milk, well
• all unexpected in Glasgow English• reported informally since 1950s; formally since 1980s;
Macafee 1983• confirmed as changes in 1997, and argued to be part of
sociolinguistic construction of identity distinguishing WC adolescents from MC speakers in the city
Stuart-Smith et al 2007
Change in progress: TH-fronting%
new
va
riant
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
fraction variant
1997 conversation
1997 wordlist
conversations
wordlists
progress of change
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
fraction variant
1997 conversation
1997 wordlist
conversations
wordlists
% n
ew v
aria
nt
progress of change
Change in progress: L-vocalization
Change in progress: DH-fronting
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
fraction variant
1997 wordlist
wordlist
conversation
% n
ew v
aria
nt
progress of change
Why? – the group
Correlational study (logistic regression)– (th):[f], (dh):[v], l:[V]
with– dialect contact (beyond and within Glasgow)– attitudes to accents – social practices– TV– music – Computers/internet– Film/video/DVD– sport
Results of correlational study
for all linguistic variables• satisfactory model only achieved when a range
of social factors entered together• A number of social factors are significant
together including– dialect contact– social practices– engagement with TV (EastEnders)
TVengagement
Language
Socialpractices
Dialect contact
Attitudes
Dire
ct c
ausa
l lin
k
Interpreting the correlations
Factors notmeasured
Why? – the individual
• Individuals have always been important in discussions of language variation and change– e.g. L.Milroy (1987), J.Milroy (1992)– e.g. Labov (2001)– e.g. Eckert (2000)
Diffusion of innovations and individuals
adopter categories
Innovator
Early adopter
Early majority
Late majority
Laggard
Rogers (1995: 262)
Adopter categories and the media
‘Mass media channels are relatively more important than interpersonal channels for earlier adopters than for later adopters’ Rogers (1995: 197)
2F4
Our sample - basic social relationships
1F3
2M72M1
2M5 2M6
2F5
2F6
2F1
2F2
2F3
2M42M3
3M13M2
3M33M6
3F3
3F4
1M1
1M2 1M3
1M6
1F1
1F2
1F4
1F5
1F6
1M4 1M53M4
3F53F1
3F6
3M5
3F2
Best friends
Friends
Related
Going out with
2F4
Our sample – adopter categories
1F3
2M72M1
2M5 2M6
2F5
2F6
2F1
2F2
2F3
2M42M3
3M13M2
3M33M6
3F3
3F4
1M1
1M2 1M3
1M6
1F1
1F2
1F4
1F5
1F6
1M4 1M53M4
3F53F1
3F6
3M5
3F2
Innovator
Early Adopter
Early Majority
Late Majority
Laggard
• Does adopter category relate to change in progress?
• And/or to social factors such as dialect contact or engagement with TV?
– DH-fronting– TH-fronting
DH-fronting and adopter category
% [
v]
speaker
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1F5
1M5
2F6
2M7
1F1
2M5
1F3
2M6
1F4
1F2
2F3
2M3
3F4
3M1
3M6
1M3
2M4
3F2
3M2
2F2
3F3
1M2
3F6
3F5
3M5
1M6
2F1
3M4
1M1
2F4
3F1
3M3
2F5
2M1
1F6
1M4
DH-fronting - Innovator
1M4 - highest [v]• no dialect contact• Goth (skateboarder)• TV engagement:
‘mmm … Buffy.
Simpsons, EastEnders, sometimes Coronation Street’
‘Walford … he’s fae England.
Walford or … is it Walford?
Yeah, it’s Walford. I’m from Glasgow.’[Walford = fictional location of EastEnders]
DH-fronting: adopter category/peer network
3M2
3M33M6
3M4
3F53F1
3M5
3M1
3F6 3F2
most [v]
contact N/S England
engagement with TV
no [v]
high contact N/S England
engagement with TV
high [v]
neglible contact
high engagement with TV
TH-fronting: spontaneous speech
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1M5
2F6
1F5
2M7
1F1
1F4
2M6
1F3
2M5
2F2
2M4
3F2
3M1
2F1
3F4
3F6
3M6
2F3
3M2
2M3
3F3
1M2
1M3
3F1
1F2
3M5
3M3
2F4
1M1
3F5
1M6
2F5
3M4
1M4
2M1
1F6
% [
f]
speaker
[h]ink, [h]ing, [h]inking
TH-fronting: wordlists
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1F
5
1M
5
2F
6
2M
7
1F
1
1F
4
2M
6
2M
5
1F
3
3M
1
2M
3
2M
4
3F
4
2F
2
3F
2
2F
3
3M
6
3F
6
3F
3
1M
2
1M
3
2F
1
3M
2
1F
2
3F
1
3F
5
3M
5
1M
6
1M
1
2F
4
3M
3
2F
5
3M
4
1F
6
1M
4
2M
1
% [
f]
speaker
TH-fronting - Innovators
1F6 – most [f]• neglible dialect contact• very engaged with EastEnders
2M1 – second most [f]• Some contact with N England• engages with TV, e.g. Extreme Sport; cartoons
(not EastEnders)
TH-fronting – Early Adopters
2F4 – high [f]• Contact with S England
‘Em, I like the way the English people talk. … I like that. … Don’t know, just like the ways that my dad’s girlfriend talks, and I just sort of listen to her talking.’
• Some engagement with EastEnders
TH-fronting - Laggards
2F6 – low [f]‘I like to talk nice’
• no dialect contact• very engaged with EastEnders
‘Oh my God!’What?‘Mark tries to kill hisel’!’
• Talks to 2F5 (low [f]) – does this help reduce her own usage?
TH-fronting - Laggards
1F5 – high [f]• no dialect contact • high engagement with EastEnders, and other
soaps
‘So what did you watch last night?’
‘Aw, did you watch Easte… did you watch Coronation Street last night?’
Talks to 1F6 (highest [f]) - pulls usage up?
Summary
• Adopter category seems to pattern for DH-fronting
• Adopter category/peer networks may facilitate spread (but not necessarily)
• There seem to be different causal pathways, and combinations of pathways, for different speakers
TVengagement
Language
Socialpractices
Dialect contact
Causal pathways for change
Factors notmeasured
How?
These results highlight:– stylistic variation in these changes– the differing sociolinguistic profiles of
individual speaker/viewers
Modelling the mechanism for TV ‘influence’:– perception/production (episodic model)– appropriation, i.e. what each speaker/viewer
takes for him/herself whilst engaging with the media, given their own particular experience of the world (Holly et al 2001)
Linguistic appropriation from TV – a working model
• The bones– Perception (exemplars)
appropriating– Appropriation at media– Sociolinguistic system– Production exploiting– Style in context
– time
Select Bibliography
Carvalho, A.M. (2004), ‘I speak like the guys on TV: Palatalization and the urbanization of Uruguayan Portuguese’, Language, Variation and Change, 16, 127-51
Chambers, J. (1998), ‘TV makes people sound the same’, in L. Bauer and P. Trudgill (eds), Language Myths, New York: Penguin, 123-31
Eckert, P. (2000), Linguistic Variation as Social Practice, Oxford: BlackwellHolly, W., Püschel, U. and Bergmann, J. (eds), (2001), Die sprechende Zuschauer,
Wiesbaden: WVKerswill, P. (2003), 'Models of linguistic change and diffusion: new evidence from dialect
levelling in British English', in D. Britain and J. Cheshire (eds), Social Dialectology. In honour of Peter Trudgill, Amsterdam: Benjamins, 223-243
Kristiansen, T. (2003), ‘The youth and the gatekeepers: Reproduction and change in language norm and variation’, in J. Androustopoulos and A. Georgakopoulou, Discourse Constructions of Youth Identities, Amsterdam: Benjamins, 279-302
Labov, W. (2001), Principles of Linguistic Change: Social Factors, Oxford: BlackwellJ. Milroy (1992), Linguistic Variation and Change, Oxford: BlackwellL. Milroy (1987), Language and Social Networks, Second edition, Oxford: BlackwellRogers, E. (1995), Diffusion of innovations, Fourth edition, New York: Free PressStuart-Smith, J. (2005), Is TV a contributory factor is accent change in adolescents? Final
Report on ESRC Grant No. R000239757 (available from Economic and Social Research Council website)
Stuart-Smith, J. (2006), ‘The influence of media on language’, in C. Llamas, P. Stockwell and L. Mullany (eds), The Routledge Companion to Sociolinguistics, London: Routledge
Stuart-Smith, J., Timmins, C. and Tweedie, F. (2007), ‘”Talkin’ Jockney?”: Accent change in Glaswegian’, Journal of Sociolinguistics, 11, 221-61.
Trudgill, P. (1986), Dialects in Contact, Oxford: Blackwell