Peter Trudgill
Find out about Peter Trudgill's Norwich Research. What did
he study? And what were his findings?
Norwich speech was studied by Peter Trudgill in the 1970s to
find out how and why people's ways of speaking varied.
One of the variables Trudgill studied was the final
consonant in words like walking, running. In standard British English, the
sound spelled -ng is a velar nasal. In Norwich, however, the pronunciation
waikin', talkin' is frequently heard, as if there was simply 'n' on the end.
Trudgill's study discovered the following:
1. In all social classes, the more careful the speech, the
more likely people were to say walking rather than walkin'.
2. The proportion of walkin' type forms was higher in lower
social classes.
3. The nonstandard -in' forms occurred much more often in
men's speech than in women's, and this was true for all social classes.
4. When women were questioned about what they thought they
were saying, they tended to say they used the standard -ing forms more often
than they really did.
5. When men were questioned about what they thought they
were saying, they tended to say they used the nonstandard -in' forms more often
than they really did.
Trudgill's figures for social class and sex differences in
the use of the standard, prestige -ing form in Norwich when people used a
formal style of speaking are as follows:
(-ng) in Norwich by social class and sex for Formal Style
(Trudgill. 1974a)
Male Female
middle middle class 96 100
lower middle class 73 97
upper working class 19 32
middle working class 9 19
lower working class 0
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Robin Lakoff
Find out about Robin Lakoff's research. She explored the
ways in which women's language was deficient when compared to men's. In what
ways does she suggest female language is deficient?
Robin Lakoff was born in 1942, she was a professor of
linguists at the University of California, and her most famous work was the
subject of women’s language where she believed women’s speech can be
distinguished in certain features. Lakoff wrote various books such as ‘The
logic of politeness’s in 1973 which Lakoff argued governs conversations, she
devised the ‘politeness principle’ in 3 maxims
.Don’t impose, Give options and make your receivers feel
good
Lakoff claimed that there were certain features of women’s
language that gave the impression women are weaker and less certain than men
are. Women’s language was distinguished in a number of ways including
Hedging- uncertainty and lack of authority e.g. ‘sort of’
Super polite forms – ‘If you don’t mine please may you..’
Hypercorrect grammar and pronunciation- e.g. women avoid
‘ain’t’ or double negatives
Tag questions – show that women want approval from their
utterances e.g. ‘I’m coming with you, all right?’
Speaking in italics – women use exaggerated intonation or
stress for emphasis, expresses uncertainty e.g. ‘I am very frustrated with you’
Empty adjectives approval- Lakoff claims that if a man uses
these terms he appears more feminine as it damages his masculine prestige e.g.
‘divine, lovely, adorable, delightful and sweetie’
Use of implication- Lakoff claimed women use this because
they do not feel the authority to give orders e.g. ‘it’s cold in here, isn’t
it’ instead of ‘shut the window’
Special lexicon- Lakoff states that such words are trivial
and evidence of the fact that women have been allowed control over unimportant
things e.g. purple of blue women would say ‘lilac’ or ‘violet’
Question intonations in declarative statements- women raise
the pitch of their voice at the end of statements expressing uncertainty e.g.
‘Dinner’s in half an hour?’
Sense of humour lacking- Lakoff argued that women don’t joke
as much or understand jokes.
Speak less frequently – men speak more often than women,
proves women to be less certain of themselves.
Indirect speech- ‘Wow, I’m so thirsty’ instead of asking for
a drink.
Avoid coarse language of expletives
Apologies- ‘I’m sorry, but I think that… ’
