Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introductory note
- Preface to the first edition
- Preface to the second edition: forty years later
- I Problems and methods of analysis
- II Social differentiation
- 7 Class differentiation of the variables
- 8 Further analysis of the variables
- 9 Distribution of the variables in apparent time
- 10 Other linguistic variables
- III Social evaluation
- IV Synthesis
- Glossary of linguistic symbols and terminology
- Appendix A Questionnaire for the ALS Survey
- Appendix B Anonymous observations of casual speech
- Appendix C Analysis of losses through moving of the MFY sample population
- Appendix D Analysis of the non-respondents: the television interview
- Appendix E The out-of-town speakers
- Bibliography
- Index
10 - Other linguistic variables
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introductory note
- Preface to the first edition
- Preface to the second edition: forty years later
- I Problems and methods of analysis
- II Social differentiation
- 7 Class differentiation of the variables
- 8 Further analysis of the variables
- 9 Distribution of the variables in apparent time
- 10 Other linguistic variables
- III Social evaluation
- IV Synthesis
- Glossary of linguistic symbols and terminology
- Appendix A Questionnaire for the ALS Survey
- Appendix B Anonymous observations of casual speech
- Appendix C Analysis of losses through moving of the MFY sample population
- Appendix D Analysis of the non-respondents: the television interview
- Appendix E The out-of-town speakers
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
In the survey of the Lower East Side, a great many other linguistic variables were studied in addition to the five main phonological variables. The stylistic and social differentiation of morphological variants, of syntactic forms, and many consonantal variants, were analyzed in the speech of the ALS informants. The distribution of many of these variables confirmed the linear array of the set of stylistic contexts, and the ten-point scale of socioeconomic classes. The distribution patterns of non-standard grammatical forms, such as double negatives, and person–number disagreements, showed a regular structure of stratification by socio-economic class which could not be duplicated by any single social parameter. The morphological variants of the suffix-ing showed a regular and fine structure of stylistic and social stratification. In addition, the distribution of the -ing variable in apparent time provided a case of stigmatization without linguistic change which confirmed in detail the analysis of Case I-A in Chapter 9.
The mid-central vowel in her
Chapter 9 has presented data on one variable which is closely associated with (r): the vowel of bird and work. This variable occurs in all contexts where historical (r) followed a mid-central vowel and was followed by a consonant. We will now consider the parallel case of historical final (r) preceded by a mid-central vowel: that is, words of the type her, were, occur, stir.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Social Stratification of English in New York City , pp. 241 - 262Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006