Chapter 4: Spreading the word
Since Labov we can see how language changes spread, and, sometimes, trace them to the point of
their origin.
Conscious language change: changes of which the people realize that they are happening, and
actively encourage.
Unconscious language change: changes which people do not notice, which are below the level of
conscious awareness.
It is a common observation that people think they speak in a more socially prestigious way than
they really do.
Hypercorrection: the strange over use of a particular (prestigious) linguistic feature, often in the
wrong way.
According to Labov hypercorrection seemed to be commoner in women than in men.
The hypercorrection in Labov’s ‘Stratification of r’ seemed to be strongest in the language-conscious
lower middle class, particularly lower-middle-class women, who were imitating and, in some cases,
exaggerating a prestige feature found in the speech of the upper middle class.
The ® had disappeared from the speech of London and Boston. Then New York, apparently
following the lead of these fashionable cities, lost its ® also. R-less speech was still the norm in the
1930s, then ® was reported to be on the increase in the 1950s and 1960s. On possible thought on
how this happened is that after the Second World War, New Yorkers had a growing awareness of
themselves as American, and picked a non-British style of speech on which to model themselves.
Martha’s Vineyard
Change in vowels (diphthongs: au → əu ; ai → əi). A small group of fishermen began to exaggerate a
tendency already exiting in their speech. They did this subconsciously, in order to establish
themselves as an independent social group with superior status to the despised summer visitors. A
number of other islanders regarded this group as one which epitomized old virtues and desirable
values, thus subconsciously imitated the way its members talked. For these people, the new
pronunciation was an innovation. As more people came to speak in the same way, the innovation
gradually became the norm for those living on the island.
1. An aspect of the speech of a particular social group differed from the ‘standard’ dialect of
that area
2. A second group admired and modelled itself on the first group, and subconsciously adopted
and exaggerated certain features in the speech of the former
3. This feature became the norm
4. The process repeated itself as a new social group started to model itself on the group which
had now adopted the linguistic innovation as the norm.
Since Labov we can see how language changes spread, and, sometimes, trace them to the point of
their origin.
Conscious language change: changes of which the people realize that they are happening, and
actively encourage.
Unconscious language change: changes which people do not notice, which are below the level of
conscious awareness.
It is a common observation that people think they speak in a more socially prestigious way than
they really do.
Hypercorrection: the strange over use of a particular (prestigious) linguistic feature, often in the
wrong way.
According to Labov hypercorrection seemed to be commoner in women than in men.
The hypercorrection in Labov’s ‘Stratification of r’ seemed to be strongest in the language-conscious
lower middle class, particularly lower-middle-class women, who were imitating and, in some cases,
exaggerating a prestige feature found in the speech of the upper middle class.
The ® had disappeared from the speech of London and Boston. Then New York, apparently
following the lead of these fashionable cities, lost its ® also. R-less speech was still the norm in the
1930s, then ® was reported to be on the increase in the 1950s and 1960s. On possible thought on
how this happened is that after the Second World War, New Yorkers had a growing awareness of
themselves as American, and picked a non-British style of speech on which to model themselves.
Martha’s Vineyard
Change in vowels (diphthongs: au → əu ; ai → əi). A small group of fishermen began to exaggerate a
tendency already exiting in their speech. They did this subconsciously, in order to establish
themselves as an independent social group with superior status to the despised summer visitors. A
number of other islanders regarded this group as one which epitomized old virtues and desirable
values, thus subconsciously imitated the way its members talked. For these people, the new
pronunciation was an innovation. As more people came to speak in the same way, the innovation
gradually became the norm for those living on the island.
1. An aspect of the speech of a particular social group differed from the ‘standard’ dialect of
that area
2. A second group admired and modelled itself on the first group, and subconsciously adopted
and exaggerated certain features in the speech of the former
3. This feature became the norm
4. The process repeated itself as a new social group started to model itself on the group which
had now adopted the linguistic innovation as the norm.
