Language & Society(BFL 004)

An Assignment on the studies of

William Labov (New York Department Store)
&
Peter Trudgill (Norwich Study)
An Assignment of Language & Society(BFL 004)

Submitted to:
Professor Dr. Sayeedur Rahman
Department of English Language,
IML,DU

Submitted by:
Rodshi Jarnaj Raceme
ESOL 6th batch (20-21), Roll-022,
IML,DU

Submission Deadline:
26 March 2023
 The social stratification of (r) in New York city department stores(1966)
by
William Labov

1. Review:
1.1)Introduction:
William Labov conducted this research in 1966 in New York nearby Labov's abode in 3
department stores among the sales peoples. William Labov's motive was to show the
correlation between linguistic variation and social stratification. Labov's study established the
fact that social variants like gender,age, ethnicity, class,overt prestige etc have influence and
are embedded in the linguistic structures.He is the one who has used data, statistics to prove
the social stratification of linguistic pronunciation. So, he showed how social strata influence
language with the help of the pronunciation of rhotic and non-rhotic ( r).

1.2) Hypothesis: if any two subgroups of New York city speakers are ranked in a scale of
social stratification, then they will be ranked in the same order by their differential use of ( r)

1.3)Methodology:
An application of the study of casual and anonymous speech events to the department store
situation would be more natural so the interviewer approached the informant in the role of a
customer asking for directions to a particular department . The interviewer used two
words(fourth, floor) to check the /r/ in their pronunciation.In this way, they found out the
preconsonantal and final position. Total 264 subjects were interviewed in the 3 stores (Saks,
Macy's, S.kleins)for approximately 6.5 hours. There were 2 types of variables
independent(store,floor, sex,age,occupation,race,foreigner/regional accent) and
dependent(casual:fourth floor;emphatic:fourth floor).Thus the quantitative method was
applied from the point of view of the interviewer, the exchange was a systematic elicitation of
the exact forms required, in the desired context, the desired order, and with the desired
contrast of style.

1.4)Findings:
Labov's research in the Lower East Side of New York City showed that individual speech
patterns were part of a highly systematic structure of social and stylistic stratification. He
studied how often the final or preconsonantal (r) was sounded in words like guard, bare and
beer.The result of the study showed clear and consistent stratification of(r) in three stores.
 2. Understandability/Critical analysis:
From the study persuaded by Labov, the hypothesis was correct that the social strata actually
made changes to language. He studied the pronunciation of /r/ in 3 department stores with
different social stratification. The speech production of /r/ showed how social strata and
linguistic variation complement each other.

No doubt it is a fine piece of paper but as nothing is beyond criticism.I personally found a
few loopholes, those are-
1. Labov did not focus on pronunciation patterns in each of the three department stores but
on the features occurring in a single store, and in the speech of three occupational groups.
2.The statistics are not as assembled as they should have been.

3. Implication:

William Labov's research paper has excellently described how languages or pronunciation
can vary according to gender, class, occupation. It has been a dying question for years that
why languages keep changing or how it occurs. The study shows the differences among three
types of salesmen from 3 different stores and different classes of buyers. To run the social
wheel, languages must be its accordance.Therefore, this research bears priceless significance.
 .Sex, covert prestige and linguistic change in the urban British
English of Norwich by Peter Trudgill

1. Review:
1.1)Introduction:
In the late 1960 and early 1970, a famous sociolinguist Peter Trudgill conducted an
investigation on the relationship between social class and language use of English in Norwich
where he was born.
Focusing on social class, age, gender, speech consciousness, Trudgill wanted to identify
whether social factors impacted how the people of Norwich speak. He introduced people with
his theory of language variation through the study and proved his hypothesis to be true.
Here, it is necessary to admit that the phonological indices were initially developed by
William Labov(1966).

1.2)Hypothesis:
Peter Trudgill studied the speech of people in Norwich to find out whether gender and social
class affected pronunciation and if it does, how does it do that.

1.3)Methodology:
Before selecting and interacting with his informants (the participants of the study), Trudgill
needed to set up an index against which to measure social class based on a range of factors
including:
● occupation

● education

● location/ housing type

● Income

He chose 60 informants randomly from the electoral register, ensuring an even spread across
different areas of Norwich. The informants were presented with a series of questions about
their jobs, education level, income, etc, and Trudgill recorded the information.

Trudgill noted each instance of the linguistic variables he was observing and studied this data
with the social class index he had devised. By this, he was able to draw correlations between
different social factors (education, occupation, income, location) and the type of language
used (standard or non-standard).
By the concepts of overt and covert prestige and conscious speech, Peter Trudgill created
various scenarios of formality and paid attention to speech to ensure his results were more
balanced and reliable. Some examples of the scenarios he used included:

Interview-style questioning.

● Getting informants to read passages of text

● Asking informants to tell a funny anecdote.

Without finding patterns in all linguistic features, Tudgill paid attention to a few specific
ones. This proved much easier to track the changes across different social classes and identify
any potential reasons for speech differences.Two of the key variables were

● Subject-verb agreement with the third-person singular e.g. 'she say' compared to 'she
says'.

● The pronunciation of the -ing ending of words e.g. 'walkin' compared to 'walking'.

(Cited from - www.studysmarter.co.uk)

1.4)Findings:
Trudgill's study in Norwich showed the effects of social class on the usage of language. He
divided the social class in 5 strata.Trudgill then tested how frequently the informants used
non-standard forms of English language. The findings of his study are -
1. People of lower social classes used significantly more non-standard forms
(such as saying 'talkin' or 'buyin' instead of 'talking' and 'buying'),whereas
people in higher social classes had speech much closer to prestige varieties.
2. Women Tend to over-represent their use of standard pronunciation whereas
men under-represent the fact. Women are more conscious about
standardization and thus the theory of overt prestige and covert
prestige(William Labov,1966) got clarified.
3. People tended to adopt standard language when they are being scrutinized but
they tended to use more non standard forms of English when simply telling
stories.
4. The change in language by social class in English.

These are the significant points of Peter Trudgill research result.

2.Understandability/critical analysis:
Trudgill's Norwich study is significant itself as it paved the path of further research on
languages in any preferable geographical context. However, the famous study got a few
failings, those are -
● One of the most important criticisms of the Norwich study is that it gives little credit
to the informants.
● Trudgill's linguistic variables are not enough to lead a powerful conclusion
● Despite having a rich variety of resources in English, Trudgill makes little mention of
any potentially active selection of language features.
3.Implication:
Trudgill's research on the linguistic change in urban British English of Norwich has provided
valuable insights into the ways in which regional aspects of English are shaped by social and
cultural factors, such as social class and gender which has been proven in this research. So,
this study showed the path of further research in other languages in any perspective.

The two research studies have been analyzed above with the structures -Review,
Understandability and implication.