UNIT 2

*SOME VARIABLES IN SOCIOLINGUISTICS:

STYLE, REGISTER AND GENDER.
*SPEECH ACCOMMODATION.

ROSARIO HERNÁNDEZ
C. A. SEVILLA

marhernandez@sevilla.uned.es
1. KEY WORDS
• Discourse analysis
• Ethnography of speaking
• Linguistic competence
• Native speaker
• Pragmatic competence
• Pragmatics
• (Proto)-Indo-European
• Variety
2. SOME VARIABLES IN SOCIOLINGUISTICS

2.1. STYLE:
§ As we saw in the previous chapter, geographic varia2on is quite no2ceable and rela2vely easy to iden2fy. There
are other types of varia2ons that are laborious to describe and, on some occasions at least, less conspicuous.
Even within a specific speech community individuals have a range of choices when they speak, such as word
choice, syntac2c complexity and even subtle pronuncia2on features.
§
Every individual has a typical way in which he/she does things and the same applies to any aspect of human
behaviour (the way people drive; the Bri2sh are said to be calm, gentle drivers whereas the Italians are oFen
considered fast and impa2ent). However true these generaliza2ons might be, each Bri2sh and Italian driver has
his own style which can vary depending on the 2me of the day, the loca2on, where he is going and who he is
with, etc.
¡ Stylistic variation can be found in other areas of more interest to sociolinguistics; for example, you can speak very
formally or very informally depending on the circumstances. This implies a specific choice on the part of the
speaker as he will probably choose formal language for solemn events, less formal language for everyday
situations and really informal and casual language for trivial conversations or relaxed matters. As a result, the
speaker can decide on a level of formality depending on a number of factors (occasion, social differences, age...)
and the type of discourse chosen (written or spoken).
¡ For instance, the following sentences might be used in different situations depending on the speaker’s choice:
`Would you be so kind as to leave the room?`
` Can you please leave the room?’
`Get lost!'
`You pig, get lost!’
§ Native speakers usually make use of a range of styles they have at their disposal when they speak and they can
easily accommodate their language to the required degree of formality.
§ As well as communicating meaning, a speaker’s choice of words or sounds reflects how they feel in terms of
formality or in a given social setting. I.e.:
`Can you pass me the salt?´
If he changes the word salt for another word such as pepper or vinegar, obviously there is a difference in
meaning and, therefore in this case it is not at the discretion of the speaker to change one word for the
other while maintaining the meaning. However, if the speaker changes can for could, would, or simply says
`Pass me the salt`
the meaning remains the same but we can see a difference in style reflecting the speaker’s intention as well
as other related factors such as the degree of formality and the relationship between the interlocutors.
§ Another example the selection of these words and expresions depending on the contex:
`die, pass away, bite the dust or kick the bucket´.
§ As a result of the long literary tradition in most cultures, the question of style has been often associated with
the study of literary writing. Nevertheless, style is linked to all linguistic behaviour, whether written or
spoken, and regardless of whether the speaker/writer is deemed to be a literary figure (Short, 2001).
Please go to the exercises section and do exercise 1.
2.2. REGISTER

¡ Another variable that is at the speaker’s disposal and that is caught up with style is register. A register is a set of
languages features, mainly the choice of lexical items or syntactic ordering of utterances, whose use tends to be
associated with a specific interest group as in the case of professionals with a particular occupation and, often, a
particular working context: doctors, lawyers, air traffic controllers, etc
¡ This type of variation is characterized by the circumstance and purpose of the communicative situation and
contrasts with individual idiosyncrasies and geographical or socio-economic variation. Nowadays, the
overwhelming amount of information to which we are exposed in our society favours the emergence and use of
topic-specific registers. Specialization is encouraged and the flourishing number of technical words and acronyms
sometimes make it difficult for a lay person to follow a conversation on topic in a specific register.
¡ Apart from specific language domains, register is socially motivated as it entails a social negotiation among the
participants in order to accommodate the adequate register either in written or spoken discourse.
¡ Register is conceived from two different perspectives:
Ø Narrow sense of the word: register refers to the type of language used by a group of professionals who employ
certain linguistic features, not commonly used in other settings. It is related to jargon and tends to be associated
with word choice or morphophonological variation rather than syntactic ordering.
Ø Broad sense of the word: register can be understood as a social genre, a sociolect, that bears upon lexical choice
and syntactic ordering. Example: language of newspaper articles, academic prose or legal language.

¡ Registers can be depicted by means of three main dimensions:

a) Field: relates to the social activity performed, the setting and the aim of the interaction.
b) Tenor: refers to the social roles enacted and the relationship between the participants.
c) Mode: refers to the medium of the language in that situation.
¡ Example: newspaper ar2cle.
Field: the subject maXer of the ar2cle that informs the reader;
Tenor: comprises the journalist that wrote the ar2cle and the intended audience;
Mode: the piece of wriXen work printed in the newspaper and that reaches the reader.

¡ Finally, style and register are related in the sense that stylis2c varia2ons can occur within a register, as the
speaker o writer can choose, for instance, different degrees of formality or casualness within register.
¡ Example: `COVID19 is wreaking havoc´ vs `Coronavirus is playing havoc´ (more colloquial)

Please go to the exercises sec2on and do exercises 2, 3 and 4.

2.3. GENDER
¡ There is some evidence that marks language as sexist, or rather its users. Both sexes don’t speak the same way
and this cannot be attributed to stylistic or individual differences. However, language should not be considered as
inherently sexist but it is used in a sexist way or it reflects a sexist world. Men are much likely than woman to be,
for instance, leaders of their countries, so in newspapers “he” tends to be more frequent than “she” (“he” is the
12th commonest word in the English language while “she” is the 31st commonest word).

¡ Patterns of variation between men and women are much more evident in some parts of the world (as Japan:
men speakers refer to themselves as wasi and female speakers use watasi or atasi) but differences can be much
more subtle than that. According to Wardhaugh (2002) more men than women in French-speaking Montreal do
not pronounce the /l/ in articles and pronouns (il, elle, la and les) and schoolgirls in Scotland seem to pronounce
the (t) as /t/ in words like water and got more frequently than boys who prefer a glottal stop /?/.
¡ Trudgill (1972) in a study carried out in Norwich (England) found that women tended to be more conservative in
terms of language use, as men were reported to show innovation in their language. He studied phonological and
sociological variables and he also discovered that women are generally more status-conscious than men. As a
matter of fact, in his study he argued that women had a clear tendency to overreport their use of prestige forms
while men were inclined to underreport theirs. Based upon the collected data and the subsequent analysis, he
concluded that women tended to respond to standard-language prestige norms, whereas men were liable to
react to vernacular prestige forms. The former type of language was associated with refinement, sophistication
and adherence to the standard-language, whereas the latter type was associated with roughness and toughness,
considered as desirable masculine attributes. The reason for women's adherence to the standard could be
motivated to their powerless position in life. Although this study was carried out more than forty years ago and
the role of women in society has considerably changed, it is clear that there are differences in male-female
linguistic behaviour.
¡ The study of gender is a complex developing issue, given the fact that a number of social variables converge and
it does not have a uniform effect on linguistic behaviour.
¡ The study of gender and varia2on arises from the different roles, norms and expecta2ons of the two sexes.
Gender-based varia2on has not received so much scien2fic aXen2on and as a result, many of the concep2ons
about gender and varia2on are based upon popular belief rather than on a sound sociolinguis2c analysis.
¡ In the last few decades this has changed and there is a considerable amount of research incorpora2ng sex as a
biological category in sociolinguis2cs, discourse analysis and pragma2cs.
¡ Tradi2onally, the term sex has been used to refer to biological and anatomical differences between men and
women and gender has been used to refer to psychological and socio-cultural differences between the sexes. This
approach, proves to be a liXle simplis2c for sociolinguis2c research, as one of its aims is to describe the rela2on
between these two, i.e., sex and gender. Sex is a biological category which cons2tutes the base for the
differen2a2on of roles, norms and expecta2ons within a speech community, and these social roles, norms and
expecta2ons compose the idea of gender. Obviouly, it makes no sense to think of the differences between men
and women as a set of traits that characterise and dis2nguish each group from one another, since they cannot be
considered polar opposites. Feminity and masculinity change from one culture to the other or between
genera2ons, and also depend on ethnic, religious or social groups.
¡ Recent studies have shown neurophysiological differences in the way males and females process language. It
seems that phonological processing in males relates to the left hemisphere of the brain whereas it involves both
hemispheres in the case of females. But no conclusive evidence has been shown that such biological differences
have an effect on male-female language processing and speech. Any dissimilarity seems to be a result of social
factors, educational factors or power.
¡ Analysis of these differences suggests that typical lexical and grammatical choices of men and women lead to the
formation of genderlects (men´s and women´s talk).
¡ Robin Lakoff (1990) identified certain features distinguishing women's talk in terms of word choice, for example,
in the frequency of certain colours, certain evaluative adjectives `charming’, `lovely’, `sweet’, hesitant intonation,
frequency of tag phrases `you know’, `kind of’, their attitude towards politeness (less swearing, more indirectness
and hedging); and the use of more polite noises (uh-huh, yeah, hmm) which support the interlocutor’s view.
¡ Conversely, men tend to be more direct and dominate turn-taking. In general, they understand language as
information gathering rather than a mechanism to initiate and support their relationship with others. There is a
difference between the language used by men and women and the language used to refer to them.
¡ In the past, masculine has often been considered as a common gender, and therefore unmarked, and feminine as
marked. In most Indo-European languages, the masculine is used to refer to both male and female.
`Everyone should contact his own travel agent for reservations’.
§ Nowadays, although some solutions have been proposed, one of the preferred ones is the use of 3rd person
plural pronoun to refer to males and females.
`Everyone should contact their own travel agent for reservations’
§ Masculine has been traditionally used to refer to professions associated with men and that shows that the
relationship between language and society is a two-fold one. Language reflects the way the society is organized
and to what extent language shows the power of stereotyping. In a changing world where women are taking on
jobs customarily attributed to men, and in a society where women are fighting against sexist discrimination,
language is also reflecting change.
policeman Police officer
Salesman Salesperson
Fireman Firefighter
Spokesman Spokesperson

Please go to the exercises section and do exercise 5.

3. SPEECH ACCOMMODATION

¡ Speech accommodation consists of the modification of one’s own speech or other communicative behaviours to
the ones used by the person one is interacting with. This way of adjusting one´s own speech can give way to
speech convergence or speech divergence, depending on the intentions of the speaker and the results of the
communication encounter. There are many ways of performing speech accommodation and results vary on
contextual factors.
¡ Doctors, lawyers and therapists can accommodate their speech as part of their job when communicating with
clients, or to show empathy. Speakers of a non-standard variety may change their speech to facilitate
comprehension when interacting with a speaker of a standard variety. Adjusting to a given register or style is also
a way of accommodating speech to take advantage of intra-group inclusion.
¡ Speech convergence shows a speaker’s or group’s need for social integra2on and/or iden2fica2on with another or
others. This modifica2on of speech can be a conscious and deliberate process but, on many occasions it happens
unconsciously. Research has shown that converging speech accommoda2on can increase the speaker’s perceived
(a) aXrac2veness;
(b) predictability and suppor2veness;
(c) level of interpersonal involvement;
(d) intelligibility and comprehensibility; and,
(e) the speaker's ability to gain their listeners' compliance. (Giles,2001)
¡ Speech divergence and the use of divergent strategies are more oFen fostered where the par2cipants communica2ng
stem from different social or working backgrounds giving way to a strategy of intergroup dis2nc2veness. By means of
this tac2c, members of an ingroup can intensify their inclusion in the relevant group while excluding others. This target
can be aXained with the use of a specific slang, jargon, gramma2cal complexity or, simply, accent.

Please go to the exercises sec2on and do exercise 6.

ISSUES TO CONSIDER:
a) What do you think of the sentence There are no single-style speakers?
b) Provide some features in your own language that indicate style shift (vocabulary, grammatical construction, phonological feature, etc). What situational factors may cause the shift in style?