A conversation between individuals contains information not only in the basic meaning of the words spoken, but also can signal other information about the speakers, situation, and the relationship between the participants:

• accents provide information about the geographical origin of the speakers
• certain aspects of speech may correlate with the social class of the speaker
• The gender of the speaker may affect speech; e.g. it is claimed that women are more tentative than men ("He's really clever, isn't he" vs. "He's really clever")
• the same speaker may use more or less formal speech depending on the situation and the perceived relationship with his listener. E.g. a lawyer talking to a doctor will adopt different modes of speaking depending on which one is consulting the other
• different levels of politeness may be employed depending on the context
• social or cultural conventions may affect speech, e.g. the form of words used in a courtroom will probably be different from those used by the same person in a pub.
• speakers may vary their use of language to correspond with one another ("accommodation theory"). The most obvious way in which characteristics converge is the speed of speech. In some cases this can signal closeness to the other person, although it not always: it may be seen as patronising or condescending

Certain types of speech and accent have associations with social status, and individuals may vary (consciously or not) the way that they speak. Labov was one of the first researchers to demonstrate that this occurs: he showed that New Yorkers regarded the articulation of the non-prevocalic "r" sound (i.e. an "r" that doesn't come before a vowel, e.g. "car", "park", "guard") as a "prestige feature" (Trudgill p.11), but also that a given individual would use or omit the sound, depending on the situation.

Studies looking at the way that the "h" is dropped at the start of words (e.g. "'ouse" vs. "house") have found similar results: the lower social class the speaker, the more likely he is to drop "h". But regardless of social class, the "h" is less likely to be dropped the more formal the context - i.e. the same person will not always either drop or not drop the "h" sound. This suggests that this variation in pronunciation may be a way to signal solidarity with other people of the same class.

In RP English, the words "could" and "cud" are pronounced as and , but in parts of Northern England the vowel used is the same (both are pronounced ). This usage seems to be declining though, while the distinction between the "a" vowel sound e.g. in the word "last" is regarded as a source of pride: RP uses , while Northern England has .

Key Points (from handout)

• Language varies in phonetics, in grammar, and in the lexicon
• People make choices in these components of languages
• The way people make these choices encodes social meanings: age, gender, status, ethnicity. Sometimes this is unintended, sometimes intended
• The choices also encode social relations. Social relations between individuals mirror those between groups in society
• In addition to signalling social differentiation, language varies geographically and through time

Book readings:

• Matthews "Linguistics A Very Short Introduction" ch. 2
• Trudgill "Sociolinguistics" ch. 1
• Romaine "Language in Society" ch. 1
• Trask "Language, the Basics", ch. 4