Norwich, england
A similar pattern in g-dropping as was found in Labov’s New York study, was found in the Norwich, England study:
|
Casual speech |
Careful speech |
Reading |
Middle-middle class |
28% |
3% |
10% |
Lower middle class |
42% |
15% |
10% |
Upper working class |
87% |
74% |
15% |
Middle working class |
95% |
88% |
44% |
Lower working class |
100% |
98% |
66% |
LIDE:TRUDGILL’S
NORWICH STUDY (6)
SLIDE: TRUDGILL CHART (7)
One of the variables Trudgill studied was the final consonant in words like walking and running.
Trudgill's study discovered the following:
1. In all social classes, the more careful the speech, the more likely people were to say walking rather than walkin'.
2. The proportion of walkin' type forms was higher in lower social classes.
3. The nonstandard -in' forms occurred much more often in men's speech than in women's, and this was true for all social classes.
4. When women were questioned about what they thought they were saying, they tended to say they used the standard -ing forms more often than they really did.
5. When men were questioned about what they thought they were saying, they tended to say they used the nonstandard -in' forms more often than they really did.
Overall g-dropping rates seem to be somewhat higher in Norwich compared to New York. However, the general pattern of dependence on social status and formality is maintained.
Similar studies have been done in many places, for many linguistic variables other than g-dropping, and the pattern is always the same: there is a sort of systematic analogy between social class and formality.
SLIDE: Los Angeles Study (8)
Los angeles
Class is not the only social variable that tends to work this way. Another study of g-dropping, this time in Los Angeles, compared males and females of similar socio-economic status. Male speakers (other things equal) tend to use more informal (or lower-class) modes of speech than females do, and this study was no exception. At the same time, for both males and females, the percentage of g-dropping was greater in joking than in arguing:
|
Joking |
Arguing |
Males |
46% |
24% |
Females |
28% |
21% |
The difference between joking and arguing might be because joking creates a more informal speech style, or it might because there is a dimension of friendliness or intimacy that can also be involved in such things.
But, more generally, you drop your g’s in informal settings and usually keep them in more formal settings. This is a difference in register. Your class level also usually suggests how formal you have to be and how informal you can be. People in the working classes do not usually need to be as formal as people in the aristocracy.