3.2.3

Social Class 2

Test yourself

Social Class - Basil Bernstein

Social class is often looked at in relation to language, and this is often to do with the way that people pronounce certain sounds, and so has a strong grounding in your work in accent.

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Basil Bernstein

  • In the 1970s, Basil Bernstein conducted research into the way classes talk.
  • He asked groups of boys to describe a comic strip containing a football smashing a window.
  • From this, he defines two codes – restricted and elaborated.
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Restricted vs elaborated code

  • Restricted code is inherently deictic. It has a relaxed syntax (word order) and uses many simple coordinating conjunctions.
  • Elaborated code is practically the opposite. It uses a standard syntax, more subordinate clauses and subordinating conjunctions.
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Code example

  • 1) The psycho messaged him for the first time since that argument and he was fuming.
  • 2) Edward, a guy who behaved like a psychopath towards Tim, messaged Tim for the first time since they had an argument in March. Needless to say that Tim was furious.
    • It’s clear to see that without knowing Edward and Tim, sentence 1 does not make sense. So sentence 1 is written in restricted code and sentence 2 is written in elaborated code.
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Bernstein's analysis of code use

  • Bernstein claims that whilst middle-class children can use both codes, it is rare to see a lower-class child using anything other than restricted code.
  • Saying this, both classes did understand both codes when spoken to them.
  • There are obviously times when it is advantageous to be able to use both codes.
    • For example, social situations and bonding situations are helped through restricted code, but formal events are helped by elaborated code.
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Support - William Labov

  • William Labov conducted research in 1969. His research featured black boys speaking in what would be classed as restricted code, but with a logical argument.
  • This suggests that there is an issue with linguistically articulating ideas rather than there being a cognitive deficit.

Social Class - William Labov

Social class is often looked at in relation to language, and this is often to do with the way that people pronounce certain sounds, and so has a strong grounding in your work in accent.

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Research aim

  • William Labov investigated the use of the post-vocalic rhotic-r (the ‘r’ sound that appears after vowels) in words like ‘banter’ and ‘mark’.
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Research method

  • To investigate this, he visited three stores in New York of different price and fashion status:
    • A high status (Saks), a middle status (Macy’s) and a low status (Klein’s).
    • In a UK equivalent, you may expect, Gucci, Next and Primark.
  • Labov asked a question about the location of a department which would evoke the answer ‘fourth floor’. He would then tell the assistant that he had not heard them and ask them to repeat.
  • At this point, the speech stops becoming spontaneous and starts becoming more conscious.
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Research findings

  • His research details that:
    • The lower middle class were most aware of the overt prestige (biggest change from casual to spontaneous speech). This is indicative of their need to social climb.
    • The lower classes tested were more aware of the prestige form and so more likely to change the way they spoke when consciously speaking.
    • The upper middle class changed the least, indicative of their already higher social status.

Jump to other topics

1Language Levels

1.1Assessment Objectives

1.1.1Assessment Objectives

1.2Lexis

1.2.1Introduction

1.2.2Common, Proper, Abstract & Concrete Nouns

1.2.3Collective Nouns

1.2.4Adjectives

1.2.5Main, Auxiliary & Copular Verbs

1.2.6Dynamic & Stative Verbs

1.2.7Transitive, Intransitive, Active & Passive Verbs

1.2.8Mood of Verbs

1.2.9Adverbs

1.2.10Personal, Possessive & Reflexive Pronouns

1.2.11Relative & Demonstrative Pronouns

1.2.12Determiners

1.2.13Conjunctions

1.2.14Synonyms, Antonyms & Phonological Features

1.2.15End of Topic Test - Lexis

1.3Grammar

1.3.1Morphology

1.3.2Clauses

1.3.3Phrases

1.3.4Present Tense

1.3.5Past Tense

1.3.6Future Tense

1.3.7End of Topic Test - Grammar

1.4Semantics & Pragmatics

1.4.1Semantics

1.4.2Pragmatics

1.5Discourse Structure, Graphology & Orthography

1.5.1Discourse Structure

1.5.2Graphology & Orthography

1.5.3End of Topic Test - Semantics, Graphology etc.

2Language, The Individual & Society

2.1Children’s Language Development

2.1.1The Exam

2.1.2Phonemes, Vocal Tract & Articulation

2.1.3Writing About Phonemes

2.1.4Phonological Simplification

2.1.5A Child's First Year & Consonant Acquisition

2.1.6Beginning Stages of Language

2.1.7Lexical Development

2.1.8Stages of Development

2.1.9End of Topic Test - Child Language Development

2.2Children's Language Development - Theories

2.2.1Behaviourism

2.2.2Interactionism

2.2.3Challenging Interactionism

2.2.4Nativism

2.2.5Nativism - Exam Answer

2.2.6Cognitivism

2.2.7Social Constructionism

2.2.8Writing About Spoken Acquisition

2.2.9End of Topic Test - Development Theories

2.3Literacy Development: Reading

2.3.1Introduction

2.3.2Phonics vs Whole Word

2.3.3Debates in Reading

2.3.4Modelling Reading Acquisition

2.3.5Other Reading Theories

2.3.6End of Topic Test - Reading

2.4Literacy Development: Writing

2.4.1Orthography

2.4.2Kroll's Theory

2.4.3Barclay's Theory

2.4.4Creativity vs Accuracy

2.4.5Other Writing Theories

2.4.6The Exam

2.4.7End of Topic Test - Writing

3Language Diversity & Change

3.1The Importance of Gendered Language

3.1.1Writing About Gender

3.1.2Dominance Theory

3.1.3Interruptions - Zimmerman & West

3.1.4Deficit Theory

3.1.5Difference Model

3.1.6Difference Model - Men

3.1.7Diversity Model

3.1.8End of Topic Test - Gendered Language

3.2Social Groups

3.2.1Writing About Social Groups

3.2.2Social Class

3.2.3Social Class 2

3.2.4Age

3.2.5Age - Teen Speak

3.2.6Milroy’s Belfast Study

3.2.7Labov’s Martha’s Vineyard Study

3.2.8End of Topic Test - Social Groups

3.3Occupational Groups

3.3.1Writing About Occupational Groups

3.3.2Jargon

3.3.3Conversations

3.3.4Hierarchy & Power

3.3.5End of Topic Test - Occupational Groups

3.4Accents & Dialects

3.4.1Writing About Accent & Dialect

3.4.2Introduction to Accents & Dialects

3.4.3Accents - Matched Guide Experiment

3.4.4Accents - Received Pronunciation & Brummie

3.4.5Dialects - Dialectal Variations

3.4.6Accent & Dialect Case Study - London

3.4.7End of Topic Test - Accents & Dialects

3.5Language Change

3.5.1Writing About Language Change

3.5.2Modelling Change

3.5.3Modelling Change 2

3.5.4Lexical Change

3.5.5Semantic Change

3.5.6End of Topic Test - Language Change

3.6History of English

3.6.1Old English

3.6.2Old English 2

3.6.3Middle English

3.6.4Middle English 2

3.6.5Early Modern English

3.6.6Late Modern English

3.6.7Present Day English

3.6.8Global English

3.6.9American English

3.6.10Modelling Global English

3.6.11End of Topic Test - History of English

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Social Class

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