In social groups there are distinctive signs of different
lexes and accents throughout, this will show if it’s a complex network or not
and shows how attitudes are different in these social groups when compared. I
will compare myself with my social groups compared to others and how I change
to without noticing to fit in with them. I also link this to Penelope Eckert
work about the “jocks” and “burnouts” also jenny Cheshire work about culture
groups in reading.
In Penelope Eckert he compares the “jocks” (middle class accents
and their lexis choice) compared to the “burnouts” (ungrammatical lexis and a
huge accent differences). Eckert also studied their attitudes and watched how
they clashed and where they learnt these differences in their language. Eckert
discovered that the “jocks” were critical of the “burnout” due to their
language and how ungrammatical they were, their accents and lexis came from
their parents middle class background and their attitudes matched, they were
participated in school activities and was very committed to school life. The
“burnouts” where very different in every way, while the “jocks” spoke with a prestigious
tone matching their background and social group the “ burnouts” accent was very
urban with a Detroit tone. This shows that our accents are not only regional
but can be influenced by family, also that a social group can come together
because of accents and lexes choice so they fit in will a group, comparing
myself to Eckert work ive came to the conclusion that his study is correct in every
way. In my life i have a number of social groups (school mates, football team,
set 1 of mates out of school, set 2 and
family) personally i don’t change my lexes per social groups as i feel i don’t have to change to fit in but the
understanding of my word choice various. My two sets of mates outside of school
our lexes choices are very different compared to people in my school, Words
such as “gully” which we used to describe something in our “language” like it was nothing, in school however if i
use this word to describe something to someone who doesn’t use the word or
heard the word they will not understand the meaning, only someone who know individuals
from my social group or myself would understand that word or our social groups
know each other well they would know the mean. I’ve got two examples to hit
home this point, my two sets of friends outside of school know each other but
are only linked by myself as spend a lot of time between them words i use with
set one such as “gully” or “gupping” are understood by set two but won’t be
used in their conversations only myself would use them in a conversation with
set two but less frequently. The second example is my set one know the “dodd lot” as i call them
well as i know all them very well from school and through the ones i know well from
that social group, also the members form my social group know certain members of
the dodd well, this means our lexes choices are fairly similar as the dodd lots lexes are influenced by ours and our influenced by theirs. Lexes meaning
can change also , my set one mates again use “piece” this would normally be
used in a question such as “ can I have a piece” or a describing word but we
use it as a name “ have you got any piece”. Piece could be anything but it
gives a name but only people who know are social lexes would understand the change
of meaning. Its another name of for cannabis but only certain social groups
would use the word in that way.
Eckert study when talking about how The “jocks” and “burnouts”
accents differences are because of their family and regional backgrounds this
is apparent in every form. Regionally someone form Essex will sound completely different
to someone from Liverpool as their accents change where the enthuses is on a
word. Social groups change accents also as i sound different so other due to my
social; groups, this is because you pick up how they pronouns words and if you
hang around with them long enough you will start doing the same. A great example
is between my two best mates Mike and Ben who hang around with two different
social groups (Ben is set one and Mike set two) and i pick up on little differences
in accents. Mike accent is influenced by his father and sound exactly the same,
also mike and his father are builders mike is influenced by that group of
sociality. Meanwhile Ben is a school and has a very different tone; he is influenced
by his friends in his social groups also with his lexes. Even though they’re
both from Essex and live in the same town they still sound differently one because
of their working environment, family and social group.
Jenny Cheshire used a long term study to gain her data from
three groups in reading two consisting of boys and one of girls, while in Reading she recorded how often they used each of eleven variables.
She discovered girls who did not have positive attitudes to such group
activities as carrying weapons, fighting, participation in minor criminal
activities, preferred job, dress and hairstyle and use of swearing. With the
boys she discovered, when boys against girls were compared, showed clearly that
those who conformed to the conventions of the group also used the linguistic
standards of the group - and that conforming boys conformed most of all. In
short she discovered that how their social groups communicated was key to their
groups. This study was again true as I can draw comparisons to myself and my
social groups, set 2 of my mate’s outside of school is a great example. Our convocations
and “banter” is key as we are all different. Because we have a very jokey
attitude, our consisted banter and our inside jokes look very strange to
outsider but because we all share the same attitude when together and all our humors
are similar how we communicate is key as we wouldn’t be close if we didn’t have
that. In every social group communication
changes as the attitudes are different, if I was with the dodd lot I would just
have abusive banter with each member and bring up old stories while with set
one of my close mates it’s more of a chilled atmosphere and we talk about
topics we all share. Attitudes are key in social groups as you choose what you
would do on a night out to what you talk about, without attitudes lexes and
accents wouldn’t be the same as you normally has a social group with a similar
one or you change to fit in. it effects accents as you will put the enthuses on
different parts of the word to get your point across, my set oone mates id wouldn’t
have to speak so fast because our attitudes are very chilled will at school id
have to talk fast as and be more upbeat as everyone else is.
In conclusion
social groups are key in language as it can help create them, strengthen them
and even changes lexes and accents because of things you share and what
interests you.
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