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3.3. Ethnicity and social networks - Coggle Diagram
3.3. Ethnicity and social networks
3.3.1. Ethnicity
Where a choice of language is available
----- signal their ethnicity
----- Even with short phrases, verbal fillers or linguistic tags, which signal ethnicity.
If the dominant language is used, speakers may incorporate linguistic signals that identifies their ethnic background
(Food, religion, dress and a distinctive speech style - ethnic minorities may use to construct an ethnic identity)
Examples:
New Zealanders use Maori linguistic signals like kia ora,e ki, ne
Italians in Boston use a high percentage of vernacular pronunciations of certain vowels
Scottish - pronunciation of [r]
Jewish Americans - oy vay (linguistic tags) , schmaltz, bagel, glitch and shlemiel (Yiddish vocabulary )
3.3.1.1. African American Language (AAL)
African American Vernacular English (AAVE) African American Language (AAL) or African American English (AAE)
a distinct variety of English
features which do not occur in standard Mainstream White American English
features which occur very much less frequently in the standard variety.
These linguistic differences - heard especially in the northern cities of the USA
symbols of ethnicity
express the sense of cultural distinctiveness
many features of the English used by lower socioeconomic groups - also occur in AAL.
Multiple negation
Consonant cluster simplification
All English speakers simplify consonant clusters in some contexts.
AAL speakers do so much more frequently and extensively
NOT all African Americans use AAL all of the time.
AAL is often just one of the codes they select according to context
The choice of code - the social identity
Each social group uses more multiple negation than the group above it
Within social groups - African Americans consistently use more multiple negation than do white.
3.3.1.2. Black British English
Jamaican Creole - West Indian or African Caribbean born in Britain are usually described as members of the Black British community
some speak a variety of Jamaican Creole as well as a variety of English
Others speak a range of varieties of English with different frequencies of creole features
The variety of Jamaican Creole - Patois or British Jamaican Creole.
English of those who speak minority languages such as Gujarati, Panjabi and Turkish - signals their ethnic background.
a number of regional varieties of Black British English
function as symbols of ethnicity and Black identity among Black British people
could be regarded as examples of “anti- language”, to signal their function of expressing opposition to the mainstream values of white British society which exclude Black people and their culture.
Multicultural London English (MLE)
(or sometimes disparagingly Jafaican)
new ethnic speech variety used by local young people - Jamaican, African and Asian backgrounds BAME (Black Asian and Minority Ethnic).
using monophthongs where other varieties use diphthongs - developed a distinctive vocabulary.
developed as a result of high levels of immigration, the desire to distinguish themselves from other groups, and develop a distinctive identity.
the more ethnically diverse the networks are, the more likely they are to use MLE.
is used much more widely and is rapidly spreading
3.3.1.3. Maori English
a Māori dialect of English
Many assert firmly that there is such a variety
little evidence of
linguistic features
which occur only in the speech of Māori people
some grammatical features which occur more frequently in Māori English.
Māori women were more likely to use vernacular past tense forms of some verbs
3.3.1.4. New Englishes
New Englishes /World Englishes refer to the wide range of different varieties of English that have developed across the world since the nineteenth century.
(Fiji English, Hong Kong English, Singapore English, Indian English and the English used in the Philippines)
2 types of New Englishes:
settlement colonies
– English has always been the first language, for example, Australia, New Zealand;
exploitation colonies
– multilingualism with English as a language of administration, for example, Hong Kong, Singapore.
English undergoes
re- colonization
in order to express the
identities
of the local peoples in different communities
New Zealand English, Australian English and South African English - well- developed with distinctive lexis, grammatical patterns and phonological features, as well as established literatures in each of these varieties
Young people who use New Zealand English no longer think of their language as a variety of British English
3.3.1.5. Ethnolects in languages other than English
In Germany
experienced a large influx of migrant workers from Turkey in the mid-twentieth century
Gastarbeiter
, came to Germany and then had families in Germany -> develop (L2) variety of German - Gastarbeiterdeutsch
Subsequent generations of this community have developed the variety to be associated with a migrant background identity.
3.3.2. Social networks
Networks
: the pattern of informal relationships people are involved in on a regular basis.
Network density
refers to whether members of a person’s network are in touch with each other
How many members know each other and how well do they know each other?
Network plexity
a measure of the range of different types of transaction people are involved in with different individuals.
A uniplex network
or relationship: where the link with the other person is in only one area.
Multiplex networks
: involve interactions with others along several dimensions.
people’s speech - indicate the types of networks they belong to
people we mix with belong to a homogeneous group -> speak the way the rest of the group does
Children’s speech begins
to resemble the speech of the other kids
at
kindergarten and school
rather than that of the family.
When adults belong to more than one network -
unconsciously
altering their speech forms as they move from one context to another.
People who interacted more with peasants prefer Hungarian Those who had more contacts with people involved industrial jobs prefer German
3.3.2.1. Communities of practice and the construction of social identity
Linguistic patterns
described by sociolinguists correlate to macro-level categories such as gender, age, ethnicity and class.
Describing day-to-day interactions
between individuals requires categories of
social network and community of practice
.
Different aspects of an individual’s social identity will be more or less relevant in specific social contexts, and even at different points within the same interaction.