Language Identity & Group Membership
Key terms: dialects, regional dialects, sociolects, social class, Labov, prestige, idiolects, lexicon.
Video notes: African American English is the most widely studied dialect in American English.
Working class speech in American English does connote masculinity. Men do NOT tend to be linguistic innovators, this is actually women. Women are actually more likely setting the "standards" for the English that we speak and invent. The categorization of social class used by Labov does tend to emphasize a speakers' occupation.
Video of former president, Roosevelt: • FDR INFAMY SPEECH ASKING CONGRESS TO DECLA...
Special thanks to my colleague Dr. Katie Welch for giving me permission to use and adapt her materials in order to produce this video. Dr. Welch is an educator, teacher, trainer, linguist, and active contributor in the TESOL field. She specializes in training pre-service and in-service teachers in K-12, adult, and higher education. Learn more at welcheducation.com