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JournalISSN: 0047-4045

Language in Society 

Cambridge University Press
About: Language in Society is an academic journal published by Cambridge University Press. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Sociolinguistics & Conversation. It has an ISSN identifier of 0047-4045. Over the lifetime, 2212 publications have been published receiving 73426 citations.


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Journal ArticleDOI
Allan Bell1
TL;DR: The basic principle of language style is that an individual speaker does not always talk in the same way on all occasions as discussed by the authors, which is one of the most challenging aspects of sociolinguistic variation.
Abstract: Language style is one of the most challenging aspects of sociolinguistic variation. The basic principle of language style is that an individual speaker does not always talk in the same way on all occasions. Style means that speakers have alternatives or choices — a ‘that way’ which could have been chosen instead of a ‘this way’. Speakers talk in different ways in different situations, and these different ways of speaking can carry different social meanings.

2,116 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article defined five basic kinds of illocutionary acts: representatives (or assertives), directives, commissives, expressives, and declarations, and constructed a taxonomy of them.
Abstract: There are at least a dozen linguistically significant dimensions of differences between illocutionary acts. Of these, the most important are illocutionary point, direction of fit, and expressed psychological state. These three form the basis of a taxonomy of the fundamental classes of illocutionary acts. The five basic kinds of illocutionary acts are: representatives (or assertives), directives, commissives, expressives, and declarations. Each of these notions is defined. An earlier attempt at constructing a taxonomy by Austin is defective for several reasons, especially in its lack of clear criteria for distinguishing one kind of illocutionary force from another. Paradigm performative verbs in each of the five categories exhibit different syntactical properties. These are explained. (Speech acts, Austin's taxonomy, functions of speech, implications for ethnography and ethnology; English.)

2,028 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors studied the patterns of language use related to books in three literate communities in the Southeastern United States, focusing on such "literacy events" as bedtime story reading.
Abstract: "Ways of taking" from books are a part of culture and as such are more varied than current dichotomies between oral and literate traditions and relational and analytic cognitive styles would suggest. Patterns of language use related to books are studied in three literate communities in the Southeastern United States, focusing on such "literacy events" as bedtime story reading. One community, Maintown, represents mainstream, middle-class school-oriented culture; Roadville is a white mill community of Appalachian origin; the third, Trackton, is a black mill community of recent rural origin. The three communities differ strikingly in their patterns of language use and in the paths of language socialization of their children. Trackton and Roadville are as different from each other as either is from Maintown, and the differences in preschoolers' language use are reflected in three different patterns of adjustment to school. This comparative study shows the inadequacy of the prevalent dichotomy between oral and literate traditions, and points also to the inadequacy of unilinear models of child language development and dichotomies between types of cognitive styles. Study of the development of language use in relation to written materials in home and community requires a broad framework of sociocultural analysis. (Crosscultural analysis, ethnography of communication, language development, literacy, narratives.)

1,403 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article found that women use linguistic forms associated with the prestige standard more frequently than men than men and that working-class speech has favourable connotations for male speakers, but these attitudes to non-standard speech are not normally expressed, however, and emerge only in inaccurate self-evaluation test responses.
Abstract: Women use linguistic forms associated with the prestige standard more frequently than men. One reason for this is that working-class speech has favourable connotations for male speakers. Favourable attitudes to non-standard speech are not normally expressed, however, and emerge only in inaccurate self-evaluation test responses. Patterns of sex differentiation deviating from the norm indicate that a linguistic change is taking place: standard forms are introduced by middle-class women, non-standard forms by working-class men. (Sociolinguistic variation; linguistic change; women's and men's speech; contextual styles; social class; British English.)

1,100 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors studied a discourse-oriented classroom activity in an ethnically mixed, first grade classroom from an interpretive perspective, integrating ethnographic observation and fine-grained conversational analysis, where children are called upon to describe an object or give a narrative account about some past event to the entire class.
Abstract: A discourse-oriented classroom activity in an ethnically mixed, first grade classroom is studied from an interpretive perspective, integrating ethnographic observation and fine-grained conversational analysis.' "Sharing time" is a recurring activity where children are called upon to describe an object or give a narrative account about some past event to the entire class. The teacher, through her questions and comments, tries to help the children structure and focus their discourse. This kind of activity serves to bridge the gap between the child's home-based oral discourse competence and the acquisition of literate discourse features required in written communication. Through a detailed characterization of the children's sharing styles, evidence is provided suggesting that children from different backgrounds come to school with different narrative strategies and prosodic conventions for giving narrative accounts. When the child's discourse style matches the teacher's own literate style and expectations, collaboration is rhythmically synchronized and allows for informal practice and instruction in the development of a literate discourse style. For these children, sharing time can be seen as a kind of oral preparation for literacy. In contrast, when the child's narrative style is at variance with the teacher's expectations, collaboration is often unsuccessful and, over time, may adversely affect school performance and evaluation. Sharing time, then, can either provide or deny access to key literacy-related experiences, depending, ironically, on the degree to which teacher and child start out ""sharing" a set of discourse conventions and interpretive strategies. (Urban communication, ethnic/ subcultural differences in discourse style, the transition to literacy, American English.)

864 citations

Performance
Metrics
No. of papers from the Journal in previous years
YearPapers
202367
2022119
202157
202039
201933
201838