Topic
Style (sociolinguistics)
About: Style (sociolinguistics) is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2330 publications have been published within this topic receiving 58722 citations. The topic is also known as: functional style & linguistic style.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
More filters
Book•
01 Jan 1966TL;DR: This article studied the social stratification of English in New York City department stores and the isolation of contextual style in the context of the lower east side of Manhattan, and the structure of the New York city vowel system.
Abstract: Part I. Problems and Methods of Analysis: 1. The study of language in its social context 2. First approach to the structure of New York City English 3. The social stratification of English in New York City department stores 4. The isolation of contextual style 5. The linguistic interview 6. The survey of the lower east side Part II. Social Differentiation: 7. Class differentiation of the variables 8. Further analysis of the variables 9. Distribution of the variables in apparent time 10. Other linguistic variables Part III. Social Evaluation: 11. Subjective evaluation of the variables 12. Self-evaluation and linguistic security 13. General attitudes towards the speech of New York City Part IV. Synthesis: 14. The structure of the New York City vowel system.
2,837 citations
TL;DR: The authors proposed a framework for the analysis of identity as produced in linguistic interaction, based on the following principles: identity is the product rather than the source of linguis... and identity is generated from linguistic interaction.
Abstract: The article proposes a framework for the analysis of identity as produced in linguistic interaction, based on the following principles: (1) identity is the product rather than the source of linguis...
2,419 citations
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
Book•
01 Jan 2000TL;DR: According to as discussed by the authors, children learn words through sophisticated cognitive abilities that exist for other purposes, such as inferring others' intentions, the ability to acquire concepts, an appreciation of syntactic structure, and certain general learning and memory abilities.
Abstract: How do children learn that the word "dog" refers not to all four-legged animals, and not just to Ralph, but to all members of a particular species? How do they learn the meanings of verbs like "think," adjectives like "good," and words for abstract entities such as "mortgage" and "story"? The acquisition of word meaning is one of the fundamental issues in the study of mind. According to Paul Bloom, children learn words through sophisticated cognitive abilities that exist for other purposes. These include the ability to infer others' intentions, the ability to acquire concepts, an appreciation of syntactic structure, and certain general learning and memory abilities. Although other researchers have associated word learning with some of these capacities, Bloom is the first to show how a complete explanation requires all of them. The acquisition of even simple nouns requires rich conceptual, social, and linguistic capacities interacting in complex ways. This book requires no background in psychology or linguistics and is written in a clear, engaging style. Topics include the effects of language on spatial reasoning, the origin of essentialist beliefs, and the young child's understanding of representational art. The book should appeal to general readers interested in language and cognition as well as to researchers in the field.
1,445 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that the meanings of variables are not precise or fixed but rather constitute a field of potential meanings, any one of which can be activated in the situated use of the variable, and each new activation has the potential to change the field by building on ideological connections.
Abstract: This paper argues for a focus on the social meaning of variation, based in a study of stylistic practice. It is common in the study of variation to interpret variables as reflections of speakers’ membership in social categories. Others have argued more recently that variables are associated not with the categories themselves, but with stances and characteristics that constitute those categories. The paper reviews some variation studies that showthatvariablesdonothavestaticmeanings,butrathergeneralmeanings that become more specific in the context of styles. Building on Michael Silverstein’s notion of indexical order, I argue that the meanings of variables are not precise or fixed but rather constitute a field of potential meanings ‐ an indexical field, or constellation of ideologically related meanings, any one of which can be activated in the situated use of the variable. The field is fluid, and each new activation has the potential to change the field by building on ideological connections. Thus variation constitutes an indexical system that embeds ideology in language and that is in turn part and parcel of the construction of ideology.
1,167 citations