Secondary data analysis

Based on my questionnaire research of gender differentiations of opinion on the effect Afro-Caribbean language on Standard English, I accumulated a number of linguistic and social theorists that represent my argument on attitudes of changes in standard-language and differentiation between male and female.

The first overall argument that was portrayed in my results was that the male’s generic opinion presented a sense of oblivion to the fact that Standard English was potentially  declining, and the reasons why and that it was more common for the male to adapt to Afro-Caribbean style influences than female. The theory argued by Jenny Cheshire has the potential to correlate with this as she suggests in her 1982 reading study, there is a relationship between the use of non-standard variables and adherence to peer group norms. This may be the reason as to why in my results, the male portion is evidently more likely to speak with afro-Caribbean influence; my results showed that within the proportion of males asked, there was a variation of their ethnicity therefore the male’s peers are more likely to have an influence of their alteration in dialect as, according to Cheshire’s study, the relationship between use of an individual’s non-standard dialect and their peer’s norms is responsible for an individual changing their style of dialect/accent. Cheshire suggests that variation in dialect is a conscious choice, therefore meaning that there is a significant influence of afro-Caribbean, based on my questionnaire, as the male’s results showed that their dialect is more so influenced by other language as a pose to female’s as they didn’t show a high level of concern or even awareness for change or decline in standard English and growth in the use of other dialect (in this specific case, afro-Caribbean). In Jenny Cheshire’s study, she found that those who used non-standard forms were the participants who tended to approve of criminal activities, these responses linked to being boys’ results as a pose to girls.

Secondly, another observation that was made following the results of my questionnaire was female responses showed to be more careful in how they presented themselves and their general outlook regarding how they spoke; they held the opinion that speaking standard English promoted a professional and impressive outlook, as a pose to speaking in non-standard form which was seen, with reference to most female responses, as lazy and in-proper. However the male portion of the responses displayed that a large percentage didn’t detect a bad effect of using non-standard forms, implying that males tended to carry a sense of relaxation when it comes to their dialect, not observing if there was any negative connotations to their adapted dialect. A theory that will support these results is a study carried out by Peter Trudgill, in which he carried out a study to prove the hypothesis of how gender effects dialect in each social class. In order to do this, Trudgill examined situations in which both male and female would exercise their dialect; Trudgill differentiated between relaxed and careful speech in order to assess participants awareness of their own accents as well as how they wished to sound – which saw the non-standard pronunciation quickly decline. He found that class is more of a determiner of non-standard usage than gender, though women in all social classes are more likely to use Received Pronunciation form. Men were reported to apply their non-standard forms more greatly- implying that men wished to sound more non-standard, which is correlates with my results. Women in this study were reported to apply greatly their standard forms; implying their desire to have a more standard dialect; just like in my research it was conducted that female respondents had a greater desire for standard-English as a pose to Afro-Caribbean style dialect. Trudgill concluded his study with the statement that women are more susceptible to standard-form then men; in which men are more subject to non-standard forms. In the “lower middle class” and the “upper working class” the differences between men’s and women’s usage of the standard forms were greatest in formal speech, thereby identifying these classes as most susceptible to the prestige of the RP form, with women leading the way on this front.

Considering the results accumulated from my research, it is possible that Labov’s 1966 New York study and Martha’s Vineyard study, suggests a hypothesis as to why there is a differentiation between male and female’s sense of voluntary to with-hold either a standard or non-standard dialect. This is the theory that William Labov suggested that individual speech patterns are “part of a highly systematic structure of social and stylistic stratification”; suggesting that whether someone choses the dialect of standard or non-standard form is dependent on their attitude and background represented by their social class.

Labov studied how often the final (r) was pronounced in words such as guard, bare and beer. Use of this variable has considerable prestige in New York City. Labov investigated the speech of sales assistants in three Manhattan stores; drawn from the top (Saks), middle (Macy’s) and bottom (Klein’s) based on the price and fashion scale. Each unwitting participant was approached with an enquiry designed to draw the answer – “Fourth floor” – which may or may not contain the variable final (r). Frequency of use of the prestige variable final “r” varied with level of formality and social class – the sales assistants from Saks used it most, those from Klein’s used it least and those from Macy’s showed the greatest upward shift when they were asked to repeat.  Of the four classes tested – Lower Class, Working Class, Lower Middle Class & Upper Middle Class – it was the lower middle class that were most susceptible to the overt prestige of the “r” – as they differed the most between the incidence in casual speech style (4%) to most careful speech style (77%).  Labov found that the Upper Middle Class differed least between the casual and careful speech styles, therefore showing that they were least susceptible to the prestige form, changing the way they spoke less than any other social class when thinking carefully about how they spoke.

This study can be considered as relevant to my research due to the fact that the theory suggests that someone’s dialect is developed and adapted based on their surroundings and their attitude (represented by what social class they were considered to be in), this suggests why most male participants were favorable towards the Afro-Caribbean style dialect influence as their attitudes showed that they were unaware of any negatives non-standard terms potentially carried, and believed speaking in a non-standard form was of a positive light. Whereas the female respondent’s carried the concern of their ability to sustain a decent level of Standard English in order to portray, assumedly, a prestige and important impression.