Chapter 8
Ethnicity and Social Networks
Many ethnic groups use a distinctive
language associated with their ethnic identity. An individual may choose a
language to signal ethnicity. If the conversation can not be completely
established in the ethnic language, the individual may use tags, short phrases
or sentence fillers to signal ethnicity. For example, in New Zealand, many
people use Maori phrases, greetings tags and responses in their conversations
to signal their Maori ethnicity. Chinese Singaporeans do the same.
When a group adopts a dominant language,
the ethnic language gradually disappears. Ethnic groups like Italians in
Sydney, Maori people in New Zealand or African Americans in Chicago respond to
this situation by using the majority language in a way that reflects their
ethnicity. The linguistic features they use become a symbol of their ethnicity.
For example, Italians in
Boston use a vernacular pronunciation of vowels
in words like “short”.
The 1st and 2nd generations
of Italians in Sydney are also identified with their
vernacular pronunciation of vowels. Scottish people in New Zealand mark the pronunciation of /r/ in words like “card” to
mark their Scottish ethnicity.
In USA, African Americans use a distinct variety that
distinguishes them from the majority group. This distinct variety is known as
African American Vernacular English (AAVE). AAVE is heard in northern cities,
and has certain features:
Ø Double negation constructions.
Ø The absence of the copula verb (be). For
example, the standard English tends to contract (is) by using the
contractive/reduced form (‘s) however the AAVE omits the (be) verb completely.
So a Standard English speaker would say (she’s beautiful) while an AAVE speaker
would say (she beautiful).
Ø The use the verb (be) to indicate
continuity of repeated actions. For example, (the beer be warm at that place).
Ø Consonant cluster simplification. AAVE
speakers simplify the consonant clusters at the end of the words. And they do
it more frequently than the white Americans.
Some of the features can be shared by
the lower class, but the AAVE speakers use it more frequently than the lower
class members. For example, double negation is used by the lower class, but it
is used more frequently by African Americans. Also the simplification of
consonant clusters is used more frequently by the AAVE speakers rather than the
white Americans.
In Britain, members of the black British community
use a variety of Jamaican Creole known as
Patois. The London Jamaican is the London variety of patois. It derives from
Jamaican Creole. Also, Midlands’ variety derives from Patois.
There are linguistic features that
characterize patois:
Ø Lexical items indicate different
meanings than those of the standard language. Ex: (lick) means (hit).
Ø The Form (mi) is used for I, Me and My.
The form (dem) is used for them, they and their.
Ø Intonation and stress patterns which are
different than those of the standard language. Ex: (thin) is pronounced as
(tin), and (Then) is pronounced (den)
Ø On the grammatical level, Plural forms
do not have (s) at the end. Tenses are not marked by suffixes like (ed) or (s).
Such varieties are also regarded as
(anti-language): they express opposition to the mainstream values of white
people society that excluded black people and their culture.
In New Zealand, the Maori people use the following
linguistic features that characterize their speech:
Ø Alternation between /d/ and /ð/
pronunciation in words like (the) and (then).
Ø Greetings like “kia ora” or lexical
items like “tangi” (funeral) are used more frequently by Maori than Pakeha
(also a community in New Zealand).
Ø Vernacular verb forms occur more
frequently in the speech of Maori children than those of Pakeha.
Ø Maori women tend to use more vernacular
past tense forms than those of verbs.
Social Networks
Networks in sociolinguistics refer to the pattern of informal relationships people are involved in on
a regular basis. There are two kinds of networks based on two terms density and
plexity.
Density refers to whether members of a person’s network are
interacting with each other. If the members are in touch with each other
independently from the person then that person’s network is described as dense.
Plexity is a measure of the range of different types of
transaction people are involved in:
Ø A uniplex relationship: a link between
two persons in only one area. Ex: going fishing or playing badminton. They
never meet in any other context.
Ø A Multiplex relationship: interactions
with others in several dimensions.
The speech of people reflects the type
of network they belong to. The people we interact with are also one important
influence on our speech. When we mix with a homogenous group we will speak in
the way the group does provided that we like to belong to this group. We can
notice this in the speech of children when it begins to resemble that of other
children in school rather than of their family. A study of language shift in Oberwart has found that the people who contacted
with peasants preferred to used Hungarian (the vernacular) while those who
contacted more with industrials preferred German. Also, in Brazil, the speech of the rural people who
moved to the city (Brasilia) differed. Those who had developed many
relationships used more standard forms of Portuguese, while the people who kept
themselves away from relations used more vernacular rural accents.
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In Belfast
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Ballymacarrett (working area in
Belfast)
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Clonard (another working area in
Belfast)
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The men who worked with relatives and
neighbors used more vernacular forms and their networks were dense. While the
women worked at the far side of the city mixed with more diverse groups of
people, therefore their networks are more open than those of men, less dense,
and their speech had less vernacular forms
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The men’s profession has disappeared
but the women looked for work together and their networks in this case were
dense. Therefore, they used more vernacular.
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Community of practice and construction
of social identity:
The term “community of practice” was
used by the sociolinguist Penelope Eckert, who spent months in an American high
school to capture the complexities of social groups in the school. There are
two social groups:
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One
that goes against school rules and head to workforce immediately after school.
They socialize in local urban neighborhoods.
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Another
that is more conformist to school values, and head to college after school.
The term is also used by sociolinguists
to permit a focus on social categories in relation to participants rather than
class or gender. Communities of practice develop around the activities that
group members engage in together. Those members share particular goals and
attitudes. They are either long – term like family, sports team or working
group, or temporary like a group organizing a dance, a party or a conference.
This approach “community of practice” helps
to understand how language can be used to build up or construct identities.
Glossary:
Consonant clusters تجمع من الأحرف
الساكنة الواقعة جنبا إلى جنب في الكلمة
Intonation النبرة الصوتية
Stress التشديد على المقطع
الصوتي
Mainstream الأغلبية
Homogenous متجانس
Density
الكثافة
Plexity
التعددية في العناصر
Provided
that بشرط أن
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