SOCIOLINGUISTICS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

SOCIOLINGUISTICS - Essay ExampleHowever, quantitative study is the ideal methodology in study interpretations in English language as a second language because it clearly outlines effects of language transfer. There have been a number of remarkable studies in the field of sociolinguistics from the view of English as a second language. However, in this case the main focus is on two studies. The first atomic number 53 was conducted in new-sprung(prenominal) York City by William Labov where he investigated the variations in pronouncing variable /r/. Labov argued that New Yorkers, especially the young people, had developed a tendency of pronouncing /r/ variable after vowels in their speech. This case would probably occur while pronouncing words like floor and fourth. Labov conducted his research in three stores in the urban center which included S. Klein, Saks, and Macys. His approach in testing these hypotheses involved face to face interviews with the store employees. He repetitiv ely asked for directions to departments in the fourth floor and intentionally make the respondent to repeat fourth floor pretending non to have heard it the first time (Wardhaugh, 2006). Moreover, the research involved a number of genial factors such as social-classes ranging from high, middle, to low class. Labov found out that a significant number of employees in all the three stores never used variable /r/ in the first respond. The results of those employees who never used variable /r/ reflected 79 percent in S. Klein, 38 percent in Saks and 49 percent in Macys. However, in the second or third response of same words, the percentage of those using variable /r/ increased. The research also showed that variable /r/ was in general observed while pronouncing floor than fourth. These in relation to case-by-cases using English as a second language shows that there are high possibilities of such individuals using /r/ variable in most cases. Labov further examined the results from th e three stores and discovered that young employees, in Saks, used the variable /r/ more than compared to elderly employees. On the other hand, Macys data showed an increase in the use of /r/ variable with age while S. Kleins data did not show much variation. These results led Labov to conclude that, there is relatively minimal or no change of orthoepy developed in adolescence regardless of the social-class of an individual (Wardhaugh, 2006). Later, Labov conducted a more compressive research to test the hypothesis on pronunciation of the /r/ variable in relation to social class. He discovered that most upper middle class people in New York value pronunciation of the /r/ variable in words such as confine and car. This is, however, contrary to the history of / r/ variable pronunciation in New York. Use of variable /r/ in New York between eighteenth century and World War II had reduced significantly. Therefore, the only explanation behind the tremendous increase in using /r/ variabl e in New York would be the influence of immigrants, mostly English second language speakers, moving into the city (Bayley, 2005). Therefore, using English as a second language contributes to variation in the use of language. In this case, Labov interviewed more New Yorker, although this time, they were just required to give their view about the people whose speech differs only in pronunciation of /r/ variable. People between the age group of 0-20 years approved and used more of