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Sociolinguistic Style: A Multidimensional Resource for Shared Identity Creation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Emma Moore
Emma Moore*
Affiliation:
University of Sheffield, UK
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Abstract

Traditional accounts of style isolate individual variables and situate their use along a formality scale. Because it abstractly represents speaker interaction, this approach imposes a taxonomic distinction between stylistic and social constraints. By focussing on single variables in isolation, such accounts wrench individual variables out of the context that defines them. Recent accounts of style recognise the context-dependency of social meaning. We must therefore consider how a particular combination of linguistic and extralinguistic resources interact to produce an overall style that subsumes the traditional style/social constraint distinction. I explore how the styles created by a community of girls function to produce a system of distinction (Irvine 2001) in their high school, by considering how each group uses morphosyntactic and discourse-related variables to define themselves in relation to other social groups. The analysis reveals that sociolinguistic meaning is never achieved by a single group in isolation, but is the consequence of a collaborative negotiation of available resources.

Résumé

Résumé

Traditionnellement, les analyses sociolinguistiques isolent les variables individuelles et situent leur usage sur une échelle de formalité. Puisqu’elle représente l’interaction entre interlocuteurs de manière abstraite, cette approche impose une distinction taxonomique entre les contraintes stylistiques et sociales. En se concentrant sur des variables simples en isolation, de telles analyses extirpent les variables individuelles hors du contexte qui les définit. Les analyses de style récentes ont tenter d’incorporer la dépendance de contexte dont témoigne la signification sociale. Nous devons donc considérer comment une combinaison particulière de ressources linguistiques et sociales interagit pour produire un style global qui transcende la distinction traditionnelle entre contrainte de style et contrainte sociale. J’explore la manière dont les styles créés par une communauté de filles fonctionnent pour produire un système de distinction (Irvine 2001) dans leur école secondaire, tout en considérant comment chaque groupe utilise des variables morphosyntaxiques et discursives pour se définir par rapport à d’autres groupes sociaux. L’analyse révèle que la signification sociolinguistique n’est jamais accomplie par un seul groupe pris en isolation, mais suit d’une négociation collaborative des ressources disponibles.

Type
Part III: From Dialect to Style
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 49 , Issue 3-4 , December 2004 , pp. 375 - 396
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association 2004

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