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Sex, covert prestige and linguistic change in the urban British English of Norwich

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

Peter Trudgill
Peter Trudgill
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistic Science, University of Reading
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Abstract

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Women use linguistic forms associated with the prestige standard more frequently than men. One reason for this is that working-class speech has favourable connotations for male speakers. Favourable attitudes to non-standard speech are not normally expressed, however, and emerge only in inaccurate self-evaluation test responses. Patterns of sex differentiation deviating from the norm indicate that a linguistic change is taking place: standard forms are introduced by middle-class women, non-standard forms by working-class men. (Sociolinguistic variation; linguistic change; women's and men's speech; contextual styles; social class; British English.)

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , October 1972 , pp. 179 - 195
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1972

References

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