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Real-time evidence for age grad(ing) in late adolescence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 July 2012

Suzanne Evans Wagner
Suzanne Evans Wagner
Affiliation:
Michigan State University
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Abstract

This study provides real-time support for the hypothesis, previously inferred from apparent time studies, that stable sociolinguistic variables are age-graded. Stable variables have been shown to exhibit a curvilinear pattern with age in which adolescents use nonstandard variants at a higher rate than adults do. An analysis of the morphophonological variable (ing) was carried out using recordings and ethnographic observations of 13 young American women during and after their final years of high school. Offering a detailed look at the late adolescent life stage, the study also explores speakers’ motivations for retaining or retreating from nonstandard variants as they prepare to enter adulthood. These are examined at both the group and the individual level. The results indicate that the degree of retreat from nonstandard variants is socially differentiated, in line with apparent time findings. Future enrollment in a locally oriented college, and alignment to a local ethnic network (Irish or Italian)—not social class—were the predictors of retention in high school.

Type
Research Article
Information
Language Variation and Change , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , July 2012 , pp. 179 - 202
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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