Introdungcing English language part 33 pps

178 EXPLORATION: INVESTIGATING ENGLISH LANGUAGE Other Man: YOU didn’t! Man: I-dbct-fd-tq! I don’t want to argue about it! Other Man: Well I’m very sorry but you didn’t pay! Man: Ah hah! Well if I didn’t pay, why are you arguing??? Ah AAHHH! Gotcha! Other Man: No you haven’t! Man: Yes I have! If you’re arguing, I must have paid. Other Man: Not necessarily. I could be arguing in my spare time. Man: I’ve had enough of this! [leaves] [Door slams] Other Man: No you haven’t. Find other dramatic scripts in which there is an argument or confrontation. How are the power-relations signified in the play? Answer: versions of Swift Moll is a beauty, Has an acute eye, No lass so fine is, Molly divine is. O my dear mistress, I’m in a distress, Can’t you discover Me as a lover? I writ you a verse on a Molly o’ mine, As tall as a May-pole, a lady so fine; I never knew any so neat in mine eyes; A man, at a glance or a sight of her, dies Dear Molly’s a beauty, whose face and whose nose is As fair as a lily, as red as a rose is; A kiss o’ my Molly is all my delight; I love her by day, and I love her by night. COLLECTING DATA In 1999, sociolinguist Carmen Llamas devised the following innovative multi- methodological framework for language data collection. This approach has been very influential both inside and outside of academia. In addition to being a seminal methodological approach within studies of language and linguistics, it has also been successfully utilised by the BBC for a large-scale project it conducted in the UK entitled Voices, where it used an adapted version of her multi-method approach in order to conduct a broad quantitative survey of accent, dialect and attitudes to different lan- guage varieties across the British Isles. C12 COLLECTING DATA 179 Llamas devised a multilayered methodological package, designed specifically to elicit sociolinguistic language data. One of its most significant innovations lies in the fact that it can be used to assess sociolinguistic language variation across three different levels of the language system: it can examine phonological, lexical and gram- matical variants. The foundational part of Llamas’ approach to data collection is what she termed Sense Relation Network sheets (SRNs). Selected informants from a particular geographical location which the fieldworker wishes to study are given a pre-interview pack which is partly made up of these SRNs. This is then followed up a few days later by a face- to-face informal audio-recorded interview with the fieldworker. personality appearance PEOPLE body ages & relationships stupid soft shoes (worn by children for PE) clothes (in general) unattractive attractive trousers any others mouth nose teeth mother/father man/ woman brother/sister any others g randmother/father child (boy/girl) baby boss friend partner (sexual) male/female ears any others legs head men’s facial hair (above lip & in front of ears) tall glasses rude any others mean (with money) moody intelligent Figure C12.1 Sense Relation Network sheet (1) 180 EXPLORATION: INVESTIGATING ENGLISH LANGUAGE The interview is often conducted in the informant’s home or within surroundings with which they are familiar and thus most likely to be more relaxed. The gap between delivery of the pre-interview pack and the interview encounter itself is designed to give informants a good period of time to think about different dialectal variants in order to maximise the amount of data that is collected. Such an approach has the distinct advantage of avoiding elicitation problems such as a participant’s mind going blank, as can be the case if interviewees do not know what to expect in interview and are then asked for an instantaneous, on-the-spot response. The SRNs have been carefully designed by Llamas (1999: 98) following Aitchison’s (1997) principle that a ‘web of words’ exists within speakers’ minds. Additionally, the visual design of Llamas’ SRNs has been influenced by the tools and doing things saying things feelings & states tired hot cold any others ill dirty not have any money left ask to wait tell on someone (tales) any others tell to be quiet thank talk/chat (a lot) steal work (hard) not use right hand to write with any others fi g ht eat quickly hit play throw away sleep run away from (escape) pleased/proud cheated (e.g. financially) drunk mad pregnant FEELINGS, ACTIONS & STATES Figure C12.2 Sense Relation Network sheet (2) COLLECTING DATA 181 techniques frequently used in English language teaching, where visual learning aids such as word field diagrams often feature. The centre of the SRN contains a semantic field, identified by piloting the method. The semantic fields are: ‘People’, ‘Feelings, Actions and States’ and ‘The Outside World’. The ‘networks’ of words branch out from the different semantic fields, with the standard notional word appearing in the sub-sections of the SRNs. We have repro- duced the three SRNs in Figures C12.1, C12.2 and C12.3. Informants are given the following instructions (Figure C12.4) as part of the pre-interview pack so that when the interview takes place they have a good idea of what to expect beforehand. This also acts as a record of the biographical details of the participants. Figure C12.4 is an example of a completed form from one of Llamas’ studies conducted in the northern-eastern English town of Middlesbrough (Llamas 1999: 110). food & money nature & weather buildings & jobs main room of the house (with TV) toilet small walkway (path) between houses television any others food taken to work meals of the day types of bread food (in g eneral) any others money (in general) £1,000 rain (heavy) rain (light) (very) small stream any others time between summer & winter dog cat £1 prison police station policeman THE OUTSIDE WORLD Figure C12.3 Sense Relation Network sheet (3) 182 EXPLORATION: INVESTIGATING ENGLISH LANGUAGE An example of completed dialect words would be ‘plimsolls’, ‘pumps’ or ‘sand- shoes’ or even ‘trainers’, ‘runners’ or ‘sneakers’, depending on your regional origins, for soft shoes in Figure C12.1. Another part of the pre-interview pack is a question- naire designed to test participants’ awareness of non-standard grammatical usage in their local area. The rationale behind this is that the results of this questionnaire can then be compared and contrasted with the grammatical variants that participants use in conversation within the interview itself. First Name Place of birth Other places you have lived and for how long Jenny middlesbrough Teesdale 1 year Durham 3 years (College) • Please complete the sheets with words you think are dialect words or are local to the area you are from. • Try to put down the first thing that comes to your mind, words you use every day when talking with friends, for example. • After that, think about it for a while and note down any other examples of words local to the place you live which come to mind. • Feel free to discuss the words with other people from the same area as you. But try to keep a note of who you discuss the words with (especially if you note down their suggestions). • Put down more than one word, if you like. Also, feel free to use expressions as well as single words. • Use the sections called ‘any others’ to note down any extra words or expressions you think of (yourself, or in discussion with others). If these are words for things not listed on the sheet, please put down what you think they mean, or what someone not necessarily from your area would understand by them. • Have a look through the questions about your language and your area, which we’ll also be talking about (there is no need to answer these questions on the sheet). • Complete the Language Questionnaire by putting ticks in the appropriate boxes. Figure C12.4 Pre-interview instruction sheet COLLECTING DATA 183 Language Questionnaire Tick ( ¸ ) the first box if you would hear this where you live Tick ( ¸ ) the second box if you would use this type of sentence yourself in speech Tick ( ¸ ) the third box if you would use this type of sentence when writing to a friend. ᮀᮀᮀ 1. He was just sat there by himself. ᮀᮀᮀ 2. They can’t do nothing without you saying. ᮀᮀᮀ 3. There’s a job going at our place if youse two want to go for it. ᮀᮀᮀ 4. We all talk different. ᮀᮀᮀ 5. You weren’t stood there, were you? ᮀᮀᮀ 6. Just say what you want, innit? ᮀᮀᮀ 7. They said they were coming back on Monday and they never. ᮀᮀᮀ 8. That’s the best one what she’s got on. ᮀᮀᮀ 9. You’re insured on them items for 80 days. ᮀᮀᮀ 10. He’s working 9 while 6 this week. ᮀᮀᮀ 11. I’m going down London next week. ᮀᮀᮀ 12. I don’t fancy going up Stockton. ᮀᮀᮀ 13. The sharks were only two foot long. ᮀᮀᮀ 14. I seen Sarah at work yesterday. ᮀᮀᮀ 15. I knew a bloke who were doing speech therapy. ᮀᮀᮀ 16. We was walking along the road when it happened. ᮀᮀᮀ 17. It were too cold to go out. ᮀᮀᮀ 18. We usually gan down the pub on Thursday’s. ᮀᮀᮀ 19. I bet she was sick as. ᮀᮀᮀ 20. They give me it the same day I opened the account. ᮀᮀᮀ 21. I should’ve went to the medical really. ᮀᮀᮀ 22. You wasn’t listening to what I said. ᮀᮀᮀ 23. She come in at 12 o’clock last night. ᮀᮀᮀ 24. She don’t like that sort of thing. ᮀᮀᮀ 25. There’s no Electron signs on any doors. ᮀᮀᮀ 26. I’m not cooking for them, they can do it theirselves. ᮀᮀᮀ 27. Lend us your catalogue, I want to have a flick through it. ᮀᮀᮀ 28. There was kids there. ᮀᮀᮀ 29. I’ve never heard of him like. ᮀᮀᮀ 30. He said it wasn’t scary but, mind you, he is about 45. ᮀᮀᮀ 31. They proper hurt you when you crash. ᮀᮀᮀ 32. The cops ain’t gonna do anything. ᮀᮀᮀ 33. They in’t gonna pull you up. ᮀᮀᮀ 34. It’s the only like decent night out we have, isn’t it? ᮀᮀᮀ 35. He wouldn’t could’ve worked, even if you had asked him. ᮀᮀᮀ 36. Will I put the kettle on? ᮀᮀᮀ 37. My hair needs washed. ᮀᮀᮀ 38. I’m opening another account me. ᮀᮀᮀ 39. If you’re left-handed, you’re more cleverer. ᮀᮀᮀ 40. I’ve forgot my money, can you buy me a pint? . sociolinguistic language data. One of its most significant innovations lies in the fact that it can be used to assess sociolinguistic language variation across three different levels of the language. framework for language data collection. This approach has been very influential both inside and outside of academia. In addition to being a seminal methodological approach within studies of language. 178 EXPLORATION: INVESTIGATING ENGLISH LANGUAGE Other Man: YOU didn’t! Man: I-dbct-fd-tq! I don’t want to argue about it! Other Man: