Style-shifting

Style-shifting

Style-shifting is a term in sociolinguistics referring to alternation between styles of speech included in a linguistic repertoire of an individual speaker. As noted by Eckert and Rickford,cite book |author=Eckert, Penelope; Rickford, John |title=Style and sociolinguistic variation |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |year=2001 |pages= |isbn=0-521-59789-7 |oclc= |doi=] in sociolinguistic literature terms style and register sometimes have been used interchangeably. Also, various connotations of style are a subject of study in stylistics.

Style-shifting is a manifestation of intraspeaker (within-speaker) variation, in contrast with interspeaker (between-speakers) variation. It is a voluntary act which an individual effects in order to respond to or initiate changes in sociolinguistic situation (e.g., interlocutor-related, setting-related, topic-related).

William Labov, while conducting sociolinguistic interviews, designated two types of spoken style, casual and formal, and three types of reading style (a reading passage, a word list, and a minimal pair list). Analysing style-shifting Labov postulated that "styles can be arranged along a single dimension, measured by the amount of attention paid to speech" (1972, as quoted incite book |author=Milroy, Lesley; Gordon, John |title=Sociolinguistics: method and interpretation |publisher=Blackwell Pub |location=Cambridge, MA |year=2003 |pages= |isbn=0-631-22225-1 |oclc= |doi=] ), casual style requiring the least amount of conscious self-monitoring. Such style-shifting is often referred to as responsive (produced in response to normative pressures).cite book |author=Gordon, Matthew J.; Milroy, Lesley |title=Sociolinguistics: method and interpretation |publisher=Blackwell Pub |location=Cambridge, MA |year=2003 |pages= |isbn=0-631-22225-1 |oclc= |doi=]

In recent developments of stylistic variation analysis scholars such as Allan Bell, Barbara Johnstone, Natalie Schilling-Estes have been focusing on initiative dimension of style-shifting, which occurs when speakers proactively choose among various linguistic resources (e.g. dialectal, archaic or vernacular forms) in order to present themselves in a specific way. In initiative style-shifting speakers actively engage in social practices to construct social meaning.

ee also

*audience design
*code-switching
*Register (linguistics)
*Sociolinguistics#Traditional Sociolinguistic Interview
*Style (manner of address)
*Stylistics
*Allan Bell
*William Labov

References

Further reading

*Bell, A. (2001) Back in style: Reworking audience design. In P.Eckert and J. Rickford (eds.), Style and Sociolinguistic Variation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
*Johnstone, B. (1999) Uses of southern-sounding speech by contemporary Texas women. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 4 (3), 505-22.
*Labov, W. (1972) Sociolinguistic Patterns. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
*Schilling-Estes, N. (1998) Self-conscious speech in Ocracoke English. Language in Sosciety, 27(1), 53-83.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Chen-style t'ai chi ch'uan — The Chen family style (陳家、陳氏 or 陳式 太極拳) is the oldest and parent form of the five traditional family styles. Chen style is characterized by Silk reeling (chan si jin; 纏絲勁), alternating fast/slow motion and bursts of power (fa jin; 發勁).[1]… …   Wikipedia

  • Chen style tai chi chuan — The Chen family style (陳家、陳氏 or 陳式 太極拳) is the oldest and parent form of the five main tai chi chuan styles. It is third in terms of world wide popularity compared to the other main taijiquan styles. Chen style is characterized by its lower… …   Wikipedia

  • Yin Style Baguazhang — articleissues article=y refimprove=July 2007 primarysources=July 2007 citationstyle=July 2007 laundrylists=July 2007Yin Style Baguazhang is a style of Baguazhang, a Chinese martial art. Yin Style has many substyles, some of the lineages of which… …   Wikipedia

  • Stand-up style — In ice hockey, the stand up style, as the name suggests, refers to a style of goaltending in which the goaltender makes the majority of the saves standing up, not falling to his or her knees. Its strength is mobility. While standing, a stand up… …   Wikipedia

  • tilt shifting — /ˈtɪlt ʃɪftɪŋ/ (say tilt shifting) noun a digital photography style in which the lens of the camera is tilted relative to the image plane to produce a shallow depth of field which creates the illusion of miniaturisation; miniature faking. Also,… …  

  • Audience design — is a sociolinguistic model outlined by Allan Bell in 1984 which proposes that linguistic style shifting occurs primarily in response to a speaker s audience. According to this model, speakers adjust their speech primarily towards that of their… …   Wikipedia

  • Sociolinguistics — is the study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used. Sociolinguistics overlaps to a considerable degree with pragmatics.It also studies how lects differ… …   Wikipedia

  • British hip hop — Infobox Music genre name = Hip hop/Rap music bgcolor = lightblue color = white stylistic origins = Jamaican Dancehall toasting alongside the rhythms of R B, disco, and funk cultural origins = late 1960s/early 1970s: Kingston, Jamaica early 1970s… …   Wikipedia

  • Music lesson — For other uses, see Music lesson (disambiguation). Teacher using a blackboard to illustrate a music lesson, New Orleans, 1940 …   Wikipedia

  • Desensitized (Drowning Pool album) — Desensitized Studio album by Drowning Pool Released April 20, 2004 …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”