Language and Society

Lecture 13
(October 6, 2022)

Quantitative Sociolinguistics
Methods, New York Study
Quantitative Sociolinguistics


The approach to study some of the linguistic phenomena in language use

Field based

Looks at the corelation between linguistic variables and social variables

Have to be

Statistically sound in

Data sampling

Data treatment

Hypothesis testing

Validated

Reliable
Method

• Identification of linguistic and social variables

• Data sampling
• Collection
• Organization of data
• Observer’s paradox
• Analysis and Interpretation
Linguistic and Social Variables

• Linguistic variables could be

• Labov’s study in New York (presence or absence of ‘r’)
• Presence or absence of [h] in words like ‘hour/hotel etc

• Social variables
• Social class
• Age
• Sex
• Etc
Sampling

• Linguistic aspect
• How to fix the linguistic variable
• How much data would give statistically significant results (size)
• Representativeness of the data

• Social aspect
• What social group to choose
• How many speakers for each group (size)
Collection

• Method of data collection

• Interviews
• Questionnaire
• Surveys

• How to control bias?

• Observers paradox
Analysis and Interpretation

• Hardest of all steps

• Identify patterns and describe them
• Interpret the finding and make generalizations
New York Study : An example

• Labov (1972) New York

• Presence of absence of /r/ in words like ‘farm’ and ‘fair’
(r):[r] or (r):0
• Anonymous study conducted in three New York Stores
• Saks (high)
• Macy and (middle)
• Klein (low)

• Words fourth and floor were collected

• In casual and careful speech