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Researching Urban Youth Language and Identity

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Abstract

This chapter describes in detail the challenges faced when trying to combine two very different approaches to sociolinguistic study. The clash of cultures represented by a variationist framework on the one hand and an interactional/ethnographic framework on the other led to a great deal of methodological reflection and soul-searching. Against the backdrop of previous research, the chapter highlights specific difficulties in data collection and analysis, before suggesting ways in which they can be overcome or at least mitigated. It provides detail on the eventual processes involved in undertaking the research and reflects on what was learned along the way.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    An authentic speaker is an idealised individual who demonstrates a ‘pure’ version of the language variety we are investigating. See Johnstone (2014) for a critique.

  2. 2.

    In discussing the assumptions we routinely accept in the course of our research, Eckert (2003: 394) suggests that ‘[i]f the Authentic Speaker is an elephant hovering in the corner, the vernacular is a moose sprawling in the middle of the table’.

  3. 3.

    Certain variables have been researched time and time again in variationist work, usually because they naturally vary to a greater extent, or because there is a measurable social aspect to the variation. For example, the vowel sound in move is often investigated, as it appears to be undergoing change in most varieties of English (known as GOOSE fronting). The pronunciation of ‘-ing’ has been referred to as ‘[a] staple of sociolinguistics’ (Hazen 2006: 581), and the use of ‘like’ as a discourse marker or quotative (see Chap. 6) is a common current focus.

  4. 4.

    While readers who have a background in sociolinguistics will likely be familiar with the ‘three waves’ of variationist research, I appreciate that those outside the discipline might not. For some background, I strongly recommend the three works cited earlier: Eckert (2012); Wardhaugh and Fuller (2015: 169–195); Drummond and Schleef (2016).

  5. 5.

    Elan is a piece of transcribing software that allows the transcription to be time-aligned with the audio. This can save a lot of time when revisiting audio data to find out precisely how something was said (e.g. for studies into sociophonetic variation). It is less useful if your primary focus is what was said (e.g. for studies into discourse analysis). Transcribing into Elan is generally more time-consuming, and a lot more involved, than directly into Word, for example.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Languages, Information and Communication, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK

    Rob Drummond

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Drummond, R. (2018). Methods. In: Researching Urban Youth Language and Identity. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73462-0_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73462-0_4

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