Abstract
The dominant tradition in linguistics in the 1960s required rigorous concentration on structure abstracted from use. From that perspective, speech communities were homogeneous and ‘surface’ differences between speakers were irrelevant to the task of describing their language. This chapter reviews research undertaken in various ‘socially realistic’ traditions, most of it intended to explore social class differences in linguistic usage or in what language is predominantly used to do. Other contributions to this volume focus directly on the educational consequences of such diversity, but much of the research outlined here has also identified discontinuities between the languages or discourses of home and school or, more broadly, between the local and the wider community. Although this review begins with Labov’s (1966) demonstration of the ‘highly systematic structure of social and stylistic stratification’ evident in differences previously dismissed as ‘free variation’, its main concern is with what speech reveals of the speakers — their social backgrounds, sense of identity, and perceptions of a social world which their use of language both reflects and shapes.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bernstein, B. (ed.): 1973, Class, Codes and Control: Volume 2: Applied Studies towards a Sociology of Language, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.
Bernstein, B.: 1996, Pedagogy, Symbolic Control and Identity: Theory, Research, Critique, Taylor & Francis, London & Bristol, Penn. USA.
Bourdieu, P.: 1973, ‘Cultural reproduction and social reproduction’, in R. Brown (ed.), Knowledge, Education and Cultural Change, Tavistock Press, London, 71–112.
Bourdieu, P.: 1991, Language and Symbolic Power, Polity Press, Cambridge.
Cazden, C.: 1995, ‘Visible and invisible pedagogies in literacy education’, in P. Atkinson, B. Davies & S. Delamont (eds.), Discourse and Reproduction, Hampton Press, Cresskill New Jersey, 159–172.
Corfield, P.J. (ed.): 1991, Language, History and Class, Blackwell, Oxford England and Cambridge USA.
Corson, D.J.: 1995, Using English Words, Dordrecht, Kluwer.
Edwards, A.D.: 1976, Language in Culture and Class, Heinemann, London.
Edwards, J.R.: 1989, Language and Disadvantage (second edition), Edward Arnold, London.
Edwards, V. & Sienkewicz, T.J.: 1990, Oral Cultures Past and Present, Basil Blackwell, Oxford.
Fasold, R.: 1990, Sociolinguistics of Language, Blackwell, Oxford UK and Cambridge USA.
Freire, P. & Macedo, D.: 1987, Literacy: Reading the Word and the World, Routledge, London.
Gee, J.: 1990, Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideology in discources, Falmer Press, London.
Giles, H. & Powesland, P.: 1975, Speech Style and Social Evaluation, Academic Press, London.
Halliday, M.: 1978, Language as Social Semiotic, Edwards Arnold, London.
Hasan, R. & Cloran, C.: 1990, ‘A socio-linguistic interpretation of everyday talk between mothers and children’, in M. Halliday, J. Gibbons & M. Nicholas (eds.), Learning, Keeping and Using Language, John Benjamins, Amsterdam/Philadelphia 67–100.
Heath, S.: 1983, Ways with Words: Life and Work in Communities and Classrooms, Cambridge University Press, London.
Heller, M.: 1995, ‘Language choice, social institutions and symbolic domination’, Language in Society 24, 373–405.
Holland, J.: 1981, ‘Social class and changes in orientation to meaning’, Sociology 15, 1–18.
Horvath, S.: 1985, Variation in Australian English: The Sociolects of Sydney, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Hymes, D.: 1993, ‘Inequality of language: Taking for granted’, in J.E. Alatis (ed.), Language, Communication and Meaning, Georgetown University Press, Georgetown USA, 2–40.
Labov, W.: 1966, The Social Stratification of English in New York City, Centre for Applied Linguistics, Washington DC.
Labov, W.: 1972, Language in the Inner-City, Basil Blackwell, Oxford.
Lemke, J.: 1995, Textual Politics: Discourse and Social Dynamics, Taylor & Francis, London and Bristol, Pennsylvania.
Macaulay, R.K.: 1977, Language, Social Class and Education: A Glasgow Study, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh.
Milroy, L.: 1980, Language and Social Networks, Basil Blackwell, Oxford.
Milroy, J. & Milroy, L.: 1985, Authority in Language: Investigating Language Prescription and Standardization, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.
Moraes, A., Fontinhas, F. & Neves, I.: 1992, ‘Recognition and realisation Rules in acquiring school science: The contribution of pedagogy and the social background of students’, British Journal of Sociology of Education 13, 247–270.
Romaine, S. (ed.): 1982, Sociolinguistic Variation in Speech Communities, Edward Arnold, London.
Trudgill, P.: 1974, The Social Differentiation of English in Norwich, Cambridge University Press, London.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Edwards, A.D. (1997). Oral Language, Culture and Class. In: Davies, B., Corson, D. (eds) Oral Discourse and Education. Encyclopedia of Language and Education, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4417-9_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4417-9_7
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-0-7923-4930-3
Online ISBN: 978-94-011-4417-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive