Chapter 10 | Exercises

Exercise 10.1

Using audio recordings of speeches to diverse audiences, examine stylistic variation in the speech of a person well known for the ability to bridge different cultures (for example, Martin Luther King, Jr, Barack Obama). Compare speeches made to members of minority cultures with those presented to members of cultural majorities. 

Are there any qualitative differences in linguistic form (for example, phonology, grammar)? 
What kinds of differences are there in language‐use conventions when different audiences are addressed (for example, speaker–audience interplay, salutations)? 
Are there particular features with social or situational associations that the speaker might be manipulating (for example, multiple negation)? 
What kinds of dialect or register features do not appear to be manipulated? (For example, are irregular verbs shifted?)

Exercise 10.2

One of the LANGUAGE REGISTERS that has been examined by sociolinguists is the “math register” – the particular use of language associated with mathematics. In the following items, typical of language use in math problems, identify some of the specialized uses of language that might be a part of the math register. 

What parts of speech seem to be especially affected in this register?
  1. Does each real number x have a subtractive inverse?
  2. The sum of two integers is 20 and one integer is 8 greater than the other. Find the integers.
  3. Find consecutive even integers such that the sum of the first and third is 134.
  4. Find three consecutive odd integers such that the sum of the last two is 7 less than three times the first.
  5. Under one particular phone plan, each minute of phone conversation from Europe to the United States costs 50 cents more than each international text message. One month Professor Thorn’s record of phone usage showed 30 text messages to the United States and 42 minutes’ worth of phone calls to the United States. The total bill was $57.00. What is the cost per minute of one international phone call?
In a book on dialect differences and math failure, Twice as Less: Black English and the Performance of Black Students in Mathematics and Science, Eleanor Wilson Orr (1987) suggests that the roots of the math difficulties experienced by many working‐class African American students are found in the grammatical differences that distinguish vernacular varieties of AAE from MAE. Having examined the typical kinds of language uses in math in the above examples, react to this conclusion. Are there special features of the math register that are common to all students studying math? How does the use of language in math differ from “ordinary” language use? Are these differences unique to the field of mathematics? Do you think dialect differences pose special obstacles to learning math? Why or why not?

10.2 Answers

1. “x” means “unknown” in math register
2. The predicate comes before the subject in math register
3. “such that” means “so” in math register
4. “such that”
5. Prepositional phrase comes at end of questions in math register (instead of “What is the cost of one international phone call per minute” they ask “What is the cost per minute of…” Prepositions seem to be involved a lot, as well as jargon.

Exercise 10.3

One of the grammatical forms that is most commonly affected by hypercorrection is the reflexive pronoun (e.g. myself, yourself). Based on the following examples, identify the reflexive pronoun form most affected by hypercorrection and the types of constructions in which hypercorrect reflexive forms are typically used.
  1. David and myself often work together.
  2. Please give the ticket to myself.
  3. Between Marge and myself, we should be able to raise the kids.
  4. This book was really written by the students and ourselves.
  5. I arranged for myself to leave early.
  6. He brought the project to myself for review.
  7. The students often give a party for the other faculty and myself.

10.3 Answers

In the above examples, the reflexive pronoun myself is frequently affected by hypercorrection. You very well might have hesitated over the usage of myself as you read these sentences! Part of what makes the use of myself so frequently subject to hypercorrection is that it is associated with MAE as well as syntactically complex. Typically a reflexive pronoun is an Object that reflects its Subject, so that in (5) above (I arranged for myself to leave early) myself reflects the subject I. If the subject does not clearly include a first person pronoun (even if it is implied) then we might hesitate and, depending on the social context (e.g., a formal context), be more likely to hypercorrect.

Exercise 10.4

If you were to place these three recordings on the following continuum, where would you place each one?

More mainstream ←‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐→ Less mainstream

Which linguistic features (phonological and/or grammatical) stood out to you and helped you place the recordings on the continuum?

Exercise 10.5

Conduct an audience design–based study of stylistic variation along the lines of Rickford and McNair‐Knox (1994) by conducting two interviews with the same interviewee but two different interviewers, for example, you and a classmate. Ideally, each interviewer will use the same interview questionnaire, and will share a number of demographic characteristics with the interviewee but differ from one another in terms of one demographic characteristic. For example, if you are a young female of color, find a classmate who is a young white female and an interviewee who is a young white or person of color. You should keep all other factors as controlled as possible, for example, setting, degree of familiarity, dress, and so on, and should choose a native speaker of an American English dialect. You should also obtain informed consent to record the interviewee; discuss with your teacher the procedures for doing so at your university. In many cases, recordings made solely for classroom purposes need only informal consent, but you should verify this prior to making any recordings.

Using the Inventory of Distinguishing Dialect Features in the Appendix, as well as what you have learned so far about the features of various regional, social, ethnic, and gender‐based varieties in the United States, select a feature and conduct a quantitative analysis of its patterning (i.e. number of occurrences of the feature out of all possible occurrences; see Chapter  6, sections 6.4–6.5 for details) in the speech of the interviewee in each of the two interviews. For example, you might choose to examine the use of [d] for [ð], as in dis for this. If you are interviewing a Southerner, you might examine ungliding of the price vowel, as in tahm for time.

What was the usage level for the feature in each interview (percentage usage)? 
Did the interviewee show different usage levels for the feature in the two interviews? Why or why not? 
Did you notice different usage levels in different sections of the interview, perhaps based on topic? 
Referring back again to how to conduct a quantitative analysis in Chapter  6, do you think linguistic considerations in addition to stylistic ones may have affected your results (e.g. following linguistic environment)? 
What about factors other than the demographic characteristics of the two parties in each interview?