7 - Social Marking and Variation

Summary

Chapter 7 describes the ways in which general extenders, as linguistic variables, align with social variables and become social markers in different communities. Among the variables investigated are age, gender, social class and regional variety. Most examples are from English, especially British English, together with the results from a sociolinguistic study of Montreal French. The different uses of general extenders in the academic and business registers are also described. The highest frequency forms in international varieties of English are reported, with lists of the most common expressions recorded in the USA, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.Differences between typical forms associated with southern versus northern England are noted, as well as aspects of Irish and Scottish English. The different methods of data collection employed in the past are reviewed, noting their potential effects on the nature of the data elicited, and advocating for an attempt at consensus on appropriate methodology going forward.