Attitudes and Language Behaviour

Extract

One of the recent developments in sociolinguistics is the investigation of the relationship between a speaker’s personal disposition or cultural value system and his language behaviour. William Labov (1963) notes that a tendency of the inhabitants of Martha’s Vineyard to modify their pronunciation of diphthongs relates to their feelings of resentment towards intruders from the mainland United States. In a later publication, Labov (1964:94) observes that language may be viewed as a system for integrating cultural values, and he cites the conflict of value systems as a probable cause for the failure of students to acquire Standard English despite their exposure to 12 years of teaching. Although in many instances value systems may closely parallel social classes, certain types of values, such as those associated with political and religious persuasions, for example, cut across socio-economic classes. It follows from this that, by isolating attitudes from socio-economic class descriptions, a more accurate assessment can be made of their effects on language behaviour.

In English-speaking Canada, and particularly in British Columbia, some Canadians identify themselves culturally with Britain and its people, some with the United States, and others actively seek a uniquely Canadian identity. The reasons for these differences in outlook are not difficult to find, given the history of the settlement of Canada and of its political and economic development. Nor is it surprising that Canadian English has been characterized as “a dialect which resembles American English in some respects and British English in others and includes, at the same time, a great deal that is significantly Canadian” (Avis 1966:19). This paper attempts to show that the attitudes referred to above are reflected in language usage.