Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T01:57:00.978Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An intonational change in progress in Australian English

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

Gregory Guy ,
Barbara Horvath ,
Julia Vonwiller ,
Elaine Daisley  and
Inge Rogers
Gregory Guy
Affiliation:
Linguistics Department, University of Sydney
Barbara Horvath
Affiliation:
Linguistics Department, University of Sydney
Julia Vonwiller
Affiliation:
Linguistics Department, University of Sydney
Elaine Daisley
Affiliation:
Linguistics Department, University of Sydney
Inge Rogers
Affiliation:
Linguistics Department, University of Sydney
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Many speakers of current Australian English often use a high-rising intonation in statements. This usage, which has been termed Australian Questioning Intonation (AQI), has a nonpropositional, interactive meaning (checking for listener comprehension) and interacts with the turn-taking mechanism of conversation. A quantitative study of the use of AQI in Sydney reveals that it has the social distribution characteristic of a language change in progress: higher rates of usage among working-class speakers, teenagers, and women. Real time data confirm this, showing that the form was almost nonexistent in this speech community two decades earlier. The social motivations of this innovation are examined in terms of local identity and the entry of new ethnic groups into the community, and possible linguistic sources are discussed. The utility of quantitative methods in studying meaningful linguistic variables is demonstrated. (Australian English, language change in progress, intonation, sociolinguistic variation, social class, social motivation)

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , March 1986 , pp. 23 - 51
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Australian Bureau of Statistics (1973). Official yearbook of Australia. No. 59. Canberra: A.B.S.Google Scholar
Bailey, C.-J. (1973). Variation and linguistic theory. Arlington: Center for Applied Linguistics.Google Scholar
Bailey, C.-J., & Shuy, R. (eds.) (1973). New ways of analyzing variation in English. Washington: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Bryant, P. (1980). Australian questioning intonation: An addition to speakers' response-seeking repertoire. BA thesis, Australian National University.Google Scholar
Congalton, A. A. (1962). Social standings of occupations in Sydney. Kensington, N.S.W.: University of New South Wales, School of Sociology.Google Scholar
Congalton, A. A. (1969). Status and prestige in Australia. Melbourne: Cheshire.Google Scholar
Dines, E. (1980). Variation in discourse – “and stuff like that.” Language in Society 9:13–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guy, G. R., & Vonwiller, J. (1984). The meaning of an intonation in Australian English. Australian Journal of Linguistics 4(1):1–17.Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K. (1967). Intonation and grammar in British English. The Hague: Mouton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horvath, B. (1985). Variation in Australian English: A sociolinguistic study of English in Sydney. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Jarman, E., & Cruttenden, A. (1976). Belfast intonation and the myth of the fall. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 61:4–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kroch, A. (1978). Toward a theory of social dialect variation. Language in Society 7:17–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Labov, W. (1966). The social stratification of English in New York City. Arlington: Center for Applied Linguistics.Google Scholar
Labov, W. (1972). Sociolinguistic patterns. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Labov, W.(1974). Linguistic change as a form of communication. In Silverstein, M. (ed.), Human communication: Theoretical explorations. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum. 221–56.Google Scholar
Labov, W. (1975). On the use of the present to explain the past. Proceedings of the 11th International Congress of Linguists. Bologna: Mulino. 825–51.Google Scholar
Labov, W. (1980). The social origins of sound change. In Locating language in time and space. New York: Academic. 251–65.Google Scholar
Labov, W. (1981). What can be learned about change in progress from synchronie description? In Sankoff, D. & Cedergren, H. (eds.), Variation omnibus. Edmonton: Linguistic Research. 177–99.Google Scholar
Labov, W. (1982). Building on empirical foundations. In Lehmann, W. & Malkiel, Y. (eds.), Perspectives on historical linguistics. (Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, vol. 24.) Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 17–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Labov, W., & Fanshel, D. (1977). Therapeutic discourse: Psychotherapy as conversation. New York: Academic.Google Scholar
Labov, W., & Waletzky, J. (1967). Narrative analysis. In Helm, J. (ed.), Essays on the verbal and visual arts. Seattle: University of Washington Press. 12–44.Google Scholar
Ladd, D. R. (1978). The structure of intonational meaning. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Lakoff, R. (1975). Language and woman's place. New York: Harper Colophon.Google Scholar
Lavandera, B. (1978). Where does the sociolinguistic variable stop? Language in Society 7:171–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGregor, R. L. (1979). High-rising tone in non-question forms in Sydney Australian English. MA thesis, Macquarie University.Google Scholar
Mitchell, A. G., & Delbridge, A. (1965a). The speech of Australian adolescents. Sydney: Angus & Robertson.Google Scholar
Mitchell, A. G., & Delbridge, A. (1965b). The pronunciation of English in Australia. Sydney: Angus & Robertson.Google Scholar
Romaine, S. (1981). On the problem of syntactic variation: A reply to Beatriz Lavandera and William Labov. Sociolinguistic working papers No. 82. Austin: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory.Google Scholar
Romaine, S. (1982). Socio-historical linguistics: Its status and methodology. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Rousseau, P., & Sankoff, D. (1978). Advances in variable rule methodology. In Sankoff, D. (ed.), Linguistic variation: Models and methods. New York: Academic. 57–69.Google Scholar
Sacks, H., Schegloff, E. A., & Jefferson, G. (1974). A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking in coversation. Language 50:696–735.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sankoff, D., & Labov, W. (1979). On the uses of variable rules. Language in Society 8:189–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sankoff, G. (1973). Above and beyond phonology in variable rules. In Bailey, & Shuy, (1973). 42–62.Google Scholar
Schegloff, E. A. (1981). Discourse as an interactional achievement: Some uses of “uh-huh” and other things that come between sentences. In Tannen, D. (ed.), Georgetown University Roundtable on Languages and Linguistics 1981. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. 71–93.Google Scholar
Schegloff, E. A., & Sacks, H. (1973). Opening up closings. Semiotica 7(4):289–327.Google Scholar