DOCSLIB.ORG

Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods in Sociolinguistics

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods in Sociolinguistics Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods in Sociolinguistics VYTAUTAS MAGNUS UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT OF LITHUANIAN LANGUAGE Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods in Sociolinguistics STUDY GUIDE A Resource Book for Students Vilma Bijeikienė, Aurelija Tamošiūnaitė Kaunas 2013 Reviewed by Assoc. Prof. Violeta Kalėdaitė and Prof. Dr. Nemira Mačianskienė Approved by the Department of Lithuanian Language of the Faculty of Humanities at Vytautas Magnus University on the 5th of November 2013 (Protocol No. 7-1) Recommended for printing by the Council of the Faculty of Humanities of Vytautas Magnus University on the 7th of November 2013 (Protocol No. 5-2) Publication of the study guide is supported by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Government of the Republic of Lithuania. Project title: “Preparation and imple- mentation of the joint degree international master programme in ‘Sociolinguistics and Multilingualism’” (project No. VP1-2.2-ŠMM-07-K-02-091) ISBN 978-9955-12-989-9 (Print) © Vilma Bijeikienė, Aurelija Tamošiūnaitė, 2013 ISBN 978-609-467-041-1 (Online) © Vytautas Magnus University, 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS: Introduction ......................................................................7 Chapter 1: Research Methods in Sociolinguistics and Multilingualism: Key Concepts and Paradigms .....9 Chapter 2: Links between Research Design, Method, and Data Collection ..........................20 Chapter 3: Study Design: Cross-sectional, Longitudinal, Case Group, Experimental, Quasi-experimental 31 Chapter 4: Data: Types of Data and Sampling ..................................................44 Chapter 5: Ethical Issues ....................................................................56 Chapter 6: Quantitative Research: Concepts and Definitions. Use of Corpora .......................63 Chapter 7: Questionnaires ..................................................................80 Chapter 8: Sociolinguistic Interview ...........................................................88 Chapter 9: Qualitative Techniques: Observations and Recordings (Audio & Video). Transcription .....100 Chapter 10: Social Network Analysis ...........................................................117 Chapter 11: Conversation Analysis ........................................................... 126 Chapter 12: Speech Act Theory .............................................................. 136 Chapter 13: Interactional Sociolinguistics ......................................................145 Chapter 14: Critical Discourse Analysis ........................................................ 155 Literature ...................................................................... 167 Answer key ..................................................................... 175 5 INTRODUCTION These study guidelines are intended for graduate students taking a course in Quan- titative and Qualitative Research Methods in Sociolinguistics offered at Vytautas Magnus University. The course is part of the program curriculum of the joint-degree master program “Sociolinguistics and Multilingualism” offered in co-operation with Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz (Germany), Stockholm University (Swe- den) and University of Tartu (Estonia). The guidelines focus on two main research paradigms related to sociolinguistic research, namely quantitative analysis (related to the variationist tradition) and quali- tative analysis (related to the ethnographic tradition). The study guide intends to sup- port in-class activities, as well as to serve as a source for independent study. It does not, however, aim to substitute existing materials (textbooks and handbooks devoted to research methods), rather complement them by adding, where relevant, references to sociolinguistic research in the Baltics. As such, this study guide should only be considered as a work in progress. The authors hope to expand it over time, consider- ing students’ comments and suggestions for improvement. The guidelines consist of 14 chapters. Each chapter presents and elaborates on a different aspect of sociolinguistic research (i.e., different research methods). The first five chapters introduce key concepts and definitions related to research in general (research methods, research design, data, ethical issues), while the remaining nine chapters focus on different research methods applied in sociolinguistic research (e.g., participant observation, interviews, statistical analysis, conversation analysis, critical discourse analysis, and other). All chapters follow the same structure. First, students are introduced to key concepts related to the topic. Key concepts are followed by a pre-reading activity and then a discussion of the key issues on the topic. Where relevant, the discussion is supported by examples and case studies. Each chapter con- tains comprehension activities (with answers at the end): some of these activities are intended for independent study, some for in-class activities. Group discussions are strongly encouraged. At the end of the chapter we provide students with a glossary and a list of cited material for further reference. Chapters 1 through 10 were pre- pared by Aurelija Tamošiūnaitė, and Chapters 11 through 14 were prepared by Vilma Bijeikienė. 7 CHAPTER 1: RESEARCH METHODS IN SOCIOLINGUISTICS AND MULTILINGUALISM: KEY CONCEPTS AND PARADIGMS 1.1. Key concepts Dependent variable Empirical research Experimental research Experimental stimuli Field work Hypothesis Independent variable Non-experimental research Observation Qualitative methods Quantitative methods Triangulation 1.2. Pre-reading activity Activity 1. In groups discuss the concepts given above. Which concepts are you aware of? How would you define them in your own words? . 1.3. Research methods in sociolinguistics The main aim of this chapter is to equip you with key concepts and paradigms related to the research methods used when analyzing sociolinguistic phenomena. In the following chapters we will analyze these research paradigms in more detail. Sociolinguistics investigates how people use language in different environments. It attempts to link patterns of language use to some kind of non-linguistic reality – that is, to things like class, gender, racial or ethnic identification, gang affiliation, and oth- er. In order to investigate these phenomena one needs to have reliable research tech- niques. However, research techniques used and applied in sociolinguistic research 9 are quite different in their nature and always depend on the research question un- der investigation. For instance, sociolinguists interested in the variation of a certain phonological feature across different social classes will depend on the quantitative methods used in variationist sociolinguistics, while sociolinguists interested in the code-switching practices among the bilingual Estonian speech community members might depend on the qualitative methods used in ethnographic research. Some re- search questions might require the application of different research methods. This approach is called a mixed-method approach (or triangulation). 1.3.1. Research traditions in sociolinguistics Coupland & Jaworski (1997: 70–72) differentiate betweenthree research tradi- tions in sociolinguistics: a. variationist – produces statistical information based on large amounts of observed data. This research technique was highly elaborated by its pioneer William Labov, as well as later by Peter Trudgill, Sali Tagliamonte, and many others; b. social constructivist – highlights the importance of language in understand- ing the society and social categories and thus promotes the study of language attitudes, beliefs, judgments and reactions about the language (e.g., the re- search conducted by Howard Giles); c. ethnographic – stresses the importance of the insider’s viewpoint and sub- jectivity, thus, quite often relies on qualitative research techniques or a combi- nation of both – qualitative and quantitative (e.g., the research conducted by Monica Heller, Barbara Johnstone, Kathryn Woolard and others). The variationist tradition evolved over the past five decades as a discipline that in- tegrates social and linguistic aspects of language (Tagliamonte 2006: Kindle Location 90). Variationist sociolinguistics grew out of the linguists’ interest in variation that exists in language and, especially, its correlation to the social life. Thus, as the word “variationist” implies, sociolinguists working in this tradition are interested in differ- ent linguistic variants (variables) used in our everyday speech, in other words, they investigate different existing ways of saying the same thing and look for explana- tions for such use in our social life. Tagliamonte (2006: Kindle Locations 111–114) mentions three main facts about language that constitute the “core” of variationist research: a) the observation that language varies; b) the observation that language changes perpetually; c) language is more than words: it also conveys social meanings. Variationist sociolinguistics relies on several concepts (Tagliamonte 2006): a. the concept of vernacular: the main goal of any variationist research is to elicit “vernacular” speech. Vernacular can be defined as “every day speech” or a “style” in which minimum attention is given to the monitoring of speech; b. the concept of the speech community: a researcher has to immerse him/herself into a community of speakers who share the same verbal repertoire and the same lin- guistic behavior. The researcher has to be both:
Load more

Recommended publications
  • An Introduction to Sociolinguistics LEARNING ABOUT LANGUAGE
    An Introduction to Sociolinguistics LEARNING ABOUT LANGUAGE General Editors: Geoffrey Leech & Mick Short, Lancaster University Already published: Analysing Sentences (2nd edition) Noel Burton-Roberts Words and Their Meaning Howard Jackson An Introduction to Phonology Francis Katamba Grammar and Meaning Howard Jackson Realms of Meaning: An Introduction to Semantics Th. R. Hofmann An Introduction to Psycholinguistics Danny D. Steinberg An Introduction to Spoken Interaction Anna-Brita Stenström Watching English Change Laurie Bauer Meaning in Interaction: An Introduction to Pragmatics Jenny Thomas An Introduction to Cognitive Linguistics Friedrich Ungerer and Hans-Jörg Schmid Exploring the Language of Poems, Plays and Prose Mick Short Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction William O’Grady, Michael Dobrovolsky and Francis Katamba Analysing Sentences Noel Burton-Roberts An Introduction to Natural Language Processing Through Prolog Clive Matthews An Introduction to Child Language Development Susan Foster-Cohen The Sounds of Language: An Introduction to Phonetics Henry Rogers An Introduction to Foreign Language Learning and Teaching Keith Johnson An Introduction to Sociolinguistics (4th edition) Janet Holmes An Introduction to Sociolinguistics Fourth Edition JANET HOLMES First published 1992 by Pearson Education Limited Second edition published 2001 Third edition published 2008 Fourth edition published 2013 Published 2013 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © 1992, 2001, 2008, 2013, Taylor & Francis. The right of Janet Holmes to be identified as author of this Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
    [Show full text]
  • Linguistics.Pdf
    REFERENCE SERIES: BLACKWELL HANDBOOKS IN LINGUISTICS NEW IN PAPERBACK This outstanding multi-volume series covers all the major subdisciplines within linguistics today. Contents and contributor The Handbook of Historical lists for each volume are available via the Reference website at hTe ,scitsnguiiL laciortsHi LinguisticsHofnadbo k www.blackwellpublishing.com/reference CHDARIAN J DA ,DAN;BR I OPEditedJEHS, by BRIAN D. JOSEPH & RICHARD D. JANDA NEW Both Ohio State University The Handbook of the ”The editors have assembled a remarkable array of contributors who can introduce readers to the professional standards of hTe h,sinEgl of yortsHih et HistoryHofnadbo k of English scholarship and scientific reasoning that characterize the field.” OLEBTU OL,SEditedVK MAEN NE;S AD,E by ANS VAN KEMENADE & BETTELOU LOS WILLIAM LABOV, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA University of Nijmegen; Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam THE HANDBOOK OF THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH is a collection of articles This well-conceived and lucidly written volume provides a detailed written by leading specialists in the field that focus on the theoretical account of the numerous issues, methods, and results that characterize current work in historical linguistics. The Handbook of issues behind the facts of the changing English language. The History 2 Covers the most important methods of historical linguistics of English The innovative organization of this volume applies recent insights to old problems and surveys the history of English from the perspective 2 Presents sophisticated overviews of the principles that of structural developments in areas such as phonology, prosody, emerge from the in-depth study of phonological, morphology, syntax, semantics, language variation, and dialectology.
    [Show full text]
  • CURRICULUMVITAE Jonathan Culpeper CURRENT POST 2011
    C U R R I C U L U M V I T A E Jonathan Culpeper CURRENT POST 2011- Professor of English Language and Linguistics, Lancaster University VISITING PROFESSORSHIP 2010 - present Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Foreign Languages, Fuzhou University, China PREVIOUS POSTS 2002-2011 Senior Lecturer, Department of Linguistics and English Language, Lancaster University 1995-2002 Lecturer, Department of Linguistics and English Language, Lancaster University 1994-95 Teaching Fellow, Department of Linguistics and English Language, Lancaster University ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS 1994 Ph.D. in Linguistics, Lancaster University 1988 B.A. Hons. in English Language and Literature (2.1), Lancaster University RESEARCH AND SCHOLARLY WORK Books Authored books Culpeper, Jonathan, Michael Haugh and Marina Terkourafi (in preparation) Pragmatics and Methods. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Culpeper, Alison Mackey and Naoko Taguchi (in press) Second Language Pragmatics: From Theory to Research. New York: Routledge. Culpeper, Jonathan and Michael Haugh (2014) Pragmatics and the English Language. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 316pp. David Hoover, Jonathan Culpeper and Kieran O’Halloran (2014) Digital Literary Studies: Corpus Approaches to Poetry, Prose, and Drama. London: Routledge, 202pp. Culpeper, Jonathan (2011) Impoliteness: Using Language to Cause Offence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 292pp. Culpeper, Jonathan and Merja Kytö (2010) Speech in Writing: Explorations in Early Modern English Dialogues. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 472pp. Culpeper, Jonathan (2001) Language and Characterisation: People in Plays and other Texts. Harlow: (Longman) Pearson Education, 336pp. Culpeper, Jonathan (1997) History of English. London: Routledge, 103pp. Third edition Culpeper, Jonathan (2015) History of English, London: Routledge, 149pp. Edited works Edited books 1 Culpeper, Jonathan, Haugh, Michael and Daniel Kadar (eds.) (2017) Palgrave Handbook of (Im)politeness.
    [Show full text]
  • Mediatization and Sociolinguistic Change Linguae & Litterae
    Jannis Androutsopoulos (Ed.) Mediatization and Sociolinguistic Change linguae & litterae Publications of the School of Language & Literature Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies Edited by Peter Auer, Gesa von Essen, Werner Frick Editorial Board Michel Espagne (Paris), Marino Freschi (Rom), Ekkehard König (Berlin), Michael Lackner (Erlangen-Nürnberg), Per Linell (Linköping), Angelika Linke (Zürich), Christine Maillard (Strasbourg), Lorenza Mondada (Basel), Pieter Muysken (Nijmegen), Wolfgang Raible (Freiburg), Monika Schmitz-Emans (Bochum) Volume 36 Mediatization and Sociolinguistic Change Edited by Jannis Androutsopoulos ISBN 978-3-11-034357-1 e-ISBN 978-3-11-034683-1 ISSN 1869-7054 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.dnb.de abrufbar. © 2014 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Satz: epline, Kirchheim unter Teck Druck: Hubert & Co. GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen ♾ Gedruckt auf säurefreiem Papier Printed in Germany www.degruyter.com Contents Section I: Framing the issues Jannis Androutsopoulos Mediatization and sociolinguistic change. Key concepts, research traditions, open issues 3 Andreas Hepp Mediatization. A panorama of media and communication research 49 Nikolas Coupland Sociolinguistic change, vernacularization and broadcast British media 67 Section II: Media influence on language change Tore Kristiansen Does mediated language influence immediate language? 99 Jane Stuart-Smith and Ichiro Ota Media models, ‘the shelf’, and stylistic variation in East and West. Rethinking the influence of the media on language variation and change 127 Ichiro Ota and Shoji Takano The media influence on language change in Japanese sociolinguistic contexts 171 Isabelle Buchstaller Commentary: Television and language use.
    [Show full text]
  • C U R R I C U L U M V I T a E Jonathan Culpeper Current and Past Posts 2011- Professor of English
    C U R R I C U L U M V I T A E Jonathan Culpeper Current and past posts 2011- Professor of English Language and Linguistics, Lancaster University 2002-2011 Senior Lecturer, Department of Linguistics and English Language, Lancaster University 1995-2002 Lecturer, Department of Linguistics and English Language, Lancaster University 1994-95 Teaching Fellow, Department of Linguistics and English Language, Lancaster University Academic and professional qualifications 1994 Ph.D in Linguistics, Lancaster University 1988 B.A. Hons. in English Language and Literature (2.1), Lancaster University RESEARCH AND SCHOLARLY WORK Books Authored books Culpeper, Jonathan and Michael Haugh (2014) Pragmatics and the English Language. Basingstoke: Palgrave David Hoover, Jonathan Culpeper and Kieran O’Halloran (2014) Digital Literary Studies: Corpus Approaches to Poetry, Prose, and Drama. London: Routledge, 202pp. Culpeper, Jonathan (2011) Impoliteness: Using Language to Cause Offence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 292pp. Culpeper, Jonathan and Merja Kytö (2010) Speech in Writing: Explorations in Early Modern English Dialogues. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 472pp. Culpeper, Jonathan (2001) Language and Characterisation: People in Plays and other Texts. Harlow: (Longman) Pearson Education, 336pp. Culpeper, Jonathan (1997) History of English. London: Routledge, 103pp. Second editions Culpeper, Jonathan (2005) History of English, London: Routledge, 134pp. Edited books Ravassat, Mireille and Jonathan Culpeper (2011) Stylistics and Shakespeare: Transdisciplinary Approaches. London: Continuum, 288pp. Culpeper, Jonathan (2011) Historical Sociopragmatics. Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 135pp. Culpeper, Jonathan and Dániel Kádár (2010) Historical (Im)Politeness Research. Studies in Language and Communication, Vol. 65. Bern: Peter Lang, 300pp. Culpeper, Jonathan, Katamba, Francis, Kerswill, Paul, Wodak, Ruth and Tony McEnery (2009) English Language: Description, Variation and Context.
    [Show full text]
  • Section Membership
    SECTIONS 81 Section membership Fellows are assigned to a ‘Section of primary allegiance’ of their choice. It is possible to belong to more than one Section (cross-membership, by invitation of the Section concerned); this is approved by Council, the members to serve for a period of five years. In the following pages cross-members are listed after primary members, together with their primary Section and the date of appointment. The Emeritus Fellows of each Section are also listed separately. And the primary affiliation of Corresponding Fellows is also indicated. Membership of the Ginger Groups is listed on page 97. * Indicates membership of Section Standing Committee.
    [Show full text]
  • 'Leave NO STONE UNTURNED in the SEARCH for Linguistic
    UDC 81:929 Lič Dž. (047.53) INTERVIEW: GEOFFREY LEECH ‘LEAVE NO STONE UNTURNED IN THE SEARCH FOR LINGUISTIC REALITY...’ by Jelisaveta Milojević Geoffrey Leech (born 16 January 1936) was Professor of Linguistics and Modern English Language at Lancaster University from 1974 to 1996. He then became Research Professor in English Linguistics. He has been Emeritus Professor in the Department of Linguistics and English Language, Lancaster University, since 2002. Professor Leech’s main academic interests 2 Belgrade BELLS have been: English grammar, semantics, stylistics, pragmatics, corpus linguistics and corpus-based natural language processing. He is a Fellow of the British Academy. To mark his retirement the Department at Lancaster set up the Geoffrey Leech Scholarship fund for MA students. Professor Leech kindly took time to give this extensive interview for the second issue of Belgrade BELLS. BELLS: You have written, co-authored over 25 books (and more are in preparation), and over 100 papers. The numbers are quite impressive. It is common knowledge that one cannot make a fortune on books and we can therefore assume that there must be (have been) a motive of some sort other than the money. I wonder what linguistic creed or message that you have wanted to get across has kept you so avidly devoted to writing on and about language? GEOFFREY LEECH: Well, I guess very few academics are motivated purely by gain – and yet very few are totally uninterested in making a living! I cannot help thinking how lucky I am, to have pursued a career where I can get paid for doing something I enjoy – something like the best hobby you can have, full of interest and challenge.
    [Show full text]