Oct 22, 2009 - Well weird, right dodgy, very strange, really cool: Layering and recycling in English intensifiers. Language in Society 32(2): 257-279.
NWAV 38, October 22-25, 2009
University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
Conference Abstract
Queer youth in the speech community Enriching large scale studies of variation and change Sali A. Tagliamonte (University of Toronto) & Dylan J. Uscher (University of Toronto) Large scale studies have been the gold standard of variationist sociolinguistics (e.g. Labov 1966 inter alia); however recent research calls for the study of smaller communities within the larger whole (e.g. Eckert, 1988; 2000). This paper reports on a three-year project of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Queer (GLBQ) youth between 16-28 collected from the social networks of the second author. We undertake an analysis of the GLBQ corpus compared to a stratified sample from the same city. We target two highly gendered systems with rapidly changing forms: 1) quotatives and 2) intensifiers, as in (1-2). (1) They’re like, you’ve never heard that?” And I’m like “no”. (2) It was so odd. … It was really odd. Distributional analysis reveals heightened frequency of innovative be like in GLBQ speech: 79% vs. 62%. Incoming predicate intensifier so is lower, 6% vs. 9%, but there is higher use of really 16% vs 14%. Multivariate analysis of the constraints in each system (Ito & Tagliamonte, 2003; Tagliamonte, 2008; Tagliamonte & D'Arcy, 2004; 2007) are contrasted across GLBQ vs. mainstream group, adolescent vs. young adult, and sex. While internal constraints are generally consistent, sex and age effects are strikingly different. For quotatives, both male and female GLBQ youth have higher rates of be like, but only in adolescence. For so and really, GLBQ youth pattern similarly regardless of age. However intensifier pretty is favoured by males in adolescence only. These findings demonstrate that GLBQ youth have fewer sex differences than the mainstream group, adding to the building evidence that social identity can be constructed in opposition to the patterns of the ambient population. Further, we suggest that the strong developmental effect such that GLBQ speakers abandon mainstream sociolinguistic patterns in their 20’s can be explained by alignment with and cohesion within the Queer community. Selected references Eckert, Penelope (1988). Adolescent social structure and the spread of linguistic change. Language in Society 17(2): 183-207. Eckert, Penelope (2000). Language variation as social practice. Oxford and Malden: Blackwell Publishers. Ito, Rika & Tagliamonte, Sali A. (2003). Well weird, right dodgy, very strange, really cool: Layering and recycling in English intensifiers. Language in Society 32(2): 257-279. Tagliamonte, Sali A. (2008). So different and pretty cool! Recycling intensifiers in Canadian English. Special issue of English Language and Linguistics, Intensifiers, Guest editor Belén Mendez-Naya 12(2): 361-394. Tagliamonte, Sali A. & D'Arcy, Alexandra (2004). He's like; She's like: The quotative system in Canadian Youth. Journal of Sociolinguistics 8(4): 493-514. Tagliamonte, Sali A. & D'Arcy, Alexandra (2007). Frequency and variation in the community grammar: Tracking a new change through the generations. Language Variation and Change 19(2): 1-19.
