1. Ageing meanings of (ing) Age and indexicality in Manchester, England.
- Author
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Schleef, Erik and Flynn, Nicholas
- Subjects
AGE groups ,ENGLISH language ,ORATORS ,RELIABILITY (Personality trait) - Abstract
This study examines the social meanings that speakers associate with variants of the variable (ing) in Manchester, focusing on a comparison of two age groups: a young age group of adolescents and those in very early adulthood, and an older age group. In most English varieties, (ing) has two possible realisations: [In] and [In]. However, in Manchester, a third possibility exists: [Ing]. Social meanings differ between age groups on three scales: articulateness, poshness and reliability. When compared to the youths, those in the older age group consider [In] to sound substantially more articulate than [In], as well as posher and more reliable than [Ing]. In contrast, those in the younger group consider [Ing] more reliable and posher-sounding than the older speakers. This is due, we argue, to developmental constraints during adolescence, but, more importantly, to life-stage experiences, with social meanings on these three scales altering as speakers leave adolescence behind and become increasingly subject to the standardisation pressures of adult communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2015
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