A quantitative and qualitative consideration

of language and material

style in a study of white women

in contact with AAE Sonya Fix

sonya.fix@ nyu.eduThe Ohio State University

Columbus College of Art and Design

Adults, language and material style

Material style emerges as a social category of consideration in the investigation of the linguistic practices of adult white women with significant African American social ties.

• How do we quantify this variable to include it in a social index score? What does this quantification buy us?

• How do subjects in the sample discursively construct personae by referencing material style?

What is Material Style?

Clothing, hairstyles, and other external semiotic symbols of adornment, accessory, and grooming; aesthetic tastes including music.

Material Style and Linguistic Style

Eckert 2008:456:“Persona style is the best level for approaching the meaning of variation, for it is at this level that we connect linguistic styles with other stylistic systems such as clothing and other commoditized signs and with the kinds of ideological constructions that speakers share and interpret and that thereby populate the social imagination.”

Material Style and Linguistic Style:

Adolescents and Young Adults

Mendoza-Denton’s Latina gang girls (1996, 1997, 2008): Hair, makeup, and clothing styles communicate social group affiliation, often in subtle ways.

In-group vs. out-group readings of the semiotics of these material style practices

Subjects Sample

• 14 white women from low and moderate income urban racially integrated/predominantly African American communities in Columbus, Ohio

• All have significant, long-term social, romantic, and kinship ties with African Americans

• Variation in degrees and types of contact with African Americans across life spans

• Range of use of AAE features• Range of material style practices

Subjects: Data collection

methodologies• Recruitment through friend of friend and direct approach in African American community spaces

• Sociolinguistic interview (one on one)

• Group interviews and casual speech recording sessions with African American partners, kin, and friends.

• Ethnographic information about subjects derived from short-term observation and ethnographic interview questions.

Positing distinct African American material style

practicesHall 1992;

Kaiser, Rabine, Hall, and Ketchum 2004; O’Neal 1998a,

1998b; Thomas 2000; Tulloch 2004;

White and White 1998

Resistance to a persona:speech style + material style

+affectMelissa:

I knew that, okay, I might have dated a black guy, but I never wanted to be one of those girls. That I'm gonna cut my hair a certain way, or I'm gonna talk a certain way, or, or any of that stuff.

Indexing African American ties through

speech style + material style + affectKathy:

And people say "you don't look like you're married to a black man. What-is a look? A lot of people tell me that.And then I got my hair cut one time and I was wearing it all spiked up, and this chick I was working with—she was kind of a hillbilly too—and she's like //click// "your hair is cute but um, it looks kind of ghetto." I said "what's that supposed to mean?" "Well you know, like those girls that are, that hang around black guys." I said my husband's black. She said “I never would have expected you to be married to a black man.”I said I am. And you know people will make a comment to you like that cause, I don't—you know how //Makes suck tooth sound//you how they talk, and they act, and they wear their hair all out like this, and like tons of makeup.

Quantifying social ties through the

lifespanThe use of social network indices

in sociolinguistic studies:Labov 1972; Gal 1978;

Millroy 1980; Bortoni- Ricardo 1995; Blake and Josey 2003;

Kirke 2005

Youth (early childhood to end of elementary years) ((Raw total=0-6 pts)÷ 6)= Youth Index Score Neighborhood of residence = 0 white/1 mixed/ 2 predominantly African American School contact with African Americans= 1 Nei g hb o rh oo d Africa n A m e rica n frie nd s=1 Extra c urricu la r activ itie s w ith Afric a n A me rica n s=1 Mea n ingf u l c onta c t with Africa n Am e rica n a d ults =1 Ad o le sce nc e (m idd le sch o o l a nd high sc ho ol y ea rs) ((Ra w to tal=0 -9)÷ 9) = Ad o le sce nt Ind e x Sc o re Nei g hb o rh oo d o f re sid ence = 0 w h ite/ 1 mixe d/ 2 p red o m ina ntly Africa n A me ric a n Sch o o l con tact with Africa n Am e ric ans = 1 Afric a n Am e rica n frie nd s in sc ho o l= 1 Afric a n Am e rica n frie nd s o ut o f sc hoo l=1 Ro m a ntic re lat ions h ip (s) w ith Afric a n A me rica n (s)= 1 Extra c urricu la r activ itie s w ith Afric a n A me rica n s=1 Mea n ingf u l c onta c t with Africa n Am e rica n a d ults =1 Ad opt io n o f Af. Am. sty le (c lothin g , h a ir)=.5 & mu sical taste s .5

Adu lt Current ((Ra w to tal=0 -13) ÷13)= Adul t C urre nt Ind e x Sc o re Nei g hb o rh oo d o f re sid ence = 0 w h ite/ 1 mixe d/ 2 p re d o m ina ntly Africa n A me ric a n Pa rtn e rsh ip/m a rriage/ p ar e nt ing re lati o nsh ip w ith a n Af ric a n Am e rica n=1 Sh ar e d res idenc e with a n A fric an Am e ric a n a dul t= 1 Mixed / Afric a n Am eric a n ch ild re n =1 Fa milia l c o ntac t w ith Africa n A me ric a ns=1 Afric a n Am e rica n c o -wo rker s=1 Soc ial ize/ frie nd s with Afric a n Am e rica ns=1 Clo se frie nd ships with Africa n Am e ric a n w om en= 1 Atte nd a p red om in an tly Afric an Am e ric a n ch u rc h =1 Pa rtic ipa tion in o the r so c ia l/c om m u nity activ itie s with Afric a n Am e rica ns=1 Afric a n Am e rica n style : h a ir=.5 & clo thin g =.5 Afric a n Am e rica n po p ula r musi c a l ta stes =.5 Afric a n Am e rica n/ Afrocen tric h o m e d éco r=.5 (Adu lt 1 an d Adu lt 2, if a p plic ab le ) ((Ra w to tal= 0-11) ÷11) = Adu lt 1…N Ind e x Sc o re Nei g hb o rh oo d o f re sid ence = 0 w h ite/ 1 mixe d / 2 p red o m ina ntly Africa n A me ric a n Sh ar e d res idenc e with a n A fric an Am e ric a n a dul t= 1 Mixed / Afric a n Am eric a n ch ild re n =1 Fa milia l c o ntac t w ith Africa n A me ric a ns=1 Afric a n Am e rica n c o -wo rker s=1 Soc ial ize/ frie nd s with Afric a n Am e rica ns=1 Clo se frie nd ships with Africa n Am e ric a n w om en= 1 Atte nd a p red om in an tly Afric an Am e ric a n ch u rc h =1 Pa rtic ipa tion in o the r so c ia l/c om m u nity activ itie s with Afric a n Am e rica ns=1

Adu lt Ave ra g e Ind e x Sc o re =((Adu lt C u rre nt In dex Sc o re + Ad ult N Inde x Scor e s) ÷ (tot a l N of Adu lt stage s ))

Lifelo ng Ind e x Sc o re = ((Yo ut h In de x Sc ore + Ado le scence I n dex Sc o re + Ad ult Av e rag e In de x Sc ore ) ÷ 3)

Quantifying social ties and material style and cultural practices across the lifespan: a combined index

Including a material dimension in a social

indexDrawn from lifestyle indices operationalized by Adli (2006)

Influenced by Bourdieu’s (1991) socio-cultural theory in which the notion of habitus (acquired sensibilities and tastes) functions as a secondary but integral component of social identity.

The material style dimension

Adorning the self:•clothing styles, accessories, •hairstyles, grooming products

Adorning the home (Afrocentric art and decoration)

Other aesthetic preferences, including music consumption (favorite artists, radio stations).

Correlation of linguistic factors and social index scores:

The case of L vocalization

What is L vocalization?

When an L resembles a back vowel, semi-vowel, or voiced glide, or nothing.

• In this data set, vocalized L only occurs in coda position

• This realization of L seems to always develop from dark L

L vocalization and AAEL vocalization is a documented cross regional feature of AAE

(Green 2002; Thomas 2007)

Evidence in 2 Columbus studies of increased use of this variable among African Americans

(Fix 2004; Durian 2008)

Some preliminary evidence of L vocalization as a marker of ethnic identity in an ethnic identification test performed by linguists (Hall-Lew & Fix 2011)

Variation in L vocalization among

subjects

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

100.00%

JesseLori

TiffanyPaulaCarmenGabrielleDeborah

StacyNicoleMelissaDana Pam KathyMonica

RebeccaBelinda

Ann

Subjects (African American women coded in yellow)

Rate of L vocalization

Significance of the phonological variable of L vocalization and combined index score

L vocalization’s correlation with the

index scoreL vocalization factor weight and combined index score (with Material Style Dimension)

r=0.639 (df=12), p=0.0138

L vocalization factor weight and social index only (without Material Style Dimension)

R=0.574 (df=12), p=0.0319

Result: improvement in strength of correlation with integration of material style component within the index.

Correlation between L vocalization and AANSS Index Score

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9

L vocalization factor weight

AANSS Index Score

AANSScorrected w/stylecomponent

AANSS w/ostylecomponent

Material Style as a social factor group in multivariant analysis

Factor Group Factor weight Rate

Style Index Score High (>.75) (2 speakers, N=101) .64

49.5% (N=50/101)

Mid (.75-.50) (6 speakers, N=312) .50

34.3% (N=107/312)

Low (<.50) (6 speakers, N=294) .45

36.4% (N=107/294)

(This factor group was run with the following other social facto r groups: rac ial makeup of current neighborhood of residence and social class)

The discursive production of persona through reference to

material styleNicole:And I think my physical appearance, one, is what people see. I think what I wear, the clothes that I wear, because I'm not-. I think the clothes that I wear when I go out into public define "oh woah what's she wearin?” People look at the jeans and the shirts and the things like that. How you put together. I think that, um and then-… What people see, your appearance, your clothes, the way you physically-the way you act walk and talk I think that in itself speaks volumes for, what a person's preference, or who a person may be. I really do. But, I don't know if there's anything you can do about it. Like for you, I mean is there anything you do can about it because someone would look at you and say "ah ah she likes chocolate!" Oh well. How do you know? How do you know?!What makes you think that?! You know.

Conclusions

This consideration of material style and linguistic variation in an adult population:

• Explores how and why material style can be integrated into a quantified social network index.

• Draws our attention to the the ways of in which material style continues to work as a symbolic resource far past adolescence; in this data set it correlates with linguistic style and indexes racial alignment and constructs a persona constituted by racialized desire.

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