Data Analysis

Data Analysis

I have conducted a questionnaire for use as a primary data collection method in order to answer the task question. It consisted of a number of strategically formed questions in order to both obtain accurate information about the subject question, and the about the sample themselves (to determine whether their answers were likely to be accurate and well informed or less valid). I made sure to outline that the sample had no obligation to participate, that their data would be kept confidential and that their anonymity would be maintained throughout; as can be seen in the prior information section on the questionnaire below.

 


About the sample

The entirety of the sample I collected data from were between 15 and 18 and were all students. However, this simple factor could limit the accuracy of any conclusion drawn because the sample is not fully educated and are arguably unable to make valid judgement. As can be seen from the relevant table, the majority (90.5%) of the sample described themselves as ‘White - British’. This may also be another limiting factor as the sample may not be in the same social groups as those from other ethnicities. Therefore, it is possible that they have not experienced language influence from those of other ethnic backgrounds. 

Data Analysis

One of the questions included in the questionnaire was as follows; ‘What do you understand to be the definition of the word ethnicity?’. I used this question to gain an idea of the sample’s understanding of the word ethnicity but also to gauge how accurate their answers to other questions are likely to be. I put the sample’s answers into a pie chart to allow easy visual comparison between the different categories. 

The Oxford English Dictionary definition of ethnicity is as follows; ’the fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition.’ It is clear to see, from the pie chart on the following page, that the majority of people thought ethnicity was linked to a person’s culture or cultural upbringing which is accurate. However, 23% of people described ethnicity as being linked to a person’s race or racial background. The word ethnicity itself was  created and used first in the late 50’s/early 60’s (the time when the fight for black equality was at its peak) purely because of the link between the words race and racism. Therefore, using the word race to describe ethnicity is incorrect.

Some thought it was to do with skin colour and geographical origins which is a fair and legitimate assumption to make as they are both linked to culture and in themselves. A few of the sample also thought it was to do with social background and religion which is not entirely true but is clear where the links have come from as they are both also linked to culture.

 Another of the questions was about ‘standard english’. The question was as follows; To what degree would you concur with the following statement; ‘The Queen’s English is the correct English and all other derivations of this are improper and incorrect’. 

Overall there is no clear correlation in opinion about whether the Queen’s English is correct or not. It can be seen however (from the graph on the left) that the majority of the sample said they felt in moderate agreement with the statement.

I then asked the sample about whether they felt that immigration has had an effect on English language. I found that a total of 48% agreed, 24% either felt unsure or thought there was little effect and 28% said that they thought there was no effect. These were unsurprising figures to me because the majority of people would have encountered new urban slang for example as a result of immigration. However people normally take one of two views towards this. Either they do not care about the language use as it has no effect on them or they have had very little contact with people that use this type of language. 

I then directly asked the sample whether they thought that Afro-Caribbean dialect has had an influence on the English language as a whole. I found that 38% said that they disagreed, 29% agreed and 33% said that they were either unsure or were felt there was little effect. These results show that there is a very inconclusive view towards the effects of Afro-Caribbean dialect on English language. Thus the only logical conclusion that can be drawn would be that there is no real conclusive view regarding the Afro-Caribbean dialect influence on English language. 

In order to gauge how much of the sample were open to new developments in language I asked the following question; ‘Do you think that the use of modern language such as emojis is enhancing or destroying language’. I found that 14% thought that it was having little/no effect, another 14% thought it was having both positive and negative effects, 24% thought it was having a positive effect and that 48% thought that it was having a negative effect. These mixed responses could be interpreted as being that 48% of the sample were ‘closed minded’ to having alterations to English language. Consequently, their answers to other questions may have been biased.

Finally, I asked the sample to describe what they would consider to be ‘Standard English’. This too brought about quite mixed results. The graph below shows my findings. The first conclusion to be drawn is that 24% of the sample were not able to answer the question as they did not know. This is an interesting figure because if people do not know what standard english is then surely they are unable to give accurate answers to the rest of the questions. Also, the majority of the sample thought that standard English is to do with (clear and coherent) pronunciation or accent. This is also incorrect as language and dialect must be viewed as separate concepts. Pronunciation and accent is relevant to dialect not language and so is not relevant to the question.

By Myles Chamberlain 

Language at Work

Language in the Workplace

Eakins and Eakins 1976:
They observed 7 university meetings taking note of the length of each utterance. They found that the men in the meetings usually had the longest utterances at between 10 and 17 seconds whereas the women's utterances were between 3 and 10 seconds.

Edelsky 1981:
In series of meetings of a University department faculty committee, Edelsky conducted a method to test his theory that the floor (the power and dominance) in a face to face conversation differs depending on the types of meetings held. The more linear and hierarchical segments of the meetings showed that men had more utterances than women and spoke more in different areas like in debates, in a joking manor, in directing and in soliciting responses. In the un-led discussions (the 'free for all' segment) it was shown that the floor was owned by men and women equally, arguably women had more power than the men.

Herring 1992:
A discussion was carried out over email about a linguistics 'distribution list'. The participants were from the 'Linguistic Society of America' where over 50% of the members are female. In spite of this, only 5 women took part compared to the 30 men.  The men's responses were also (on average) twice as long as the women's. Women also tended to use a more personal voice (ie: I did this, my opinion is etc) whereas the men used dominating language (ie: It is obvious that).

Herbert and Straight 1989:
By recording conversations between 2 people, Herbert and Straight concluded that compliments are usually given from people of a higher rank in the work force than by that of a lower. This contributes to the theory of maxims as the higher rank persons would want to be polite and make people of a lower rank feel comfortable