Stylistic variation in /r/
Shifting personas on a bridal reality television show
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.33923Keywords:
style, persona, New York City, /r/, reality televisionAbstract
Contemporary sociolinguistic scholarship has made great gains in uncovering how speakers actively project identities through the manipulation of linguistic forms. This paper adds to that body of work, investigating stylistic variation among a group of women on the reality show Say Yes to the Dress in New York City. I focus on the interactional shifts of these women, who move between two personas as bridal consultants: bridal gown expert and friend of the bride. Through qualitative and quantitative analyses, I show that intraspeaker variation in /r/ is motivated by the interactional roles that the women project as they engage in various speech activity types when enacting these different facets of the self.
References
Agha, A. and Wortham, S. (eds) (2005) Discourse across speech events: Intertextuality and interdiscursivity in social life. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 15. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/jlin.2005.15.1.1.
Becker, K. (2009) /r/ and the construction of place identity on New York City’s Lower East Side. Journal of Sociolinguistics 13: 634–658. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9841.2009.00426.x.
Becker, K. (2014) (r) we there yet? The change to rhoticity in New York City English. Language Variation and Change 26: 141–168. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954394514000064.
Benor, S. (2001) The learned /t/: phonological variation in Orthodox Jewish English. Penn Working Papers in Linguistics 7(3): 1–16.
Besnier, N. (1990) Language and affect. Annual Review of Anthropology 19: 419–451. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.an.19.100190.002223.
Biber, D. and Finegan, E. (1989) Styles of stance in English: Lexical and grammatical marking of evidentiality and affect. Text 9(1): 93–124. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/text.1.1989.9.1.93.
Blitvitch, P. and Lorenzo-Dus, N. (2013) Reality television: A discourse-analytical perspective. In P. Blivitch (ed.) Real talk: Reality Television and Discourse Analysis in Action 9–23. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137313461_2.
Bucholtz, M. (1999) ‘Why be normal?’ Language and identity practices in a community of nerd girls. Language in Society 28(2): 203–223. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404599002043.
Bucholtz, M. (2009) From stance to style: Gender, interaction, and indexicality in Mexican immigrant youth slang. In A. Jaffe (ed.) Stance: Sociolinguistic perspectives 146–170. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Butler, J. (1990) Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge.
Cameron, D. and Kulick, D. (2003) Language and Sexuality. New York: Cambridge University Press. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511791178.
Campbell-Kibler, K. (2008) I’ll be the judge of that: Diversity in social perceptions of (ING). Language in Society 37(5): 637–659. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404508080974.
Coupland, N. (2007) Style: Language Variation and Identity. New York: Cambridge University Press. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511755064.
Eberhardt, M. and Downs, C. (2015) ‘/r/ you saying yes to the dress?’: Rhoticity on a bridal reality television show. Journal of English Linguistics 42(2): 118–142. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0075424215578147.
Eckert, P. (2000) Linguistic Variation as Social Practice. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Eckert, P. (2008) Variation and the indexical field. Journal of Sociolinguistics 12(4): 453–476. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9841.2008.00374.x.
Eckert, P. (2012) Three waves of variation study: The emergence of meaning in the study of sociolinguistic variation. Annual Review of Anthropology 41(1): 87–100. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-anthro-092611-145828.
Engstrom, E. (2012) The Bride Factory: Mass Media Portrayals of Women and Weddings. New York: Peter Lang.
Fowler, J. (1986) The Social Stratification of /r/ in New York City Department Stores, 24 Years after Labov. New York: New York University.
Geller, J. (2001) Here Comes the Bride: Women, Weddings, and the Marriage Mystique. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows.
Jaffe, A. (2009) Introduction: The sociolinguistics of stance. In A. Jaffe (ed.) Stance: Sociolinguistic Perspectives 3–28. New York: Oxford University Press.
Johnson, D. (2009) Getting off the GoldVarb standard: Introducing Rbrul for mixedeffects variable rule analysis. Language and Linguistics Compass 3(1): 359–383. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-818X.2008.00108.x.
Kavka, M. (2008) Reality Television, Affect and Intimacy: Reality Matters. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kiesling, S. (1998) Men’s identities and sociolinguistic variation: The case of fraternity men. Journal of Sociolinguistics 2: 69–99. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9481.00031.
Kiesling, S. (2005) Variation, stance and style: Word final -er, high-rising tone, and ethnicity in Australian English. English World-Wide 26: 1–42. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.26.1.02kie.
Kiesling, S. (2009) Style as stance: Stance as the explanation for patterns of sociolinguistic variation. In A. Jaffe (ed.) Stance: Sociolinguistic Perspectives 171–194. New York: Oxford University Press.
Labov, W. (1972) Sociolinguistic patterns. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Lowrey, T. and Otnes, C. (1994) Construction of a meaningful wedding: Differences in the priorities of brides and grooms. In J. Costa (ed.) Gender Issues and Consumer Behavior 164–183. Thosand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Mather, P.-A. (2012) The social stratification of /r/ in New York City: Labov’s department store study revisited. Journal of English Linguistics 40: 338–356. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0075424211431265.
McElhinny, B. (1995) Challenging hegemonic masculinities: Female and male police officers handling domestic violence. In M. Bucholtz and K. Hall (eds) Gender Articulated Language and the Socially Constructed Self 217–244. New York: Routledge.
Mendoza-Denton, N. (2008) Homegirls: Language and Cultural Practice among Latina Youth Gangs. Malden, MA: Blackwell. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470693728.
Morreale, J. (2005) Reality TV, faking it, and the transformation of personal identity. CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 7(2): Article 5.
Nagy, N. and Irwin, P. (2010) Boston (r): Neighbo(r)s nea(r) and fa(r). Language Variation and Change 22(2): 241–278. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954394510000062.
Podesva, R. (2007) Phonation type as a stylistic variable: The use of falsetto in constructing a persona. Journal of Sociolinguistics 11(4): 478–504. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9841.2007.00334.x.
Podesva, R. (2011) Salience and the social meaning of declarative contours: Three case studies of gay professionals. Journal of English Linguistics 39(3): 233–264. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0075424211405161.
Podesva, R., Roberts, S., and Campbell-Kibler, K. (2002) Sharing resources and indexing meanings in the production of gay styles. In K. Campbell-Kibler, R. Podesva, S. Roberts, and A. Wong (eds) Language and Sexuality: Contesting Meaning in Theory and Practice 175–190. Stanford, CA: CSLI.
Schilling-Estes, N. (2002) Investigating stylistic variation. In J. Chambers, P. Trudgill and N. Schilling-Estes (eds) The Handbook of Language Variation and Change 375–401. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Thornborrow, J. (2015) The Discourse of Public Participation Media: From Talk Show to Twitter. New York: Routledge.
Tolson, A. (2006) Media Talk: Spoken Discourse on TV and Radio. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Wells, J. (1982) Accents of English. New York: Cambridge University Press. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511611759.
Zhang, Q. (2008) Rhoticization and the ‘Bejing smooth operator’: The social meaning of a linguistic variable. Journal of Sociolinguistics 12(2): 201–222. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9841.2008.00362.x.
Becker, K. (2009) /r/ and the construction of place identity on New York City’s Lower East Side. Journal of Sociolinguistics 13: 634–658. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9841.2009.00426.x.
Becker, K. (2014) (r) we there yet? The change to rhoticity in New York City English. Language Variation and Change 26: 141–168. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954394514000064.
Benor, S. (2001) The learned /t/: phonological variation in Orthodox Jewish English. Penn Working Papers in Linguistics 7(3): 1–16.
Besnier, N. (1990) Language and affect. Annual Review of Anthropology 19: 419–451. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.an.19.100190.002223.
Biber, D. and Finegan, E. (1989) Styles of stance in English: Lexical and grammatical marking of evidentiality and affect. Text 9(1): 93–124. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/text.1.1989.9.1.93.
Blitvitch, P. and Lorenzo-Dus, N. (2013) Reality television: A discourse-analytical perspective. In P. Blivitch (ed.) Real talk: Reality Television and Discourse Analysis in Action 9–23. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137313461_2.
Bucholtz, M. (1999) ‘Why be normal?’ Language and identity practices in a community of nerd girls. Language in Society 28(2): 203–223. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404599002043.
Bucholtz, M. (2009) From stance to style: Gender, interaction, and indexicality in Mexican immigrant youth slang. In A. Jaffe (ed.) Stance: Sociolinguistic perspectives 146–170. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Butler, J. (1990) Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge.
Cameron, D. and Kulick, D. (2003) Language and Sexuality. New York: Cambridge University Press. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511791178.
Campbell-Kibler, K. (2008) I’ll be the judge of that: Diversity in social perceptions of (ING). Language in Society 37(5): 637–659. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404508080974.
Coupland, N. (2007) Style: Language Variation and Identity. New York: Cambridge University Press. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511755064.
Eberhardt, M. and Downs, C. (2015) ‘/r/ you saying yes to the dress?’: Rhoticity on a bridal reality television show. Journal of English Linguistics 42(2): 118–142. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0075424215578147.
Eckert, P. (2000) Linguistic Variation as Social Practice. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Eckert, P. (2008) Variation and the indexical field. Journal of Sociolinguistics 12(4): 453–476. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9841.2008.00374.x.
Eckert, P. (2012) Three waves of variation study: The emergence of meaning in the study of sociolinguistic variation. Annual Review of Anthropology 41(1): 87–100. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-anthro-092611-145828.
Engstrom, E. (2012) The Bride Factory: Mass Media Portrayals of Women and Weddings. New York: Peter Lang.
Fowler, J. (1986) The Social Stratification of /r/ in New York City Department Stores, 24 Years after Labov. New York: New York University.
Geller, J. (2001) Here Comes the Bride: Women, Weddings, and the Marriage Mystique. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows.
Jaffe, A. (2009) Introduction: The sociolinguistics of stance. In A. Jaffe (ed.) Stance: Sociolinguistic Perspectives 3–28. New York: Oxford University Press.
Johnson, D. (2009) Getting off the GoldVarb standard: Introducing Rbrul for mixedeffects variable rule analysis. Language and Linguistics Compass 3(1): 359–383. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-818X.2008.00108.x.
Kavka, M. (2008) Reality Television, Affect and Intimacy: Reality Matters. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kiesling, S. (1998) Men’s identities and sociolinguistic variation: The case of fraternity men. Journal of Sociolinguistics 2: 69–99. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9481.00031.
Kiesling, S. (2005) Variation, stance and style: Word final -er, high-rising tone, and ethnicity in Australian English. English World-Wide 26: 1–42. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.26.1.02kie.
Kiesling, S. (2009) Style as stance: Stance as the explanation for patterns of sociolinguistic variation. In A. Jaffe (ed.) Stance: Sociolinguistic Perspectives 171–194. New York: Oxford University Press.
Labov, W. (1972) Sociolinguistic patterns. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Lowrey, T. and Otnes, C. (1994) Construction of a meaningful wedding: Differences in the priorities of brides and grooms. In J. Costa (ed.) Gender Issues and Consumer Behavior 164–183. Thosand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Mather, P.-A. (2012) The social stratification of /r/ in New York City: Labov’s department store study revisited. Journal of English Linguistics 40: 338–356. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0075424211431265.
McElhinny, B. (1995) Challenging hegemonic masculinities: Female and male police officers handling domestic violence. In M. Bucholtz and K. Hall (eds) Gender Articulated Language and the Socially Constructed Self 217–244. New York: Routledge.
Mendoza-Denton, N. (2008) Homegirls: Language and Cultural Practice among Latina Youth Gangs. Malden, MA: Blackwell. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470693728.
Morreale, J. (2005) Reality TV, faking it, and the transformation of personal identity. CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 7(2): Article 5.
Nagy, N. and Irwin, P. (2010) Boston (r): Neighbo(r)s nea(r) and fa(r). Language Variation and Change 22(2): 241–278. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954394510000062.
Podesva, R. (2007) Phonation type as a stylistic variable: The use of falsetto in constructing a persona. Journal of Sociolinguistics 11(4): 478–504. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9841.2007.00334.x.
Podesva, R. (2011) Salience and the social meaning of declarative contours: Three case studies of gay professionals. Journal of English Linguistics 39(3): 233–264. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0075424211405161.
Podesva, R., Roberts, S., and Campbell-Kibler, K. (2002) Sharing resources and indexing meanings in the production of gay styles. In K. Campbell-Kibler, R. Podesva, S. Roberts, and A. Wong (eds) Language and Sexuality: Contesting Meaning in Theory and Practice 175–190. Stanford, CA: CSLI.
Schilling-Estes, N. (2002) Investigating stylistic variation. In J. Chambers, P. Trudgill and N. Schilling-Estes (eds) The Handbook of Language Variation and Change 375–401. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Thornborrow, J. (2015) The Discourse of Public Participation Media: From Talk Show to Twitter. New York: Routledge.
Tolson, A. (2006) Media Talk: Spoken Discourse on TV and Radio. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Wells, J. (1982) Accents of English. New York: Cambridge University Press. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511611759.
Zhang, Q. (2008) Rhoticization and the ‘Bejing smooth operator’: The social meaning of a linguistic variable. Journal of Sociolinguistics 12(2): 201–222. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9841.2008.00362.x.
Additional Files
Published
2019-05-02
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Eberhardt, M. (2019). Stylistic variation in /r/ Shifting personas on a bridal reality television show. Sociolinguistic Studies, 12(3-4), 345-366. https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.33923
