Sociological consciousness as a component of linguistic variation

While practice theory has provided a valuable framework for establishing connections between individual-level sociolinguistic variation and social structures, Bourdieu's (1977) formulation of practice theory has been argued to inadequately address subjectivity. The sociologist C. Wright Mills&#...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of sociolinguistics 2008-02, Vol.12 (1), p.34-57
Main Author: Dodsworth, Robin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
C. Wright Mills
Columbus
Linguistics
Mills, Charles Wright
o/ fronting
Ohio
Practice
Sociolinguistics and ethnolinguistics
sociological consciousness
Sociology
Subjectivity
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Summary:While practice theory has provided a valuable framework for establishing connections between individual-level sociolinguistic variation and social structures, Bourdieu's (1977) formulation of practice theory has been argued to inadequately address subjectivity. The sociologist C. Wright Mills' (1959) concept of the sociological imagination -- consciousness of links among personal experiences, social structures, and historical processes -- is posited as a partial solution, as it offers a framework for modeling one aspect of subjectivity. Use of the sociological imagination concept is demonstrated through a quantitative acoustic analysis of /o/ fronting in Worthington, Ohio, a Columbus suburb confronting acute urban sprawl. The distribution of /o/ fronting across 21 speakers largely resists traditional sociolinguistic explanations. A close analysis of four speakers' mental representations of the local tensions surrounding urban sprawl reveals significant differences which are argued to account for their variable use of fronted /o/. Adapted from the source document.
ISSN:1360-6441
1467-9841
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9841.2008.00352.x