1334: Overt Prestige Aug 6, 2018

People change the way they speak to fit in with small groups, as was described yesterday, but the reverse happens as well. If one way of speaking, be it pronunciation, lexicon or whatever else, those overtly prestigious variables can help to make anyone sound of higher status, whatever that might mean in the context of the conversation. Going back and forth between manners of speaking is called ‘code-switching’. Women are far more likely to chance the way that they speak to use overt prestige than men, as traditionally there were fewer ways for women to elevate their statuses if they were not in the workforce.
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