Transcript Varieties of English Language and social class

Varieties of English
Language and social class
Basil Bernstein
• British sociologist and linguist
• b.1924, d. 2000
• Worked as a teacher and social worker
before becoming an academic at U
London Institute of Education
• Most famous for his theory on “codes” in
speech and language, in particular
“restricted” vs “elaborated” code, and how
these relate to social class
2/17
Background
• Experience of teaching working-class children
• Differences in performance between working-class and
middle-class children in language-based subjects, when
performance in maths (etc) was comparable
• Access to and use of different styles of language both
limits and defines
• Language used in everyday conversation both reflects
and shapes the assumptions of a certain social group
• Relationships established within the social group affect
the way that group uses language, and the type of
speech that is used
• Bernstein wanted to point this out and have it
compensated for, but was misunderstood
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Codes
• Distinguished varieties of language use, called codes
• Restricted code (RC)
– speakers draw on background knowledge and shared
understanding
– creates a sense of includedness, a feeling of belonging to
a certain group.
– can be found among friends and families and other
intimately knit groups.
• Elaborated code (EC)
– spells everything out, so that everyone can understand it
because the circumstances do not allow the speaker to
condense
– used in situations where there is no prior or shared
understanding and knowledge, where more thorough
explanation is required
•
We are concerned here with speech rather than written language
4/17
Elaborated and restricted code misconceptions
• “Elaborated code” does NOT mean better, more
eloquent language
• “Restricted code” does NOT mean restricted
vocabulary, simplified grammar
• The difference is about explicitness and shared
background knowledge
• Use of terms “elaborated” and “restricted”
somewhat unfortunate, and lead to
misunderstandings and even vilification of
Bernstein
5/17
Example
• a group of children were shown a strip cartoon
and asked to say what it depicted.
They're playing football and he
kicks it and it goes through there.
It breaks the window and they're
looking at it and he comes out
and shouts at them because
they've broken it.
So they run away and then she
looks out and she tells them off.
Three boys are playing football and
one boy kicks the ball
and it goes through the window.
The ball breaks the window and the
boys are looking at it and a man
comes out and shouts at them
because they've broken the window.
So they run away and then a lady
looks out of her window and she
tells the boys off.
• (based on Bernstein, 1971 p 203)
6/17
Differences in code
• Syntax
– more varied in EC; also more formal
– more subordinate clauses in EC; fewer unfinished sentences
• EC uses more logical connectives like if and unless; RC uses
more simple coordinations eg and, but
• RC has short phrases interjected into the middle or end of a
thought to confirm understanding (eg you know, I mean,
right?); EC has less (or highly disguised) padding or filler (eg
elaboration and explanation)
• More originality in EC; more clichés in RC
• Reference more explicit in EC, more implicit in RC – use of
pronouns and deixis
• Meaning is “universalistic” in EC, “particularistic” in RC
• Lexis more restricted in RC
• It’s about use of rather than access to different codes
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Consequences
• Restricted code
– appropriate for expressing shared, established and static
meanings,
– draws on a store of shared meanings and background
knowledge
– carries a social message of inclusion
• Some people assume BB was saying middle-classes
use EC, working-classes use RC
– Actually he never said this
– Middle-class children also use RC when appropriate
– But they have greater access to EC through socilaization
• Problem is of reduced access to EC among workingclass children
8/17
Elaborated code
• Necessary if you want to break out to say
something new, particularly something
which questions the received wisdom
• Fundamental in schooling, where the
introduction of new knowledge goes
beyond existing shared meanings
• So: if you can't handle elaborated code,
you are not going to succeed in the
educational system
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Socialization
• Reciprocal nature of language and culture
• Whorfian view that language determines
(or at least conditions) the speaker’s view
of the world
• This is the case with social structure
– A particular social structure leads to a
particular linguistic behaviour
– In turn, this behaviour reinforces the social
structure
10/17
Social-class constraints
• 5-yr-olds telling a story based on pictures
• WC children used fewer expressions of uncertainty
• MC children less good at role playing
– “What is the man saying?” 
– “What do you think the man might be saying?” 
• When invited to make up stories
– WC children’s stories freer, longer, more imaginative
– MC children’s stories more constrained within strong
narrative frame
– form vs content
11/17
Other studies
Several studies of how mothers talk to children:
MC mothers
WC mothers
• use more abstract ideas
• point out consequences of
actions rather than just forbid
or tell off
• answer wh-questions with
genuine explanation, involving
causes, analogies etc.
• better at explaining verbally
how to do something
• Encourage verbal interaction
• Use language to induce
desired behavioural changes
• use more direct commands
• cite authority figures
(themselves or outsiders) to
get their own way
• answer wh-questions with
“Because it is”
• more likely to “explain” by
demonstration
• More likely to avoid answering
difficult questions
• punishments less likely to be
explained, and more frequent
than rewards
12/17
Comments and criticism
• Many criticisms, perhaps through
misunderstanding:
– That this is a “deficit” theory
– Whorfian angle
– Elitist
13/17
Deficit theory
• RC is inferior, and by extension WC
people have lesser language ability
• BB stresses that difference is in language
use, not language competence
• But he often speaks of codes as having
distinct "linguistic rule systems," and
attributes to these codes radically different
expressive capacities
14/17
Whorfian interpretation
• Whorf: language and culture reciprocally
condition and determine each other
• If so then the culture of RC speakers
reflects the language:
– Logically simpler
– Lacking in sophisticated structures
– Unable to abstract and generalize
– Less creative and original
15/17
Elitism
• Lack of access to EC is a problem for WC children which
must be addressed or corrected
• The notion that the poor require a remedy in order to be
more like their oppressors reinforces the myth that there
really is something special about the educated classes,
that the language spoken by its members is “superior” in
some interesting way
• The academically successful are not merely perceived
as smarter or more capable…. Rather, it implies that
they really are smarter, ready to engage in a discourse
capable of expressing “universal meaning”, eschewing
the fragmentation and “logical simplicity” of the
underclass
16/17
Final word
• Bernstein has probably been misunderstood and
his ideas misappropriated
• His background and interests (Marxist, working
class, worked as a social worker and teacher in
WC areas) would suggest just the opposite of
what he is accused of
• His style is sometimes a bit woolly, and there are
inconsistencies
• He had (and took advantage of) many
opportunities to explain what he meant
• His later work was on language and education
17/17
Sources and references
• B Bernstein (1966) Elaborated and Restricted Codes: An Outline.
Sociological Inquiry 36: 254-261
• B Bernstein (1970) Social class, language and socialization. In PP
Giglioli (ed) Language and social context, Harmondsworth (1972):
Penguin, 157-178
• R Wardhaugh (1986) An introduction to sociolinguistics, Oxford:
Basil Blackwell, pages 316-323
• R Young (2002) Basil Bernstein’s Sociolinguistic Theory of
Language Codes. http://zimmer.csufresno.edu/~johnca/spch100/33-bernstein.htm
• http://www.doceo.co.uk/background/language_codes.htm
• http://www.putlearningfirst.com/language/research/bernstein.html
• http://brj.asu.edu/articles/ar6.html
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