9 Language use and perception in social interaction – Another experiment on the social meaning of negative concord in American English
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Abstract
Humans, as inherently social beings, utilize language in diverse ways to communicate a wide range of messages during social interactions. Different social meanings, i.e., the inferences about the speaker, arise due to choices among linguistic alternatives that bear similar meanings. Negative concord (NC), used in many English varieties, is considered ungrammatical in ‘standard’ contemporary English, where negative polarity items (NPIs) are used instead. Recent research shows that NC is sensitive to register, i.e., sets of speech repertoires linked to specific situational-functional parameters, and that it has distinct social meanings from that of NPI. In this paper, we take an experimental approach to investigate the influence of the context and individual differences on the use and perception of NC versus NPI constructions. We conducted a rating experiment with American English participants, using interlocutor relations as a formality manipulation on the situational context. Results show that in comparison to NPI, NC is associated with lower levels in socioeconomic status and education and is perceived as less formal, but as more rebellious. Furthermore, we found a register effect in that NC was perceived as more appropriate for contexts which involve socially close interlocutors than distant ones. These findings converge with those in the recent literature and serves as a foundation for future experimental investigations into variation of NC and related doubling phenomena.
Abstract
Humans, as inherently social beings, utilize language in diverse ways to communicate a wide range of messages during social interactions. Different social meanings, i.e., the inferences about the speaker, arise due to choices among linguistic alternatives that bear similar meanings. Negative concord (NC), used in many English varieties, is considered ungrammatical in ‘standard’ contemporary English, where negative polarity items (NPIs) are used instead. Recent research shows that NC is sensitive to register, i.e., sets of speech repertoires linked to specific situational-functional parameters, and that it has distinct social meanings from that of NPI. In this paper, we take an experimental approach to investigate the influence of the context and individual differences on the use and perception of NC versus NPI constructions. We conducted a rating experiment with American English participants, using interlocutor relations as a formality manipulation on the situational context. Results show that in comparison to NPI, NC is associated with lower levels in socioeconomic status and education and is perceived as less formal, but as more rebellious. Furthermore, we found a register effect in that NC was perceived as more appropriate for contexts which involve socially close interlocutors than distant ones. These findings converge with those in the recent literature and serves as a foundation for future experimental investigations into variation of NC and related doubling phenomena.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
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I Introduction
- 1 Language in social interaction: Cognitive, social and linguistic perspectives 1
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II Interaction and Social Behavior
- 2 Does Zoom affect conversational interactivity? Turn-taking in free and task-based conversations 23
- 3 Collective amusement in a moral gray zone: Backbiting and forms of interactional (dis-)engagement in malicious talk about others in everyday conversation 47
- 4 An interactional account of exaggeration in everyday conversation 81
- 5 Studying social interaction from a historical perspective: Commitments, acts of promising and changing degrees of self-obligation in the history of English 113
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III Discourse signals in social interaction
- 6 Clause-final so: Emergence and function of a new discourse marker use 147
- 7 Token agreement and the development of discourse structuring markers/subjective adverbials: The case of Chinese dāngrán ‘of course, but’ 181
- 8 The demonstrative ProTag construction in social interaction: a historical perspective 207
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IV Grammar in Social Interaction
- 9 Language use and perception in social interaction – Another experiment on the social meaning of negative concord in American English 237
- 10 Root participles and closely related configurations in discourse: Implications for a common basis of sentence and interactive grammar 273
- 11 Conditional constructions in question-answer pairs 311
- Index
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
-
I Introduction
- 1 Language in social interaction: Cognitive, social and linguistic perspectives 1
-
II Interaction and Social Behavior
- 2 Does Zoom affect conversational interactivity? Turn-taking in free and task-based conversations 23
- 3 Collective amusement in a moral gray zone: Backbiting and forms of interactional (dis-)engagement in malicious talk about others in everyday conversation 47
- 4 An interactional account of exaggeration in everyday conversation 81
- 5 Studying social interaction from a historical perspective: Commitments, acts of promising and changing degrees of self-obligation in the history of English 113
-
III Discourse signals in social interaction
- 6 Clause-final so: Emergence and function of a new discourse marker use 147
- 7 Token agreement and the development of discourse structuring markers/subjective adverbials: The case of Chinese dāngrán ‘of course, but’ 181
- 8 The demonstrative ProTag construction in social interaction: a historical perspective 207
-
IV Grammar in Social Interaction
- 9 Language use and perception in social interaction – Another experiment on the social meaning of negative concord in American English 237
- 10 Root participles and closely related configurations in discourse: Implications for a common basis of sentence and interactive grammar 273
- 11 Conditional constructions in question-answer pairs 311
- Index
