9

Field Methods in the Studv

of Social Dialects

Walt Wolfam and Ralph W. Fasold

In our attempt to collect maningful data, there are lwo major areas of
concern: (i) the choice of a sample population and (2) the elicitation
o[ adequate speech data.

THE SA]VIPLE
When a sociolinguist decides to describe the speech behavior oi a particular
population, he is l'aced with the problem of defining his univese in such a
way as lo ensure that his observations adequateiy reDresent the population.
The first decision he must make, therefore, is to delirnir the popuiation from
ivhich his sample wiil be drawn. In some cases, it is quite possible to choose
a popuiation that is already defineci in terms of sone arbitrrry boundary'
such as a geographical one. For example, we may decide rhat we are golng
to study the speech of a given locale, suctr as Detroit, tvf ichigan, Rochester,
New York, or Vfeadville, Mississipoi. For a population of this type, the
bouncries oi our universe have aireadlr been es;ablished ibr us, so that our
only task is to select a represenlative smple from hat population. In other
cases, we may '/ant to describe the speech behavior of a populatioo defined
sociaily raher lhan geographicaily, such as a lorver-class inner-city group. If
this is our universe, then we need to estabiish the boundary on the basis of
crireria such as social class, age, and so lorth. Once we have established who
qualifres according o our social criteria, we can decide how o obtain a
representative sample of this population.
In some rypes of socioiogical studies, randoti sampling is used, in rvhich
erch cerson in che iotri popuiation has n equal c:rance oi being selecred
from the sampie- Random sarnpling, horvever, should nor be equated wtth
haphazard or casuai selection. it is an organized procedure for choosrng
che informants in such a wal- as o eiiminate selection bias' One of the
rrditionai wavs of obtarning an authentic rlrndorn sari:ole is rhrough ihe use
Sce:'Fieid \ftho<ls rn the Stud-v oIsocial Dialects'. in Woiiiam, W. nci Fasold'
R. W. (1974) The Stucil, of Sociai Dialects in Amerlcan Engirs iEngiewood Ciitfs' NJ:
Prenrice.Hal[) pp. ]6-;:.
v

of a trble ol'random numbers. This procedure relics on rhe assignmenr ol'a

number to cach individual in the population. The investigator cn then use
a table of random numbers, simply lollowing the numbers in consecutive
order. (Tables of random numbers can be found in most basic srristics
textbooks.) Each individual with an assigned number corresponding ro rhe
one selected in the list of random numbers is then chosen for the samole. unril
the researcher arives at the number of informants he desires for his study.
. Although a list of random numbers is often used in random sampling, this
is not the only piocedure tha can be utilized.'The researcer cen simpty
designate every nth unit in his population for study; for example, every fifh,
tenth. twenrieth, hundredth, or other n, depending on the raiio of he toral
population that he.chooses for hjs sample.
strict andom samples, though avantageous for some reasons, have
limiraticni fcr thc ilvcscigariori ol sociai di'iecis. Tirc-; oiLc; :iiji:.,-_
numbers of sub.,iects whose speech crrrni be consiciered because they are
recent immigranrs from another section ol the united srates or iror:r
anther country. Lbov notes rhe various types of problems laced by thc
sociolinguist rvhen dependent on a strict random sample:

A trial random sarnpie of my own involved counring every tenih builctine

in a block. anc cailing on every sevenrh aparumenr. This rerhod

to be lree from bias. but dici nor enable me tc choose my

,.-o.

informanrs

randomly rvithiri the farnily, nor could I predicr how large an area I would
to cover by this merhod before availabie resources were expendeci.
9: qu,.

v{ost importandy, any sampling on rhis. basis wouiti be unable ro

djscnminae iJe!.,veet rrilive soeakers and tbreign lan_euage speakers, and
a great deal of erlbil wouio be spent on truitiess ca.iis on rhe larrer iype oi

in which wc decide !o invesrigate he variables ol'social clss, sex, age, and '
cthnicity. we choose to h4ve a sample represe nting four social classes, both I
sexes, three age groups, and borh black and white subjects. If we wanr each
of the logically possible social categories represented in our sample, we wiil
have a sample distriburjon as in Figure 9.i.
in our samplc, we wanr to make sure thar all cells (e.g. upper middle-class
white l0 to l2-year-old females or lower working-class biack 25 co 35-yearold males) are adequately r.p..s.nt.d, so we chos.'only a given numberof
informants for each. The total number of ceils in the sample is the number
ol categories of each social variable multiplied by each orher.. There are four
sociai classes multiptied by two races, two sexes, and three age groups, and
so the total number of cells is 48,4 x2xzx j:4g. when soeakins of a
r.^!..
nf 'h:
;. ifloi'f
, -:..; ia
-^ :C:lk
r: 15
^-^ -,- Of lhC nUmbel Of infOfmantS
)-iriirL ur
!:r) t"-o
LjL,., ;.
L-.iiai?.-]
-^..^ .in each cell thrn oithe rctal nu;nber of inibrmants. For exarnpie, if we.usr
had i informants in each ol the ce ils in our sample, we would have a sample
of 240 subjects. But il we were conducting a study of sex d.ifferences in the
speech of lcwer-class whites, we would have only one variable. In this case,
a ioral of 100 subjecrs would be divrded equaily inro caregories ol 50males
and 50 females. Thus rhe coral sampie in tfus insrance ,ould be
considerabiy srnaller. but thc represenrarion in each of rhe rwo ceils much
sreater. If rve have a large nurnbe of celis, ir mar be possible io collapse
some of hem for some ryDes ot'analysis, but an anail'sis oi he efrecc of all
the intersecting vanabies on each other will require adecu3te represeniation

oi ail of our

cells.'
lVhl!i

resident. (1966: :01)

Male
l0-12 l4-17 l5-li

A stnct random

sample should also result in the represenration of

population propo.rrionately with respecr ro the veFious sociai groups. For
e.xample. if there'are large numbers ol midcle-class whites in I parricular

rrea bu iew workino-class whjtes, this shouid be represenred in the sanple.

In some cises. this rnav result in excessive numbers oIsubjects represenri;re
one grouo while anoiher grcuD is uncierrqoresenrec for the sake of a

socloungul5Ilc analvsls.
As an aiternaiive ro srici raadorn sarnplrng, i is otien more elicieni to
obtain a represenraive sarnole lor predeterrlineci socral caregories. In rhis
crocedrre. rhe social coroosition oi':he sanpie rs iirst derermined. then
.:i.lt^.'-.-.-

.-':,j'...1..

---t:t . ::

..":,it,.

.....!::::: .,:., !.,r-lJt:r,:(J

::lt:ed c s ,'::..; rti'ii.e ::ri:ipic. Iiiori,a,i: c:l e c.-iosen :nd.,-.nI,,. urlii

n oequete r;unrt'cr is obleined io ieoreseni esch cell. This prcceriure
rvoicis ihe probiem ol'ovcr- and uncerrcpresentliion for oaricular social
categones. becruse ihc irrresriercor sroDs seiectine inlbrmanrs for eiven cgils

Femaie
l0-12 l4-i7 l5-li

El:ck

Male
Fenale
l0-ll t.r-i7 ii-15 l0-i2 l4-17 25-li

!{iddle
Class

Lcwer

Viiclc
Class

Clss
Lo

*'e
rilng

1.t;,_.

tossr olc socl:ri

clie:cnei ln

Feld [ethods in the Study oJ'Sociul Dialcctt

ll/ult ll/olJram und Ralph 14/. Fasoll

The question of optim:rl sample size flor the study of social dialects is still
undetermined. On the one hand, there is the tradition of linguistics which
generally relies on very small samples. In some cases, one or just a few
indiduals scrve as informants, and sometimes the linguist acn as his own
informant. On the other hand, thetradition of sociological surveys is to have
rather substantiai numbers o[subjects, often in the'hundreds or thousands.
The investigation of social dialects must rely on samples that are somewhere
. in between these two traditions. It is, however, difficult to even approximate
what might be a reasonable number of informants in each cell. There are
both theoretical and practical considerations. To a certain extent, the size of
the sample is dependent upon how homogeneous behavior can be expected
to be. The more homogeneous the behavior, the smaller the sample may be. It appears that linguistic behavior is considerably more homogeneous than
some other types o.f behavior, so that we might obtain a reliable sample by
using a smaller sample than some types of sociological surveys. Linguists
have a tradition of assuming that the speech of a few informants may be
sufficient to represent a language system, but exactly how many informants
is sufficien in each ceil is still difficult to predict for a given study. in part,
the size depends on the type of sociolinguiscic problem wirh which we are
dealing. If, lor example, we are dealing with subjective reactions to speech
through a formal questionnaire, there is no reason why we cannot use
sampies that are rather large in size. A requirement of l0 to 20 subjects in
each cell would appear to be a minimum in such a case if we expect to arrive
at s.tatisticaiiy significant results. On the other hand, if we are doing a
quantiative analysis of linguistic variables ol the type undertaken by Labov
et'al. (1968), Wolfram (1969, l9i3), or Fasold (t972), the sample must be
limited in size for quite practical reasbns. This type of anaiysis requires
detailed extraction of speech data. The simple procedure of e.xtractioo may
take several days for each informant, so tha! a comprehensive analysis of
hundreds of tapes is precluded if we are to complete our analysis within
a reasonable amount of tirne. The larger the sample, of course, the
rnore social variables we can examine and the more coofidence we can
ha.e in our conclusions, but there are sometimes practical limitations
ot time. It appeers, horvever. tha if we have fewer than five informants in
erch ceil tor this type of analysis. we r!.n the risk of getting quite skerveC

The ne.'< step in approaching the NNE pcer group nd its use of rhe bsic
vernacular was to study a particular recreation center in detail. . . . In the
initial series of discussions and interviews, we locred one major peer

9?

results.

So lar rve h',e relerred only to samples dcoenden on iome type oi'
raniom selection proceCure. But there are studies in sociai dialects fbr which
we ma-v rvrsh io abandon randornness comoierell,' in t'avor of some
struciured pttern of inlbrmant seiection based on other criteria. For
rrmnlp I rhov:d his associates'mosi insishcfui lineuistic,laa on black
adolescent speech in Hariem came not trom his ranJom'sample, bul frqn'
his study oi selected pecr sroups. The selection of pe:r-group inlormans is
descnbed by hrnr as tbilows:

93

group at the Stephen Foster Center, and began to study it using the'S-G-S'

[Sociogram Scale] paradigm....When we speak of 'members' of the

group, we man the ieer-group structure formed by the daily activities of
the boys, and most clearly by the hand-out patterns. (1968; 3l)

The sociogram technique mentioned by Labov involves the objective

presentation of relationships within groups. It is a diagram showing the
informal $oup structure, including such elements as friend.ship patterns and
the position of each individual among individuais in the group. The actual
questions used in' sociogram analysis may varv from study to study, but
typicai types of questions concern lriendship and leadership choices within
the group. If we are interested in peer-group speech patterns, this type of
informant selection is obviously prelerred over a random sample.
The crucial consideration in selecting a sampie is the goal of the research.
If our goal is to descibe peer-group adolescent black speech in Harlem. for
example, our essential goai is to defrne the sample in terms of criteria related
to the establishment of peer groups. But if we desire ro descnbe the various
sociai parameers of social stratification in the speech of se'erai classes of
aduit Nerv Yorkers. we want quice a dift'erenr type of sample. Our sample
cannot be seleced wilhout prior consideracion of what social oaame ters of
specch we want to examlne.

Sociai Strrus

Any study thar atlempts ro correlare linguisric behavior with . social

sratification must have not oniy a clea-cu delimiation of the linguistic
daa, but valid delimitation of social strare as well. We need to knorv what
the various social levels in a communicv are. antj how we can measure a
given individ.ual's status in rerrns of rhese ievels. In some cases. we mey
ciesire to delimit the various social ievels before we begin our iinguistic
anaiysis. so ihat we can coreiale our iinguisiic variables wirh oredetemined
social levels isee Wolliam l9i). In other cas;s, it rnav be advani;rgeous to
firs delimit the population on the basis of linguislic iiferences. then
examine lhe sociai characteistrcs oi the vanous linguisiic grouos (see
Bickerion i97l) Or we mav use conbin:ron. srar::rg i,ilh a hnell'
stratined group of informanis bur combining and rnanipulaiing the sociel
qrouDS in such a wal/' as io mosi cierrl;r.-reveli patieins u.f coreiation
benveen iinguistrc phenomena and scciai stntiflcaiion (see Labcv 1966)
Whateve procedure we clcose for the delimit.ion of socrsl le"'eis. tve
need a reliable rilethod tor assessrng social sraiihc:riion. The essentral
euestion is, hor.v do we assess rhe relaive social rnk oi indii'rciuals in the

Field tVethods in the

94

lYalt llolfran and Ralph lV. Fusold

Stullt oJ'Social Diulects

community'l There are two main types of Procedures for doing this - those
dependent on thc objective measurement of an outsidc investigator and
those dependent upon the subjective evaluations ol the communily
participants themselves.

objective Meosurements. The objective approach to the study of social

stratificatioo is based on the deniled observation of the various straia that
exist in a community, regardless of whether or not the strata are recognized

by the members. The researcher 'stands outside' the community and

atremprs to determine the criteria that will divide it into the strata most

significantly affecting social behavior. One of the most common tyPes of

objective evaluetio involves the use o[what Warner (1960) has called the
Index of Sratus Characteristics (iSC). (In the UK, rhe Registrar-General's
Classifcation of Occupatiow seryes a similar function.) The I$C is primarily
an index of certain socioeconomic flactors. Most typically, the cnteria used
tor evaluating subjects are occupation, education, income, house type' and
d.weiling area. For each of these criteria arbitrary divisions are set uD so that
a ranking is given in each area. For example, occupations may be divided
inm seven categories, described roughly as follows:
Class
I

)
J

ci

nn

possible

was

is given

in ihe tciiowrng

Level of Edztcation
Any eraCuacc degree lprolessionrl)

Cnlle"e or-rdll.rlion r four-r'ear)

Utre !nf Or iIrOfe.OI COilcgC

each informant had three rating numbers: (a) a rating lrom

education; (b) a ratin-! from one lo seven on occupalton;
on
to
seven
one
then
and (c) a rating from one to six on residence . These numbers were
numbers
ihese
of
muitiplied by fctors of 5,9, and 6, respectively, the sum
who
being the informant's posicion on the scale. For instrnce, a lwver

At this point,

Skilled workmen
Semi-skilled workmen
Unskilled wokers (Shuy. Wollram, and fule-v 1968: t2)

High school qraduetlon

Some high school (tenth erade uP)

Junror high school (seventh rhroueh nin:h)

Less than seven yeers oi school
(Shu1,. Wolfram. and Rilev 1968:

liveJin a Class I neighborhood wouid receive a I lbr ducation. a I tor

occuDario, and a i for residence. Multiplied br'5,9, and 6 resoecriveil''.

these give a combined score o[20. For :- oerson rated 7 on both educatton
ancl occuparion (a laborer wilh a third grade ducation' for example)'
wirh a house in a class VI neighborhooi. the score is i3-1. ob'iiously, the
lower lhe number the higher the oresige. end vice versa' iShul"' \\'olfrsrl'

rnd fulev l96E.

.i.

j
7

It

e Is

2
1

measures do not use the same criteria, so lhat one

study may use lhe scaies of occupadon, education, and residency whereas
is also
another may use occupation' house type, and dwelling area'
an
assessing
in
used
various
scales
to
the
values
different
to assign

All ISc evaluarion

and residency to evaluate social status, the lollowing procedure

employed lo oblain an ISC rank:

A iairiy ry'pical deiimitarion of ed.ucaiionai rank

various census tract data.

for example, may be weighted more

In
heavily rhan educarioo and residency in computing an overall ISC score.
education,
the Detfoir Dialect Study, which used the criteria of occupation,

lrit:

Clss

Two types of residency scales are also used, one relating to the individuai
house type and one to the more general dwelling area. with reference to
per
house type, characteristics such as size, condition, number o[ inhabitants
to
overail
room, and plumbing are considered. Dwelling area refers
neighborhood conditions (such as nondeteriorating single homes wrth
,pu-.iout yards cr deteriorating block homes with no yards). Although.this
type of evaluation may appear to be dependenl on the personal impressions
of the .ualu"tors, quite objective measures can be set up on the basis of

Major professionals
Executives of large concernsLesser professionals
Executives of medium-sized concerns
Admirustralors of small businesses

rate with status.

o.rerall status ranking. Occupation,

S.m i-nrnlcs

those which de limit actual salary levels (e.g- above $30 000, S20 000-5l0 000'
etc. [at 1974 rates!]) and those which delimit the source of the income
(e.g. inherited income, profits and fees, e tc.). The source of the income is
often more reliable than the actual income levels because income levels can
become outdated quice rapidly and actuai income is not always commensu-'

Occupation

Technicians
Owners of petty businesses
6

Two types of jncomc indices are commoniy used in ISC evaluatrons

lj)

Qcs gverall sccres are ccmputeci' it rs pcssibl: :" dL"idt ihe ce'ouiacion
who had
inro tJiscreie social levels. In rhe Detoit srudl; cited abrlve. subjcis
as ucper middie ciss, those
wirh scces between -19 and 77 lorver middie cilss, thcse with scores between

sr3lus scores beween

ll)

l0 and J8 were ciassihed

96

llrult ll/oliam und

. Fietl illethods in thc Study of Sociut Diulccts

78 and t0 upper working class, and those belween t07 and l'14 lower
working class. Subjects whose scores fall.at the lower or upper ranges of an

individual level are generally considered rirarginal, so that an individual with

a status index score of 76 would be considered as marginally between upirer
working and lowei middle ciassl
The use of ISC for the measurement of social status is based on two
propositions: (l) that certain economic lactors are closely correlated with
,o.l ttotut, and (2) tha these social and economic factrs are translated
into social-class behavior acceptable to the members of any given level of
the community (Warner l90: 39). ISC presumes a set of values and
behavioral patterns. Because it is an indirect method for assessing social
class, we must expect that some discrepancies will, of course' occur - some
individuals who are given a particular status ranking on an iSC may reffect
behavioral characteristics more typical of individuals of a different
socioeconomic level.
The facr rhar isc is an indirecr way olgetting at social class is one of the
weaknesses of the procedure. It is actual behaviorai patterns rhat are
the basis of social class, not an objective ranking on seleced socioeconomic
indices. The general applicebility of objective socioeconomic measures may
also vary considerably from community to community. This is particulariy
true with respect to applicability for various ethnic groups' For example'
how important should occuparion be considered in the black community,

given the history

of

discimination which has kept blacks from

if

.,ob

such scales are

apiticaUte to e black community, their weighting my be considerabiy
itier.nt from that for the white eommuniiy. For example, education
(not only the amount, bu! where it was obtained) appears to be more heavily
pforruniries commensurare rvirh their abrlities? Even

weighted than occupation tor some black communities. Various adjustments

*utt b. made in ISC weighting from region to region for aoy group, but
quire substanrial adjustments may be necessary for ics application to various
erhnic groups.
Alchough the ISC methoC is the most commonly used objective'
aeasuremenL of social suatihcation, rhere are other objective aporoaches
nor exciusiveiy dependent on socioeconomic ranking. It is ,iite possibie to

examine cerrain t-vpes of institutional membership and differential social

roles in a comrnunity, tor example. An investi_eator mav look at such things
as church membership. leisure-rime ctiviiies, or comrnunit) organzatlons.
In rhese csses the ioral configurarion ,f,f rnsttiutional mernbershrp ts
considered. because vanous alfiiiations rviil often.rmply each other. on the
basis of rhese configurations. differen sociai groupings cen be esrablished.
On a large scale, rhis type of objective measurement is not.as simple aslS"!and is nor used nearly as frequently, despire the fact that it ts Probably more
directly reiated ro social clss chan the simple mcasurement of cconomic
facto rs.

Ralph

ll . Fasold

q'7

Subjective Evaluatiot. One of the major criricisms of an

that the
objective approach to the measufement of social status is the fact
outsider's
an
ol
the
basis
on
determined
is
strata
diiierendaon of social
the
criteria. Ultimatety, however, the real discriminators of social class are
social
menbers of the community themselves. From one perspective'
exist'
. .*", because ihe members of the community beiieve that theythen
it
class,
o[
social
If he communiry members are the reel determiners
the
be
might
ctass
judgments
social
about
sands ro reason that lheir
primary basis for class delimitation' The method of subjective evaluation
by Warner as Evaluated Participation (EP) is based. on lhis
e'tcluslvely

referred to
proposition.

t urru*., that the members are implicitly or expiiciily aware

oi ie so.ial ank ol those around them and can evaiuale their social

participation into social'class ralings. The invesdgator asks the community

in
members how rhey rare each othei(and, in some instances, themseives)
can
Thjs
community'
the
within
recognized
categories
terrns of sociai-ciass
be done in a number of ways. For example' it is possible to.rate

informants

on the

basis

ol

stalus reputxcion. Using this

techntque'

on lhe
community membrs are asked to evaluate personai acquaintances
to-be
thought
be
my
person
One
basis oicertain imputed character lraits.
of as
thought
be
may
another
whereas
tracks'
the
'tiom the wrong srde of
own
his
'upper crust'. A communiry member may be asked to designate
can
indi'iduais
,o.iul .ut.go.jes and then rank other community'members'
or
aDove
menbers
aiso be asked to rate themselves and other community
of
indication
an
gives
only
not
below therr in the sociai hierarchy. This
how
sho''vs
aiso
bu"
class
sociai
cf
pecple
in
terrns
vie',v
other
how they'
d
rhey view themselves. Ciass is a concept that is generally recognize
would
rank
social
rhrughut American society, and a valid picture of
participanls
upp.oi to lake into account ihe perceptions of ciass from the

,,virhin che community class sructure.

pitlails oi
Aithough ihe use of EP rechniques seens to avoitl some oI the
practical questions
the objective aoprcaches, there aie both theoretical and
recslve.qulte
rhat can be raiseci concerning their use. We may, for example,
* the lower
ciasses
various
different pictures of social ciass iseif from the
classes'
upper
the
irom
differentiy
quire
classes ma-v percetve sociai class
siruclures
rnJ'n)/
as
ihcre
are
or
picture.
rn
acc'urae
Which of lhese redects
that we tnay
as there lre classes looking el lhenrl We must also recognize
c1ss One
sc'cicl
of
not recerve a conslsient ii...ur. ci the divisions

cornnunitlrmernbermal,believeihere'areirvesocilc|ssesandanotner,
socrai-ciass
hree. Are rve,justified in assumtng that rhe rnajc'ril'; oornion.of

of questtons
,Jivisions is necessaril-r' rhe authentic one? These efe the kinds
theoretical
a
tha! researchers rvho use an EP procedure musc deel with on
lr>

as the basis ior

On a praciicai ievel, the socre'linguist "vho rvants ict use EP
iI assumes a certain

differenrraring soctal cllrss must recognlze

rnsl

knowledge of thc communitv betbrehrn<i. Hc must lso knorv the

community membcrs who re ranked by a given member. Ir is difticul to
use an EP procedure on a large scale because of che ethnographic knowledge
that it presumes.
Ideally, an accurate assessment of sociai class should combine subjective
and objetive measurements of many types of behavioral roles and values.
For sociolinguistic studies, this is often piecluded because of the enormous
task this is in itself. where convenient, it appears reasonable to urilize

sociological

or anthropological srudies that have previously delimited

various social strat. This is the procedure, for example, thar Labov (1966)
adopted in his srudy of social straficarion of English in New york city

and that Shuy, Wolfram, and Riley (1968) followed in their study of
Detroit speech. I.lot only does it provide a more praciical solution to what
may be a very time-consuming problem. but it provides a base for
examining the validity of sociai-class distinctions as reflecred in the
Iinguistic data.

ELICITATIOI\I OF DATA
once we d.ecid.e ivho we want ro interview, lhe nexi step rn research on social
dia.lects is to elicit the dara that we wanr. Ir,lo srudy of social dialects can
hope to succeed without having aderluare data [or anarysis. As we shall see

later, there are a number o[ different types of data and. mehods for
coiiecting this dara ar rhe disposal of he fieldworker. Belore ciiscussing rhese
merl,rods, however, ir is appropriare to consider he erhics of fieldrvork in
socio linguistics.

Fieldwork Ethics

ln recent vears, rhe quesrion of fieldrvork erhlcs has become incre:rsrngiy

importanr to social scientists and the communiries in which they carry out
thei research. unfortunarel-, suspicions have been aroused becuse some
social scientists irave misrepresented their inrentions to the community or
obrained heir daa through devious means. understand.ably. sorrre
communiries have thus become recicent about cooperating in research
proiects in which they t'eei the-v rnay be exploired. As a resulr. ar
incr:asieg nu:ilber of orciessional orqanizetions have ccme c :ealize
ths r: rs iheir .Jsp'-lrsibrliri' o set e;hical guideiirres cunc;rnrng di.ra
collection.
Th lir< nrtecri^.

q"i-'o" wirh respect

rhrt
^ an
-, invesri.garor is rhe roie rhar
,.^-. arises
ro
',,ith .-.^-^

he assumes in the communiv. Samarin notes:

Thcc arc obviously quesrions ol-cthics whcn onc assumes rot. oo\ ''t'r
"
sietcs a purpose in a community. The first one concerns the ethics oi ible- ,
playing itself. ls it deceitful to assume a role which is in conformity to the .,
local role expectations even when these are lar removed from the explicit
purpose of the rescarch? The answer to this question will be decided in
part by the amountof disparity there is between the roie and the purpose.
it will be decided also by the e.\pecrations of the community. It is not
unethical to act in harmony with these expecrations. (1967: 61)

To assume a natural role in a community as a means of establishing

rapport appears to be quite appropriate, but it is possible lor the portrayal
of a role for the e.tclusive purpose of obtaining information to be deceptive
and unethical. lvfuch depends on the role one is fulfilling. For example,
when one of the authors was investigating the socioiinguistics ol giossolalia
('speaking in tongues') among some ficw England chuch groups, i would
have been possible for him to assume a roie as a participanl. The productive
skill in glossolalia, however, had no religious significance lor him. To
,ccrre a rnle as, "loSSOIalist. wouid, nO dOubC. have helped in the
acquisition of data, but this role woulC have been out of harmony wrth his

own religious beliett and would have offended the group had
discovered the fraud.

It

they

was, therefore, considered inappropriate role'

pleying.

On the oher hand, the same author has participated in 'prck-up'

basketbail games with informants he wanted to interview during the course
of research on social dialects of English. This activity, horvever, is a naturai
one for him to enga-ee in. because he stiil actively plays pick-up basketball
semes in his leisure trme. His oaticipa:ion heloeC escrblish rr.poort with
informants and set a casual atmosphere for an interview situation. To
adopt this sort of roie was not seen as inappropriace, because it was an

extension of a natural roie. used to alleviate suspicion and create an

informal setting.
It should be mentroned thar natural membership within a group (such as
an erhnic group. for exampie) no more1uslifies deceic in obtaining data than
.inpc

^recnrlcd

memhpr<hin

- i irct

ir nrv

h r-en re

nret:nrt()ls

Once we have assumed a roie in the communit-v-. we may ask how we

shorrld renresen r orrr research to the informants soecificallv and to the

c.ommunit,'- in generai. To ''v[ar ertent is a social screntist responsibie tbr
reliing his inlormants exacriy' whac he rs doin-el One optron. of course, ts !o
simply decei,ie the tnformans and tell rhem that r.r'e are interviewing tor
anoiher ourDose. This is I orlctice ihac sociei screnrisls hr'e used in the
p.rsi. rid rr is one ol [l.e l3iruni.:li.] -iu'rL3;ol.r:.1:l.lcs:::;u-.:l;ious.'i
researchers. Unless rve actuallv rntend io investigate the iniormeitc.n ihal we

tell ihe informant we are interesed in. ihis proceCure seems un',larranted.
On the other hand. there is no need co elace all ;he precise de liis of our

"

r00

Field letho in the Study of Sucial Diulects

research. Many of rhese are irrclevant to the inlbrmant. We should be able

to reach a compromise without a boring account of all the details. In our
recent study of the English of second:generation puerto Ricans in Harlem,
we typicblly represented our research in the following manner:

I4/alt ll/olfrum and Ralph,W. Fasolt

t0t

In this explanation. we did oot attempt to disguise our inrerest in language

Finally, we must mentior the matter of confidence. It is surprising how

much privileged information some people will share with an empathetic
fieldworker; however, this is given in condence and should not be used in
any way to exploit the informant. Our task is to analyze speech and we
should keep in mind that this is why the informant has consented to the
interview. What happens if we obtain certain types of information
concerning illegai actity (e.g. narcotics, delinquency, etc.) during the
course of the interview? In these cases, it seems appropriare to view our roie
as that of the priest in a confessionai, unless there are some very extenuatitrg
circumstances td-warrant otherwise. Social scientists have an obligation to
keep privileged information in the confidence that the informant assumed
when he disclosed it.
Obligations to informants also include obtaining proper permission to
conduct interviews. If we are conducting reseach within a schooi system, we
must follow che specified procedures for obtaining this permission. And, in
the case of minors, this often invoives getting wrilten consent lrom parents
or guardians before conductirig our incerviews.

explanation was satisfactory, but any quesrions were answered.by honest

but nondetailed commenrs.

At his point, having discussed the very important erea of thics in

fieldwork, we return to discussion of the acrual strategies used in eliciting
meaningful data in investigations of social diaiects.

we're inrerested in what

teenagers in different parts of the country are

example, I'm from philadelphia and we don't fly
pigeons from the top of buildings rhere so I'm interested in how you do
it. welre also interested in how teenagers think about some things,

interested

in. For

because they look at things differently. For example, teenagers use

diff'erent wods and stuff when they're talking so that we're inrerested in
how teenagers talk and think about some things. We're going to tape
record it because we can't remember all the things you might say.,

flVolfram et al. l9'71

14)

or culture, but we were nonspecific in taiking about the type of language

diversity in which were interested. In most cases, vr'e found rhat this type of

our represntation of interests to informants is often more problemati

once the interview has sraned. we sometimes project interest in the subjecr
ma'tter when what we are realiv nterested in is how the person talks. Are we
being dishonest wirh he iformaot? .In order to elicit speech, we musr
project Dersonal empathy concernins the informant's interests, and more
often than nor we do find ourselves quite engrossed iu the subject maner,
wherher it is our central purpose or nor. A necessary qualificarion ofa good
researcher and interviewer is an honest and sincere interest in his subjecr and
in those who aid him in his study of it.
Another matter that must be considered by fieldrvorkers is the recording
of interviervs: curren! types of analysis in the study of social dialects make ir
virtuaily impossible to operare wirhou rape-recording speech. Are we
obligated to teii rhe informant that he is being raDe-recorded? Even though
it may preseni obsracies in obtaining speech samples, we are invadine a
person's right oi privacy unless we do so. Although we may argue thar we
are not goin-s lo use the speech we obrain via a hidde n rape recorder or video
.amPrr !ur
.rr drr_v
r..' vnl,rir'r
Ldrtur
L.\prurLd[lve pUrDOSeS, we Sti]l do nOC have the fight tO eCord
3 person's spe:ch iitor some reason he rs against it. In sorne cases. ir may be
appropriate co 'bug' a room atier rhe informanrs have be:n tbrervaned thar
thrs is planned, but all those who are being rape-re.orded should be so
intormed before he fact. Constraints tha ma,v arise liom rhe pr.r.o.. Jf
tape recorder must be neurriized bv me.ns other chan thc deceprion oI
iniormancs.

Sponteneous Interriews

The

spontane

ous or free cooversation interview is basic to

curren!

sociolinguislic reseaich lor a reasonable aoproximatron oi how language

is actually used- Obtaining data from relatively casual contexts is crucial t'r
current types of sociolinguistic aoalysis. It serves. foi exampie, as the basis
for much of the quantitative labulation which some types of sociolinguistic

rnalysis call for. Unfortunateiy, the very iacl thec person is being
inerviewed and taoe-recorded is a formidable obstacLe tc obiaining casual
speech. Labov refes to this problem s /,ie observr's partzio.r:'To obrain
the daa most important for linguistic theory.,,ve have to observe horv

nenle
pel
rrhn
rc
nr
h-;-^
i(197?:
lQ-''
I lr
Rv usin-q
rr.
....-- ther,
II ll).
B.u.,
^h"-,,1'
".^sy are. nol being observed'
various techniques, it is possibie ro ncurralize rhe narurai obsiacies inhereot
in anv iniervie,.v situa:ion. The sol of sponieneous incerrrewrng is quice
strarghtlonvard and simple: the inter'",iewer wxnrs to get as rnuch ltee
converstion as poss;ble. i{e r.vnrs i5e rnt',rmni ro lbcus,)n:nc t'Jni oahls
conversation so rhat he pa.,'s minini attenrion to ihe lvav he is sceakrng.
The less attencion paid to his speech, the more iniornei and natura] we crn
expect his speech to be. I! most cases, this means ihai rvhat inibrmarts talk
about is less important than the lac thar the;, i.Ik. Therel'ore, lengthy'
narralives are toierated. and in fact encouraged, e.;en inough ihel malr be
tangential co lhc specilrc cuesrions asked.

t0?

Field fulerhods in the Studt

oJ"

l{alt

Sociul Diulect's

Intlividual Interviex,s. Although tieldrvorkers must realize rhe limitations

tn

recording a frec conversation with an inlbrmant in a one-to-one situation.

like
the effeciiveness of this technique should not. be underestimated. People
siruation
the
by
not
threatened
ro tlk about themselves, and if they are
many people can become interesting conversationalists even in this type of
interview. The fieldworker is a captive audience and if te informant feels
him respond to his interests, he will usually give more than adequate
amounts of conversation. There are, of course, informants who are reticent

about talking becausd of either the artificial situation or their personal

inhibitions, but even the most skilled interviewers will have difficulty

obtaining adequate free conversation from these individuals" For the most
part, they constitute a small minority of interviews.
A spontaneous conversation calls for considerable flexibility in what the

informant talks about, but this should not be interpreted to meen lhat no
general outline is followed flor eiiciting'conversation. Certain types of
predict beforehand) lend to
{uestions (not always the ones we might
than
others. It is possible to
readiiy
naturally eiici conversation more
way
as
to get specific types of
a
in
such
interview
an
informaily direcr
the inlormant's peer
things
as
abour.
such
informarion
sociotogiial
associations, social Status, and general patterning of social interacttons, as
well as to obtain a natural representation of certain types of iinguistic
structures. Suppose we wanted to ensure that there was an adequate
representation oi past-tense constructions in our interview. This couid be
accomplished by rsking he intormant to reiate an incidenr from the past.
oil.the other hand, if we wanted to ge! a repfesentation of presenl-tense
forms, we would have to make sufe that we had adequate conversa[lon
about present-time activities. I our analysis of the use of invariant e in
Black ingtish, we observed that its occurrence was oflen concentrated in
srories about the way in which chiidren's games were piayed (e.g- ll/e run
and hide and the last person thLt get to base, they be ir). This observatton was
a cue io the type of convesations from which we mighr hope to eiicic its
elicrt
usage. our informal direccion of spontaneous conversation. then. can
boch sociological and linguistic data.

There is obviousiy no certain guarantee for success in the elicitation oI

free conversation. The observation of certain general common-SenSe
pnncipies, horvever. mav help us to get a me.<imum Jmount t'conve:sation.
Foilowing are sorni ot'the principles thec;rn help obtrin free con\ersatron.

.:tr\ 1rc,-t .\.t COn'.'!:'':L'L r::'''.er tttct:

questions'-hat cen be lnsrvered bv
ie3sons.
For
obvlous
.yes-no atts\r'rs.
merns ri setiin-q adecuare
elicient
mosr
rhe
afe
not
replies
!.es or no
samples of free conversalion. Questions that elicit narrati!'3s or. descriotive
accounts must be used. For example, if we rvant to discuss cniirn's
'Did -v-ou plalr
Ieisure-i.ime sames. rve rvould not ask questions such as

!. f ,L, ,..i J,. Lt::t-:::-c,:: :nJ: ,ur.r: i,

hide and seek'l'

#;;

playing it.'

anl

Ralph lY' Fusoltl

rd:\

would make
or 'Drd you play kick the can?' Rather' we
or'Tell

tyies-oi games you,played as a child'

wavs or
nl. ani seek,- because there are different

requests like 'Describe

';;;

lYalJium

;"t;J

tit

sets of

can relate' General

2. The use of qveslons to wtlich informants
o[ informant variables'
a
number
to
;;..1;;r;" " uupttJaltotoing
ciass, sex, afe' ethnicitv' and.ne1s111l^:1j:tti"

including a persons
of the successful interviewer' The
Flexibility in this regard- if'" tu'-'ol"rk
that we have a
to *-hith informants can easily relate assumes

An
of it" to*'nunity in which we are interviewing'
the
o[
or rural area must be aware
interviewer in an inner-ciiy, sttUo'Oan'
differenttypes'oIindigenousactivitiesandinterestsoftherespectivegroups.
descriptions of

"..'"iqtt,i"o,
certain pre-knowledge
For example, in

ion.,-t'*

yo'k'

'o*t

of ou most elegant

training

hobby of breeding' raising' and

recreational activities 'ouolut the
specialized knowledge; il can somehoming pigeons. Ttus activity requires
involved informants' ' '
,i*.t .liJiii""g and animated accounts from of
the indigenout ]ltt::::::td
some
of
An interviewe, *tlo ''-oot aware
et a serious disadvantage in obtarrung

activities

of the community is

reletivelY natural sPeech dara'

J.

be
Cues of informants interests should

pursued' To a certain eKlent' a

io1 bV
community can be compensated'
lack oi knowtbdge concerning the
interuew'
informant as expressed in the
sensitivity io the interests oithe
t"t
to pick.up tut' tontt*iit-:lojt::t^
abie
Alert fieldwort.., stoulJ be
the
cite
fulev
and
examite' Shuy' Wolfram'
discussion in he intervie* For
of aieitness to lhe interests of the
un-t*"rnpi"
following interchange
"
informant:

Fieldrvorker: Do You PlaY marbles?

t have lgTmarbles nght nol'

them? Whal are lhe
me about them Ho'd you get
tell
Fieidrvorker: Oh'
(1968: i 17)

Info.irr"nr,

Yes,

difrerent ones

cailec?

qutre
some adolescenrs can be
Skiil in marbie-shooting is'something
3 matler that a goocl marble-shoot:l:::tO
proud of. and naiurail,y *out Lt
lo

instirnce' the neldlvoiker's senst'lvtt:

describe in some detall. ln ihe rbove
oi the activitv-' This alrtness can
this fct resuiteci ,n u tia'it descriprion
ttttt'i:e' :ls': rilusr::td in Shuv \!'oiiram'
bc cc.ntrased xilh th .ll-tt--'ttt
nd fuie"':

plav hide rnd seek'l

-'-ou ever
I
Yes,
Plaved ihat a lor'
Inlormanr:
games did rou plly"'l
other
What
Fieldw'orker:

Fieidworker: Did

11968:113)

lValt lYolrum and Ralph lY. Fuold

ln this instancs, the fieldworker missed an opportunity ro discuss un activity

that was quite amiliar to r.he informant. The informant was apparenrly

to FBI agents. Ir is, thercfore, necessry to be sensitive to these potenttal

suspicioni and not pursue topics that will unnecessarily arouse the
infrmants. This observation was lorcefully brought home to one of lhe

quite willing to discuss a favorite game,

chance'to elicit a detailed account of it.

but the fieldworker missed the

4. Questions should help alleviate the informant'.t consciolsness of his own

speech. Although a tape-recorded interview, by iE very nature, is an
artificial situaion, our goal is ro get speech as uatural as possible. This
can be structured in the interview by asking questions that will focus the
informant's attention more on what he is saying than on how he is
saying it. Direct questions about speech, though valuable for sorae
purposes, ofen make a person very aware of how he is talking.
Therefore, if we want to ask questions about speech as part o[ the
interview, they should probabty be asked after we ask questions tha will
make him forget about the way he is talking and concentrate on the
subject matter. Certain types of topics apparently are more apt to have
this eff'ect than others. For example, Labov has noted tht when
informants are asked if they have ever been in a .situation in which they
thought they were going to die, many informants will answer in the
affirmative. If they are thenlasked to describe the situarion, rhey will
often become so involved in convincing the interviewer that this was an
authentic rather than an imagined experience that they will forget abour
how they are talking in their efrort to convince him. We cannor
guaranree the types of topics rhat wiil have rhis sort of eftect, but the
infrmant's emotional invoivemeut in a conversarion is a fairly reliable
indicator tha he is more engrossed in his subjecr marrer rhan in his sryle

of speaking.
The style of speech by the iriterviewer can also help direct the focus away
from the speech itself. Interviewers should use a casual style in heir own
speech repertoire. This does nor mean thar they should talk exacrl;r like he
informant or talk in a manner in which they would not normally ialk - this
can appear pretentious and insuhing ro the informant. It wou.ld be
pretentious for a white middle-class interviewer to ry to use Vernacular
Black En_eiish when intervierving a black inforrnanr, bur if he can narurally
adopt a nonstandard variety of whire speech, ir may heip in serring an
informal atmosphere for the interview.

j.

t05

Fietd tVlethods in the Study of Sociul Diulects

104

Questions should not arouse susoicions abott an.v hidden intent[ons it

inrerviewing. Even if w'e represent our purpcjse lor rnrerviewing in a

straighctbrward and honest manner, we must realiz-- ihat informants can
easiiy become suspicious of our motives. It is somerimes dificuiffor
informants to believe that we are simply interested in speech. We have, on
occasion. besn suspected of being everyrhing rrom tapc-recorder saiesmen

authors when he was interviewing a working-class adult maie in Detroil.

in a parentheticai. remark, the informant mentioned some. of the racial
of
tensions that existed in the ciry at lhe time. The interviewer, out

curiosity, pursued the subject. The informant immediately became

very
suspicious.of, some underly,ing motive for the interview and became
the
Thus
point'
reticent about discussing anything at length after that
interviewer
the
because
elicitation of extended conversation was sacrificed
had aroused the informant's suspicions about the true purpose of the
interview.

To say that we should not unnecessarily arouse an informnt's susplclons

does not mean that we can only ask trivial questions' As we mentioned
weil
previously, many interviews are used to obtain valuable socioiogical as

as linguistic data. Our general procedure in eliciting this type of

the
intbrm-ation, however, is to structure it weil afcer we have gotten into

course o ihe inrerview. The initial questions are generally quite innocuous,
TV,
invotving such topics as chilcihood games, leisure-time activity. movies,
and the like.

is a rough ouliine of spontaneous tntevlewlng Inat we

conducted ,n o*. ,...ot study o[ the English of second-generarion Pueto
fucan males in East Harlem- The general outline used here was nol
Foilowing

nninne for this research project, bur represents a modification of

othei t-v.pes of quesrionnaires that rvere used lor Labov's study of lhe soclal
and
straificarion oi Engiish in New York City (1966), Shur, Wolfrarn'
Vernacular
of
stud-v
Fasold's
and
(1968),
Riley's study of Detroi speech
the
Atact Engtisir in Washingtn, DC (1972). Specic items are included for
from
specific ppulacion, but a number of questions were simply adopted

"^*.i"ielv

oevious spontaneous incerview outiincs.

A.

Games and Letsure

oi games do ."-ou play lround the neighborhood

(stickball, games rvith bottle caps' marbles. handball' filiing pigeons,
Whar kinds
erc.)'l

Horv do you olay these sames (rules for the

games'

deciding who

the
Do 1,cu tollow any of lhe NY sporis leels? \\'ht Co y'ou ihink of
(or
Namath
Joe
\leti this 1'ear'l Hoi'r abour the Knrcks fcr next ';e3r

and the Jets)'i

wha are vour tavorire TV programsl Descrlbe a r3cent Drosr3m'
Whac is yur favoiite movie of aii timel Whai haopensl 1if 1*ou.can
eiicrt movies rvithout touble, lsk abour LI:st Sitie 5r-"'end an
ooinion of how lile in Harlem is portray-ed in this movre )

tt/alt ll/olJium and Rulph l{.

Feld f ethods in rhe Study oJ'Social Dialcrs

r06

Peer Group

How about thc guys you hang around with'? In this group is there one
guy that everybody listens to? How come?
What makes for a leader in the group (tough, hip with girls, good
sounder, etc.)?
Do the guys iri the group sound on each other? How does this work?
What do you sound on? Can it be true, etc.? (If rapport right, ge t some
sounds.)
What makes a good souuder?
Say a new kid moves into the tenement. Any way he can get into your
group?

Who are some of the guys you're tight with? Name some.
Of the guys you named, are there any Negroes? Puerto Ricans in the
group? How about Whites?
Any of these guys speak Spanish? How about their parents?
Aspirations

C.

How about when you're through with schooi? Any idea of what you
might do? What does a

do?

up to you and said, 'Here's all the money in the

you do with icl
would
wha
world,'
What is a successful man (if informant responds, have him defrne

If

someone came

unsuccesslul, good. bad,-smart man)?

ny ruies for a lair fight? (How about if someone was kicking

somebody or hitting them with a chain or lead pipe, what would
you do?)
Ever see anybody get bat up real bad? Whal happened?
Do the kids around here still fight in gangs? How do these start?
(lf answer negatively, pursue why gang fighis have stopped.)
Ever been in a hospital. or automobile accidentJ Describe.
How about a siiuation where you thoughr, 'Nfan, this is ir' I'm gonna
die for,sure now'? what happened'l iwoifram et al' I91l: 438:9)
wirh all previous ques[ionn3ires ,,ve have used. the success oIparticuiar

ropics in eiiciring conversation vanes considerably from iniccneni to

intbrmanr. ,\nd. oi ourse, the ctuli tntervierv Sornetimcs strals consider.iclv frc:. tht s::'-tc:ur:C :opics ci discusston.

ln the nnai

naivsrs, success in indiviciuel intcriiervs is largeil,'de';ecent

involred. The qualities oi rapport and :mpath-v may

discussed at length. but ultimaeiy lhe]- cannoI be prosremmei.
on

cire personaiitics

t:iitt:*
ln the group inrerview, a sel of inlormants is tape-recorrl'9,'" up.
generatly
is
.to ,tne
tion wh each other. The topic for discussion
the fieldworker. Ir is expected rhar narural leaders
iton
o;ri,"",,,"irr..
if he is
ii-. grorp will direct lhe conversation' so that the fieldworker'
in the conversation" The '
Dresent, will ot have to actively participate
is that it is the context most
;;;;;.J advantage of the group interview
of rhe interview
conducive to obtainrng caluai'spe"ch. The constrints
the presence of
or
either from the taPe-recording, tire artificial situation'
also lhe most
s
It
setting'
in
lhis
an outsider are most readily ut"o*t
types of
Certain
themes.
indigenous
of
natural setting for the eliciiation
among
i"JG."""t vJrbal activities (e'g' ritualistic insults and sing:ng
group
a
from
Ut".i inn.r-.iry males), in fact, can only be obtained
situation.
interview
"'ii.
advantage by
g.o"p interview has probably been used to its grearest
Labov and his colleagues (ises)

inihelr srudy of adolescent peer

speech rn

exploratory.face-to-face
Harlem. First, the fielworkers conducted some
Then
ieaders'
peer
the
oi
interviews, includin-e some
.acquarnt"nt:-,1"t
outings' Finally' group .sessrons
macle with peer groups in various social

wereconductedinwhlchmultitrackrecordingsweremade.Vfucho|the
who used his
interviewing was conducled by a parricipant observer
sppro'
acrivity
vrbal
elicrr
ro
[""*r.g.ii the indigenous communiry
resulted tn
procedure
This
members'
among
p.., lr,,.o.iioos

;"t"",

and functional data now available on

ol the most detatted
"tuc.t""l
the sDeech of this grouP'
the
"'b;t;;;;tg*rt
group session has arranged fo the detaiis of
tn
"ia
parlicipation
of
terrLs
in
do
io
interview. here is otten Litie thar he has

some

Fghttng and Accldenrs

'.w*har kinds of things do fighrs usually start about on the srrsstJ

.A,s

Fasold

be

Group [ntervievs. Probabiy the cioses; \r'e c3':1 come to setling comptetq,f.u-'
naturai speech .in an interview siuatton is by interviewing groups ol peers.

specific topic he wars discussed

rhe verbai inreractron, unless there is some

group will tollow its 1w1

by the group. In most cases' a natuial peer
assume Inelr

,i*.ittuf

procedur. for verbal interaction" Leaders should

natural roles in direcring the sessron'

should be ar'vare of the

settrng up u group inlen"iew, researches
be reco:g::^::
i
rechnical piorri.ms that can anse' Eech speaket..must
a grouc iole.rvlew
for
recording
singie
A
inren'ierv.
different track in a sroup

In

wiijo|tenresuliindata|hatisunusabletorhecietailedanlvsistharis
analvsis- Phonological
necessary lor some types of so'crolinguisiic
1::t]:'' 'n

x'hen an entrre gr0up

almcst^impossile to transcnbe relia'Lv
exlremelv oifficult to
can
be
it
recorded on one track' Furrhermore'
is being -sperkers
jusr one tack is used' Even the grouo

;;;;;;.,.r.

on the tape if
iienrifviag':arious tpttHl,,]',
members 'h-rnsei\.es m"'ha": i'nc:rr"'rn
rviil clominaie gfoup sessions wnli'
must also recognize ihui somt soeakers
io the parr-erns of socil inreracuon
orhers rviil have ver_,- hriie to ,ui,.iu.
adequate iinguislic data may no"
itrui .*ir, in rhe group. For some speakers'
that ihis will hve-to be compensatec
be derived from the eroup session' so
for in iacer iniividuri scssions'

ii*,iry

r08

Feld t9thos in rhe Study of Sociul Dislects

Although a well-dcfined peer group givcs rhe mosr authenric type

There's something strange about tht

ot.

speech, it is not always necessary to have complete groups. Group inte-rviews

can also be conducted with smaller fricndship groups or even dyads. In
some
cases, thc selection of just two peer informants may result in quite

(th)
(dh)

casuaJ

speech. The essential matter in all group interviews is to involve the

participating members primarily in conversation with one another raher
than having individual responses to interviewer questions.
.

[we omit valuable, but lengthy, secrions oo direct questioning, repetition,

and structurai elicitation as further sources of datz. Edsl

Reading

In oder to get a range in the continuum of informal to formal speech,

reading passages are sometimes included in sociolinguistic fieldwort. rnis
represents a context in which one is quite aware of the way he is talking.

Data from reading passages do not usually yield essential information in

themselves, but when compared with other contexruar styres
of speech, can
provide an imporrant basis for stylistic analysis.
There are several diferenr rypes of reading chat might be included as pan

of an interview. one might construct a reading passage in which a number o[

linguistic variables are purposely included for analysis of the realizarions

of these variables.-Following is a sample passage from Labov's work in
1966, in which he investigated rhe parameteis of five phonoiogical variables
in severai-styles of speech in New york city. The particutaiphonological
vanables he was r.nalyzing ere underlined.
Text

for

concentrating

pho no tog ic

fve

ar iab les

[Underlining added ro indicate concentrarion of the variables.l

(oh)

..

We always had chocolate milk and coffee cake aound four

o'clock. Nf y ggg used to sive us an arvful lot oI trouble : he jumped
ail over .us when he saw the coffee cake. We called him Hunerv

sg-.

(r)

Wult lYolfram und Rulph lV. Fasold

We used ro piay Kick-the-can. One mn is ,IT': you run past him as

last as you can. and you ki-k a tin can so he can't rue u. Sammv
used to grab the can and dash down rhe srre;t ;'; chase him
with a baseball ba, and velll,Bad boyl Badl Badl'Bur he rvas roo
ls. Onl_v m-v aunr. could cacch him. She ilJ irim tlo tricks, coo: she
even made him ask for a giass of milk, and jump inio a paper bag.
I remember rvhere he w.as run over, no fa lrom our corner. He
darted ouc aboui lour fee before i .ar, und he
*eoi hir hud. t;
drdn' have the heartio piay ball or caids all morning. We didn,t
know we cered so much for him unril he rvas huri.

how

r09

I cin

remember

everything he did: lhis thing, thar thing, and the orher hing. He
used i6 carry three-ne*Tpapers in his mouth ar thamT dme. I
suppos it's thlsame thing with most of uJ-your first dog is like
your first girl. She's more trouble than she's worth, but you can't
seem to forget her.
(Labov 1966:'597)

As illustrated

in this

it

is essential to have an adequate representameasurement. As an

added incentive such passages should deal with topics of common interest.
In addition to entire story passages like Labov's, some investigators have
used isolated sentences as a basis for focusing on single items. Levine and
passage,

tion of the variables to allow

foi their quantitative

Crockett describe their use of diaenostic words in sentences.

.
'

First, each word was embedded in a sentence. Each sentence contained

from one to tbur of the words chosen, with no rhymes permitted in any
sentence. Further, each sentence contained a blank, to be filled in by the
respondents, This device was used to distrac respondents iiom their
pronunciarion; the blanks were aiso the vehicles for rhecoliection of data
on grammar (e .9., prelerite-participle choice, adjective-adverb choice) and
on idioms and choices of words (e.g.. sick to-, at-. or in my stomachi Dai! or
bucket. etc.). The sentences, themselves pretcsted, were listed in an order
which distribuced word-types throughout the test inbiument. (1967:80)

Finailv. ir is possible to give simple word lisrs thr focus on some of tfre
ciucial phonoiogical realizations of items when one is mosi aware ot.sp*ch.
Anoher type-of word lis is the min.imal pair list, in which trvo items are
read and che inlormant then decides whether these items sound the same or
not. In many cases, the words are distinct in one dialect but poientrally
homophonous in anoher diaiecc (i.e. inerdiaiectai homophony). As
illusiation, w'e can consider the following list used in our studi oi Puerto
fucan Enslish in Hariem:
\ll,rtc!

| tfroronl

,vfdf

rows

roSe

eide

run
hut

rum

shoe

sod
cn!!'
mask

hot

iIIdJJ

soul

deaf

deiih

vo te

eilow

jellcr

srng

tirne

Torn

reign

pln
watch
boil

was h

sold
Doai
sin

raln
west
bel

Wes

ba

pen

bali

r\!'ifi*

l i.

l9-l:l-li)

il0

Ilalt

'ill ,ltthotls in the Stuly ol' Sociul Diulacrs

the above minimul word-pirir list, thirc arc somc itcms th:rt are
homophonous in all dialecrs of English and therelbre nondiagnostic. ltems
like rows and rose a^d rain arld reign represent this category. These items
are inctuded in order to ensure tha the informant understands the task

In

and is responding accordingly. There are a:lso some items we wouid expect
to"be homophonous in certain varielies of Spanish-influenced English,
including bet arrd bat and shoe and clew- These items give us an indication
of rhe extent of Spanish influence on English in formal style. There are also
items we would expect to be homophonous on the basis of the surrounding
Black English dialect, such as deaf and death and pin and pen- Two main
aspects of minimal word lists must be recorded: (l) whether the informant
actually pronounces the items the same or differently and (2) whether he
says that they sound alike or not. The first qualification gives us objective
data while the second gives us an intuitive judgment about the speaker's
sound system. Although intuitive reactions inay appear to be quite
important for an analysis of a phonologicai system, researchers cannot
always take the informant's reac[ioos at flace value. In Some cases there
may be stared differences even though careful analysis (inctuding acoustic
analysis) shows the words to be produced simiiarly, while in other ccses the
converse may be rl.ue.
The E[citation of Subjective Reacfions

Up to this point, we have discussed primarily the elicitarion of objective

ior sociolinguistic anatysis. Little mention has been made of the

spegh data

subjective reactions of informants toward either their own or other peopie's

it is the percepiion of dialect differences and the. sociai
evaluation of these differences by participating members of the sociery
which is the real basis for the existence of social dialects. A complete

speech."Yet

description of social dialects should therefore include examination of the

subjective reection to distinct speech varieties' There are several differen ways in which we can eiicit subjectrve
evaiuarions of speech differences. The most tradilional method is through
the use of an inrerview questionnaire. In some cases. it ma-v" be usetli o ask
open-ended questions, in which inlormants are simply asked to give their

opinions on cerain speech varielies. Foc example, in our study of the

English spoken by second-generatlon Puerto Ricens in Hariem, we waned
ro ascerliin their oercention of the wav they talked as compared with the
Spct.-li oi".ie SurCuniing bie':f: c(lm.nrtnti'i. Intbrmant-: v ere sinrplv aske'J.
'Do you ihink that Puerto Rjcan and black teenagers raik alike? In what
way- tio ihey ralk rhe iame or Jift'erenrlVl'The intbrm3nr. w3s :o lnswer hts
question, being aliOwed {o Slate whatever feasons he lelt rvere relevant.
Similariy, Lbov's study of English in New York City included ques!pn
designed to elicit how New Yorkers ieit about Nerv York speech- Thesc

ll/olfrum und Ralph llt. Fasoll

questions allowed the informant to exprcss his rerction toward New York
speech and e.xplain why he felt the way he did. Alrhough open-ended
questions concerning subjective reactions allow us to gather data we might
not anticipate in a nondiscursive questionnaire, it can become difficult to
taxonomize and quantify results on this basis. For this reason, many

questionnaires are designed to elicit responses in terms of predetermined

categories. In some cases, informants may be asked to inake a forced chotce
between a positive and a negative evaluative response. A questionnaire may

simply require a subject to respond Yes or No to a statement such as,

,I think nonstandard dialects are as logical as standard dialects of English.'
Or we may ask an informant to pick our what he considers the most sociaily
stigmatized and most prestigious dialecr, given a tist of American English
diaiecrs that inch.tdes Southern \A'hite speech, Black English, New England
speech, and Midwestern speech. There are, of course, a number ol vanadons
'
in the rypes of questions that can be asked in this way. For example, w may
ol
terms
in
in
rank
order
given
dialecls
the
each
of
place
to
informan[
ask an
relative prestige rather tha make a single ctioice.
One tichnique thar has become relatively popular in recent subjecttve
reacrion questionnaires is that of the semantic differential. This procedure'
originally developed by Charles Osgood and hrs colleagues at Indiana
Universiry, atemprs co invesrigate the connotative aspects of a subject's
to
feacrions. In the typical semanlic-differenrial task, the subject is asked
judge enrities or conceprs by means of a series of bipolar, seven-sep scales
iefined in terms of descriprive opposiles. T6e concept is given at ihe top of
the sheet and the subject responds by putting a check mark in the apPropnate
position on che scale for each of rhe bipolar opposites. For example. a stuc-Y-

of sp.e.h identification in Detroit, by Shuy, Baratz, and Woifram (199)

the
inctuded lhe fotlowing semantic polar adjectives in the attempt to elicit

connotalive aspecls that several different speech varieties evoke'

White Southern Speech
worthless

dull

drcult
poSl tlve
ro ugh
rveak
l.rs t

ilrnnv
"'"r:-

thick
bad

smaf!

vaiuble
e3s!'

neqative

smoolh
strong
slorv

cereiui
simple

ihin
good
dumb

11

ll/alt llolfrum anl Rulph lV. Fasold

Fieltl r.llethods in the Stutly oJ'Social Dialecrs

more heavily
The closer one checks to one of the poles in the scale' the
A particular
e:(treme.
weighred is his response in terms of the particulaf
results' For
the
of
computation
nurierical value is assigned on this basis for
+l' '
value.of
a
have
may
scale
each
.-r-*Jt, t,".tirig with as the midpoiot,
adjectiva'l^
the
of
side
posidve
the
to
contiguous
+2, and +3 (immediately
side of thel
pole), or -1, -z,ana -: iimmetately cootiglous to tire negative
found
havs
pof*i. Uting the techniiue of lactor analysis, researchers
main
three
into
cluster
inJicating that the judgments tend to
'

.rrirn..

of

evaluation

domains of connorativ" .n.".ting, including the dimensior

dull-sharp)' arir'
(e.g., good-bad, positive-negativJj' potency(sv.ong-weak'
semantic-differential
the
employiug
nv
culasy).
iritiri iiurt*to*, diffi
concepts on a
teciraique, it is possible to compare reacdons to different

positiu._neg"tivecontinuumralherthanbymeansofbinarychoice.Used
at
p."p*fy, te semaritic differential can be a useful tool for getng

iubjective reactions to speech and speech concepts'

subjective reac-tions
The typical problem *ittr q,-,estionnaires used io elicit
behavior. In an
overr
and
attitudes
expressed
between
involves in. aiipur.,,y
has
effort to look ar the response, btt*tttt these two potes' Fishman
study',carried
His
* in.t***nt labeled the Commitmenr fu[easure'
ilil
out;ith respect to biiinguaiism, sought to determine 'wherher commrtment

itemsshowanygreaterrelationshipt,opertlnentlanguagebeha.ioccriteria
use and
irr.o o more'tiaditionai dispositional or role ptaying language
of
types
the traditional
language attitude items'(1969:5). In addition to
tena
included
atrudinal responses asked on his questionnaire, Fishman

irern'commirrnentscaleinwhichuptttoo'twiilingnessorcommitmentlorvas

to language
respond or perform a parricular lype ofactivity with respect
to rnasure
calculated
were
asked
Fishman
questions
*.uru... ih. typ. oi
Spaoish on a
use
of
lhe
strengthen
and
maintain
to
willingness
a person's

p.rsonal and community level

willingness

ro Partlclpat in

in New York City' and ranged-from

small-group discussion on the tooic of

"
to contribure
improling the i"rsoo;s command of Spanish to willingness
the use

uD
.on.V retp d"un.. the activities of an association for building
correlated
were
questions
commiiment
When
the
York'
X.*
oi Spoirit in
significant
a
scale'
wirh the previously given noncomrniirnenr attitude
are

technique
difi'erence arose. Commiimen measures as a ciala-gathenng
can rnore
ihev
because
questionneires
more usetul han traditional ertitude
or
cogrutlve
simple
eliciting
than
rather
rendencies
get
behavioral

ar
direcrly
r'alurtive responscj
made on ihe basis of
So ia, we have oniy referreci to subjecrive reactions
But we can also use
a fieidwoke's questioning or a wntten questionnaire'
to speech' The
reactions
o,f',., ,yp., of stimuii ii eliciting subjecdve
is oe'of
speech
of
samples
tapeirecorded
elicitaion of responses trom
ol social
study
the
in
extent
ionsiderable
to
used
he current technrques

Lambert and
ciiaiecls. One such mehod. originally developed by

his

collcaguesacMcciilUniversitylorevluatingpersonalitytrritsot.
bilingials, has been labeled

the

ivlatched Guise Technique ln this.procedure'

traits of speakers' voices

a selJct group of subjects evaluates the personality
is made by a speaker
ft"y.a them ori the tape recorder' ihe recording
language or. dialect
diffeient
who has considerable uiUty ln producing
heard on.the
varieties
the
different
thar
varieties..The subjects ur. no, toli
traits of
judge
certain
to
aske<i
simpiy
are
but
tape belong ,o on. ,p."k.r,
a
controls
is that-it
iii ,p.ut.i. ...The major advantage of this techoique
the.speaker'
of
personality
number of variables such as the voic-e quality and

oneofthedisadvantagesisthatitissometimesdifficulttotindspeaKefswno
dialects we miSht
huu. u.quir. nariuetit. control of the various social
require to Produce such a taPe.

had speakers from

Rather than use on. ,p."k.,, some researchers have
This is the-technique
different social groups simply read the same Passage'
ofsocial class and
rhat Bryden (1g6g) used in'his study of the identification
in this case sets
a
tape-recordiog
race in Charlottesville, Virginia' The use of
unabie to read
ae
speaksrs
most
situation, hwe"er, because
,p
have
investigalors
".,in.i"l
"t
other
reason'
this
For
in a natural speakrng manner.
pr'ogra-ms'rgams'
Tu.
,in',piy -*tru.ted ropiiallv comparable. passages C t
than using identicai
raher
tntervrews
spontaneous
tape-recorded
eic.) from
conlent and votce
as
such
p*rrug., thai have been rd. Although vanables
advantage of
the
has
this
contol'
qualiry are much more difficult ro
used by Shuv' Barau' and
authenticity. This is the type of stimuli lhal was
and washington
woifram in rheir srudy oi'speech identification in Derroit
lor the
excsrpted
were
(t969). In this stuOy 20 to 30-sttond portions
Detroit'
in
biacks
and
whires
classes oi

of four socioeconomic
Attheconciusionofthemainpassages.anumberofshortportions(one
in order lo determtne
sentence of lrom 3 to 5 ,"tondt were included
For each of the longer
reactions on the basls of much shorter sdmuli'
the speaker' as well as
of
passages, sub.ects rvere asked to icientily the race
interviervs

attitudinal
the relative socioeconomic class, and to make some
tollows:
as
a semantic differentiai. This rvas oresenled

judgmenis on

r )
a. What is the race of this speaker'l Black 1 IoiWhite
speaker'l
rhis
;. il;, ;; ihe educaionaloccuparional levelgraduate traiilnq
( ) l Cotiege graduare usuaill'- with
personnei msn3sef
( ) 2.

Dentrst. mechanicaL eneine:r'

or tecnnlcal
High school sraduare' probabiy some coilege
'ousinss owiler or
school Pinrer' posr oce ilerk' sn:lii
a1oPr

( ) i.
()1.

Some high school or high school graduaie

Bus driver, carpenier' telephone linemn'
Not beyond 8th grade.
lborer
Dishrvasher, nighi rvatchman, conslruction

t t
I la

Fild lethod in rhe Srudy, ul' Social l)ialects

Rte the spc'ech samplc on each

of thc followins

l|'alr ll/olJrun und Rulph Llt. Fusold

graceful

relaxed

tense

correct

informal
thick
incorrect

In most cases, repeated passages of lrom 20 to 30 seconds were more

than adequare for making judgments of the type we asked above. In fact,
lairly accurate identification (over 70 percent) of race and social class was
often made jusr on rhe basis o[ the 3 to 5-second sentence. It should be
noted that questions concerning a wide range of reactions may be asked on
the basis f tape-recorded passages. For exampie, we have used raperecorded passages as the basis for obtaining'data on language and
employability. Labov asked questions about masculine virtues such as
toughness on the basis of tape-recorded passages and concluded on this
basis rhat the use of nonstandard dialects has a positive effect for conductrng some socieral roles that call for expressed toughness. The rypes of
reactions lhat we may have subjects make on the basis oI recorded speech
samples are almos limitless.
Recen sudies of ianguage arirudes have also utilized videorapes to some
advantage (e.e. Wiiliams, Whiehead, and lvfiller 197 l; Williams t973). In
the study of laneuage arrirudes and srereorvping reported by williams
(19i3), stereotyping was tnvestigared by using videoraoes f:orn rhree
different ethnic grcuos: black, whire, and chicano. In one of trre exercises,
the rspondents were shown side views of children speaking. The respondent
could observe the person speaking, but was unable to lip-read wha! he was
saying. Audiotapes

of

Srandard English were rhen dubbed onro

rhe

videotapes of rhe children from the three different eroups ro cre3re a lype
of ethnic gurse. stereoryping was measured by looking at the extenr to which
the sual picrure determined a particuiar reacrion despire the constancy of
the Standard Engiish. N{odern rechnology atlbrds rhe crearive esearcher a
grert deai of variet,r'in designing wa.r-s of iersins out'various dimensions of
subjec:ive reaclions co language differences.

REFERENCES
Pickeiicn. D. rl9il) 'Inhe:-enr Variabiiiri, rnd \':riabL: Rules .
Langucge. T, pp

-j;-ql
J. D. ( I968) An .lcoustic end

F,rna',t

t.ot,r 0t'

Brvcien,
Soco,l Dnlect .lnai;;:is oi p:rceptua!
variables in Listener [dentiftcation ctnd Rating o.i Negro Sqeakers. usoE projecr

No.

7-C-001.

Fasold. R.

w.

(1971) Tense .vlarkittg in Black English; .-t Litgutsric,r sofoi

DC. Cnrer for Appiied Lineuisris),

Ane!"-sis (trVashingron.

l5

Fishnrrn, J. A. (1969) 'Bilingual Auirudes antl Bchlviors', Lunguuge Scences,5,

scalcs:

awkward
lormai
thin

'{

pp. 5- | t.

Labov, W. 11966) The Social Stratifcation of English fi New York Crry flVashington,
DC: Centcr for .dpplied Linguistics).
Labov, W., Cohen, P., Robins, C. and Lewis, J. ( l963) A Study of the Non-Standard
Englbh of Negro and Pierto Rican Spakers in New York City. USOE Final
Report, Research Project No. 3286.
Levine, f,. and Crockett, H. J. (1967)'Fnends'lniiuence on Speech,' Sociological
Inquiry,37, pp.109-28
Samarin, W.I. (1967) Field Linguisrict: A Guide to Linguistic Fietd Vr'ork (New York:
Holt, Rinehart & Winston).
Shuy, R. W., Barau, J. C. and Wolfram, W. (1969) Sociolinguisttc Facrors in Speech
Identifcation. MMH Final Reporr, Projecr No. MH 15048-01.
Shuy, R. W., Wolfrem, W. A. and fuley, W. K. (1968) Fteld Techniques in an Urban
Language Stud.u fWashington, DC: Cenrer for Apolied Linguisrics).
Warner, W. L. (1960) Social Class in America (New York: Harper & Row).
Williams, F (t97i)'Some Research Notes on Dialect Atritudes and Stereotypes', rn
Shuy, R. W. end Fasold, R. W (ed.s), Language Attitules; Currnt Trnds and
Prosoects flVashington, DC: Georgetown University Press)"
Williams, F, Whitehead, J. L. and Ntiiler, L. Vf. (197 l) Auitudinal Correlares of
Children's Spe.ech Characterstics. USOE Research Report Project No. 0-0336.
Wollram, W ( 1969) A Sociolinguistic Description of Detrott Negro Speech
(Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguisrics).
Wolfram. W (1973)'On What Basis Variable Ruls?', in Studies in:Yew ltr''a:ts oJ'
Analyzrng Variation in English flilashington, DC; Georgetown l-iniversity Press).
Wollram, W. in collaboration with Shiels, N'f. and Fesold, R. W. (197t) Overlapping
[nlluence in the English of Sacond-generation Puerto Riccn Teenagers in Est
Har[em. Final Repon, USOE Projecr No 3-70-0033(:03).