Malroy And Milroy: Article Analysis

1. Early in their article (pg. 24), Milroy and Milroy (1978) describe a Clonard woman who is the “most corrected” of their subjects in her pronunciation of (a). What reasons do they give for her more standard pronunciations of (a)? Why might these things be expected to influence her pronunciation? (Hint: make sure the social variables you discuss in your response include network-related variables) Milroy and Milroy attributed the Clonard woman’s more standard pronunciations of (a) to being of mixed Protestant-Catholic parentage, having a husband who is employed (unlike most in Clonard), having no kin in the area or children, being cut off from kin groups, and not displaying typical community interaction patterns (Milroy and Milroy (1978),
24). Therefore, because the Clonard woman does not have this strong network density (or any kin ties for that matter) that characterizes Clonard and other Belfast communities, there is no vernacular norm enforcement placed upon her and her pronunciation. Further, the woman is able to stray from the local vernacular and have a more standardized pronunciation.
Not displaying typical community interaction patterns also shows that the Clonard woman does not socialize with others in the Clonard community, which, again, shows that she does not have the strong network ties that characterize the community, and may not interact with people who have the local vernacular. Because of this, she may not be exposed to those local forms, and will also not have a local network acting as a norm enforcement mechanism.
2. In “The Linguistic Consequences of Being a Lame,” Labov (1972) writes that he is “departing from the earlier tradition of sociolinguistic studies.” How is this study methodologically different from his earlier work? What advantages are there to this new