Language and Society
Data Analysis
8
The use of different languages in the Basque Country is an example of diglossia. In Spain for example, Spanish is used as an official government language, while Basque is spoken as a vernacular with different histories, traditions and political significance. The table shows interesting variations in the contexts Basque is spoken in the French and Spanish Basque Country. Overall, there is more code-switching in the French area, particularly within the family. 29 percent of those surveyed for example speak as often in Basque as in French with their mothers, while only 7 percent in the Spanish area do. This suggests an increased polarization between languages in Spain, perhaps reflecting a more politicized situation, where choice of language is related closer to political allegiances. The high percentages in both surveys of those speaking mainly either French/Spanish or Basque (rather than both) reflects the fact that the languages are so different.
The percentage of those speaking mainly in Basque with their family is similar in both cases, except when speaking to children, when Basque is far more common in Spain than in France (73 against 37 percent). This suggests that Basque is seen as a language with more of a future in the Spanish area, whereas in France it suggests an assumption on behalf of the speakers either that children will not understood or that they should not necessarily be educated in the language.
There seems little variation in gender in the survey, with percentages of those speaking Basque to their mother and father fairly evenly balanced, slightly more to the mother in Spain, and slightly more to the father in France. There is little evidence here therefore for gender variations in its use. However, there is no information on age or gender of those surveyed, so this is something lacking from the data.
A big difference in the surveys is the use of Basque in public situations. It is far more common in the ‘wider society’ section of the survey in Spain than in France – 56 compared to 19 percent who speak Basque at the bank for example. This suggests a larger and more defined community in the Spanish area, one that is defined by the identity of the language and transcends domestic and local boundaries. While traditionally in a situation of diglossia, the official language (French, Spanish) is more formalized, it would be expected that it would be used in more formal situations (banks, health care etc..). While this does seem to be the case in France, it is not in Spain, challenging the relegation of Basque to ‘low-prestige’ language.
The survey was carried out by the Basque Government, which suggests it may have a vested interest in maintaining the culture and language of the Basque region. This may skew the data towards people over-reporting their use of Basque. The timing is also interesting as the survey was taken in 1996, the year when Jose Maria Aznar was elected as Spanish prime minister with much rhetoric over introducing anti-terror laws to outlaw the Basque party Batasuna. This may suggest other reasons for the greater variation in the Spanish study, as people respond to the survey in this political context, using their answer to express their support or opposition to the new government’s policies.
1
Both tables show interesting variation in the use and description of RP, and encode certain assumptions about the social background it suggests. Starting with the second table for example, it is clear that overall only a low percentage (23 percent) of people accurately reported their own use of RP pronunciation. This suggests a gap between their imagined image of themselves, and their everyday use of language. It may also be affected by the nature of the survey itself, with people motivated to ‘do well’ and associating this desire with the use of RP. This can be inferred from the higher rate of over-reporting to under-reporting of RP (43 percent to 33 percent). Overall then, more people wanted to present an image of themselves, or believed in an image of themselves, as speaking in an accent traditionally associated with better education, more opportunities and a more formal situation.
The gender differences are more interesting. While a far higher percentage of females surveyed over-reported their use of RP (68 to 14 percent), for males the opposite was true (50 under-reporting to 22 under-reporting). The aspirations to ‘high culture’ or ‘high society’, which RP traditionally encodes are suggested in the survey as being a predominantly female concern. There could be many sociolinguistic reasons for this, including the representation of successful women / unsuccessful women in the media. Something lacking from the survey is the date it was carried out, which would be useful here as attitudes toward RP have been and are changing rapidly. Regional accents are far more common on the news now for example then they were ten years ago. The male tendency to underreport could suggest various tendencies such as RP being not seen as ‘cool’, the importance of ‘being one of the lads’ – speaking in the same regional accent as others in the community, or a more general masculine rebellion against what is seen as the aim of the survey. Again the survey is lacking by not showing the ages of respondents, which would have been useful to extend this analysis. The higher percentage of accurate male description (28 to 18) suggests less importance is put onto conscious social aspiration in representations of masculinity.
The first survey doesn’t analyse at all in terms of gender put provides an interesting variation in terms of age. While 100 percent of those surveyed under 40 showed a positive attitude towards the r-ful pronunciation, only 62 percent of those over 40 did. This shows how attitudes to language are constantly changing, what is considered positive shifts over generations. The lack of any variation at all in the under 40 group is surprising, although it is not shown how many were surveyed. Again there is a discrepancy between attitude and use of what is seen as the more prestigious pronunciation. The survey suggests that younger people (under 19) are using the r-ful pronuciation more commonly than other age groups, suggesting it is becoming more dominant, perhaps in line with the shift in attitudes toward it, influenced by media representation and peer-group pressure.
Table 2 and Figure 2 offer interesting points of comparison. Table 2 shows that in both cities, a gradual increase in the dropping of h’s can be detected as you move between different classes surveyed – 80 percent of LWC in Norwich for example dropped the h, while only 6 percent of MMC did, 93 percent of LWC in Bradford compares to 12 percent of MMC. Both cities show a big jump between those defined as middle or working class (14 to 40 percent in Norwich, 14 to 67 percent in Bradford) and then a more gradual increase across the classes. The information doesn’t show how the classes were defined, which could have added to analysis of the data. Overall, h dropping was more common in Bradford (all groups show a higher percentage except for LMC, which is the same), which suggests most likely a difference in regional accents. The data seems quite stratified, with no deviation from the pattern that the lower class you are, the more likely you are to drop the h. It suggests a clear link between class and accent.
The more recent Figure 2 by contrast can’t provide such class analysis as it surveys only working-class speakers. This reflects attitudes, which have shifted in sociolinguistic surveys from a focus on class to a focus on other factors such as age or gender. The figures here show that the elderly in all the surveyed towns are less likely to use [h] than the younger generation. This reflects how language has changed, becoming more standardised perhaps, with less regional accents (represented by the dropped h) than in the earlier study. There is another interesting shift between generations, as [h] was used most frequently in Hull, then Reading, then MK. Now however (in the younger generation) this has reversed. Accents have changed most rapidly in MK, while in Hull they have remained relatively static. This reflects the rapid growth and modernization of a new town like Milton Keynes, compared to the relative static nature of an old industrial town like Hull. There are also variations in gender, particularly in Reading, where girls are far more likely to use [h] than boys. This may suggest the taking on of an accent that represents a more aspirational lifestyle, as represented in media images of femininity. That this is most common in Reading could imply that its position, near London, leaves it open to change from surrounding and competing linguistic and ethnic influences. Comparing the two tables overall, shows a big drop from those dropping the h in the past, to those dropping it today. This is confirmed by the data on the older generation in Figure 2. This could be read as a shift in regional accents towards more standardized, or different regional forms. It could also suggest shifts in definitions of class, and how accent is read as a marker for class position. It is hard to make a direct comparison however, as both surveys take place in different cities.