The utility of social networks in historical sociolinguistics I

Susan Fitzmaurice

Plan

Session 1

• Basics: key terms and definitions

• Application and operationalization in historical sociolinguistics

Session 2

• Review of utility and explanatory value

• Enriching social networks analysis in historical sociolinguistics

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Session 1

• Key terms—definitions and discussion

• Social networks in describing early 18th-century London society

– Addison and the Kit-Cat Club

• The issue of friendship in SNA

• Operationalizing ties

– Addison in 1711: the Spectator

• Example studies

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Key terms I

• Speech community

• Social class

• Social Network

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Speech community

• ‘a socially-based unit of linguistic analysis’ (Patrick, 2002:577)

• ‘a site of sociolinguistic inquiry and a targetedgroup of speakers’ (Coupland, 2010:101)

• membership of a speech community is defined by objective criteria (e.g. residence in a place) and subjective factors (e.g. shared evaluations of norms) (Labov)

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Speech community (Labov)

The speech community is not defined by any marked agreement in the use of language elements, so much as by participation in a set of shared norms. These norms may be observed in overt types of evaluative behavior, and by the uniformity of abstract patterns of variation which are invariant in respect to particular levels of usage. (Labov, 1972:120-1)

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Speech community (Milroys)

• Does recognition of competing norms within a SpCom invalidate emphasis on overarching norms as a definitional criterion?

• Conflict analysts typically assign opposed groups each to a set of normative values, so that discord occurs between relatively homogeneous factions

• Reality is that individuals hold conflicting values, each ratified by society.

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Social class

• Social class is ‘an individual’s life chances stated in terms of his relation to the production and acquisition of goods and services’ (Labov, 1966, cited by Ash, 2002)

• ‘social class is macroscopic in focus—class structure of a town, city or nation is a confederation of an unbounded number of networks’ (Chambers, 1995: 68)

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Social class

• ‘social class is one of the small number of social variables by which speech communities are stratified’ (Ash, 2002:402)

• Key components of definitions of social class:– objective, economic measures of property ownership

and the power and control it confers on its possessor– subjective measures of prestige, reputation, and

status

• Social classification relies on occupational categories, with non-manual (‘white collar’) occupations rated higher than manual (‘blue-collar’) occupations

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Social class

• If occupational categories are historically determined, social class is not a transhistorical category

• System of stratification promoting inequality (Giddens, 1989: 205-73)

• Class divisions are not officially recognized; since an individual’s class position is to some extent achieved, class stratification is accompanied by varying degrees of mobility

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Social network

• Describes the relationship between individualsand the social structures which they construct and inhabit

• ‘an individual’s social network is ...the aggregate of relationships contracted with others, and social network analysis examines the differing structures and properties of these relationships’ (Milroy, 2002:549)

• Focuses on the micro-sociological: SNA of language variation does not compete with a macro-level concept such as social class

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Social network

A group of individuals whose connections to one another consist of social ties of varying

• duration or longevity

• strength (weak, uniplex vs. strong, multiplex)

• purpose (e.g. patronage, friendship, professional collaboration)

• reciprocity (exchange and interaction)

• symmetry (status equivalence; difference)

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Social network

• Exchange networks—ego interacts with kin and close friends regularly and exchanges direct aid, advice, criticism and support.

• Interactive networks—ego interacts with persons frequently, perhaps over prolonged periods, but does not rely on them for material or symbolic resources (e.g. store owner and customer)

• Passive ties—despite absence of regular contact, ego values moral, emotional support (e.g. migrants)

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Social class & social network

• Loose-knit networks associated with socially, geographically mobile mainly middle classes;

• Close-knit ties associated with very low status and very high status speakers

• Association of network types with specific social classes is not arbitrary

• Associations spring from the operation of large scale social, political and economic factors (Milroy, 2002:567)

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Historical SNA and social class

• ‘With an accepted and overtly prestigious standard language, loose-knit networks foster movements towards the standard (at least among the middle class), while close-knit networks help to maintain vernacular norms in contrast to the standard. Thus, loose-knit networks up to c.1600 must have led to language diversity; from s.1600 onwards they have led to widespread, supralocal language standards.’ (Bergs, 2005: 55)

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From Bergs (2005:56)

Relationships among concepts

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Speech community

Social network

Individual + individual + individual

Ties connecting individuals in multiple contexts

A social networks description of early eighteenth-century English

society

Addison and the Kit-Cat Club

Addison and the Spectator

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Joseph Addison (1672-1719)

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• Politician, writer and civil servant.• Associated with the Kit-Cat Club, an influential political dining club.• Kingpin in The Spectator, one of the most influential literary and cultural periodicals in 18th-century England.• Cited as a model of excellent English style till the end of the 19th century.

Research questions

• What was Addison’s influence on his social circle (including their language)?

• How far do the members of Addison’s social network share particular linguistic traits?

• How do the social ties contracted between actors shape their linguistic behaviour?

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Social networks under the microscope

• The Kit-Cat Club

• Spectator Coalition

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Joseph

Addison

Richard Steele

George StepneyMatthew Prior

[Charles MontaguPatron and peer]

William Congreve

Edward Wortley

Joseph Addison and his circle c. 1700

(The Kit-Cat Club)

[Jacob TonsonPublisher & secretary]

John Dryden

(d. 1700)

The Kit-Cat Club

• Cultural institution aimed ‘to shape the arts by creating an elaborate web of influence and patronage, and by creating a sympathetic climate for writers it favoured’ (Brewer, 1997:40)

• Literary clique: chain of dependency connecting patrons (whig grandees and peers) and clients (talented writers seeking preferment) (Field, 2008)

• Political think-tank dominating court society and Whig politics in early 18th-century London.

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Kit-Cat Club

Individual (men) join in strategic, purposeful networking for individual gain:

• Patrons (Halifax, Somers and Sunderland) secure political alliances to further Whig cause and secure Hanoverian succession

• Writers (Congreve, Prior, Steele, Addison) participate in order to secure patrons and financial gain.

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Addison’s Kit-Cat ties

Addison SteeleFriends: social symmetry and reciprocity as well as affinity of age and experience.

Actors exchangeacts of personal, literary,political, financial support

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Addison’s Kit-Cat ties

Addison Halifax

client-patron

dependency relationship:

reciprocal but

nonsymmetrical tie.

Clients owe acknowledgment and

debt to their patrons in exchange

for literary commissions and

political preferment

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Issue of friendship

• historically constituted and defined

• complicated by formal expression and construction in contemporary literary and political groups (e.g. Scriblerians; Kit-Cat Club)

• ‘the formation, maintenance and dissolution of a friendship relation is a continuous combination of personality factors, relational factors and environmental factors’ (Zeggelink, 1994: 304).

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Tie strength

Objective parameters

• longevity of relationship,

• geographical proximity,

• formal social relationship [expressed as comparative rank (social equal/superior/inferior)]

Subjective parameters

• type of relationship (intimates /equals /acquaintance; friendship/competition) inferred from nature of evidence for relationship (e.g. texts connecting actors, such as correspondence, memoirs, collaboration in pamphlets, editions, plays, etc.)

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Friendship in SNA

• friendship is not inherently symmetrical

• constructed from different points of view: (a) two actors’ (A, B) perceptions of the nature of the

relationship that each ‘sends to’ the other;

(b) the perception of a third person (X) of the nature of the relationship that Person A sends to Person B, and vice versa.

• non-symmetrical ties:– characterised at the sociometric level of the network

representation

– reflect non-reciprocity at the personal or cognitive level

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Operationalizing ties

NB: Ties assigned to texts (as evidence and products of actors) at particular times Directional ties allow non-symmetrical and nonreciprocal ties• Author tie: value of the tie with addressee as

perceived from the author’s perspective• Recipient tie: value of the tie as perceived from

the recipient’s perspective• Variable strength: 3 = maximal strength; 0 = zero

(allows unreciprocated tie)

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Operationalizing ties

Nonreciprocal tie:

• Gesture from Matthew Prior [1] to Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough is unreciprocated [0]

Variable tie strength over time:

• 1699: Joseph Addison to Charles Montagu (Halifax) [alet007] is unreciprocated

• 1704: Joseph Addison and Charles Montagu (Halifax) share tie strength of [2]

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Joseph

Addison

Richard Steele Jonathan Swift

Alexander PopeMatthew Prior

Charles Montagu

William Congreve

Edward Wortley

Joseph Addison and his circle c. 1711

Lady M W Montagu

Delariviere Manley

Sarah Churchill

Mary Astell

Addison’s network in 1711

• Addison collaborates with Steele on The Spectator (1710-1714), cementing sustained professional tie built on mutual reliance and trust

• Addison patronises Pope, cultivates Swift

• Addison maintains Congreve, Wortleyfriendships, adds Lady Mary W Montagu

• Addison nurtures Halifax’s patronage

• Addison and Prior are distanced by politics

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Features of Addison’s network

• Dynamic at level of network and individual tie: – changes over time with the changing political

fortunes and allegiances, literary success or departures into obscurity and deaths of the members of his circle

• Variable in content :– 1711: sub-network is a coalition, i.e. ties

contracted for particular purposes (social, political and literary patronage) for particular, variable periods of time (Boissevain, 1974)

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Social influence: Reputation vs. Linguistic practice

Study 1

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Restrictive relative clause marking

• Wh: ‘They are a sort of Gamesters who are eternally upon the Fret, though they play for nothing.’

• That: ‘His Pleasure arises from his Disappointments, and his Life is spent in Pursuit of a Secret that destroys his Happiness if he chance to find it.’

• Zero: ‘This zealous and active Obedience however takes place in the great Point [zero] we are recommending.’

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Example study #1

• How far does the practice of The Spectator writers anticipate the prescriptions of the grammarians?

• Use of the relative clause marker in personal letters of Addison, Steele, Pope, Swift, Congreve, Wortley, Prior, and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

• If the prescriptive rule was based on practice, we would expect most of these (prestigious) users to prefer wh-pronouns to the that complementiser, and to disfavour zero-marking

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Addison and his circle: relative marker choice in letters

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0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

zero

that

wh-

Results

• Congreve markedly prefers the wh-relative pronouns (who(m), which) to that: he is three times more likely to choose a wh-pronoun than that.

• Congreve is more likely to avoid zero-marking in favour of that or a wh-pronoun.

• Addison is a prominent user of wh-pronouns for marking restrictive relative clauses, but

• Addison treats that and zero-marking more or less equally.

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Discussion

• Addison, Steele and Congreve show similar behaviour; their choice of wh-relative markers is statistically significant.

• Wortley and Lady Mary differ significantly from the others in their use of that complementiser.

• Lady Mary and Alexander Pope show a statistically significant preference for zero marking.

• Jonathan Swift & Matthew Prior show no significant differences in their choice of relative markers.

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Discussion

• Although the prescriptive rule is used only later, it is somewhat related to the actual usage of The Spectator writers—Addison and Steele

• Social reputation is clearly salient for the grammarians: Addison as the force behind TheSpectator’s prestige and influence is singled out by grammarians and critics

• In contrast, the more proximal practice of the less reputable Congreve passes unremarked by the grammarians.

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Special language for special people...

Study 2

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Example study #2

• How do the social ties of writer and addressee influence peoples’ choice of stance markers?

• Corpus-based examination of influence of social ties on the expression of attitude in letters

• Letters sub-corpus of NEET. Key people in Addison’s network; but social ties identified for each letter’s author and recipient.

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Name Dates #textsDryden, John 1631-1700 64Stepney, George 1663-1707 31Defoe, Daniel 1660-1731 89Churchill, Sarah 1660-1744 106 Prior, Matthew 1664-1721 45Astell, Mary 1666-1731 48Swift, Jonathan 1667-1745 65Congreve, William 1670-1729 65Wortley, Edward 1672-1761 48Addison, Joseph 1672-1719 89Steele, Richard 1672-1729 258Pope, Alexander 1688-1744 63Montagu, Lady M Wortley 1689-1762 57Range: 1631-1762 1028

Letters subcorpus for study of author & recipient identity

Ties annotate letters

Each letter has a header including numerical expression of the directional, subjective ties perceived by author and recipient respectively.

Author tie Recipient tie

1 (weak) 0 (none)

2 (medium) 1 (weak)

3 (strong/intimate) 2 (medium)

3 (strong/intimate)

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DESIRE/Vto desire verb + to-clause (e.g. want, long, hope, desire to)

ATT Vth attitudinal verb + that-clause (e.g. hope, seem x that)

PRED ADJ predicative adjective (e.g. be good, fine)

EVALJ evaluative adjective (e.g. good, perfect, desirable)

ATTADVL attitude adverbial (e.g. wisely, properly, decently, humbly, confusedly)

DOWNTONER downtoners (barely, hardly, only)

GEN/HEDGE hedges (about, something like, kind of)

AMPLIF amplifiers (very, absolutely, extremely, perfectly, mightily, entirely, heartily, infinitely, exactly)

EMPH emphatics (indeed, sure, really)

Markers of Speaker Attitude

procedure

• Tagged letter files were scanned to yield frequency counts for stance variables according to the values of the social parameters—author tie and recipient tie.

• The output was examined to discover patterns in the frequencies of attitudinal markers

• Different combinations of parameter values were examined to discover what parameters relate to the expression of attitude in the letters.

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0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

fre

qu

en

cy

pe

r 1

00

0 w

ord

s

speaker attitude markers

reciprocal weak tie [238]

reciprocal medium tie [265]

reciprocal strong tie [501]

Speaker attitude by reciprocal ties

'Tis to be hoped that my Letter will entertain you; at least you will certainly have the freshest Account of all passages on that Glorious day. First, you must know that I led up the ball, which you'll stare at; but what's more, I think in my Conscience I made one of the best figures there. To say truth, people grown so extravagantly ugly that we old Beautysare forced to come out on show days to keep the Court in Countenance. I saw Mrs Murray there, through whose hands this Epistle is to be conveyed. I don't know whither she'll make the same Complaint to you that I do. Mrs West was there, who is a great Prude, having but 2 lovers at a Time; I think those are Lord Haddingtoun and Mr Lindsay, the one for use, the one show.

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Results

• Minute variation among different tie strengths in the expression of speaker attitude and stance

• reciprocity of tie seems to be more salient than strength of tie

• Other parameters (author/recipient sex; rank) may be more critical in differentiating speaker attitude and expression of stance

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Questions for next session

• How effectively does SNA facilitate the study of individual linguistic behaviour within their speakers’ social contexts?

• How effective is SNA in contextualizing social (and linguistic) influence?

• Is SNA sufficient for the rich description of historical communities?

• Is SNA good enough to capture the practices of historical communities?

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