Re: THEORY: Sound changes in literate societies

Quoting "Karapcik, Mike" <KarapcM@...>:

> | Quoting "Karapcik, Mike" <KarapcM@...>:
> | >  According to the book "Applied Linguistics",
> | > which I read a year ago, the changes are
> | > motivated by the middle class.
> |
> | I have to wonder: since the Middle Class in most western countries
> | makes up the vast majority of the population (in the US, more than
> | 80%), how can we distinguish something caused by the "middle class"
> | and something that just happens randomly throughout the population,
> | and by virtue of their numerical preponderance is most likely to
> | occur among Middle Class speakers?
>
>         From what I recall, it's a matter of the Middle Class trying to
> look like Upper Class as part of an attempt to better themselves, or
> appear to do so.
[snip]

>         "Applied Linguistics" was written in the late 60's, so the general
> theory may have changed since then. Also, much of the research it cites is
> British, though not all.
Ah, well then.  That explains a lot.  If you're trying to push a
theory which explains everything by reference to class structure,
among anglophone nations, Britain is ideal for gathering data. The
problem is, class only has meaning when people believe it has meaning.
In contrast to Britain, Americans have always tried to pretend they
live in a classless society, or at least, class-structure manifests
itself only in nonselfevident ways.  (It is true that poverty has
historically been less of a problem in America than in Britain.)
As such, a theory of language change by class-pressure has much
less meaning in America than in Britain.  If anything, in America,
the pressure is often in the opposite direction that you describe,
conformity toward the Middle Class on the part both of the rich and
of the poor.  (Unlike Europe, where elitists need not make a pretense
of having the common touch to get elected to political office, it's
virtually a requirement here.)

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