ABSTRACT
This chapter considers possible diversity within a single language. Geographical locality might be the most obvious influence on language but there are important theories that linguistic usage depends critically upon social class, sex and ethnic background. There is a good deal of evidence to suggest that social class affects language at a number of different levels. The socio-linguist William Labov investigated the effects of social stratification on a number of phonological variable in speech. Labov points out that the New York community has a basically 'r-less' vernacular, but that after the end of World War two r-pronunciation became the prestige norm. The chapter describes Basil Bernstein theory, analyzed the differences between the speech of the groups at the lexical level and in terms of simple grammatical features. Bernstein found that the middle-class groups used a higher proportion of the following features: subordinations, complex verbal stems, passives, total adjectives, uncommon adjectives, uncommon adverbs, uncommon conjunctions, egocentric sequences.
