Prestige, accommodation, and the legacy of relative who

• Published in: Language in society Vol. 39; no. 3; pp. 383 - 410
• Main Authors: D'Arcy, Alexandra, Tagliamonte, Sali A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01.06.2010
• Subjects: Choices; Communities; Dyadic relations; English; English language; Grammar; Grammatical gender; Ideologies; Ideology; Language; Language Change; Language history; Language Variation; Legacies; Linguistics; Meaning; Prestige; Pronoun; Pronouns; Relative clauses; Relative pronouns; Research subjects; Social Factors; Social meaning; Sociolinguistics; Specialization; Speech; Syntax; Variationist Linguistics
• ISSN: 0047-4045; 1469-8013
• DOI: 10.1017/S0047404510000205

This article presents a quantitative variationist analysis of the English restrictive relative pronouns. However, where previous research has largely focused on language-internal explanations for variant choice, the focus here is the social meaning of this erstwhile syntactic variable. We uncover rich sociolinguistic embedding of the relative pronouns in standard, urban speech. The only productive wh- form is who, which continues to pattern as a prestige form centuries after its linguistic specialization as a human subject relative. This legacy of prestige is reflected not only in the social characteristics of those with whom it is associated, but also in the patterns of accommodation that are visible in its use. These findings simultaneously demonstrate the tenacious nature of social meaning and the enduring effects of grammatical ideology, both of which influence pronoun choice in the context of face-to-face interaction. (Restrictive relative pronouns, who, change from above, age-grading, prestige, accommodation)*