Labov's five-segment theory of language makes style the function of grammar¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The note reports Labov's new, then-unwritten theory of language, in which "style the function of grammar" — grammar itself carries the stylistic work of an utterance. The theory is presented as a production model moving through five interrelated segments, from a semantic network of content words through orientation, lexicalization, grammaticalization, and phonologization. The note is a second-hand report of a conversation, not a published statement of the theory by Labov himself.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• A theory of language must account for both the systematic and the random aspects of language, as Labov states

Constraints¶

• Nothing of the theory was written down at the time; the account is based on a conversation during the first week of September 1970

Target Learners¶

• linguists and language researchers

Target Learning Objectives¶

• understanding theories of linguistic description and language production

Claims¶

Related Theories¶

• Labov's monitor model: monitoring as attention paid to speech form on a continuum
• Rubin's socio-stylistics of writing: style as both a function of individual identity and the social matrix

Examples¶

• Phonologization: final segment applying phonology to the bracketed utterance

Key Sources¶

• Legum, Stanley E. (1970). On the Facts of the Language in Question or a Conversation with W. Labov. Southwest Regional Laboratory Technical Note TN-2-70-47. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED108215