Reading Working Papers in Linguistics 4 (2000) - The University of ...

SOCIAL NETWORKS IN A RURAL SETTING
Milroy also admits that it is both network patterns and complex
attitudinal factors which act as a basis for the measurement of degree of
integration into the community, and, as will be seen later, the Doric LIFMOD
score is just such a measurement. The survival and transmission of a
vernacular is partly due to important values of local loyalty and solidarity,
often seen as opposites to institutionalised provincial or national values. There
is a constant tension between these values, and the vernacular and the standard
have prestige associated with each. This often corresponds to what is referred
to as covert and overt prestige (Trudgill 1983).
Milroy believes that a speaker’s network ties can change over time, and
that this will affect the amount of influence the network has over the speaker.
If an individual’s network structure becomes less close-knit, it follows that the
mechanism of non-standard norm maintenance will no longer be so
influential, and that he will be free of the constant supervision and control that
the network exercised (Milroy 1987:182). It seems generally true that tribal
societies, villages and traditional working-class communities usually have
dense multiplex networks, while geographically and socially mobile societies
usually have sparse uniplex networks (Milroy 1987: 52).
Milroy believes that in order to apply any sort of quantitative analysis to
the data, a network strength scale must be allocated to each speaker. This is
because of the difficulty of seeing a person’s whole network. A five-point
scale, designed to be relevant to the local community, was used in her Belfast
study:
1. Membership of a high-density, territorially based cluster.
2. Having substantial ties of kinship in the neighbourhood (more than one
household, in addition to his own nuclear family).
3. Working at the same place as at least two others from the same area.
4. The same place of work as at least two others of the same sex from the area.
5. Voluntary association with work mates in leisure hours.
According to Milroy, condition one is an indicator of density, while conditions
two to five are indicators of multiplexity. Allocating a network strength index
score allows the network patterns of individuals to be measured and possible
links with linguistic patterns to be tested. Milroy’s scale was developed for her
urban study, but it is based on factors in the sociology literature, and ought to
be generalisable to other communities if it is to have any sort of universal
applicability, and besides, it is based on the criteria used by social
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