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

J. MARSHALL
To some extent, [network] multiplexity and density subsume other, less easily
measurable variables. This can be demonstrated by referring to Elsie D, one of the
older women in Ballymacarrett. Elsie D placed a low affective value on her
relationships with her neighbours and appeared to reject ‘local team’ values.
Devising a reliable measure of these attitudes would have been difficult and was in
any case unnecessary, for the reason that the low level of multiplexity in her
personal network ties formed what might be described as an ‘objective correlative’
to her subjective attitudes. […] it is worth noting in this context that both network
patterns, and attitudinal factors suggest themselves as a basis for the measurement
of degree of integration into the community (Milroy 1987: 140, emphasis mine).
In the Doric study, those speakers with high LIFMOD scores have a highly
positive mental orientation to the local group. This is clear from their answers
to the questionnaire. This mental orientation is likely to cause such speakers to
positively evaluate local behavioural (including linguistic) norms. This in turn
is likely to yield a high percentage of use of these norms. On the other hand, a
person may begin to broaden this mental orientation to include supra-local
norms. Milroy cites Haugen (1966:103) as saying that ‘the modern nation state
extends some of the loyalties of the family and the neighbourhood or the clan
to the whole state’ (Milroy 1987: 190). The implications of this are farreaching.
If these categories of identity become less important, it follows
logically that certain social values associated with local linguistic forms, and
which maintain them, may be transferred to less localised forms (p. 190). This
is supported by the results of the Doric data analysis. The social variable
LIFMOD measures the orientation to the local rural area versus the city, and
by extension, solidarity with the local group (and its linguistic norms) on the
one hand, and with the larger scale group of Aberdeen and the rest of the
county on the other. It is those speakers with the most positive attitude to the
city who display the least vernacular features. They are the ones who have
extended their loyalties to include the city, and for whom the linguistic
features of urban speakers have become the norm. As Milroy allows
(1987:190),
[…] complex attitudinal factors, in addition to more obvious ones such as upward
mobility, are probably involved in the association between a loosened network structure
and a movement towards a standardised norm.
The features of Aberdeen city speech are highly relevant, as it is the closest
city, and the centre of wealth and culture in the north-east. Those individuals
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