Introdungcing English language part 34: 'In this exciting new textbook, Louise Mullany and Peter Stockwell have provided a fresh and imaginative set of alternatives for teaching and learning a huge amount about the English language. The book allows tor creative and lateral approaches to developing an understanding of important linguistic concepts and, together with the thought-provoking activities, and accessible readings, guarantees there is something to stimulate every learner. | C12 184 EXPLORATION INVESTIGATING ENGLISH LANGUAGE In interview the words on the SRNs are read aloud thus eliciting a more formal speech style from informants. Participants are then encouraged to think and note down other words during the interview encounter itself through more informal conversation. The successful nature of the SRNs as a lexical data elicitation technique was proved in an early pilot study see Llamas 1999 where in interview from the 80 standard notion words on the three SRNs 272 lexical dialectal variants were produced and recorded thus showing the fruitfulness of adopting such a multi-method approach for lexical variation alone. After the informant has read out the words they have recorded on the SRNs around the standard notion word the interviewer then guides an informal conversation around the specific lexical variants that informants have written down with the overall aim of eliciting a more informal phonological production as well as grammatical language variation and attitudinal information. If conducted effectively these informal interview conversations can also produce a wealth of information on language attitudes including attitudes relating to the crucial sociolinguistic variables of speaker age and gender as well as participants views on word etymologies and their own perspectives on language change over time. A whole range of different sociolinguistic aspects of language study can thus be elicited by using this multi-method. Activity Q Using SRNs To get a good sense of how an SRN works take time to fill in your own dialect words or phrases in the three SRNs given above. In order to test the potential usefulness of the multi-method approach described in this unit select two informants from a particular geographical area use friends or family members if you wish and apply the SRN data collection method also including the questionnaire above in your initial pre-interview data pack . Ensure you give your informant the required time .
