The Effects Of Linguistic Insecurity In Communication

Introduction
Social factors such as class, gender and age strongly dictate one’s behavioural norms, by associating themselves with the people whom they are closest to (Chambers 1995: p.7). Social factors can either determine or impose particular attitudes about certain social groups which evoke positive or negative attitudes, such as language prestige and stigmatization. Linguistic insecurity can act as a catalyst to motivate sound change and can be a defining factor for a speech community (Labov 1972: p. 132) Furthermore, the effects of linguistic insecurity can have a detrimental impact on language use to a degree that it becomes a disrupting force of a conversation or result in hypercorrections in speech (Baron 1976: 1). This essay will explore the extent to which linguistic insecurity influences language use in society by referring to the: 1) effects of linguistic insecurity 2) linguistic insecurity within cross-linguistic contexts 3) figure out as u go along. Furthermore, the arguments made will be predominantly centralized around Labov’s NYC Department Store Study (Labov 1972: p. 48-69) and Trudgill’s Norwich study reference, in addition to considering other sociolinguistic viewpoints such as the Accommodation Theory reference and the Attention to Speech Model reference.

Hypercorrection as a product of linguistic insecurity
Wiliam Labov’s research in social stratification in New York City formed a fundamental role when observing linguistic insecurity. When examining