From sociolinguistic variation to socially strategic stylisation

This article investigates the indexical relation between language, interactional stance and social class. Quantitative sociolinguistic analysis of a linguistic variable (the first person possessive singular) is combined with micro-ethnographic analysis of the way one particular variant, possessive ‘me’ (e.g. Me pencil’s up me jumper), is used by speakers in interaction. The aim of this analysis is to explore: (1) how possessive ‘me’ is implicated in the construction and management of local identities and relationships, and (2) how macro-social categories, such as social class, relate to language choice. The data for this analysis comes from an ethnographic study of the language practices of 9- to 10-year-old children in two socially-differentiated primary schools in north-east England. A secondary aim of the article is to spotlight the sociolinguistic sophistication of these young children, in particular, the working-class participants, who challenge the notion that the speech of working-class children is in any way ‘impoverished’.