'Ey, wait, wait, gully!' Style, stance and the social meaning of attention signals in East London adolescent speech. (September 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: ILBURY, CHRISTIAN
• Editors: Paradis, Carita; Johansson, Victoria; Põldvere, Nele
• Is Part Of: English language and linguistics. Volume 25:Number 3(2021)
• Page Start: 621
• Page End: 644
• Publication Date: 2021-09
• Subjects: London -- youth styles -- discourse-pragmatic variation -- third-wave sociolinguistics -- Multicultural London English; English language -- Grammar -- Periodicals; Linguistics -- Periodicals; Linguistic change -- Periodicals; 420.5
• DOI: 10.1017/S1360674321000095
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1360-6743

Abstract

Abstract : Recent accounts of discourse-pragmatic (DP) variation have demonstrated that these features can acquire social indexical meaning. However, in comparison to other linguistic variables, DP features remain underexplored and third-wave perspectives on the topic are limited. In this article, I analyse the distribution, function and social meaning of the 'attention signals' – those features which fulfil the explicit function of eliciting the attention of an individual – in just over 35 hours of self-recordings of 25 adolescents collected during a year-long sociolinguistic ethnography of an East London youth group. This leads me to identify an innovative attention signal – ey . Distributional analyses of this feature show that ey is associated with a particular Community of Practice, the self-defined and exclusively male 'gully'. By examining the discourse junctures at which ey occurs, I argue that this attention signal is most frequently used by speakers to deploy a 'dominant' stance. For gully members, this feature is particularly useful as an interpersonal device, where it is used to manage ingroup/outgroup boundaries. Concluding, I link the use of ey and the gully identity to language, ethnicity and masculinity in East London.