Topic development, syntax, and social class

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Abstract
A conclusion of 20 years’ research into social class differences in speech is that working‐class speakers make greater use of pronouns as compared to nouns and use fewer subordinate constructions than do middle‐class speakers. These syntactic findings have been linked, in the work of Basil Bernstein and others, to hypothesized differences in class‐based language orientations or “codes.” The present study uses data from adolescent discussion groups to argue that social class differences in syntax result instead from differences in the conversational styles of working‐class and middle‐class speakers. Contrasting styles of topic development are documented: a working‐class approach which makes use of anaphoric reference and ellipses across speaker turns, and a middle‐class approach which identifies topics with full NP's in each new speaker's turn. These approaches to topic development are first tied to differences in the group's turn‐taking styles and are then related to observed patterns of pronominal reference and subordination in the two groups.