Geographical patterns of formality variation in written Standard California English

摘要

Formality variation in the written use of lexical words in the relational sphere in California English is analyzed on a geographical level for the first time in this article. Linguistic data for word alternations including a formal and an informal term for a specific concept are gathered from newspapers Web sites written in English through site-restricted Web searches across California (Asnaghi, An Analysis of Regional Lexical Variation in California English Using Site-Restricted Web Searches. Joint Ph.D. Dissertation, Universita`; Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and University of Leuven, Milan, Italy and Leuven, Belgium, 2013) and analyzed with a series of spatial statistical analyses (Grieve et al. A statistical method for the identification and aggregation of regional linguistic variation. Language Variation and Change, 23: 193-221, 2011). Urban versus rural and north versus south tendencies are detected in the language choices of California journalists. These tendencies are rooted in the history of the Golden State as well as in its socioeconomical structure. (Starr and Procter. Americans and the California dream, 1850-1915. History: Reviews of New Books, 1(9): 201-201, 1973; Hayes, Historical Atlas of California: With Original Maps. Berkeley/Los Angeles/London: University of California Press, 2007).