The correlation between liaison and two Sociolinguistic variables: level of Education and Professional Status

Abstract

The study set out to investigate the correlation between liaison and two sociolinguistic variables, namely level of education and professional status. In order to collect the raw data needed for the study, 80 informants, selected according to the sociolinguistic factors under study, were subjected to the reading of some pre -prepaired sentences containing targeted phonological variables involving liaison and a tape recorder was used to record their phonological renditions. The analysis of the data revealed many interesting findings. With regard to level of education, it is revealed that it does not determine competence in liaison. Surprisingly, there was no difference in the performance of Form Four and Lower Sixth students, given that the two classes scored 30 % in the approximation of the Standard British English (SBE) variants of the variables investigated. Also surprising was the fact that Lower Sixth students and Form Four students were more competent in liaison than undergraduate students, considering that they scored only 25%in the approximation of the SBE variants of the variables. It is only the performance of postgraduate students that is significantly better than that of the other categories of students, given that they scored as high as 45%. This implies that knowledge of liaison does not very much depend on educational attainment. As concerns professional status, journalists scored higher than all the other professions, scoring 33.3% in the use of the SBE variants of the variables involving liaison, but the fact that teachers and lawyers scored only 26.7% each challenges the assertion that professionals of English are better language users. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that one’s level of education and professional status do not significantly determine his or her knowledge of liaison.