This is curious. Do you have an explanation for why “for” is associated with low-status and “in” is associated with high-status (in this context)? Are there other similar linguistic phenomena?
Hm, I suppose I could attempt one. I think my current best guess would be along the following lines:
High-status people will tend to have a richer cache of stored expressions; in a given situation, they are more likely to be able to precisely reproduce a previously-heard expression appropriate to the context, rather than having to make up a new expression on the spot. This is especially so if the idea being expressed is one that high-status people think about more often than low-status people do. Consequently, a high-status person will be more likely to remember the phrase “graduate school in philosophy” in detail, including the specific information about “in” being the preposition used; whereas a low-status person, who (at least at first) may not have as much occasion to speak about graduate school in philosophy, may only have something like “graduate school [preposition] philosophy” stored in their mind. As a result, when they first need to use the expression, they will have to spontaneously choose a preposition, and the choice they end up with may not be the same as the one in the existing expression commonly used by high-status folk. But now, when the low-status person next uses the phrase, they will have a tendency to remember the preposition they themselves used the last time; so this new expression will then spread among their low-status associates, and will become the standard cached version of the expression for low-status people.
Yes, of course status levels are not the only source of linguistic variation; there’s also geography, and other things also.
Note however that high-status language varies less by geography than low-status language.
Also, British English (at least “Southern British Standard”) sounds higher status to me than American English in general, so I would find it surprising if an expression that struck my (American-English) ear as low status turned out to be a high-status British form. I would expect the reverse—that is, something that sounds low-status to a British speaker being a high-status American expression—to be more common.
One of my best friends, who is far more intelligent than I, sometimes says ‘could of’ instead of ‘could have’. My point being, having language pet peeves is fine and normal, but whether people make those errors or not is a really poor indicator of status (even though hearing ‘could of’ and ‘for all intensive purposes’ drives me up the wall)
Some very intelligent people also wear T-shirts instead of suits. Nevertheless, it would be preposterous to deny that wearing a suit is a meaningful status signal, or to claim that clothing is a “really poor indicator of status”.
Signaling mechanisms aren’t perfect, and yet they’re still signaling mechanisms anyway.
Spoken language is much more difficult to change on purpose than clothing is, so in my view it has much less value than clothing choices as a status indicator.
I think my main disagreement with you here is in whether unconscious or conscious signalling has higher value as a method of determining actual status. I would argue that choosing to put on a suit is actually a better determinant of high status than an accent that indicates I grew up in Dumbistan, because status is something you obtain as opposed to something you either have or don’t.
I think that all talk of status flirts with the Mind Projection fallacy. Status is almost entirely in the eye of the beholder. A high status person is one who conforms to the ideals of the status-judge. So, you are both right as to what signals status, as long as you really mean “what signals status to me”.
Aargh! Surely you know that only low-status people use the preposition “for” in this context!
High-status people say “in”.
This is curious. Do you have an explanation for why “for” is associated with low-status and “in” is associated with high-status (in this context)? Are there other similar linguistic phenomena?
Hm, I suppose I could attempt one. I think my current best guess would be along the following lines:
High-status people will tend to have a richer cache of stored expressions; in a given situation, they are more likely to be able to precisely reproduce a previously-heard expression appropriate to the context, rather than having to make up a new expression on the spot. This is especially so if the idea being expressed is one that high-status people think about more often than low-status people do. Consequently, a high-status person will be more likely to remember the phrase “graduate school in philosophy” in detail, including the specific information about “in” being the preposition used; whereas a low-status person, who (at least at first) may not have as much occasion to speak about graduate school in philosophy, may only have something like “graduate school [preposition] philosophy” stored in their mind. As a result, when they first need to use the expression, they will have to spontaneously choose a preposition, and the choice they end up with may not be the same as the one in the existing expression commonly used by high-status folk. But now, when the low-status person next uses the phrase, they will have a tendency to remember the preposition they themselves used the last time; so this new expression will then spread among their low-status associates, and will become the standard cached version of the expression for low-status people.
I don’t know whether this is one, but I expect that some such expressions have different “correct” forms on either side of the Atlantic.
Yes, of course status levels are not the only source of linguistic variation; there’s also geography, and other things also.
Note however that high-status language varies less by geography than low-status language.
Also, British English (at least “Southern British Standard”) sounds higher status to me than American English in general, so I would find it surprising if an expression that struck my (American-English) ear as low status turned out to be a high-status British form. I would expect the reverse—that is, something that sounds low-status to a British speaker being a high-status American expression—to be more common.
Sticking to prepositional shibboleths, another one that comes to mind concerns professional athletes and sports teams:
Low status: “X is on the Texas Rangers.” (Generalized from the use of “on” in expressions like “whose team are you on?”)
High status: “X is with the Texas Rangers.” (Standard expression used in the specific context by sports journalists, etc.)
One of my best friends, who is far more intelligent than I, sometimes says ‘could of’ instead of ‘could have’. My point being, having language pet peeves is fine and normal, but whether people make those errors or not is a really poor indicator of status (even though hearing ‘could of’ and ‘for all intensive purposes’ drives me up the wall)
Some very intelligent people also wear T-shirts instead of suits. Nevertheless, it would be preposterous to deny that wearing a suit is a meaningful status signal, or to claim that clothing is a “really poor indicator of status”.
Signaling mechanisms aren’t perfect, and yet they’re still signaling mechanisms anyway.
In engineering / software circles, wearing a T-shirt rather than a suit is a kind of countersignaling.
Indeed; and no doubt linguistic countersignaling also occurs in some communities. (Example: politicians.)
Spoken language is much more difficult to change on purpose than clothing is, so in my view it has much less value than clothing choices as a status indicator.
In that case it should have more value as a status indicator—harder to fake.
I think my main disagreement with you here is in whether unconscious or conscious signalling has higher value as a method of determining actual status. I would argue that choosing to put on a suit is actually a better determinant of high status than an accent that indicates I grew up in Dumbistan, because status is something you obtain as opposed to something you either have or don’t.
I think that all talk of status flirts with the Mind Projection fallacy. Status is almost entirely in the eye of the beholder. A high status person is one who conforms to the ideals of the status-judge. So, you are both right as to what signals status, as long as you really mean “what signals status to me”.
How can you even tell the difference? It seems like unless you’re speaking in a very formal, deliberate manner, they’re pronounced nearly identically.
It must be a dialect thing, I can clearly hear the difference. I wish I couldn’t.
I don’t think I’ve actually heard “in” used there, and it sounds awkward to me. I guess I’m just low-status. Oh well.
You have, many times. Trust me.
“I’m a graduate student in philosophy”.
-> “I went to graduate school in philosophy”
-> “Philosophy? I went to graduate school in it.”
The Googles would seem to agree:
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22graduate+school+in+philosophy%22
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22graduate+school+for+philosophy%22