Individual differences in event experiences and psychosocial factors as drivers for perceived linguistic change following occupational major life events
The aim of this study is to investigate both quantitatively and qualitatively the impact of career-related major life events (MLEs) on patterns of reported linguistic change across the lifespan, with an emphasis on how individual differences relate to differential patterns of MLE-related change. The...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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De Gruyter
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Open Linguistics |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2024-0037 |
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| author | Wirtz Mason A. Pickl Simon Pfenninger Simone E. |
| author_facet | Wirtz Mason A. Pickl Simon Pfenninger Simone E. |
| author_sort | Wirtz Mason A. |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The aim of this study is to investigate both quantitatively and qualitatively the impact of career-related major life events (MLEs) on patterns of reported linguistic change across the lifespan, with an emphasis on how individual differences relate to differential patterns of MLE-related change. The occupational significant life events scrutinized here include entry into the workforce, job/career change, unemployment, and retirement. We analyzed survey data from 154 German-speaking adults in Austria who experienced (at least) one of these career-related MLEs. Results from Bayesian modeling showed that individual differences in event experiences (e.g., how stressful an MLE is perceived, how damaging an MLE is for one’s social status) alongside social factors such as varietal proficiency affect the degree of perceived MLE-related change in the sociolinguistic repertoire. Qualitatively, the thematic analysis revealed that facets of the linguistic marketplace seemed responsible for occupational MLE-related linguistic change, but also socio-affective drivers such as dialect pride and career-resultant shifts in one’s social networks and contact with other dialects. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-1d7c5e76bb5140d79c66f94b942e6c5c |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2300-9969 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | De Gruyter |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Open Linguistics |
| spelling | doaj-art-1d7c5e76bb5140d79c66f94b942e6c5c2025-02-10T13:24:58ZengDe GruyterOpen Linguistics2300-99692025-02-01111276010.1515/opli-2024-0037Individual differences in event experiences and psychosocial factors as drivers for perceived linguistic change following occupational major life eventsWirtz Mason A.0Pickl Simon1Pfenninger Simone E.2Department of German Language and Literatures, University of Salzburg, 5020Salzburg, AustriaDepartment of German Language and Literatures, University of Salzburg, 5020Salzburg, AustriaEnglish Department, University of Zurich, 8032Zurich, SwitzerlandThe aim of this study is to investigate both quantitatively and qualitatively the impact of career-related major life events (MLEs) on patterns of reported linguistic change across the lifespan, with an emphasis on how individual differences relate to differential patterns of MLE-related change. The occupational significant life events scrutinized here include entry into the workforce, job/career change, unemployment, and retirement. We analyzed survey data from 154 German-speaking adults in Austria who experienced (at least) one of these career-related MLEs. Results from Bayesian modeling showed that individual differences in event experiences (e.g., how stressful an MLE is perceived, how damaging an MLE is for one’s social status) alongside social factors such as varietal proficiency affect the degree of perceived MLE-related change in the sociolinguistic repertoire. Qualitatively, the thematic analysis revealed that facets of the linguistic marketplace seemed responsible for occupational MLE-related linguistic change, but also socio-affective drivers such as dialect pride and career-resultant shifts in one’s social networks and contact with other dialects.https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2024-0037major life eventschange across the lifespanlanguage variation and changesociolinguistic repertoirelinguistic market |
| spellingShingle | Wirtz Mason A. Pickl Simon Pfenninger Simone E. Individual differences in event experiences and psychosocial factors as drivers for perceived linguistic change following occupational major life events Open Linguistics major life events change across the lifespan language variation and change sociolinguistic repertoire linguistic market |
| title | Individual differences in event experiences and psychosocial factors as drivers for perceived linguistic change following occupational major life events |
| title_full | Individual differences in event experiences and psychosocial factors as drivers for perceived linguistic change following occupational major life events |
| title_fullStr | Individual differences in event experiences and psychosocial factors as drivers for perceived linguistic change following occupational major life events |
| title_full_unstemmed | Individual differences in event experiences and psychosocial factors as drivers for perceived linguistic change following occupational major life events |
| title_short | Individual differences in event experiences and psychosocial factors as drivers for perceived linguistic change following occupational major life events |
| title_sort | individual differences in event experiences and psychosocial factors as drivers for perceived linguistic change following occupational major life events |
| topic | major life events change across the lifespan language variation and change sociolinguistic repertoire linguistic market |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2024-0037 |
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