A Sociolinguistic Phenomenon and its Illustration in the Early Linguistic Evolution of D.H. Lawrence

Abstract

Labov introduced the term lame to refer to isolated individuals on the fringes of vernacular culture. Their linguistic behaviour does not conform to the norms imposed by the vernacular. Social network theory has provided a valuable insight into why individual speakers use vernacular forms with greater or less consistency. In this paper we will argue that D. H. Lawrence experienced the linguistic and ideological conflict of a lame, hovering between loyalties to two different codes, as a result of contradictory influences from his working-class father and his middle-class mother. Feeling an alien in his own community, he finally emerged as the intellectual declassé.