Publications

Publication details [#6018]

Leacock, Eleanor Burke. 1972. Abstract versus concrete speech: A false dichotomy. In Cazden, Courtney B., Vera P. John and Dell H. Hymes, eds. Functions of language in the classroom. Teachers College Press. pp. 111–134.

Publication type

Article in book

Publication language

English

Keywords

abstractness | cognitive style | communicative style

Annotation

L. questions the assumptions that (i) speech styles can be distinguished as either 'abstract' or 'concrete'; (ii) a more 'abstract' style is of a higher order and lays a superior basis for thought; (iii) the 'abstract' style characterizes the speech patterns of middle-class speakers of English.