A cognitive approach to quantitative sociolinguistic variation 311derage drinking, boyfriends and trouble with teachers and parents. Finally,
the group labelled “They act hard all the time”/ “fancy tune folk” is a group
of 4 teenage boys aged between 12 and15. They tend to wear expensive
tracksuits and football tops and they project a confident, self assured, ma-
cho image.
Unsurprisingly, the groups which strongly disfavor the labiodental va-
riant are characterized by opposite qualities to those that favor the labi-
odental variant: maturity, seniority and ‘geekieness’ (see Table 5). The
individuals that comprise the group labelled “Pipe band geeks”/ “Ex-Dream
Valley” are all in their mid to late twenties and have all played together
either in this pipe band or in a related local band for a number of years. At a
typical pipe band practice at WFHPB, these three individuals are immedi-
ately discernible. They all have ‘professional’ jobs (one is a banker, one
works in local government and one is a police officer) and the clothing that
they choose to wear at the pipe band practice reflects this aspect of their
identity. This is expressed more explicitly by Lucy in the following extract
as she describes one of the members of this friendship group:
(5a) Scots
L: he comes in fae work a lot an he’s got his shirt an tie on, a hink people
sort eh look doon at him because...he’s got like a sortae upper class job
sortae hing wi the suit sortae hing
(5b) English
L: he comes in from work a lot an he’s got his shirt and tie on, I hink
people sort of look down at him because...he’s got like a sort of upper
class job sort of thing with the suit, sort of thing
The group labelled “Senior drummers”/ “Pipe band geeks” have known
each other for a number of years and they also all hold professional posi-
tions both inside and outside the pipe band (they are all involved in teach-
ing within the band). WFHPB travel to and from competitions on a hired
bus. The back seats of the bus are typically noisy and unruly with lots of
alcohol, smoking and singing. In the following extract, Pete explains that
the no-nonsense attitude of this group of friends is typified by the place that
they occupy on the band bus:
(6a) Scots
P: at the front ye normally get me, Lewis, Connor...
LC: right