Sketchy sociolinguistics research seems to suggest that it's part of performing identity. For example, there was this study of Welsh learners in the UK. The experimenter would toss out vaguely denigrating remarks about Welsh; the study found that the people who were taking Welsh for business reasons started sounding "less Welsh", and the people who were taking Welsh for heritage reasons started sounding "more Welsh." (This is something of a sketchy study because "less/more Welsh" meant anything from vowel placement to "she's swearing at you in Welsh.")
I guess that fits in with my own experience with my contrarian identity, because I only started using y'all after I left Ohio. :p
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2016-12-07 03:20 am (UTC)I guess that fits in with my own experience with my contrarian identity, because I only started using y'all after I left Ohio. :p