A Case Study Of Oliver's '7 Up 2000'

‘Language is considered one of the most important means of initiating, synthesising and reinforcing ways of thinking, feeling and behaviour which functionally related to the social group.’ (Bernstein, 1959). Hence, language plays a crucial role in life and society. This essay focuses on analysing a case study of Oliver from the BBC1 documentary 7 up 2000. The key aspect examined in this article will be the object’s language, including accent and the range of his vocabulary. Subsequently, the influencing factors of his language use will be estimated. In the last section, this essay will concern with the child’s future.

Oliver lived together with his family in West London. His parents were in a stable relationship. His father was a business solicitor who worked at Clifford Chance and his mother was a director of Harrods. In addition, he was accompanied by his Finnish nanny when his parents were not off from work.
His parents chose to send him to an independent school in Chelsea as they were busy. Being the only child of a stable couple, he values family. In his spare time, Oliver enjoyed playing toys such as Scalextric and other models in his playroom since he talked a lot about these toys in the documentary. This child was taking archery lessons as well. (7 up 2000, 2000)

Accent refers to the varieties distinguished from each other by the
According to Bernstein’s research that showed the possibility of more verbal contact in the middle-class family (1977), Oliver would be able to use a wide range of vocabulary might under on his parents’ influence. Again, there is also evidence shown that the middle-class family emphasises more on the education of their next generation (Roberts, 2001), therefore, it was feasible that Oliver’s parent encouraged him to achieve more on his study including English and speech