Accent And Dialect Flashcards
What is an accent?
A distinctive way of pronouncing a language, particularly associated with a particular country, social class or area
What is a dialect?
The whole way language is used, including accent, vocabulary etc
What caused the formation of dialect?
Communities constantly being together causing the creation of specific ways of speaking
What did Howard Giles find about the way accents were perceived?
He found that received pronunciation was rated as highly intelligent and powerful but regional varieties were found to be viewed as more friendly and authentic
What did Ellen Ryan find about Received pronunciation?
It has a high status but low solidarity
This means that it is seen as high prestige but people don’t connect with it
What did The COMRES study by ITV Tonight find about the way acents are perceived?
Findings demonstrate our bias toward accents
The Liverpudlian accent was rated by the public to be the least friendly, trustworthy and intelligent
What did Malcolm Petyt find in his study about H omissions and modifying accent?
Studied H omissions
He found that working-class drop h’s at every opportunity
Middle class only drop a h at 1/10 opportunities they were given
This was because dropping h’s was seen as working-class thing , so deemed inferior
What Trudgil find about changing accents whilst investigating the ing/in variable?
The study conducted in Norwich looked at ing/in variable
Findings showed that ppts used ‘ing’ in formal places and used ‘in’ in informal placed
What were Trudgil’s findings an example of?
Code-switching
Changing styles to fit context
What did Trudgil find regarding differences in gender?
Women tend to fall closer to hypercorrectness ( rarely dropping g)
What is an example of convergence in modern-day Britain?
People copying the accent and dialect used in music such as grime because they see it as cool
What did Howard Gilies write about with accommodation theory ?
He said that two things can happen with people’s dialects during a conversation
Convergence: trying to fit In with the other person’s way of speaking
Divergence: trying to found different to the other person’s way of speaking
What percentage of employers discriminate on accent?
80%
What does the discrimination towards accent in the work place demonstrate?
That there is clear prejudice in that area
