Accent and Dialect Flashcards
What is accent?
The pronunciation of lexis
What is dialect?
Your lexis
What is a regional accent?
An accent specific to a particular geographical region
What is regional dialect?
Dialect specific to a particular geographical region
What does RP stand for?
Received Pronunciation
How is social variation relevant to accent and dialect?
Those who are higher socially have fewer regional features than those lower down
What TV channel is associated with RP?
The BBC
What class is RP associated with?
The upper class
How does RP differ to other accents?
It doesn’t indicate the speaker’s regional origin
What is Standard English known as?
‘correct’ English
What is Standard English associated with?
Education, prestige
What do surveys show that people associate RP with?
Intelligence, confidence, authority
In what qualities is RP seen as less favorable?
Humor, sincerity, and good-naturedness
Are rural accents (Somerset) or urban accents (Birmingham or Cockney) more favorable?
Rural accents (Somerset)
What is the name of Howard Giles’ theory?
Capital Punishment Experiment 1973
What did Giles’s theory suggest?
People find regional accents more persuasive than RP
Who did Giles’ theory study and how many groups were there?
Students, 5 groups
What were the groups in Giles’s theory presented with?
An identical set of 5 arguments
One a printed text, one an RP speaker, one a Welsh speaker, one Somerset, one Birmingham
What were the detailed findings of Giles’ experiment?
RP and printed text were most impressive
Least impressive was the Birmingham speaker
Most persuasive were regional accents
What connection do people make with accents?
The accents and the region
People respond favorably to rural accents because they associate it with the beautiful countryside
How are stereotypes of accents reinforced and perpetuated?
Mass media
Is all discrimination based on accent negative?
No, it can be positive in the workplace
What workplaces favor certain accents?
Call centers
Located in specific places as companies feel that certain accents make customers respond more positively
What system does research show may discriminate based on accent?
The legal system
May be biased towards accents, making someone more susceptible for committing a crime
What show genres feature regional accent to play up to stereotypes?
Comedy and drama
What do sport’s commentators accents reflect?
The social standing of the sport
What accent would a darts commentator have?
A strong regional accent to represent the sport’s working class image
What accent would a horse-racing or tennis commentator have?
RP to reflect the upper class stereotype of the sport
What is Estuary English?
A modified version of Cockney
Where did Estuary English derive from and has it spread?
South-East London
Yes, elements of Estuary English are found several hundred miles from London
What is the most profound feature of Estuary English?
The glottal stop
What is the glottal stop?
Removing the ‘t’
Pronouncing ‘l’ as ‘w’
Why has Estuary English become more fashionable?
Younger RP speakers have adopted it
What did Peter Trudgill state about teachers perceiving students?
Students with working class accent and dialect may be perceived as less intellectual than RP speaking students
How does Peter Trudgill say RP is perceived by non-RP speakers?
‘Haughty and unfriendly’
In the ‘Perceptions of Accents Survey’, which accent wad deemed the most attractive?
Southern Irish, followed by RP and Welsh
In the ‘Perceptions of Accents Survey’, which accent wad deemed the least attractive?
Birmingham, as well as Scouse and Mancunian
What additional work did Giles’s do in 1975 on accent and dialect?
Psychology lectures
Teens rated RP as more competent than Birmingham
What is Dixon, Mahoney, and Cox’s theory?
Accents of Guilt 2002
What did the Accents of Guilt study find?
There is a correlation between an individual’s accent and perceived guilt
What did the Accents of Guilt study consist of?
People responded to dialogue between a suspect and policeman
Birmingham was percieved as significantly more guilty than RP
What did Seligman, Tucker and Lambert find in 1972?
Teacher’s perceptions of students were heavily influenced by their speech and accent
What did Choy and Dodd find in 1976?
Teachers make judgments and assumptions on children’s ability and personalities based on accent
What is the problem with Choy and Dodd, and Seligman, Tucker’s and Lambert’s findings?
They are very dated, one in 1976 and other in 1972
What text did Paul Coggle write?
‘Do You Speak Estuary?’
What did Paul Coggle say on accent and class?
‘The stereotypes are the living reminders of Britain’s continuing class system’
What did Hannah Furness state about Birmingham accents?
“Brummie accents ‘Worse Than Staying Silent”’
What does MLE stand for?
Multicultural London English
When and where did MLE emerge from?
1980’s
Areas of London with high rates of immigraton
What are some common uses of MLE?
Overuse of ‘like’
‘Mandem’
‘Man’ as in ‘I’
What are the main phonological features of MLE?
Shorter trajectories for vowels
The GOOSE vowel
Word initial th-stopping
Pragmatic marker ‘You get me?’
What and when was Gary Ives’s study?
Bradford Study, 2014
What was the aim of the Bradford Study?
To look at the occurrence of code-switching between English and Punjabi
Who did Gary Ives study for his theory?
8 teenage boys
What particular things did the boys say in Gary Ives’ study?
‘It’s all about our area’
‘We mix Punjabi and English’
‘We use a different language so they don’t know what we’re saying’
They distinguish themselves from ‘freshies’
It offered a distinction in language based on postcode
Where did the boys in Gary Ives’ study claim their slang came from?
Music, rap, hip-hop, and urban music
What does the Bradford Study show overall?
How language is used to establish a well-defined social identity
They felt their lexis was due to a range of influences, not just heritage
British Asians use diverse forms to be in certain social groups
Summary of Gary Ives’s findings?
‘Freshies’
Postcodes
Slang influences
Music
Code-switching
In 2014, what food did linguists at Manchester university find variations for?
Bread rolls
What codes did Bernstein construct and when?
Elaborated and restricted code 1971
What subjects did Bernstein study and for what classes?
The poor performance of working-class pupils in language subjects, when they were performing as well as upper-class pupils for mathematics.
What was Basil Bernstein’s prime interest?
How social class can impact linguistic use and how a pupil’s linguistic use can impact their academic performance
What does elaborated code mean?
Language used in formal scenarios such as textbooks, teachers, exam papers
What are the features of elaborated code?
Wide range of vocabulary, complex sentence structures, precise grammar
What people are associated with elaborate code?
Higher social classes with access to higher education, familiar with professional communication
What does restricted code mean?
Language used in informal situations and close-knit communities
What are the features of restricted code?
Simpler vocabulary, shorter sentence structures, less precise grammar
What people are associated with restricted code?
Lower social classes, may not have formal education, less exposure to complex forms of communication
What is one main difference between the use of elaborated and restricted code?
Elaborated code is detailed and direct so it doesn’t require external context to be understood. Restricted code is dependent on external context or shared knowledge amongst a discourse community.
What children did Bernstein conclude use elaborated speech?
Upper class children, working class children used no elaborated speech
What and when was Penelope Eckert’s study?
The Jocks and Burnout’s Study 1989
What main factors did the Jocks and Burnouts Study look at?
Socio-demographic factors and practice communities
What is a socio-demographic?
A set of characterisations to make a definable group, such as sex, gender, race
What kind of linguist is Penelope Eckert classes as?
A variationist sociolinguist
What are Jocks associated with?
Upper class, school-sponsored activities, social prestige, adhering to social norms
What are Burn-Outs associated with?
Resistance to school culture, lower social status, non-school activities
Where was Eckert’s research based?
A suburban Detroit high school
What groups did Jocks and Burnouts represent?
Middle class culture
Working class culture
What was Eckert’s main conclusion?
Differences in language are more linked to communities of practice rather than specific social differences, such as race or gender
Regardless of one’s background, they’re more likely to speak like someone with shared interests with them rather than someone who didn’t
What phonological feature stood out to Eckert?
Vowel variation
Because of social factors such as age, gender and being part of different communities of practice
