Accent and Dialect Flashcards
Who studied children in an adventure park, and what were her findings?
Jenny Cheshire.
Recorded how the girls used certain variables, such as ‘was’ - ‘we was going’
Found that the ‘bad girls’ used more non standard grammar than the ‘good girls’
What is an RP accent, and what are its connotations according to Dr John Honey?
PRESTIGE dialect no regional associations educated, middle class speakers easy to understand BBC presenters
Honey-
RP speakers are thought to be taller, more attractive and cleaner
What is the Matched guide test and who set up the experiment?
HOWARD GILES
set up in the 70’s
Groups of people listened to an argument about capital punishments in different accents.
RP was rated the highest quality of argument- it was the most believed and trusted.
PETER TRUDGILL
-Studied Norwich speech in the 70’s
- ‘N’ in words like (walkin)
- ‘T’ in words like (water) - a glottal stop.
- ‘H’ in words like (have) - initial h
The LOWER class they were, the more non standard grammar they used
MALES used more non standard grammar than FEMALES
What were Martin Joos 5 formality registers?
1- FROZEN
monotone, ritualistic such as bible readings.
2- FORMAL
one way participation, e.g. assembly.
3- CONSULTIVE
one person has the LMLU
the other is just back channeling, however interruptions are allowed.
4- CASUAL
in a group of friends, slang and interruptions common.
5- INTIMATE
private- can include inside jokes, pet names etc. often talk between lovers of very close friends.
What were Dr Alexander Baratta’s views on teachers being asked to modify their accents for teaching phonics to young children?
Reveals a culture of ‘linguistic prejudice’
Accents are the last form of acceptable prejudice.
Accommodation theory
Howard Giles
- we naturally converge our language to suit different people
•young children
•elderly
•interview situation
howard giles suggests we change
- speed
- pitch and tone
- body language
- pronunciation
2 Types of convergence, divergence
upwards convergence
•to elevate your language, often to impress the person you’re speaking to
- e.g. student to teacher
downward convergence
•lowering your formality
- e.g. speaking to a weymouth college student
Divergence - using language another doesn’t understand.
this can be done to exclude people from conversation
Cooperative principal
People work together to advance conversation
Prestige- how to gain it?
Gaining overt prestige- trying to make yourself sound better, by using low frequency lexis
Gaining covert prestige- sounding lesser- using expletives etc.
LABOV martha’s vineyard
Tourists on the island pronounced their dipthongs differently do diverge from the tourists.
New york department stores- theorist?
LABOV
• certain pronunciation of ‘r’ held great prestige.
asked to say FOURTH FLOOR.
TOP STORE- saks
used it most
MIDDLE STORE - macy’s
upward shift when asked to repeat
LOW STORE - kleins
used it least
