Accent and Dialect

Question 1

Received Pronunciation (RP)

Answer 1

Often seen as evidence of a good education due to its prominence in 19th century public schools; associated with authority, status and power.

Spoken by 2% of the population.

‘Standard accent’, or ‘BBC English’.

Question 2

Dialect levelling

Answer 2

Different regional varieties of language converging and becoming more similar, reducing the diversity of language.

Paul Kerswill: “increased interaction with people of other speech varieties.”

Question 3

Leslie Milroy

Answer 3

Open network:

Closed network:

Question 4

Howard Giles

Answer 4

Accommodation Theory: the process by which individuals tend to converge their language to fit the style of the other speaker.

Question 5

Estuary English

Answer 5

A type of English spoken in southeast England that is a mixture of standard English and London English.

Question 6

Accent

Answer 6

Variation in pronunciation associated with a particular geographical region.

Question 7

Dialect

Answer 7

Variation in words and structures associated with a particular geographical region.

Question 8

OnBuy.com’s survey on trustworthy accents

Answer 8

1. Yorkshire
2. Received Pronunciation
3. Scottish
4. Welsh

Brummie least trustworthy

Question 9

Professor Rob Drummond

Answer 9

“Short answer: no. ‘Right’ implies correctness and superiority, which doesn’t sit well with how spoken language actually works.”

Question 10

George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion (2016)

Answer 10

“It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him.”

Question 11

Martha’s Vineyard (1961)- William Labov

Answer 11

Interviewed 69 people on their pronunciations of the diphthongs /au/ and /ai/.
Fishermen used more traditional pronunciations, to establish their pride and identity in the Vineyard, covert prestige.
‘Us and them’ dichotomy between native inhabitants and tourists.
Islanders shifted to converge with the fishermen.

Question 12

Sociolinguist Joanna Thornborrow

Answer 12

“One of the most fundamental ways we have of establishing our identity, and of shaping other people’s views of who we are, is through our use of language.”

Question 13

Social mobility

Answer 13

A phrase that is often used to describe a person’s move from one social class or level to another.

Question 14

Code-switching

Answer 14

When a bilingual speaker will use and alternate between different languages while talking.

Question 15

Peter Trudgill

Answer 15

“children with working class accents and dialects may be evaluated by some teachers as having less educational potential.”

Question 16

Adrian Leeman

Answer 16

App called ‘English Dialects’ reports accents are becoming more ‘Southern’ except in the North East

Question 17

Overt prestige

Answer 17

Prestige obtained by using standard forms.

Question 18

Covert prestige

Answer 18

Prestige obtained by using non-standard forms.

Question 19

Peter Trudgill- Norwich Study

Answer 19

Women thought they dropped the ‘g’ in ‘ing’ suffix less- overt prestige
Men thought they dropped the ‘g’ more- covert prestige