Accent Theory Master

Question 1

Explain what accent is

Answer 1

Accent is the sounds that you make when you are speaking.

Question 2

What does ‘IPA’ stand for?

Answer 2

International Phonetic Alphabet

Question 3

There is a divide in England between the north and the _ _ _ _ _

Answer 3

South

Question 4

The northern pronunciation of ‘bath’ is?

Answer 4

baeth

Question 5

What is the southern pronunciation of bath?

Answer 5

ba:th

Question 6

What is the southern pronunciation of ‘put’

Answer 6

p^t

Question 7

What is the term for when an accent doesn’t include /h/ at the start of words such as ‘hospital’?

Answer 7

‘h-dropping’

Question 8

What is the symbol for a glottal stop?

Answer 8

/?/

Question 9

The glottal stop sound has been spreading rapidly throughout many English accents over the last few decades in process known as

Answer 9

‘t-glottalisation.’

Question 10

What did Labov look at in his Department Story Study?

Answer 10

The link between accent and overt prestige

Question 11

Which sound did Labov investigate?

Answer 11

The pronunciation of the ‘non-pre-vocalic’ /r/

Question 12

Whose accent did Labov investigate?

Answer 12

The speech of New York shop assistants.

Question 13

The shop assistants had to repeat their answer of ‘fourth floor’ to see if their pronunciation had changed. What does this tell us about their speech?

Answer 13

Their speech had become careful rather than spontaneous.

Question 14

What are the names of the stores that Labov carried out his experiment in?

Answer 14

Saks (upper class). Macy (middle class) Kleins (lower class)

Question 15

Which store used the /r/ sound the most?

Answer 15

Saks, the upper class store.

Question 16

Which store used the /r/ sound the least?

Answer 16

Klein’s, the lower class store.

Question 17

Which shop showed the greatest change from the low prestige form to the high prestige when asked to repeat themselves.

Answer 17

Macy’s

Question 18

The findings from Labov’s study suggests that accent is dependent on class as well as _ _ _ _ _ _

Answer 18

region

Question 19

The findings from Labov’s study suggests that accent is dependent on _ _ _ _ _ _ as well as region

Answer 19

gender

Question 20

The findings from Labov’s study suggests that people choose to change their accent in order to appear to be of a _ _ _ _ _ _ _ class

Answer 20

Higher

Question 21

The findings from Labov’s study suggests that people change their accent when they’re being _ _ _ _ _ _ _ about their speech.

Answer 21

careful

Question 22

In Martha’s Vineyard’s Study, what is the name of the group of people who live on the island with their families and who work in the island’s traditional fishing industry?

Answer 22

The Chilmark Fishermen

Question 23

In Martha’s Vineyard’s Study, what is the name of the people who live on the island but moved there as adults. They’re usually rich and most are well-educated.

Answer 23

The Islanders

Question 24

Wat does Labov call the tourists who visit the island in the summer. They’re ordinary people from all over America or from other countries. The islanders and the Chilmark Fishermen find them annoying.

Answer 24

The Summer People

Question 25

Why is the change in vowel sounds (in Labov’s Martha’s Vineyard’s Study) seen as odd?

Answer 25

Because the changes described here are to a more low prestige form despite the fact that the island was often crammed with posh visitors who use high-prestige forms.

Question 26

What did Labov (in Labov’s Martha’s Vineyard’s Study) find about the people who used the low prestige sound the most?

Answer 26

The people who used these sounds the most were the older fishermen who worked on the island and realised that this was part of the traditional accent of the island.

Question 27

Why did the islanders change their accent?

Answer 27

The accent marked them as different from the summer people whom the islanders resented.

Question 28

The findings in Labov’s Martha’s Vineyard’s Study suggest that _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ as well as region affects accent

Answer 28

identity

Question 29

The findings in Labov’s Martha’s Vineyard’s Study suggest that _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ as well as region affects accent

Answer 29

Prestige

Question 30

The findings in Labov’s Martha’s Vineyard’s Study suggest that we use accents to mark _ _ _ _ _ membership

Answer 30

Group

Question 31

The findings in Labov’s Martha’s Vineyard’s Study suggest that we use accents to _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ourselves from groups.

Answer 31

Distance

Question 32

Social network theory looks at the effect that the _ _ _ _ and _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ of your social group has on your language.

Answer 32

Size and diversity

Question 33

Your ‘social network’ is the people you know and the _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ between them.

Answer 33

relationships

Question 34

If the people you know tend to know each other, what kind of network do you have?

Answer 34

A closed network

Question 35

If the people who you know haven’t met each other, what type of network do you have?

Answer 35

An open network

Question 36

If the people you know are friends, and you go to college together and you work together and you play football together, the connections between you are _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Answer 36

Multiplex

Question 37

A “_ _ _ _ “ is normal, expected behaviour

Answer 37

norm

Question 38

A “_ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ mechanism” is the thing that pressures you to obey the norms.

Answer 38

norm-enforcement

Question 39

Where did Milroy and Milroy conduct their study?

Answer 39

Belfast

Question 40

Which social class did Milroy and Milroy investigate?

Answer 40

Working class

Question 41

Milroy and Milroy gave each individual studied a “Network _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Score” according to to how open or closed their network was.

Answer 41

Strength

Question 42

After giving each individual studied a “Network Strength Score” according to to how open or closed their network was, Milroy and Milroy then measured each person’s use of Belfast _ _ _ _ _ _ features.

Answer 42

Accent

Question 43

In Milroy and Milroy’s study, the vowel /ae/ in ‘hat,’ becomes?

Answer 43

/ ): /

Question 44

Milroy and Milroy found that people with a high Network Strength Score, (i.e. those with closed network), used the features of the Belfast accent _ _ _ _ than those with a low score (i.e. an open network)

Answer 44

More

Question 45

Milroy and Milroy claimed that which network function as norm-enforcement mechanisms.

Answer 45

closed networks

Question 46

Milroy and Milroy claimed that which gender used more Belfast accent features?

Answer 46

Men

Question 47

Milroy and Milroy claimed that men used more accent features because they were more likely to belong to _ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ social networks associated with traditional working class male roles.

Answer 47

tight-knit

Question 48

Which gender used less accent features?

Answer 48

Women

Question 49

Why did women usually used fewer Belfast accent features than men?

Answer 49

Because they belonged to less dense social networks.

Question 50

What is the name of the theorist who came up with the accommodation theory?

Answer 50

Howard Giles

Question 51

Convergence is when speakers change their speech so that it is _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ their interlocutor’s.

Answer 51

more like

Question 52

Convergence d _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ the social distance between people.

Answer 52

decreases

Question 53

Divergence is when speakers change their speech so that it’s _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ the person they’re speaking to

Answer 53

less like

Question 54

Divergence has the effect of _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ differences between people.

Answer 54

emphasising