Accents

Question 1

Define an accent?

Answer 1

Languages can be pronounced in different ways.

These differences in pronunciation are called accents

Question 2

2)Define dialect?

Answer 2

dialect covers variation between grammar and vocabulary-different words for alley/ginnel/walkway

Question 3

3) Explain how language variation can be represented by a sociolinguistic pyramid/triangle?

Answer 3

• working class= wider range of geographical variations
• Upper middle class= RP- no variation
• upper class individuals will sound the same whether they live in Newcastle/ London

Question 4

4)Language variation can be subdivided into?

Answer 4

• regional variation
• social variation

Regional variation is accepted e.g. accept someone from manchester will have a different variety of english than someone from london

-Social varaition is more controversal-reflect life experiences/age/ gender/ social class/ religion/media

Question 5

5)

4 accents?

Answer 5

• Received Pronunciation,
• Modern General British (GB) or Non-regional pronunciation (NRP)
• Standard Southern British English
• Estuary English

Question 6

6) Short description of Received pronunciation? (RP)

Answer 6

• Considered to be a ‘prestige accent’
• Often associated with London
• There are different types of RP

Question 7

7) Short description Modern General British (GB) or Non-regional pronunciation (NRP)?

Answer 7

• A neutral type of modern British English

* Lacks obvious local accent features

Question 8

8) Short description of Standard Southern British English (SSBE)?

Answer 8

• The same as NRP

* Phoneticians have a preference for using the term SSBE

Question 9

9) Short description of Estuary English?

Answer 9

• The estuary is the Thames
• Name given (in 1984) to an accent considered to be a compromise between traditional RP and popular London speech
• The verdict is out as to whether or not this really is a new variety of accent

Question 10

10) Queens Christmas speech ?

Answer 10

Harrington et al. (2000) analysed the queens Christmas speech 1950 and 1980’s and found that the queen’s accent had changed -some of her vowels had become less RP and more SSBE maybe from influence of younger members of the royal family SSBE

Question 11

11) English throughout the world

Answer 11

British English in relaity is a monoirty form
- USA-English the first lanaguge for more than 220 million people

First Language –
Canada/Australia/ new Zealand/ South Africa/ countries of the Caribean

Second Language-
Southern Asia (e.g. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka), African countries

Question 12

12) Which type of accent variation (regional or social) is going to be of most interest to speech and language therapists and why?

Answer 12

Regional variation

-need to be able to know what is relevant from a clinical point of view/what is their accent

Question 13

13) State four types of variation that are frequently used to classify differences between accents

Silly Dogs lick Rosie

Answer 13

• Systemic variation
• Distributional variation
• Lexical variation
• Realisational variation

Question 14

14) Three types of variation at the phonological level.

Answer 14

• Systemic variation
• Distributional variation
• Lexical variation

Question 15

15) One type of variation that is used to classify differences between accents at the phonetic level

Answer 15

-Realisational variation

Question 16

16) What’s systemic variation ?

Answer 16

Systemic variation
(also know as a difference in phoneme inventory)
◦ One accent may contain more or fewer phonemes than another accent in a particular part of the sound system

Question 17

17) Examples of systemic variation between accents include.

Answer 17

a) /ɑː/ versus /æ/
palm /pɑːm / vs. Pam /pæm /
No contrast: south west, Scotland, Northern Ireland- only use /æ/
Contrast: everywhere else including SSBE

b) /ʌ/ versus /ʊ/
cud /kʌd / vs. could /kʊd /
No contrast= /ʊ/ Northern English
Contrast= /ʊ/ - /ʌ/ SSBE

c) /w/ versus /ʍ/
witch /wɪtʃ/ vs. which /ʍɪtʃ/
No contrast: SSBE
Contrast: Scottish, Irish and some American speakers

Question 18

18) What’s distributional variation?

Answer 18

Also known as phonotactic distribution)
◦ The list of phonemes in one accent may be the same as another accent (no difference in phoneme inventory)
◦ But the phonetic environment or context in which a particular phoneme occurs is different.
◦ The distributional variation is not restricted to a particular set of words but operates ‘across the board’

Question 19

19) 1st example of distributional variation?

Answer 19

1) Rhotic accents versus non-rhotic accents
Collin et al. 2019- it’s quite significant split between two accents in English

• Rhotic accents (Scottish, Irish, SW England ) /r/ is produced in all phonetic contexts
• Non rhotic accents (SSBE/ other variations of English) /r/ is only produced before a vowel and usually across word boundaries.“car”
  Rhotic /ˈkɑ:r/
  Non-rhotic /ˈkɑ:/

Question 20

20) 2nd example of distributional variation?

Answer 20

2) Vowels in word final open unstressed syllables

In ‘happy’ words e.g. happy, pretty, Julie, Committee
Scottish, Northern Irish and most Northern English,RP accents use /ɪ/ as in KIT

London, Birmingham and SSBE accents use /i:/ as in FLEECE

[h æ p ɪ] vs [h æ p i:]

Question 21

21) What’s lexical variation?

Answer 21

When the pronunciation of a word or list of words differs depending on accent

-where the phoneme chosen for a word /specific set of words is different in one accent as compared with another

Question 22

22) 1st example of lexical variation?

Answer 22

1) In ‘bath words’ list of words e.g. bath, pass, dance
Set of bath words includes words that are written where the letter ‘a’ occurs before
-a nasal (+ consonant)
-a fricative (+consonant)

/æ/ vowel: speakers from Northern England and the Midlands.
/ɑ:/ vowel: speakers of Cockney and SSB English.

Question 23

23) 2nd example of lexical variation?

Answer 23

Retention of the /æ/ vowel by northerners and midlanders with an otherwise fairly ‘standard’ accent is referred to as ‘accent loyalty’, i.e. keeping a characteristic of their local speech.

2) Words spelt _ook e.g. book, took, look, foot etc
Parts of Lancashire the vowel /u:/
In other English accent /ʊ/ is used
Except some words e.g.- snooker/spooky

Question 24

24) What is realisational variation?

Answer 24

◦ Also known as a difference in phonetic realisation
◦ It encompasses all variation not covered in any of the other categories
◦ It relates to the way in which phonemes are realised or produced.

Question 25

25) 1st example of realisational variation?

Answer 25

a) /eɪ/ FACE and /əʊ/ GOAT dipthongs
- Realised different in different accents
- Narrow diphthongs or steady-state vowels= Scots, Irish, Welsh and northern English accents
- Wide diphthongs= Cockney, Birmingham, Australia, New Zealand

Question 26

26) 2nd example of realisational variation?

Answer 26

a) Glottalisation
- Patterns of glottalization and glottal replacement vary between and within accents

1-Glottalisation is a secondary articulation involving the addition of a glottal stop:
◦ cat [kæˀt]

2-Glottal replacement describes how a consonant usually a /t/ is replaced by a glottal stop:
◦ butter [ˈbʊʔə]

Question 27

27) 3rd example of realisational variation?

Answer 27

a) /k/ realised as a fricative
Feature of Liverpool-English accent in which it is common for speakers to realise /k/ as an affricate or a fricative
week [wiːç] back [bax] dock [dɒχ]

Question 28

28) Why do SLT’s need to be familiar with the sound system of a client?

Answer 28

-what is a feature of the client’s accent
-what are appropriate contexts for a sound
-what are appropriate examples to use- check assessments -minimal pairs
may not work in some accents