accents

Question 1

what % of the population speak rp?

Answer 1

2%

Question 2

what is an accent?

Answer 2

the way in which people speak

Question 3

what is dialect?

Answer 3

a term to describe features of grammar and vocabulary

Question 4

when does language variation occur?

Answer 4

when users modify their language to fit a particular need, preference or identity

Question 5

what is a dialect continuum?

Answer 5

experiencing a change in the sounds we hear in accents/dialects when moving across the country

Question 6

what is dialect levelling?

Answer 6

when a dialect begins to lose their distinct differences and begins to share common language forms

Question 7

what are plosive sounds?

Answer 7

-sounds exploding from lips
-e.g. p/b/t

Question 8

what are fricatives?

Answer 8

-a hissing sound
-e.g. f/s

Question 9

what is sociolect?

Answer 9

the way in which you speak based on social factors

Question 10

what are dipthongs?

Answer 10

-sounds formed by a combination of two vowels in a single syllable
-e.g. coin/loud

Question 11

what does montgomery (1996) describe rp as?

Answer 11

the ‘prestige’ accent

Question 12

what is montgomery’s perception of rp?

Answer 12

-rp speakers are rated higher than regionally accepted speakers in term of general competence
-but less favourably in personal integrity and social attractiveness

Question 13

what is ee?

Answer 13

a cross between cockney and rp

Question 14

what are some features of ee?

Answer 14

• t-glottaling: the consonant ‘t’ pronounced with a glottal stop
  e.g. ‘waw-uhr’ (water)
• l-vocalisation: replacing the consonant ‘l’ with a vowel
  e.g. ‘miwk’ (milk)
• vowel-fronting: vowels pronounced at the front of the mouth

Question 15

what did paul kerswill study?

Answer 15

ee

Question 16

what did paul kerswill argue?

Answer 16

that ee had been spread through media and other prominent figures in society

Question 17

what did paul kerswill research?

Answer 17

-milton keynes and the discovered the use of vowel-fronting
-which showed ee growing in popularity

Question 18

what is prestige?

Answer 18

-the level of regard associated with a specific variety
-considered to be the most ‘correct’ language

Question 19

what did william label look into?

Answer 19

overt and covert prestige

Question 20

what is overt prestige?

Answer 20

putting on an accent that is widely recognised to fit into the ‘dominant group’

Question 21

what is covert prestige?

Answer 21

putting on an accent to show membership in an ‘exclusive community’, rather than fitting into the ‘dominant group’

Question 22

what is labour’s department store study?

Answer 22

-looking into conscious speech change within 3 department stores
-upper class department store: pronounced the ‘r’ in ‘fourth’ most clearly
-middle class department store: hypercorrected the post-vocalic ‘r’ in ‘fourth’
-lower class department store: hardly pronounced the ‘r’

Question 23

what was a result of labov’s department store study?

Answer 23

that overt prestige was most common in women rather than men