dialect levelling Flashcards

Question

what did Jonnie Robinson say that challenges ideas of dialect levelling?

Answer 1

claims that this view of the imperalist south has turned out to be a false alarm. "there is no doubt that the london dialect we have come to call Estuary has spread across the South-East, but research has shown that nothern accents and dialects have withstood the spread"

Answer 2

* supports dialect levelling as provides concrete evidence dialect levelling is happening, because it showed that certain words are being replaced. * However this also shows how their eveidence is against dialect levelling as words get replaced dependent from levelling, but lexical changes are harder to level out due to relations to pronounciation. * This links to how Robinson found nothern accents and dialects withstand the spread of London dialect spreading into South East.

Answer 3

For: **Kerswill** argues that it results in greater dialect between commuters. **Milroy** argues it has caused disruption to close knit networks **Cambridge, Bern and Zurich study** supports dialect levelling as provides concrete evidence dialect levelling is happening, because it showed that certain words are being replaced. Against: **BBC voices project ** found more than 400 different expressions for cold and more than 700 ways of describing truant across the UK. Robinson argues that "research has shown that nothern accents have withstood the spread" **Cambridge, B & Z study** also shows it isn't happening as words get replaced dependent from levelling, but lexical changes are harder to level out due to relations to pronounciation. In **BBC voices project Mr Ord** found that liverpool accents can be found in the greatest variety that withstood the spread, "you can go a couple of miles or streets away and there's quite a significant change to the accent"

Answer 4

for:** Kerswill **argues it has caused the breakdown of tight knit w/c communities, and movement of people lead to greater dialect contact and radical changes in peoples social networks (meeting new strangers from different walks of life) against: **Kerswill** argues some regional forms survive and it is incorrect to conclude that all aspects of dialect are being levelled. E.g. Milton Keynes older residents used vowels typical of traditional and local accent (Marthas Vineyard). **Crystal ** argues "some of the old rural dialects have disappeared, but they are being replaced by a new range of dialects from ethnic groups settling into communities". He also argues that the levelling is "submerged by the local accent which remains a major expression of personal identity"

Answer 5

for: **Kerswill** argued children are less likely to adopt their parents pronunciation as they come under peer pressure to conform to the linguistic norm of the group. He also found in his study that children in Milton Keynes spoke like parents until they were in school (4yrs old) when they'd change their accent to that social setting to try fit in. He found that there is move among adults to less localised variations of speech towards the more standardised, which they then will pass onto their children against: **Kerswill **found that younger speakers in Hull retained the nothern accent of older relatives. **Crystal **argued that immigration was a factor behind diversity of british lanuage, and many children and adults would keep this because of the personal identity attached to their accent. **Kerswill** argued that high levels of unemployment in the north (Hull) made children unconvinced of the value of education as a passport to soical mobility so they therefore reject pressure of authoritarian systems (e.g. education) to modify their accents.