Diversity - Accent And Dialect Flashcards
What is an accent?
A distinctive way of pronouncing a language, particularly associated with a particular country, social class or area
What is a dialect?
The whole way language is used, including accent, vocabulary etc
What caused the formation of dialect?
Communities constantly being together causing the creation of specific ways of speaking
What did Howard Giles find about the way RP was perceived?
He found that received pronunciation was rated as highly intelligent and powerful, but cold
What were Trudgil’s ing/in findings an example of?
Code-switching
Changing styles to fit context
What did Trudgil find regarding corretness linked gender?
Women tend to fall closer to hypercorrectness ( rarely dropping g)
What is an example of convergence in modern-day Britain?
People copying the accent and dialect used in music such as grime because they see it as cool
What did Howard Gilies write about with accommodation theory ?
He said that two things can happen with people’s dialects during a conversation
Convergence: trying to fit In with the other person’s way of speaking
Divergence: trying to found different to the other person’s way of speaking
What percentage of employers discriminate on accent?
80%
What does the discrimination towards accent in the work place demonstrate?
That there is clear prejudice in that area
How are rural accents seen according to Giles study?
They are seen as friendly
What are the two types of prestige of accents?
Overt and Covert
How are Urban accents seen by non-speakers?
They are seen as Untrustworthy
How are Urban accents rated by speakers?
They are rated very highly
Which accent has overt prestige?
Received pronunciation
Which accent has covert prestige?
Our accent which we are speakers of
What accent are working-class people more likely to use?
Their regional accent
What is upwards convergence?
When someone ‘improves’ their accent
(Gets closer to RP)
What is downward convergence?
When someone moves away from RP
What did Trudgill claim is causing the decline in traditional dialects?
Dialect leveling is caused by the increased movement of people in the UK
How did Trudgil view all the dialects?
He viewed them ALL as equal
What did Labov find in his study into the rhotic ‘R’ at US shops?
He found that the more posh a shop was , the MORE pronunced the rhotic ‘r’ is
How is the rhotic ‘r’ viewed by RP speakers?
Its seen as improper or unintelligent
What accent did Howard Giles find was viewed as the most impressive using a verbal guise technique?
RP
What accent did Howard Giles find was viewed as the most persausive using a verbal guise technique?
Southern Welsh
What type of accent had the lowest Status according to Giles (1970)?
Regional urban accents
What was Giles’s opinion on which accent is the best?
As a descriptivist, Giles claimed that no accent is superior to the other
What is Estuary English?
A middle ground between cockeny and RP
In their study, ‘Bad accents’ what did Trudgil and Anderson claim were the two options regional accent speakers had in response to accent discrimination?
1) adopt and RP accent
2) oppose the label by knuckling down
What did Trugil and Anderson claimed caused accent prejudice?
We associate accents based off of social stereotypes (e.g urban accents with dirty cities) therefore we act accordingly
How did Trugil and Anderson support their claim that accent prejudice was based off of social stereotypes?
They asked North American people (who didnt know the stereotypes) and asked them to rate accents
1st was RP
2nd was Cockney - significant as UK surveys have it last
What does Labov’s research into the rhotic ‘r’ being a priestige feature in US stores suggest about opinions towards accent and dialect?
It suggests that it is completely based off of social sterotypes
Who studied social networks effect on language use?
Millroy (1980)
What did Millroy find about dense multiplex networks use of language?
She found that DMN’s were far more likely to use vernacular (non-standard dialect and regional accents)
What are three mainstream dialects?
American
English
Australian
What are three traditional dialects?
Manciunan
Somerset
Liverpudlian
What is a Shibboleth?
A linguistic marker that shows we are part of group
What is L vocalisation?
The lateral sound is pronounced more like a W
(Feel –> Felw) (felt —> fewt)
What is price rounding?
When the I sound comes out as ‘oi’
(E.g Loight)
What are some features of the cockney accent?
Glottal stops
L vocalisation
Omission of the ‘ly’ bound morpheme
What did Rosewarne claim about the spread of Estuary English?
They claim that Estuary had been spreading since the 50’s
How did Labov’ 2nd study into the rhotic ‘r’ suggest that it was seen as a prestige figure in the US?
It showed that the more concentrated a speaker was , the more the rhotic ‘r’ was used, meaning its a conscious decision
What is the rhotic ‘r’?
It is pronouncing the ‘r’ sound when it would usually be silent
(E.g Cah—> Car)
What Is h-dropping?
It is when the h is ignored when pronouncing a word (e.g house—> ouse
What is yod dropping?
Dropping the ‘Y’ infront of the vowel
(E.g –> myusic —-> musik)
What is the trap/bath split?
The divide where people use a short a or an elongated
North = ae (elongated ‘a’)
Southern English = a (short ‘a’)
What is Th fronting?
The dipthong ‘Th’ is replaced with f in
(E.g think —> fink)
‘Th’ becomes a ‘v’ in some words such as ‘bruver’ or ‘bover’
What is a dipthong?
A gliding monosyllabic speech sound
(E.g ‘Th’)
What are some features of the Somerset dialect?
Use of the Rhotic ‘r’
Use of male pronoun for objects
Th fronting
What percentage of H dropping oppertunties are used the lower working class ? (Pety)
93%
What is Standard English?
The ‘correct’ use of the English Language, the way non-speaking people are taught and the ‘standard’ for use (dialect)
What is RP?
RP , is the ‘correct’ pronunciation of the English Language, it is also know as the queens English (Accent)
