Language and Diversity- Accents and Dialects

Question 1

Giles- Matched Guise experiment

Answer 1

• Found RP as most intelligent and prestigious
• Regional accents - friendlier and more honest
• Brummie lowest on intelligence

Question 2

RP FEATURES

Answer 2

-features of RP- non-rhoticity- not pronouncing ‘r’ at end of words like ‘mother’
- H-retention-‘H’ is always pronounced in initial positioning of words like ‘house’
-RP is outdated- 2% use it
-RP artificial construct- Region less

Question 3

CASE STUDY

Answer 3

Chancellor George Osbourne- Dropped RP accent when speaking with colleagues but in Parliment brang it back e.g. ‘kinda’ instead of ‘kind of’

• Harrington- looked at queens English- 50 years of her speeches- accent moved to more general southern accent
• this has been done through interactions with people who do not speak RP