Language and Region Flashcards
What did Kevin Watson’s research show about people who are proud of their birth place?
Their accent becomes more distinctive from other accents (people in Liverpool are proud of their scouse identity)
What did Watson mention about people who dislike where they come from?
they will try and change their accent
What’s the full form of IPA?
International Phonetic Alphabet
the meaning of place of articulation
the part of the mouth or throat which makes a sounds e.g. dentals, labials and velars
What are isoglosses?
accent borders
H-dropping
Not including /h/ at the start of words like hospital or hotel. H-dropping doesn’t feature in the RP accent but is very common in a wide range of accents.
What is /?/
glottal stop
How has glottal stops developed through decades?
t-glottalisation ( e.g. in ‘water bottle’) is now commonly found in London, Leeds, Edinburgh and Glasgow even though it was mainly present in the Cockney accent in the 1970’s
non-prevocalic r
sound represented by the letter r in car is pronounced in most of the South West/a few in North West Lancashire.
Accents containing the non-prevocalic r are called what?
Rhotic Accents
What’s Estuary English?
Relatively new British accent with a continuum (blend) of RP and Cockney used by the middle class AROUND London. It’s used more often in prestigious places.
What accent features does Estuary English contain?
glottal stop-/?/
velarised L-/t/ (an L sounding like a W e.g. football but ‘ll’ pronounced with a w)
Kholmyer’s Theory
-Becoming a middle class accent rather than a regional one
-RP speakers adopt Estuary features to seem friendlier (due to Covert Prestige)
-Estuary has spread to most British cities
Labov’s Department Store Study 1966
In New York, Labov investigated the pre-vocalic r (OVERT PRESTIGE IN NY) being used by shop assistants in 3 different shops associated with different social classes
What was the findings from Labov’s Department Store Study?
-The sales assisstant from the upper class store (Saks) used the pre-vocalic r the most while lower class store (Klein’s) used it the least
What patterns of direct correlation is in Labov’s DSS?
-pronunciation of r increased, as the class of the store increased
-the more careful the speech is, the more likely it is for the r to be pronounced
What did Labov learn specifically about the middle class (Macy’s)?
They showed the greatest amount of change from low to high prestige form. This shows the middle class care more about appearing to be correct than the other groups.
Usually, how does prestige affect change in language?
The change goes from low prestige to high prestige
3 people in Labov’s Martha’s Vineyard Study
-Chilmark Fishermen: lived there for several generations and part of the working class
-Islanders: moved there as adults(30-40 years old) , middle class
-Summer People: tourists from NY or Boston, low/middle class
What unusual speech features did Labov notice at Martha’s Vineyard?
The Islanders although they were middle class were using lower prestige to sound like the working class Fishermen, which was part of the traditional accent of the island
Why did the Islanders use a lower prestige feature?
The Islanders became the 2nd biggest group to use lower prestige. They converged their old accent with the new so they sounded less like the Summer People but more like they belonged/lived in Martha’s Vineyard
What does Labov’s Martha’s Vineyard Study suggest?
-identity as well as region affects accent
-prestige also affects accent
-we use accents to mark group membership
(only the Islanders changed their accent variety-no one else did)
What is the Social Network Theory?
The amount of connections you have (NOT the number of people you know)
What’s Close Network?
if everyone in your network knows everyone else (most common for babies)
What’s Open Network?
if the people in your network know no one at all
What are the 2 types of connections you can have?
-multiplex connection: more than one role within your social network
-uniplex connection: one connection within your social network
Norm-Enforcement Mechanism
the thing that pressures you to obey the norms e.g. if you say scone (like gone) because everyone else says it like that but you personally believe it’s pronounced scone (like cone)
What is a good norm-enforcement mechanism?
closed network with loads of multiplex connections
What’s a bad norm-enforcement mechanism?
very open network with lots of uniplex connections
