language diversity: regional dialect

Question 1

what is meant by the term ‘dialect?’

Answer 1

• variation in words and structures associated w/ a particular geographical region
• can be lexical features or variations in grammar

Question 2

what is meant by the term ‘accent?’

Answer 2

• variation in pronunciation associated w/ a particular geographical location

Question 3

what is meant by the term ‘standard English’

Answer 3

• dialect of English that is considered to have the most prestige and is used in the educational system and in formal written texts

Question 4

what is meant by the term ‘slang’

Answer 4

• referring to words and phrases which are considered informal

Question 5

What is meant by the term ‘taboo’

Answer 5

• lexical choices that can be deemed offensive e.g. swearing, using words that are considered inappropriate and unacceptable

Question 6

what is meant by the term ‘technology influenced words and phrases’

Answer 6

• evidence that certain social groups use words and phrases in their speech which are normally associated w/ written technology forms e.g. tweets, texts etc. like ngl - not gonna lie

Question 7

what is meant by the term ‘occupational register/ jargon’

Answer 7

• words and phrases that are largely based on shared understanding between certain groups or individuals

Question 8

what is meant by the term ‘received pronunciation’

Answer 8

• ## used in teaching English as a foreign language and in dictionaries that give pronuncations

Question 9

Dixon, Mahoney + Cocks (2002)

Answer 9

• listened to conversation between policeman + suspect – suspect was perceived to be more likely to be guilty when they used a non-standard Birmingham term
• used ‘matched guise’ approach to see if there was a correlation between accent + how we perceive someone’s guilt

Question 10

Choy and Dodd (1976) – teachers and students

Answer 10

• teachers make judgements on a students ability and their personality based on the way they speak

Question 11

Shell (company)

Answer 11

• surveyed more than 2000 people across the UK
• “Geordie accent isn’t only the friendliest in the UK, it’s also most likely to put you in a good mood” according to respondents

Question 12

Paul Kersmill — ‘dialect levelling’

Answer 12

• “increased interaction w/ people of other speech varieties”
• possible cause of dialect levelling- the movement of people led to greater dialect contact

Question 13

Paul Foulkes + Gerrard Doherty (1999) – their book ‘urban voices’

Answer 13

• “th” replacement w/ “f” or “v” spread from London area to the South East (Reading, Milton Keynes) to central England (Midlands) to the Northern England (Hull) to the North East of England + Lowlands of Scotland (Newcastle, Glasgow)

Question 14

Thomas Pear (1931) – perceptions of speaker

Answer 14

• people had different perceptions of a speaker according to the accent they heard them speak w/

Question 15

Howard Giles

Answer 15

• 17 year olds rated the RP speaker higher in terms of intelligence over a Birmingham accent
• used the matched guise approach

Question 16

what is the ‘matched guise approach’

Answer 16

• experimental technique used to determine the true feelings of an individual or community towards a specific language, dialect, or accent
• involves participants listening to the same speaker using a range of different accents and them passing judgement on each different variant

Question 17

John Ayto’s oxford dictionary rhyming slang

Answer 17

• Cockney rhyming slang originated in the East End of London during the first half of the 19th century e.g Joanna = piano, barnet = hair

Question 18

Paul Kerswill (2013) 
 "youth slang"

Answer 18

• “youth slang” and “core users of MLE and to them it’s a dialect and an accent and it doesn’t have slang in it”
• • ” a lot of core speakers are in the East End of London” - speaking is used as an ‘exclusionary strategy’

Question 19

Gary Ives (2014) 
Bradford and London [DETAILS]

Answer 19

• case study carried out in Bradford (where 95% are from Pakistani backgrounds) and London (where there’s a wide range of ethnic backgrounds – participants were questioned + discussed their lang. use and their dialect

Question 20

Gary Ives (2014) 
Bradford and London studies [CONCLUSIONS DRAWN]

Answer 20

• even though many people have a fixed notion of dialect and there’s an assumption that a dialect doesn’t change and this proves otherwise
• lang. is not fixed and due to ethnicity, but is also a matter of where you live

Question 21

Gary Ives (2014) 
-Bradford and London studies [FINDINGS]

Answer 21

Bradford: when asked why they speak like do: “everyone speaks like this” “it’s natural” “it’s where we live” – when pushed – they decided it wasn’t natural “we mix Punjabi w/ English” - an influence of music and divergence from “freshies” (those born in Pakistan” + used to create a social identity
South London: used words like “bare” “calm” “bruv” “live” “neek” “mandem” “yard” – some of these originate from Afro-Caribbean and Jamaican words

Question 22

Lowth (1775)

- short intro. to English grammar

Answer 22

• “two negatives in English destroy one another, or are equal to an affirmative”
• e.g ‘no I couldn’t hear nothing’ = ‘no I couldn’t hear anything’

Question 23

Jenny Chesire and Viv Edwards (1997) – ‘them’

Answer 23

• found use of “them” as a demonstrative e.g. ‘them clothes’ instead of ‘these clothes’ was reported by 97.7% of the schools who took part in the survey

Question 24

Kortman and Szmrecsany (2004) –‘them’

Answer 24

• indicates use of “them” is part of all English dialects (except Orkney/ Shetland)

Question 25

Arther Hughes, Peter Trudgill and Dominic Watt (2012)

Answer 25

“city” – Northumberland final sound is pronounced /iː/ , Bradford /I/, Norwich /iː/, London and South East /i:/ , Liverpool /i:/ and West Midlands /i:/

Question 26

Leslie Milroy (2002) – ‘geographical mobility’

Answer 26

• increased geographical mobility leads to “large scale disruption of close-knit, localised net-works that have historically maintained highly systematic and complex sets of socially structured linguistic norms”

Question 27

Martha’s vineyard

Answer 27

– locals on an island (a popular tourist destination) resisted pressure to change from British tourists to maintain their identity

Question 28

acrolect, basolect and mesolo

Answer 28

Acrolect: has fewer differences from other varieties of SE e.g. RP English
Basilect: a variety least comprehensible to a speaker of SE e.g. cockney
Mesolect: intermediate varieties which fill the space between acro and basilect e.g. Estuary English