Language, Region and Social Class

Question 1

Regional Dialect

Answer 1

Dialect of a particular geographical location

Question 2

Prescriptivism

Answer 2

The belief there is a right way to use language

Question 3

Cheshire - Reading Study

Answer 3

Found that teenagers who took part in anti social behaviour were more likely to use non-standard language

Question 3

Workman

Answer 3

Matched guise study - found that the Birmingham accent is seen as least attractive, intelligent and trustworthy

Question 4

Thorne

Answer 4

Foreigners like the Birmingham accent because they don’t know its connotations

Question 5

MLE

Answer 5

Multicultural, London English; used by the younger generation; features include spoken from the front of the mouth, th fronting, pronunciation of /h/, simplified, tag questions

Question 6

Accent

Answer 6

Refers to the pronunciation of words

Question 7

Regional Accent

Answer 7

An accent spoken in a particular geographical location

Question 8

Dialect

Answer 8

Refers to vocabulary and grammar

Question 9

Received pronunciation

Answer 9

This accent is associated with upper class speakers; most prestige; know as the Queen’s language, and BBC English

Question 10

Descriptivism

Answer 10

No judgment about language, just description

Question 11

Mahoney

Answer 11

Found that suspects were twice as likely to be found guilty of a crime if they spoke with a Birmingham accent

Question 12

Clark

Answer 12

Birmingham accent is making a comeback amongst young people

Question 13

Divergence

Answer 13

We adjust our speech to be different from groups we don’t want to identify with

Question 14

Milroy and Milroy Belfast

Answer 14

Found social networks were a big influence on the use of non-standard language

Question 15

Ekhert

Answer 15

Jocks and Burnouts - found that people want to talk like their friends

Question 16

Trudgill - Norwich Study

Answer 16

Working class people are more likely to use lower prestige speech. Working class men are most likely to care about covert prestige.

Question 17

Code switching

Answer 17

switching back and forth between one linguistic variant and another depending on the context

Question 18

Standard English

Answer 18

The dialect associated with educated users of the language; prestige English

Question 19

Estuary English

Answer 19

Describes the accent that originated from London and the south-east, modified cockney. In between cockney and RP; David Roseworne did an influential study, found that it was newly evolved

Question 20

Dialect Levelling

Answer 20

Kerswill argues that there is a levelling process whereby the modern or urban dialects over time will move closer to spoken standard english

Question 20

Overt Prestige

Answer 20

Status that is publicly acknowledged

Question 21

Covert Prestige

Answer 21

Status gained from peer recognition rather than mainstream public acknowledgment

Question 22

Labov - Martha’s Vineyard

Answer 22

Performed Martha’s Vineyard;
Found that some locals of Martha’s Vineyard wanted to separate themselves from tourists. They wanted to make it clear they were native.
They wanted Covert Prestige by unconsciously/consciously exaggerating their accents

Question 23

Convergence

Answer 23

We adjust our speech to accommodate others and our speech becomes similar to theirs

Question 24

Labov - New York

Answer 24

Looked at 3 different department stores (Saks, Macys and S.Kleins) in New York and asked for directions to departments on the fourth floor and then asked them to repeat it.

Found an increase of ‘r’ in careful speech and convergence of staff with cutomers

Question 25

Bernstein

Answer 25

language is part of class and middle class people use both restricted and elaborated code whereas working class people use only restricted code.
This can limit educational chances of working class people.

Question 26

sociolects

Answer 26

varieties related to social factors - e.g. age, gender, social class

Question 28

code switiching

Answer 28

the ability to use different varieties as appropriate to context

Question 29

Moore - Bolton Girls

Answer 29

Research into 4 communities of practice amongst Bolton schoolgirls
found that factors other than class are more influential on language use than social class or age