Language, Region and Social Class Flashcards
Regional Dialect
Dialect of a particular geographical location
Prescriptivism
The belief there is a right way to use language
Cheshire - Reading Study
Found that teenagers who took part in anti social behaviour were more likely to use non-standard language
Workman
Matched guise study - found that the Birmingham accent is seen as least attractive, intelligent and trustworthy
Thorne
Foreigners like the Birmingham accent because they don’t know its connotations
MLE
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
Accent
Refers to the pronunciation of words
Regional Accent
An accent spoken in a particular geographical location
Dialect
Refers to vocabulary and grammar
Received pronunciation
This accent is associated with upper class speakers; most prestige; know as the Queen’s language, and BBC English
Descriptivism
No judgment about language, just description
Mahoney
Found that suspects were twice as likely to be found guilty of a crime if they spoke with a Birmingham accent
Clark
Birmingham accent is making a comeback amongst young people
Divergence
We adjust our speech to be different from groups we don’t want to identify with
Milroy and Milroy Belfast
Found social networks were a big influence on the use of non-standard language
Ekhert
Jocks and Burnouts - found that people want to talk like their friends
Trudgill - Norwich Study
Working class people are more likely to use lower prestige speech. Working class men are most likely to care about covert prestige.
Code switching
switching back and forth between one linguistic variant and another depending on the context
Standard English
The dialect associated with educated users of the language; prestige English
Estuary English
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
Dialect Levelling
Kerswill argues that there is a levelling process whereby the modern or urban dialects over time will move closer to spoken standard english
Overt Prestige
Status that is publicly acknowledged
Covert Prestige
Status gained from peer recognition rather than mainstream public acknowledgment
Labov - Martha’s Vineyard
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
Convergence
We adjust our speech to accommodate others and our speech becomes similar to theirs
Labov - New York
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
Bernstein
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.
sociolects
varieties related to social factors - e.g. age, gender, social class
code switiching
the ability to use different varieties as appropriate to context
Moore - Bolton Girls
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
