Martha's Vineyard Study Flashcards
Who was the researcher in this study?
William Labov
What was his focus in the study?
Dialectology - centralised onset and diphthongs
What is centralised onset?
Having the tongue in the centre of the mouth during pronunciation (typically in words such as “ice”and “time”)
What is a diphthong?
When two vowels create one syllable during pronunciation
What variation did Labov find within the island?
Both intraspeaker variation and inter speaker variation
What is interspeaker variation?
Variation between speakers
What is intraspeaker variation?
Variations within the same speaker
Who did Labov observe centralised features in?
People aged 31 - 45
A small group of fishermen
Original inhabitants
Who did Labov find used the least centralised onset?
Inhabitants who did not like living there
What did Labov conclude about why this was done?
To subconsciously establish an identity fir themselves as ‘vineyarders’, to disassociate themselves from the tourists
What did Labov argue that linguistic variation can be linked to?
Social function
What did Labov conclude that linguistic variation served the purpose of?
Social differentiation
