Region Flashcards
Lancashire study (social groups, identity)
-Kerswill, 2013
-A group of students questioned on academic aspirations. Supposed higher aspirations = fewer local variations. Supposed lower aspirations = displayed more non-standard variations. Not all students followed pattern, some changed into non standard variations at align with peers despite having higher aspirations.
BBC News (identity)
-BBC News, 2008
-Mark Thompson states that there are more accents on the BBC News. despite this, nothing has changed and everyone still speaks in RU.
Martha’s Vineyard (geographical location, identity)
-Labov, variation of dates
-An island that is geographically isolated from Massachusetts, popular tourist destination. Fishermen (respected) diverged their accents away from the tourists, making them stronger. Others who lived on the island then converged their accents to sound more like the fisherman.
New York Department stores (social class, geographical location)
-Labov, 1966
-Labov went to 3 New York department stores and asked them all a question leading to the response of ‘fourth floor’. Saks used /r/ the most and Kleins used it the least. Macy’s = showed greatest upwards convergence when asked to repeat their answer.
Norwich study (social class)
-Trudgill,1974
-Trudgill believed people from lower classes in Norwich would be more likely to pronounce words with -ng- with an /n/. Distinction not unique to Norwich, but social class. (e.g. walkin instead of walking). Walkin used more frequently in lower classes as well as with those who are less careful with their speech.
Standard English is/isn’t… (not a locational study)
- Trudgill, 1999
-Isn’t= A language, an accent, a style, a set of prescriptive rules.
-Is= A dialect (differs due to gender prestige, no associated accent, no part of geographical continuum, purely social dialect).
Milton Keynes study (geographical location)
-Kerswill, 1996
-Established as a new town in 1969. Population grew from 44,000 to 176,330 with new people from different areas. Wanted to study children’s speech as it is less fixed, making them more likely to pick up on new speech features. Found more variation in parents accents, with much less in children, children showed trace of parents accents. Example of dialect levelling.
Merseyside study (geographical location)
-Watson, 1999
-Shows that Scouse accent is not disappearing and growing even stronger. Associated with covert prestige. Pronounces /t/ and /k/ sounds in the middle and ends of words like ‘mat’, ‘matter’ and ‘back’, using fricative sounds instead of plosive.
Bolton study (social class)
-Emma Moore, 2000
-Investigated speech patterns in teenage girls, use of nonstandard were still a robust feature. Populars- rebellious activities, anti-school attitudes= more influence over speech. Townies- emerged from the popular group, riskier activities (drug-taking)= higher favours ‘were’. Geeks- ‘institutionally orientated’, took part in school practices= lower socially, dislikes ‘were’. Eden Valley Girls- came from desirable homes, school-orientated= most use of ‘were’, higher class.
Daily Mail (identity)
-2013
-Hybrid dialect dubbed MLE- Multicultural London English, most prevalent in East London, West Indian, South African, Cockney and Estuary roots, picked up from young age.
London Bradford study (identity)
-Gary Ives, 2014
-Two case studies- London and Bradford. Code-switching dialects (switching between different languages in a sustained way) is used widely. Most commonly switched between English and Punjabi. Links clearly with Labovs study of Marthas Vineyard,
MLE (Multicultural London English) (identity)
-Jenny Cheshire, 2008
-New variety of English emerging from young people. Identifiers= vocabulary, phonology, grammar and discourse features. MLE is unique but not all speakers use all associated features. First example of where native language is not as strong as second language.
The ‘Jocks’ and ‘Burnouts’ (social groups)
-Penelope Ekert, 2000
-Burnouts= exaggerated pronunciation of non-standard forms associated within Detroit neighbourhood, rebellious refusing to engage.
-Jocks= more concerned with speaking in a more socially prestigious way, engaged enthusiastic with school life.
Matched Guise (social class)
-Howard Giles, 1960s
-Research experimental technique where single actor changes accent for different audiences but keeps the content of the speech the same to show biases. RP= self-confident, intelligent, ambitious, cold. Northern accents= honest, reliable, generous.
Belfast study (social class, identity)
-Lesley Milroy, 1975
-Investigated the role of casual speech within three communities: Ballymacarrett, the Hammar and the Clonard. Stronger the social network= the greater the use of informal/non-standard linguistic features. Protestant women fewer informal features than men, preferred prestige words. Catholic younger women preferred non-prestige forms.
Estuary English
- Rosewarne, 1984
- Accent covers a large area of UK. Migration out of London after WW1, Cockney speakers moving to London. Increased influence over comprehensive schools. Variety spread due to more jobs in the city held by Cockney speakers. Increased due to being heard in politics, business and the media.
