Regional Language Theorists Flashcards
What did William Labov identify (1963) within Martha’s Vineyard?
Investigated phonological variation and the ‘diphthong’ (mouse/mice).
Interviewed 69 different people, trying to steer the conversation towards them pronouncing the diphthong.
He found that Martha’s Vineyard’s citizens’ pronunciation of the diphthong was subtly changing from the American pronunciation.
He concluded that this change was subconscious and used to identify as a local rather than the disliked visitors from America.
Covert prestige is gained by using this accent.
What did Montgomery and Bernstein (1971) identify within restricted and elaborated speech codes?
Classified language into ‘elaborate code’ and ‘restricted code’ as believed that the titles ‘standard English’ and ‘regional accent’ detract from observing the complexity of language and only look at the use of regional words. Bernstein claimed that middle class people have access to ways of organising their speech which are fundamentally different to lower classes. They identified that working class people could only use their restricted linguistic structures whereas middle classes could effectively code switch alternating between received pronunciation and non-standard language features.
What did Peter Trudgill (1974) identify within Norwich?
Investigated speech variations in Norwich, particularly the ‘-ng’ sound, called a velar nasal. It is commonly dropped in Norwich to ‘-n’, such as in ‘walkin’’ or ‘talkin’’.
In all social classes, the more careful the speech, the more likely people were to say ‘-ing’. The proportion of ‘walkin’’ types forms was higher in lower social classes. The non-standard ‘-in’ forms occurred much more often in men’s speech than in women’s speech.
When questioned about what they were saying, women tended to say that they used the standard ‘-ing’ forms more often than they really did. When questioned about what they were saying, men tended to say that they used the non-standard ‘-in’ forms more often than they really did.
What did Jenny Cheshire (1982) identify within ‘vernacular subcultures’?
Conducted a long-term observation in the relationship between grammatical variables and preference to group culture in boys and girls from Reading. Identifying non standard speech features such as:
Was with plural subjects (‘they was’).
Multiple negation (‘I am not going nowhere’).
Negative past tense never, used for standard English didn’t (‘I never done it’).
What used for standard English who, whom.
Auxiliary ‘do’ with third person singular subjects (‘how much do he want for it?’).
Past tense come (‘he come down’).
Ain’t used for negative present tense with all subjects (‘I ain’t going’)
Concluded with ideas of a ‘vernacular subculture’, where those who used the non-standard forms had different social norms.
What did Lesley Milroy (1984) identify within Belfast?
A person whose contacts all know each other belong to a closed network. An individual whose contacts tend not to know each other belong to an open network. Closed networks have high density whereas open networks have low density. Where individuals are linked in several ways, then the network ties are said to be multiplex.
More dense networks have the capacity to enforce linguistic norms as all speakers know each other and communicate to the same people. She found that denser networks correlated with the use of vernacular or non-standard forms. Men typically belong to more dense networks. The closeness of a social group determined an individual’s use of the local dialect forms.
What did Malcolm Petyt (1985) identify within Bradford?
He found that the non-standard language and social class are linked. He asked people a question that requires a response beginning with ‘h’ and checked whether the ‘h’ was dropped. His findings show with the the lower the class, the less the ‘h’ was used (upper working class - 12%, lower working class - 93%)
What did Braj Kachru (1992) identify within the inner circle of language?
An inner circle of countries in which English is the first or dominant language. English language norms develop in these countries and spread outwards. These can be criticised to be reversed as English consists of borrowing. The three circles represent the type of spread, the patterns of acquisition and the functional allocation of the English language in a range of cultural contexts.
What did Dixon and Mahoney (2002) identify in terms of guilt?
Defendants were more likely to be found guilty if they had a non-standard Birmingham accent. This shows prejudice towards language variation and suggests that regional language affects how others see us rather than how we use it.
What did Joanna Thornborrow (2004) identify in terms of identity?
Saw language as ‘fundamental’ to creation of identity. This established identity is shown through both lexical choices and
grammatical conclusions.
