Regional Variations Flashcards
What did Labov investigate in 1963?
Phonetic variation among speakers of different ages on an island off the coast of Massachusetts
What did Labov find in his investigation?
He found speakers aged 31 to 45 centralised the vowels in /ay/ and /aw/ sounds, older speakers did this a lot less. Younger speakers increased their centralisation upon return comparing to the others showing a resistance to pressures to change
What did Petyt investigate?
Investigated the frequency of H-Dropping among speakers in Bradford e.g. ‘Give it to ‘im’ instead of ‘give it to him’
What were the results of Petyt’s investigation?
He found the lower the social class, the fewer Hs were used-Lower working class 12& H used, Upper working class 67% used
What is dialect?
A variety of language distinguished by social group or geographical location
What did Trudgill discover and distinguish between?
He distinguished between Traditional Dialects and Mainstream Dialects
1) -Traditional dialects very different from Standard English, so much so that other speakers have difficulty understanding them and almost all exclusively found in the UK
2) -Mainstream Dialects include Standard English and mainstream Non-Standard English dialects e.g. dialects that differ from Standard English predominantly in terms of accent
What is the difference between dialect and language?
Mutual intelliginiliy is commonly put forward: Welsh is not intelligible to English speakers and are considered distinct languages whereas varieties of Yorkshire as practically unintelligible to other English speakers and they’ve never been considered separate languages- dialect continua e.g. Variety (1) and (2) understand each other and so can (2) and (3) but (1) and (3) cannot understand each other
Is Standard English and Non-Standard English a dialect?
Standard English is a variety of English and can be spoken with an accent, whereas it cannot be spoken with another dialect e.g. Geordie so is a dialect. Non-Standard English however and can be spoken with any accent and any dialect that isn’t standard so is not a dialect
How did Standard English become foremost?
It originated in the South of England which placed it to be adopted by the Church, government, media and the courts and draws prestige from these institutions
What is Milroy&Milroy’s theory?
She studied the language of three different working-class neighbourhoods in Belfast. She discovered a speaker’s idiolect is determined in part by their social network, rather than being solely a result of their membership of certain social groups e.g. Gender- non standard language features occurred with high frequency in women’s friendship groups where social network was dense i.e. everyone knows everyone
What does grammar refer to?
The set of rules that govern the construction and composition of utterances and sentences and can vary between dialects however still follow rules e.g. syntax
What was Snell’s theory on?
Investigated the use of ‘me’ as a possessive by children of different social classes in north-east England. She found working-class children used ‘mi’, to achieve a certain effect not due to their class e.g. to be comedic
What was Snell’s theory on?
Investigated the use of ‘me’ as a possessive by children of different social classes in north-east England. She found working-class children used ‘mi’, to achieve a certain effect not due to their class e.g. to be comedic
What is cockney rhyming and what are examples of it?
It works by replacing a word with a rhyming word e.g. Don’t tell porky pies for lies and some are still idiomatic like that one
What is social mobility?
A phrase that is used to describe a persons move from one social class to another- may occur through changing jobs, getting married or a change in a persons economic or financial situation
How can dialect be a source of pride and identity?
Distinct differences in dialect between Newcastle and Sunderland showing dialect can be very specific to where you life or where you were brought up- therefore so specific can be linked to identity and a sense of belonging and pride
When and why did cockney rhyming slang take hold?
It originated back in the 15th Century though only took hold in the 1800s when street traders and criminals developed it as a means of covert communication for illicit practices
What is a key factor to these emerging variations of English?
The variations are associated with particular cultural groups such as Caribbean or Asian backgrounds- often their native tongue are mixed with Standard English to create these new dialects e.g. Bradford English and MLE
What did Gary Ives Explore and when?
(2014) He carried out case studies in London and Bradford- each study participants questioned and discussed their language use and dialect
What were the results of the Gary Ives study?
Bradford-95% of students from Pakistani backgrounds and part of a lot of factories in Bradford
South London-Students come from wide range of ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds; highest proportion of students from Afro-Carribean background
