Regional Variety

Question 1

Factors influencing variation in accent and dialect

Answer 1

Migration - people entering from different countries cause an alteration to language used in that society.

Invasion - (historical) people from different countries changed language used in that area.

Ports - positioning as a port means that language is susceptible to change as people enter the docks from different countries.

Industrial/economic hubs - places of growth and development can bring about change to general language in the area.

Modern day life - holidays, social media, the arts and music, all introduce language from different cultures.

Question 2

Regional dialect

Answer 2

Language, lexis and grammar that is specific to a region.

Question 3

Accent

Answer 3

Regional or social variation of pronunciation.

Question 4

Standard English

Answer 4

The most prestigious form of dialect.

Question 5

Received Pronunciation

Answer 5

The most prestigious form of accent. Often referred to as ‘Queen’s speech’ - spoken by newsreaders. A social not regional variation (based on class).

Question 6

Dialect levelling

Answer 6

The disappearance of regional dialect words in placement for more general terms that are used across the nation.

This could be as a result of social, regional or economic mobility, as well as the media.

Question 7

Origins of regional dialects

Answer 7

There is variation in accent and dialect across the country due to the different origins of each one:

Geordie - settlement of Anglo-Saxons, 1500 years ago.
Yorkshire - has roots from Viking language.
Mancunian - developed through influx of migrants moving into city to work. Prevalent in industrial rev.

Question 8

Non-standard English

Answer 8

Usually misunderstandings with tenses, or the slurring of words (elisions and contractions). Eg, “dunno” / “they was”

Question 9

Youth slang

Answer 9

Dynamic language that changes rapidly overtime. Influenced by media in modern day. Youth conform to this language to build their own identities and separate themselves from others. Eg, “bare”

Question 10

Trudgill (1988)

Answer 10

Separated dialects into 2 categories:

Traditional dialect = specific to a region. Said to be dying out through dialect levelling.

Mainstream dialect = shares features throughout nation. Closely resembles Standard English.

Question 11

Jean Aitchison

Answer 11

Made observations on attitudes to language change. She does not hold these views herself, they are the general opinions from across the nation.

Question 12

The Crumbling Castle view (Jean Aitchison)

Answer 12

English language has been lovingly assembled until it reached its maximum splendour and needs to be preserved. It is beginning to deteriorate (through language change).

Question 13

The Infectious Disease assumption (Jean Aitchison)

Answer 13

The idea that language change spreads like a virus: new terms spreading from person to person. It is something that needs to be prevented.

Bush (1972), described this as “a wholesale spread of corruption…mere infection…careless, unthinking, assimilation”

Question 14

Damp Spoon Syndrome (Jean Aitchison)

Answer 14

Language change is due to lazy pronunciation, causing elision (slurring) of words which results in slang or the coining of new terms. Negative view.

Although others claim “the only lazy speech is drunken speech…English is not getting like drunken speech”.

Question 15

Origins of Scouse (Liverpudlian) accent and dialect

Answer 15

• Originally a fishing village, developed as a port, trading specifically with Ireland; so area became melting pot of different languages as people entered port from Ireland and northern Europe.
• Positioned above Wales, meaning traces of Welsh are heard in Scouse.
• Nasal quality, derived from poor public health in 19th, where prevalence of colds caused people to talk this way. Others copied this until it was regarded as norm.

Question 16

Accent features of Scouse (Liverpudlian)

Answer 16

The split ‘t’ - where a /t/ sound becomes a fricative /ts/ eg, ‘town’ becomes ‘tsown’

Short ‘a’ vowel sounds (‘ah’ rather than ‘ar’)

Strong Irish influence (‘tree’ instead of ‘three’)

Question 17

Dialect features of Scouse (Liverpudlian)

Answer 17

• Liverpool seem to resist dialect levelling.
• Use of double negatives “I don’t never go”.
• Non standard plural “yous lot”
• Object pronouns rather than subject “meself”

Question 18

Origins of Bristolian accent and dialect

Answer 18

Due to the West countries agricultural history, the language is often associated with a lack of education. People would keep their children in farming rather than sending them to school, which could explain the common non-standard usage of tenses.

Accent often referred to as ‘pirate speech’ which could have derived from the regions strong seafaring and fisherman tradition.

Question 19

Accent features of Bristolian

Answer 19

-Rhotic accent, meaning every ‘R’ is over pronounced.

Question 20

Dialect features of Bristolian

Answer 20

• Use of 3rd person instead of 1st (“we was there yesterday” instead of “we were there yesterday”)
• Subject instead of object pronouns (“theirselves” instead of “themselves”)
• Present instead of past participle verbs (“I looks at it” instead of “I looked at it”)

Question 21

Origins of Cockney accent and dialect

Answer 21

Born out of rhyming slang in East End (19th century).
Eg, “going up the stairs” / “apples and pears” / omit the rhyming word = “going up the apples”.

Cockney has a stereotype of being illiterate and chavy, may have been derived from early Victorian London when there was lack of education.

Question 22

Accent features of Cockney

Answer 22

• Non rhoticity features (“better” becomes “betta”)
• Glottal stopping (“better” becomes “be’a”)
• L-vocalisation (“pal” becomes “pow”)
• Th fronting (“thing” becomes “fing”)

Question 23

Non-rhoticity features

Answer 23

“R” at the end of words isn’t pronounced.

Question 24

Glottal stopping

Answer 24

‘T’ pronounced at the back of the throat.

Question 25

L-vocalisation

Answer 25

‘L’ at the end of words becomes a vowel sound.

Question 26

Th-fronting

Answer 26

The ‘th’ in a word is pronounced with a more forward consonant.

Question 27

Howard Giles - Matched Guise Study

Answer 27

Evaluated attitudes towards different accents.

Subjects sat through separate lectures. Same lecturer would speak in each one but with different accent.

Then asked to make judgements on status personality and persuasiveness.

Question 28

Results of Matched Guise Studies

Answer 28

Status = RP voted highest status / Cockney and urban accents voted lowest.

Personality = RP voted intelligent and confident but cold and ruthless / Northern accents voted friendly, honest and generous.

Persuasiveness = inconclusive

Question 29

Conclusions of Matched Guise Studies

Answer 29

Expectations of personality traits are based off of accents and their stereotypes.

Eg, a rural accent will be associated with holidays and therefore be perceived as friendly and welcoming. An urban accent will be associated with the business world, and therefore reflects intelligence but unfriendliness.

MGS provide evidence that we make judgment based off accents, considering all content and speakers were the same. Judgments were made solely on accent.

Question 30

Prescriptive attitudes to accent and dialects

Answer 30

• Classic RP most preferred, due to association with queen.
• Because of royal usage it’s seen as correct way to speak.
• Stigmas surround language differing from RP as Matched guise studies suggest it is the most trusted and intelligent accent, therefore creates positive representation of country.
• Prescriptivists promote RP and see variation as “an enemy”.

Question 31

Descriptive attitudes to accent and dialects

Answer 31

Language is a means of communication.

If someone’s language is still fulfilling that purpose, then pronunciation is irrelevant.

Discrimination against variety is said to be with regards to racism or cultural dispute.

Question 32

Aziz (2005)

Answer 32

Business people with Indian or Asian accent were considered “hardworking and reliable” by 69% of peers.

(Compared to just 24% for Liverpudlian accent)

Question 33

Bath Spa Uni (2008)

Answer 33

“Times have changed since RP was seen as the elite language…when RP was seen as the elite language only 10% of young people studied at university and most of these were expected to speak RP. Now 44% of young people go to university and there has been a shift in the accent we expect from educated people.”

Question 34

Sunshine (holiday company) 2010

Answer 34

76% of airline passengers would feel uncomfortable if the pilot spoke with a Birmingham accent… 81% would be most reassured by classic RP, with Edinburgh at 73% and Newcastle at 65% as the next most soothing.

Question 35

First Direct

Answer 35

Based their customer service in Leeds after research showed that the accent was closely associated with financial prudence.

This shows that judgments are also made on accents in a business environment.

Question 36

What is Estuary English?

Answer 36

A variety of accent/dialect that is a midpoint between RP and Cockney (adheres to RP but has been influenced by Cockney).

Said to be replacing RP. Gained name due to presence in south east (near Thames estuary).

Question 37

Dialect features of Estuary English

Answer 37

• Non-standard past tense (eg, “I come back yesterday”)
• Contractions (eg, “ain’t”)
• Double negatives (eg, “I didn’t never do it”)

Question 38

Accent features of Estuary English

Answer 38

• Yod coalescence (the sound /j/ instead of /dy/ in words such as ‘dune’.
• Glottalling (/t/ produced by a glottal stop rather than a plosive sound. Eg, ‘wha’ instead of ‘what)
• L-vocalisation (replacement of the consonant /l/ with a vowel. Eg, /milk/ becomes /miwk/).
• Vowel fronting (sound produced further forward in mouth which elongates vowel sound. Eg, /kite/ becomes /ki-/).
• “Alright Duke” becomes /awrigh juke/.

Question 39

Przedlacka (1990)

Answer 39

Researched Estuary English in North, South-east and South-west London. Studied males and females aged 14-16. Found that there were tendencies of yod-coalescence, Glottalling, L-vocalisation and vowel fronting. No definite similarities across area, but where accent was present, was used primarily by females.

Question 40

Paul Kerswill - Estuary English

Answer 40

Pronunciation becoming common in spoken broadcast media and by public figures. This is said to be the reason EE is spreading so quickly. People conform to language in the media to fit in with society. Spreading further due to migration of people from London (dialect levelling).

Question 41

What is Multicultural London English?

Answer 41

• An accent/dialect formed from fusion of languages from different cultures.
• Roots in Jamaican, African and Bangladeshi.
• Influenced through the media, migration and music.
• Kerswill claimed its spreading due to migration: a “melting pot” mix of language. Children imitate this language rather than older Cockney, and therefore MLE is progressively increasing/Cockney dying out.

Question 42

Dialect features of MLE

Answer 42

‘creps’ = trainers / ‘sick’ = good / ‘bare’ = a lot / ‘innit’ = isn’t it/agree.
‘I were’ = I was
‘you was’ = you were

Question 43

Accent features of MLE

Answer 43

• ‘h’ and ‘g’ dropping

- /th/ fronting

Question 44

Attitudes to MLE

Answer 44

• Young people conform to MLE usage to fit in and form identity that is separate from older generations (cockney users).
• It’s seen as an urban accent, so associated with prisons and urban crime/violence.
• People dislike change from classic RP, this is seen as the proper way to speak so criticism placed upon MLE.
• Others celebrate the mixing of cultures and see it as a positive things. Purely a means of communication.

Question 45

Starkey (2011)

Answer 45

“the whites have become black…violent, destructive…gangster culture has become the fashion”

Prescriptive, negative approach to MLE. Conforms to stigmas that language reflects personality (in this case association with London riots). Believes the language makes our country feel foreign and that it has ‘intruded’.

Question 46

Lindsay Johns (2014)

Answer 46

• Language is power.
• “by using slang instead of SE, people are doing themselves dis-service when it comes to excelling in education”
• Believes people should abandon the way they speak in placement of RP.

Question 47

Morish (1999)

Answer 47

“RP is now perceived as naff and unfashionable”

Question 48

Phonological change

Answer 48

• Queens language has converged downwards/adopted more common pronunciation.
• Children conform to language in their society rather than parents so slang terms are becoming more consistent.

Question 49

Austin and Kerswill - Lancashire schools

Answer 49

P’s completed questionnaire to show academic aspirations and whether they’re from pro-educational homes. Recorded doing presentations. Assessed for ‘h’ dropping, ‘th’ fronting and ‘t’ glottaling.

Top 10 aspirational = parents with degrees. The Guardian and Times newspapers at home.
Bottom 10 = homes were education not valued. The sun and Mirror newspapers at home.
Correlation between language and level of aspiration.

Flaws in the correlation = Josie one of most aspirational, but language reflected bottom 10 and parents were working class.

Suggests people are expected to speak in a way that fits their community. Not necessarily related to aspiration. Our speech style fits our background so we are not perceived as inauthentic.

Question 50

Ian Cushing

Answer 50

• Language diversity is positive.
• Language is context-dependant, we code switch based on who we are talking to, so variation is natural.
• Language is diverse due to the diversity in ourselves.
• Change is natural and inevitable considering the world is full of mobility.
• No variety is better than another, its the language that is suitable for communication in you environment that matters.
• We use language to differentiate ourselves from others (eg, teachers and students) creating variation.

Question 51

Labov (1966) - New York study

Answer 51

Studied pronunciation of rhotic ‘R’ in social classes.
‘R’ associated with high prestige in NY. (In UK it is associated with low status).

‘R’ confirmed to be high status. Used most in top stores, used least in bottom stores. Middle stores used biggest upward shift.

People chose to pronounce it based on environment and how expected to talk. There is no universal pronunciation, it is subjective on the countries views. therefore no variation is superior.

Question 52

Gary Ives (2014) - Bradford case study

Answer 52

8 boys with Pakistani backgrounds interviewed about language usage.

“we use different language so they don’t know what we’re saying” / “we mix Punjabi and English” / “all my peers use similar slang…and key phrases that unify the group” / “secret language”

Most confirmed code switching. Used language to form a group identity and separate from others. They used language consciously to achieve a desirable identity.

Said to be influenced by film, music and media.

Question 53

Labov - Martha’s Vineyard

Answer 53

Island near New England, traditional ‘Vineyarder’ residence and holiday destination to 40,000 every summer. Speakers on island interviewed, varying age and ethnicity. Listened to how they spoke and why.

Younger speakers converged to traditional ‘Vineyarder’ speech and diverged from New England speech (which was used by holiday makers). Heaviest users rejected values of mainland/resented visitors. These people exaggerated ‘Vineyarder’ tendencies.

Diverged from mainland speech to form own identity and separate from holiday makers. Holiday makers posed threat of dialect levelling but ‘Vineyarders’ resisted this by deliberately exaggerating pronunciation in comparison to visitors. Resulted in greater variation.

Question 54

Trudgill (1974) - Norwich study

Answer 54

Assessed how gender affects dialect in each social class. Listened to male and female pronunciations, considering relaxed and careful speech.

Men over-reported non-standard usage, implying they wished to use covert (incorrect) forms. Women over reported standard usage, implying they wished to use overt (correct) forms.

Class was more of a determiner of non-standard forms than gender. Women in all social classes were more likely to use overt forms. Gender differences in the working class were greatest in formal speech.