Theorists Flashcards
Ives 2014 - Bradford
Boy from Bradford said they spoke certain wat as “it’s the way we’re born; and later said they mix Punjabi with English
Speaking Punjabi to each other is like a ‘secret language; as they can use taboo’s like ‘bitch’ etc
However London shows language used is about where you live not ethncitiy as lots of subjects were white British
Ives 2014 - London
Boys from London used language that set them apart from the rest of the country, some of the language as roots in Jamaican Patois.
However London shows language used is about where you live not ethncitiy as lots of subjects were white British
Hewitts research
Hewitts research showed there were two varieties of English spoken in London which stemmed from immigration: a creole and MLE
White speakers were criticised by creole speakers for using linguistic features from creole, as creole wasn’t something white speakers inherited from
= Shows essentialist view of ethnicity as they must have been born with it
Khan
Khan investigated 3 ethnic groups in Birmingham
White British used traditional Birmingham pronunciation of vowel in goat
Black British avoided the [O:] pronunciation
= Evidence language acts as marker of ethnicity
Also found more non white British friends a white British speaker has = less likely they were to use traditional Birmingham pronunciation, supporting constructionist view
Wolfram
Argues white majority societies are responsible for the perception of black children being ‘linguistically handicapped’.
As maintain power hierarchy between white and black ethnic groups, through their treatment of the African American English vernacular
Viv Edward’s (1986) Creole in schools
Attitude towards Caribbean dialects, creoles and patois (patwah) spoken by many African- Caribbean immigrants
Kanguage and education specialist Viv Edwards found that the language – the Creole spoken by the students – was singled out as an important factor disadvantaging Caribbean children in British schools.
The study cites negative attitudes of teachers towards any non-standard variety noting that; “The teacher who does not or is not prepared to recognise the problems of the Creole-speaking child in a British English situation can only conclude that he is stupid when he gives either an inappropriate response or no response at all. The stereotyping process leads features of Creole to be stigmatised and to develop connotations of, amongst other things, low academic ability.
Lancaster University study
As integration continued, African-West Indians born in Britain instinctively adopted hybrid dialects combining Caribbean and local British dialects.
These dialects and accents gradually entered mainstream British vernacular, and shades of Caribbean dialects can be heard among Britons regardless of cultural origin.
A Lancaster University study identified an emergence in certain areas of Britain of a distinctive accent which borrows heavily from Jamaican creole, lifting some words unchanged.
This phenomenon, disparagingly named “Jafaican” meaning “fake Jamaican”, was famously parodied by comedian Sacha Baron Cohen through his character Ali G
Mark Sebba (1993) London Jamaican
Second-generation speakers of Creole in London in the 1980s were conscious that they could not pass for natives when in the Caribbean, but could nevertheless claim to be authentic ‘Black British’ by virtue of commanding both the local British vernacular and a local version of Jamaican Creole (Sebba 1993).
By the end of the century, claims of authenticity linked to ethnic identity had been undermined by the emergence of a non-ethnically specific youth variety incorporating Creole grammatical and phonological features, as parodied by the fictitious character Ali G (Sebba 2003, 2007), sometimes called ‘Jafaican’ by the media.
Sharma & Sankaran (2011) Punjabi Indian English in West London
The shift of pronunciation from first generation immigrants to second generation is more complicated than expected
The researchers analysed the English of three groups of South Asians. One group consisted of first generation immigrants who had migrated from India as adults, and the two other groups were locally-born second generation South Asians, one older (aged between 35 and 60) and one younger (aged between 18 and 35).
- The older second generation group had grown up in Southall at a time when South Asians were still a minority group there and when race relations in the area were hostile.
- By the time the second, younger, group (aged 18-35) was growing up, South Asians were no longer such a minority in Southall and, perhaps as a result, race relations had shifted to a cooperative coexistence.
The researchers focussed on the pronunciation of /t/, which has a distinctive local pronunciation as well as a South Asian pronunciation. (The local London pronunciation of /t/ is glottalised)
- As you might expect, the first generation South Asian speakers had almost no glottalised pronunciations of /t/.
- By contrast, both second generation groups used glottalised /t/; furthermore, they followed the same pattern, using this pronunciation more often at the end of a word than the middle of a word (so, more often in feet than water).
They explain that for the older second generation group, surviving at school and in public meant they had to downplay Indianness and pass as British, so they acquired local pronunciations and weakened their use of South
Asian ones.
Cheshire et all (2000-2011) Multicultural London English \
Jenny Cheshire – 1982 Reading Study – relationship between use of non-standard variables and adherence to peer group norms
Identified 11 non-standard features and measured their frequency of use in boys and girls in a Reading playground, differentiating between those who approved or disapproved of minor criminal activities
– All children who approved of peer group criminal activities were more likely to use non-standard forms, but boys more so
– Suggests that variation in dialect is a conscious choice, influenced by (declared) social attitude
