Week 4 Different Accents

Question 1

Systemic differences

Answer 1

• Two varieties of the language have different phonemic inventories. (different number of phonemes)

• Many accents of English have /u:/ as in food and/ʊ/ as in foot but not in Scotland.

Question 2

Distributional Differences

Answer 2

• Phonemes are shared between two accents, but they have different restrictions on where they can appear in words.

• Rhotic accents e.g. /kɑː/ / kɑr/ / kɑːpɑːk/ / kɑrpɑrk/ but / kɑːɹɛndʒɪn /

Question 3

lexical variation

Answer 3

• Both variations have the same phoneme but they use different phonemes for different words.
  • Is the vowel in words such as ‘glass dance staff bath pass basket’ /ɑː/ or /æ/?
• But consider the vowel in farm, car, half is always /ɑː/

Question 4

Realisational Variation

Answer 4

• Everything else
  • Is it [oʊ] [əʊ]/[oː]?or [ɛː] [ɛə] etc?
  • How do we pronounce butter [ˈbʌtə] [ˈbʌʔtə] [ˈbʌʔə]?

Question 5

what was the need for standardisation

Answer 5

1. A Print Language – has to be able to be used in the higher ends of society. Has to be able to be used in the law, for records etc.
2. Greater social mobility of individuals- movement up and down the social scale
3. A desire to exclude/limit entry into the Upper classes

Question 6

how may how people pronounce their H’s affect how people see them?

Answer 6

• A quote taken from an army officer in the Victorian times

Accent ‘is the greatest blessing in the world, a sure protection against cads’. …. ‘you meet a fellow who is well-dressed, behaves himself decently enough and yet you don’t know exactly what to make of him; but get him talking, and if he trips upon his H’s that settles the question. He is a chap you’d better be shy of.’ Mugglestone L (2003)

Question 7

what are the four /h/s

Answer 7

• Heir 
• Honest 
• Honour 
• Hour
-	The only four words in the English language that don’t have a H sound at the beginning of a H word.

Question 8

how did teachers in the 19th century affect language use?

Answer 8

1. Education – increased stratification
2. Middle class aspiration
   - Reading and speaking are much influenced by imitation from the inherent tendency to imitate those with whom we associate. This fact shows the importance of the teacher’s speech being pure, distinct, deliberate and impressive . . . The teacher is unwise who neglects so powerful an instrument as this.
   - teachers became the mechanisms that removed the ‘bad’ language and standardized the language.