William Labov's Martha's Vineyard Study

Question 1

What is one big factor to consider when discussing the cause of differences in pronunciations?

Answer 1

the attitude of its residents.

Question 2

Who were the heaviest users of this type of centralised pronunciation of diphthongs?

Answer 2

young men who sought to identify themselves as native Vineyarders, rejecting the values and speech style of the mainland.

Question 3

What did the fishermen resent?

Answer 3

• the influx of wealthy summer visitors and disliked their presence.
• they believed it infringed on their traditional way of island life.

Question 4

What were the Vineyards encouraged to do?

Answer 4

to establish a non-standard dialect and retain their social identity.

Question 5

What did the tight knit community subconsciously ensure?

Answer 5

• they would create a linguistic divide between them and us.

Question 6

What were fishermen seen to be and what did it cause the Vineyarders to do?

Answer 6

• fishermen: seen to be the perfect example of desired values
• this caused other Vineyarders to adhere to a similar style of pronunciation.

Question 7

As more and more people came to speak in the same way…

Answer 7

the innovation gradually became the norm for those living on the island and was established as a dialect.

Question 8

Does there seem to be enough evidence to support the evaluation question?

Answer 8

yes, there seems to be enough evidence to state that the generations, occupations or social groups might be a big factor in language use as a sociolinguistic consideration.