ACCENT AND DIALECT TERMS

Accent

Variation in pronunciation, often associated with particular geographical region.

Code Switching

When multi-lingual speakers alternate between two or more languages.

Convergence

When two accents or dialects become more similiar.

Covert Prestige

The less obvious prestige associated with the use of certain non-standard varieties of a language within particular social groups.

Descriptivism

An approach to language that focuses on how language is actually used.

Dialect

Variation in words and grammatical structures associated with a particular geographical region.

Dialect Levelling

The process by which language forms of different parts of the country converge and become more similar over time, with the loss of regional features and reduced diversity of language.

Dipthong

A vowel sound were there is a noticeable change within the syllable (e.g. /ai/ in Eye)

Divergence

When the differences between two languages grow increasingly more different.

Estuary English

An accent that contains both features of RP and London speech.

Eye Dialect

The deliberate use of misspellings to identify a speaker who is using a regional form of colloquial English (e.g. "Nothin'").

Heterophones

Words with the same spelling but a different meaning and sound (e.g. Direct).

Homophones

Words with the same sound but different meanings and spellings (e.g. there, their and they're).

Idiomatic phrases

A phrase that has an accepted and known meaning that is different from the dictionary definition of each individual word (e.g. It was a red herring)

Idiolect

Variation in language use which is specific to a particular person.

Lexical set

A group of words in which particular vowels are pronounced in the same way.

Monopthong

A single vowel sound (e.g. /i:/ in rEAd).

Multiple negation

A sentence or utterance containing more than one negative.

Non-Standard English

Not conforming to the recognised way of speaking or writing.

Overt Prestige

The obvious prestige associated with the use of the standard variety of a language within a particular society. Connected to notions of speaking 'properly'.

Phoneme

The smallest unit of sound in language.

Phonetics

The study of how speech sounds are made and received.

Phonology

The study of the sound systems of languages, in particular, the patterns of sounds.

Plural marking

The method of making a singular noun into its plural form.

Postvocalic /r/

The /r/ sound that appears after a vowel and before a consonant (e.g. farm), or at the end of a word (e.g. far). It is not pronounced in most English accents.

Prescriptivism

An approach to language that focuses on rules and notions of correctness.

Prosodics

Non-verbal aspects of speech like pace, pitch, stress, intonation and volume.

Queen's English

Received pronunciation (RP); how the Queen, and other members of the ruling classes, stereotypically speak.

Received pronunciation (RP)

An accent in English which does not indicate a person's geographical location but which is recognized as having a high social status; RP is found throughout the English-speaking world.

Register

The scale of formality we use when we write and speak.

Rhotic accent

An accent which pronounces postvocalic /r/.

Social mobility

A phrase used to describe a person's move from one social class to another.

Standard English

The form of English language widely accepted as the correct form of speaking and writing.

Th-fronting

Pronunciation of 'th' as /f/ or /v/ (e.g. 'fink' and 'wiv')

Unmarked plurality

When a singular form of a noun is used rather than a plural.