Standard English Flashcards

Where did SE come from?

by the late 1700s, those who had power only spoke SE and this was in southern England

When was the dictionary published?

1755

What was the impact of the dictionary?

It meant an idea of a ‘correct’ English begins to emerge

What is Received Pronunciation?

The accent traditionally regarded as the standard and most prestigious form of spoken British English

What is non-standard subject verb agreement?

a NSE feature in which a plural subject has a singular verb

Who is Steph McGovern?

A presenter who was offered £20 to correct her Northern Accent

What did Milroy and Milroy argue?

That SE has gaps e.g cannot differentiate between singular and plural in the second person pronoun ‘you’

What did John Honey argue?

That SE is superior as it is used by teachers, textbooks and in Parliament

What did Lynne Truss criticise?

The misuse of apostrophes and when ‘less is used for count nouns e.g eight items or less should be fewer instead

What was Oliver Kamm’s counterargument to Lynne Truss?

That there is no genuine rule and it is the mark of a pedant to believe what she believes

What did John Humphrys criticise?

The use of ‘so’ to begin sentences

Who is Wilfred Pickles?

the first newsreader to speak in a regional accent (during WWII) and listeners were outraged and many of them claimed they couldn’t understand him

How did Trudgill say teachers viewed children with working class accents?

They were viewed by some teachers as having less educational potential

What did Trudgill argue about RP speakers?

They are demonstrated as being haughty and unfriendly by non RP speakers

What is overt prestige?

Related to using standard forms in more formal situations

What is covert prestige?

using non standard forms in more informal settings

Who identified overt and covert prestige?

Labov

Which speakers are more likely to seek overt prestige?

Upper middle class speakers

Which speakers are more likely to seek covert prestige?

Men and the working class

What did Rob Drummond say on SE?

That we have this sense that it is more correct because it has all the prestige and power behind it

What did Rob Drummond propose?

That we should celebrate code-switching so that people do not feel ashamed of their own language

What did Beth Black find?

That pupils from independent schools were much better at identifying NSE forms than state school pupils

What did Dr Ian Cushing say needs to be done instead of promoting the idea of right and wrong ways of language?

Children need to be taught why SE carries social power and that NSE isn’t wrong

How did teachers who criticise the use of slang make some pupils feel according to Ian Cushing?

They make them feel discriminated against with word jails and banning slang and fillers such as like and peng

What was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticised for saying?

I’m proud to be a bartender. Ain’t nothing wrong with that

How did critics respond to what Ocasio-Cortez said?

that she never uses this accent and #wedonttalklikethat

What did Ocasio-Cortez’s critics assume?

That since she is not black her use of AAVE/Ebonics was an act

How did Ocasio-Cortez respond to her critics?

I am from the Bronx, I act and talk like it

What did John Baugh find when using different accents?

66% call-back when using Standard American English, AAVE was 39%

What is Linguistic Profiling?

When we discriminate based on judgements about race based on the sound of peoples’ voices

What can we do about linguistic profiling?

We can encourage people to be more accepting of others whose linguistic backgrounds are different from our own.

What did David Crystal say the two functions of language are?

To communicate and express identity

What is an example of expressing identity through language?

‘This how we run the game’ this is authentic use of AAVE, copular deletion is the omission of is - Tupac