phonological change quiz

great vowel shift

a series of changes in the pronunciation of the English language that took place primarily between 1400 and 1700, beginning in southern England and today having influenced effectively all dialects of English

e.g. wiːf becomes wæf

Labov

in his Martha’s Vineyard study, he described an aspect of phonological change as ‘change from below’ which refers to the fact that change occurs unconsciously

Kerswill

in his Milton Keynes study, he found that people were losing the distinctive features of their regional accents in favour of a more mainstream, urban accent. he defined this process as levelling

Estuary English

studies have found that the accent of London and south-east England is spreading across the country. this is estuary English

glottal stop

a consonant formed by the audible release of the airstream after complete closure of the glottis. It is widespread in some non-standard English accents and in some other languages, such as Arabic, it is a standard consonant.

e.g. football is pronounced as fʊʔbↄːl

uptalk/upspeak

recent phonological change classified as the use of rising intonation at the end of declaratives

MLE

multicultural London English as an accent is also beginning to spread beyond London. one of the defining features is the pronunciation of the /th/ sounds.

e.g. ðis is pronounced as diz

reasons for phonological change

a probable reason is that people imitate the speech of those they admire or respect