Accent and Dialect

what is a long a

the vowel sound in part

what is the name of the researcher who carried out the ‘Capital Punishment Experiment’

howard giles

which four accents were chosen for the Capital Punishment Experiment?

somerset, south wales, birmingham, RP

what is a short a

the vowel sound used in rat

what does accent mean

the pronunciation of words

what is a regional accent

an accent spoken in a particular geographical region

what is ‘th’ fronting

using ‘f’ instead of ‘th’ like saying ‘nofing’

what is a glottal stop

closing off the vocal chords to prevent a sound coming out

what is rhotic

accents where speakers pronounce the ‘r’ that comes after vowels (known as the ‘post-vocalic r’)

accent and identity

regional identity and class identity are important markers of our identity which can be expressed phonologically

how a person views themselves can be at the forefront of this

accentism

denigrating individual language varieties results in linguistic insecurity

this is significant as language and identity are inextricably linked.

​there is nothing intrinsically bad about any accent; it is merely stereotypes reinforced by society

what is alex baratta’s view on accents and accentism

there is no combination of vowel and consonant sounds which are inherently difficult to understand rather the degree to which someone is familiar with an accent will dictate your understanding

accents can be sy……

symbolic for other categories (national origin, regional origin, race, class, gender, etc)

attacks or even positive comments are indirectly saying something deeper about these categories

what is interesting about the spanish ‘j’ and teh scouse ‘ck’

they are interpreted differently despite being phonologically identical (spanish positive scouse negative/annoying)

rob drummand and accentism

most people know that to suggest someone is unsuitable for a particular role on the basis of their gender, race, ethnicity, or social class is unacceptable. however, by convincing themselves and others that they objectively dislike people using particular language features people are able to hide their prejudices beneath a cloak of respectability

the more we educate ourselves, the more threadbare that cloak becomes

at the end of the day, accent prejudice is simply a way of laundering other prejudices into a socially acceptable format

what was the capital punishment experiment

research into attitudes towards accents

groups of students listened to presentations about capital punishment by speakers with different accents

the students were then asked which they found most impressive, and which they found most persuasive

what were the results of the capital punishment experiment

the listeners found the RP presentation most impressive​

they found the Birmingham accent presentation the least impressive​

the listeners found the regional accents more persuasive than the RP speaker​

the BBC and accents

the BBC has traditionally been associated with RP speakers​

​however, in 2008, the Director General called for more regional accents after viewers complained they were being ignored​

some comments posted on the BBC website suggested that regional accents make the speaker less credible or hard to understand

what was alison smith study (2017)

six accents tested: RP, Edinburgh, Cardiff (usually considered ‘positive’), Birmingham, Liverpool, Somerset (usually considered ‘negative’)​

both British and American participants were asked to rate speakers on a variety of characteristics such as friendliness and attractiveness​

what were the results of alison smiths study

in general, Americans view all British regional accents more positively than British people​

both British and American participants viewed the Liverpool accent the most negatively.​

RP is viewed relatively positively by both British and American participants

why do people judge others by their accent

“us vs them” mentality​

group identity/membership​

“acceptable prejudice” – people tend not to realise that actually they are making a judgement about a person’s social class​

where do attitudes of accent come from

discrimination against ‘urban’/less affluent areas​

media upholding negative/positive stereotypes​

why do attitudes towards accents change

celebrity culture – Paul Mescal, Peaky Blinders etc​

changing social attitudes – Irish accents in the early 20th Century​

the catch 22 of accent

some working-class people can change their accent and may receive prejudice for doing so

however, working-class people may also maintain their regional accent and still receive prejudice for this

what was petyt’s bradford study

in 1980, Petyt studied speakers in Bradford, looking at the dropped ‘h’ at the beginning of words

what were the results of petyt’s bradford study

he found that 94% of lower working class speakers dropped the h​

67% of upper working class speakers dropped it​

28% of lower middle class speakers dropped it​

12% of upper middle class speakers dropped it​

counters to petyt’s bradford study

does not necessarily take into account the level of conscious choice that someone has over their speech

people can and do change their accent in order to appear as if they belong to a different social class

consider the idea of performativity

there may also be other contextual factors here, including: age, region, social groups etc ​

what was labov’s post-vocalic r study

in 1966, Labov studied the use of the post-vocalic r (e.g. in farm) which is considered socially prestigious in the US in a similar way to pronouncing the h in the UK​

what did labov find (post vocalic r study)

in casual speech, he found that upper middle class speakers used the post-vocalic r more often than lower middle class speakers​ however, in formal speech, the reverse was the case​

what is accommodation theory

changing the way that you speak depending on your audience

who developed accommodation theory

Howard Giles

times we may accommadate the way we speak to our audience

speaking to children

speaking to the elderly

during a job interview

what does convergence mean

making your speech more similar to your audiences

what does divergence mean

making your speech more different from your audiences

what is mutual convergence

when both speakers change their speech in order to accommodate each other

human nature – we want to accommodate and be the same as others around

for example, a University house – accents meeting in the middle

what is upward convergence

making regional accent less strong/more RP

what is downward convergence

making your accent less RP and more similar to regional accent

what is marthas vineyard

an island lying about 3 miles off New England on the East Coast of the United States of America, with a permanent population of about 6000. However, much to the disgust of a number of locals, over 40,000 visitors, known somewhat disparagingly as the 'summer people' flood in every summer. 

what is happening to the speech of the young men who live on marthas vineyard

a movement seemed to be taking place away from the pronunciations associated with the standard New England norms, and towards a pronunciation associated with conservative and characteristically Vineyard speakers, notably the Chilmark fishermen

they actively sought to identify themselves as Vineyarders

why did the young men do this (marthas vineyard)

when a group is marginalised or under threat, as was the case in Martha’s Vineyard, overt signals of linguistic difference can become an important means of preserving identity and independence

examples of CRS

porkie pies (lies), donkeys ears (years) trouble and strife (wife)

what is CRS

language that originated in the east end of london during the first half of the 19th century

works by replacing a word with a rhyming word or expression

features of cockney

more pronounced ‘schwa’ sound (doctAH)

h dropping (‘ouse)

l vocalisation (hew rather than hell)

t glottalling (wa’er)

th fronting (fing rather than thing)

syntactic features (non standard tense - you was rather than you were)

what is estuary english

an accent which originated in the south east (named after the thames estuary which separates essex and kent)

features of estuary english

standard grammar

l vocalisation (miwk)

t glottaling

happY tensing (hapee)

yod coalescence (using ch sound and y sound in words like tuesday)

estuary english mixes….

RP with cockney

why is estuary english spreading

cockneys upwardly converging

RP speakers downwardly converging

considered fashionable as its very seen in the media and celebrities

why is estuary english an important issue

some people argue that EE is taking over as the new standard accent and replacing RP

what did smelly gillian shepard (minster of education at the time) say about estuary english

teachers have a duty to eradicate it

pros of estuary english

• Non-threatening​

• Connotations of Cockney but standard in form.​

• Ease of articulation.​

• If new RP, does it denote a less rigid society? Are we classless?​

• Admiration of television stars (see Con) –Jonathan Ross.​

• Connotations of being cool/relaxed.​

cons of estuary english

• ‘I ain’t out of Eastenders!’ Stigmatised accent?​

• Considered the ‘dumbing down’ of language.​

• Laziness – a lack of, not ease of articulation.​

• Admiration of television stars… loss of individuality?​

what was/did they find in kerswell and willaims study

Kerswell and Williams (1994) studied speech in children in Milton Keynes and found that their speech contained more features of Estuary English than their parents’​

shibboleths are a kind of linguistic p…

password

used to identify a person as a member/non member of a group

what does MLE stand for

multicultural london english

examples of MLE

thanks blud, getting the bus is long tings (its more effort than its worth), they’re from ends (they’re from my area)

features of MLE

Th-stopping – ‘ting’ instead of ‘thing’​

dh-stopping – ‘dat’ instead of ‘that’​

Vowel-flattening – pronouncing words like ‘price’ as ‘prahs’ so the vowel is flat​

Consonant-dropping –such as ‘pass’ instead of ‘past’​​

Syntactic features – ‘still’ as a syntactic feature at the end of utterances to provide emphasis

what is enregisterment

when one or more linguistic features are linked in people’s minds - along with ideas about how a person looks and behaves -with a social persona or the stereotyped speaker of a particular linguistic variety. ​

EG linguistic features of MLE have been enregistered as a ‘roadman’ persona

origins that make up MLE

afro-caribbean, black american, rastafarian, jamaica

MLE being identity based not ethnicity based

recent case study of the use of MLE which took place in South London suggested that the language is NOT necessarily linked to ethnicity​

several of the teenagers in the case study were white, British teenagers – yet they used lexis from a Jamaican or Afro-Caribbean origin​

which accent did the American participants rate most highly in the Alison Smith study

cardiff

which accent did the British participants rate most highly in the Alison Smith study

edinburgh

what does arbitrary mean

random

how does Labov’s study confirm that attitudes towards accents are ‘arbitrary’

the post vocalic “r” is considered prestigious in America, but looked down upon in the UK

what are the 2 key differences between cockney and estuary english

Estuary English does not use h dropping and th fronting

who suggested the idea of dialect levelling

Paul Kerswell

what is dialect levelling

dialect lexis and grammar will become less widespread/all dialects beginning to sound the same

whats paul kerwells reasons for dialect levelling

reduction in rural employment - 90% of people lived in cities in 1991 in comparison to 30% in 1831

increase in social mobility and interaction between people with different varieties of speech

what did lesley milroy say on the reasons for dialect levelling

increased geographical mobility leads to ‘large-scale’ disruption of close-knit localised networks

other reasons our vocabualry has become more standardised

what word do we use to describe an attitude towards language which favours ‘correct’ and ‘incorrect’ labels

prescriptivism

what is “He’s not got no shoes on!”

double negative

what is “It’s five mile down the road”

non-standard pluralisation

what is “i love chips me”

double subject

what is “pass us that book please”

plural first person pronoun rather than singular first person pronounw

what is “its more bigger than the other one”

double comparative

what is “why are you driving so slow”

adjective used in place of an adverb

what is “theres three of them shops there now”

non standard demonstrative pronoun

what is “i knows that”

third person suffix -s used with the verb instead of the first person form

what term do we use for changing language use according to context

code-switching