English Language

Accent and Dialect

Accent- Pronunciations associated with a particular region

Dialect- Variations in words associated with a particular region 

Received Pronunciation- ‘King’s English’. How the ruling class speak. Used by the social elite in the 18/19th century. Only 3% of the UK population has this accent.

Scouse

Ties to Irish and Scandinavian Sailors who used the ports

75% of Liverpool’s population have Irish parents/grandparents

Th-fronting “think” turns to “fink”

Intonation

Elongation of vowels

Seen as off-putting and whiney

Manchester 

Lancashire and Yorkshire ties

“City” turns to “Citeh” /y/ dropped

“Manchester” turns to “Manchestor” /e/ dropped for /o/

/h/ dropping “ello”

Glottal stops like “litl” instead of “little”

Birmingham

Midlandlands, influence from all over

Lots of ethnic pronunciation/words

Asian- “dance” = “dans”

Caribbean- man used as an expression

Th-fronting

Monotone and timbre

Received Pronunciation

18th-19th century emerged in universities and schools

“Car” = “cah” or “caah” (non-rhoticity, /r/ not pronounced)

Elongation of vowels

3% speak it now

MLE

Made of ethnic backgrounds and Cockney

Voice of London youth

Th-fronting

Goose fronting “fuud” instead of “food” 

Comes from back of mouth

New vocabulary 

Code switching (changing language or accent between speech)

Yorkshire

Old English and Norse

Seen as trustworthy and friendly

/a/ dropped- “goht” instead of “goat”

Glottal stops- replaces ‘t’, brief stop of airflow

Dialect Levelling- Varieties of dialect that start to become more similar to each other (reduction in variation)

Phonetics- Study of how sounds are produced 

Phonology- Study of sound systems and patterns

Isogloss- A boundary that divides one region from another

Standard English- The form of English widely used and accepted as the normal way of communication characterised by grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation (formal)

Non-Standard English- The form of English that diverges from accepted norms of communication (informal)

Examples of Standard English compared to Non-Standard English 

Those books- them books

I did it- I done it

I wasn’t doing anything- I didn’t do owt

Register- level of formality

Heterophones- words with the same spelling but different sound

Homophones- words with same sound but different meaning

Descriptivism- View that no use of language is incorrect and variation should be acknowledged, is always changing

Prescriptivism- View that language has a right and wrong way, and certain forms should be used

Idiolect- Grammar used by an individual that can change all the time

Sociolect- Grammar used by social groups such as friends may use

Familect- Grammar used by a family that may not apply to other families

Giles Accommodation Theory 1973

We ‘accommodate’ others by changing our accents to help them better understand and invite them to a conversation

Convergence- Moving speech closer to another person (decrease social distance)

Divergence- Moving speech away from another person (emphasizes accent)

Downwards Convergence- Speaker alters speech to match the person they are speaking on

Mutual Convergence- Both speakers in a conversation alter their speech to understand each other 

1986- Montgomery

Regional accents becoming more accepted in the 60s due to The Beatles, as it was brought in the public eye

Southeners would imitate the accent 

2007- Watson

Scouse is getting Scouser

Has avoided dialect levelling unlike MLE

Due to lentition- preference for a fricative to end a word

2000- Trudgill

The more working class/regional, the further away a speaker was from RP and Standard English

1975- Trudgill

Strong correlation between heavily stigmatised UK and US accents with lower class

-Multiple negation in Detroit

-/H/ dropping in Bradford 

2000- Aziz Corporation

Regional accents at a disadvantage in the business world compared to city accents

1982- Cheshire

Interviewed kids considered ‘tough’

They used nonstandard and negative concord such as “I ain’t got nothing”

2008- Fox

MLE comes from all ethnicities

1984- Coupland

Found that travel agents mirror customers’ accents (convergence on a big level)

Comres Study

62% found RP to be most intelligent

28% believe they have been discriminated for accent 

37% Scouse least intelligent

Grice’s 4 Maxims

Quantity- When contributing to a conversation, only say what is required (too much or too little information)

Quality- Information told should be truthful and new to the conversation

Manner- Avoid ambiguity and obscurity. Be orderly in utterances

Relevance- Say what should be relevant and ongoing to the context of the situation

When the principles are not abided, the maxims are said to be flouted, leading to conversational difficulties and breakdowns

Face Theory

The idea that we present ourselves differently in different contexts

Conversation is cooperative and we generally accept the face that others offer to us

If face is rejected, it is seen as a ‘face-threatening act’

Brown and Levinson

Follows on from Geoffmans ‘face’ theory, suggesting we have 2 types

Positive Politeness- When we show people that they are liked through compliments, taking interest, making it clear their company is enjoyed

Negative Politeness- When we avoid intruding on other lives or making our presence on imposition. Involves direct language, both apologetic and respectful

4Ds of Language and Gender

Deficit- Lakoff

Dominance- Zimmermen and West + Fishman

Difference- Tannen

Diversity- Cameron

Deficit Theory- Robin Lakoff (1975)

Womens’ speech is seen as deficient compared to male norm. It is perceived as weaker, less authoritative and more polite

Main features of Deficit Theory

Speak less frequently than men

Weak expletives (less swearing)

Empty adjectives (cute or lovely)

Lack a sense of humour

Special lexicon/precision when it comes to colours

Hedging (phrases that soften what is said to sound less assertive e.g ‘kind of’)

Length of Utterance (2014)- Onella

Do women speak more (part of folklingustics)

Found that both gender’s utterances were similar but had different context

Women talked more in same-gendered conversations

Men spoke in much larger groups, while women in smaller

Social Class Model (1980)

O’Barr and Atkins found that lower-class men used similar features to those in similar speech

‘Powerless language’- social status

Dominance Theory

In mixed-sex conversations, men are more likely to interrupt than women. Men control conversation topics and women use shorter responses to avoid conflict.

Zimmerman and West (1975)

They found that men were responsible for 96% of interruptions in mixed-sex conversations, which supported their hypothesis that in mixed-sex conversations this would occur

Interestingly, in same-sex conversations, it came down to personality traits rather than gender.

However, something that should be known is that this work can be discredited as Zimmerman and West used a smaller number of subjects, all being white, middle-class and similar age range.

Beattie (1981)

Women and men interrupt each other at almost the same frequency

His study was recorded on a much larger scale, and found 557 interruptions compared to Zimmerman and West’s 55.

Fishman (1983)

Conversations between men and women sometimes fail, not due to the way women talk, but how men respond

Women do the conversational ‘shitwork’

Women do the support work such as back channelling ‘displaying continuing interest’

She also claimed in mixed-sex conversations, women speak twice as long as men, so maybe women dominate conversations more

Difference Theory- Tannen (1992)

She proposed the following on what men and women want out of conversations, which can often lead to miscommunication

Diversity Theory

Language is seen as constructing gender

Sexes communicate differently, women do it better because of the structure of the brains.

The female brain excels in verbal tasks

The male brain excels in mathematical and visual-spatial tasks

Dogma-The idea that men and women speak ‘different languages’

Baron-Cohen 

Found that women and men are naturally suited to different kinds of work, e.g teacher and banker

Female brain jobs make use of empathy and communication

Male brain jobs analyse complex systems

There can be men with female brains and vice versa

In a call centre, the manager tended to hire women as he was, ‘looking for people who could chat to people. What we find is women do it more’

A book called ‘Female Brain’ claims on average women utter 20,000 times a day compared to men at 7,000

Judith Butler and Performativity

Performativity- Gender is created through repeated actions and language use.

People constantly perform different aspects of gender based on context

Language creates gender, the way in which we talk about ourselves and others can help create our gender identity. Language does not just reflect who we are, but is a tool that shapes us

Language and Power 

Power- ability to act or do. Great force/superiority

Types of Power

Political- Held by politicians and police

Personal- Through occupation or social role 

Social Group- From social variables such as class, gender, age

Practical Power- power through actions, violence, money

Positional Power- gained through position, often in a hierarchy

Personal Power- using power to influence people through caring or personality

Instrumental Power- given to someone by law or position

Influential Power- power of persuasion and who persuades you to do something

Foucalt’s Concept of Power

Power is everywhere, not held by certain groups

Knowledge influences power

Power is product

Fairclough’s CDA

Critical discourse analysis is a method of analysing language that focuses on the relationship between language, power and society. How discourse reflects, reinforces or challenges power relations.

3 main dimensions of CDA

Text- examining vocabulary, grammar and structure to identify how meaning is conveyed and power represented

Discursive Practice- How texts are produced and received. Explores how language use is shaped by social institutions and the media

Social Practice- Social context that shapes, and is shaped by discourse. Connects discourse to real-world social practices 

Limitations of CDA

-Subjectivity, heavily reliant on the researcher’s interpretation of the texts, introduces bias.

-Overemphasis on power, CDA tends to focus on power relations in discourse, meaning other parts of language like expression are overshadowed. Can lead to full range of meanings being lost/neglected

Sinclair and Couthard IRF (1975)

Described the interaction between students and teachers in the classroom as ‘IRF’

Common way for teachers to control classroom conversation 

Shapes student and teacher interactions, often positioning teacher in the dominant role

Initiate 

Teacher asks a question/statement, prompting student to respond

Teacher can direct the flow of conversation and assess a student’s knowledge

Response

Student reply

Response can vary in length, depth and accuracy 

Generally an attempt to engage with the teacher’s request

Feedback

Teacher can gives feedback

Can be evaluative (correct/incorrect) or supportive

Feedback is essential as it guides learning and helps students understand how well they’ve responded to a teacher’s prompt