LING101-25S1-LecA-Ho-s1-low

Week Four Lecture: Accent Variation and Transcription

Introduction to Transcription

• Focus on transcription in tutorials this week.

• Discussion on accent variation in English during lectures.

• Goals:

  • Understand IPA symbols in transcription.

  • Discuss influence of native accents on English as a second language.

Understanding Accents

• Definition of Accent:

  • Represents the unique speech patterns of individuals.

  • Accents are inherent to all speakers; not just noticeable traits of others.

• Common Misconception:

  • Accents often perceived as the speech of others, but everyone possesses an accent.

  • Accents reveal aspects of identity, including:

    • Region

    • Age

    • Social class

Regional Indicators of Accent

• Region:

  • Accents can indicate geographical origins (e.g., rural vs. urban accents).

  • Distinct accents link to specific English-speaking countries (e.g., New Zealand vs. Australia).

  • While New Zealand and Australian accents may be confused by outsiders, they are distinct to those familiar with them.

Age Indicators of Accent

• Accents can hint at the speaker's age:

  • Older speakers might use sounds no longer common in younger generations.

  • While joint sounds can vary with age, distinguishing precise ages by accents can be challenging.

Social Class and Accent

• Accents may reflect social status:

  • Examples include working class, middle class, and upper class accents.

  • Higher status speakers often exhibit more formal speech, potentially using fewer slang words.

  • Received Pronunciation (RP) often considered 'proper' or 'high status,' although it is rarely spoken.

Received Pronunciation (RP)

• Also known as:

  • Queen's English

  • King's English

  • BBC English

  • Standard Southern British English

• Despite its status, a minimal percentage of the population speaks RP.

• RP is often the model for teaching English as a second language.

Analyzing Accents

• Accents bear social cues and stereotypes affecting perceptions but must be analyzed as sound systems.

• Understanding linguistic systems is essential to recognizing variation and complexity across accents.

Lexical Sets

• Definition: A system of categorizing words with the same sound.

• Introduced by linguist John Wells in 1982.

• Examples of lexical sets include:

  • Kit: kit, ship, hit, bid, pill (vowel sound /ɪ/)

  • Dress: dress, step, egg, set (vowel sound /ɛ/)

  • Face: face, brace, lace, raid (vowel sound /eɪ/)

• Vowels may appear in multiple lexical sets but help differentiate accents.

Types of Differences in Accents

Systemic Differences

• These involve distinctions in meaning when phonemes are altered.

• Examples include:

  • Changes in initial consonants affecting meaning:

    • pat vs. sat

    • pat vs. pit

• Systemic differences can reflect differing phonological systems between accents.

Realizational Differences

• Relate to pronunciation without changing word meaning:

• Examples of realization differences include:

  • L Vocalization: Pronouncing "l" like a vowel (e.g., fill, field).

  • Variable r Pronunciation: Different accents can articulate the "r" sound in numerous ways.

• Differences not altering meanings but affecting how they are pronounced.

Distributional Differences

• These refer to where particular sounds appear in words:

  • Distinction based on the sound's geographical appearance can demarcate accents (e.g., Scottish English and Received Pronunciation).

• Distributional differences will be elaborated in the follow-up lecture.

Conclusion

• This lecture laid groundwork for understanding accent variation for effective transcription.

• Upcoming lectures will explore phonological systems further, focusing on how accents differ systematically and in realization.