accent and dialect

Question 1

define accent

Answer 1

variation in pronunciation associated with a particular geographical region

Question 2

define dialect

Answer 2

variations in words and structures associated with a particular geographical region

Question 3

what is linguistic accommodation

Answer 3

language changing based on who you are with

Question 4

what three ideas did Jean Aitchison come up with?

Answer 4

-damp spoon syndrome
-crumbling castle view
-infectious disease syndrome

Question 5

describe Jean Aitchison’s damp spoon syndrome

Answer 5

• language changes due to lazyness
  -sloppy with language–> as result, standards slip
• a sign of an almost moral failing
  laxy ppl leaving damp spoon in sugar bowl

Question 6

describe Jean Aitchison’s crumbling castle view

Answer 6

• the idea that language is a precious and beautiful thing
  -should be cared for and preserved
• castle view acknowledges that some aspects of language are old and must be protected

Question 7

describe Jean Aitchison’s infectious disease syndrome

Answer 7

• the idea that we ‘catch’ bad/poor language from eachother
  ~> we should fight it and try to repair it, but it is inevitable
• this view acknowledges that language changes to suit a particular group of people and spread among them

Question 8

what do all consonants involve?

Answer 8

restriction of airflow by articulators eg; lips, tongue,teeth…

Question 9

describe descriptivism attitude

Answer 9

• attempts to ‘protect’ the language
• tells us what is ‘good’ and ‘bad’ about language
• gives spoken english the same status as written forms

Question 10

describe the prescriptivism attitude

Answer 10

• doesnt make judgements about language
• describes varieties and usages linguistucally

Question 11

what doe prescriptivists believe?

Answer 11

believe that lamguage change is inevitable and necessary and should be embraced instead of resisted
- different forms of language are legitimised as providing variation rather than being inferior

Question 12

define isogloss

Answer 12

a line on a map marking an area having a distinct linguistic feature

Question 13

what does dialect levelling refer to

Answer 13

• dialect levelling refers to varieties becoming more similar to eachother
  eg: estuary english = mix of london and standard

Question 14

define prosody

Answer 14

aspects of sounds used for effects within speech/texts
eg: alliteration, rhyme,

Question 15

define ellision

Answer 15

to miss something out
eg: do not –> don’t
to elise something

Question 16

define phonetics

Answer 16

the catalogues of different speech sounds within a language

Question 17

define monophthongs

Answer 17

single unchanging sounds
eg: cat

Question 18

define diphthongs

Answer 18

a changing sound
eg: go

Question 19

define fricative

Answer 19

denoting type of consonant made by the friction of breath in a narrow opening
- producing turbulent airflow

Question 20

define plosive

Answer 20

• denoting type of consonant that is produced by stopping airflow

Question 21

define pragmatics

Answer 21

the (sometimes hidden) meaning of something in context

Question 22

what are the two types of vowels

Answer 22

monophthongs and diphthongs

Question 23

what are the two types of consonants

Answer 23

plosives and fricatives

Question 24

what is linguistic accommodation

Answer 24

language changes based on who you are with

Question 25

what is context of production

Answer 25

external factors that influence the creation of a text

Question 26

what is context of reception

Answer 26

external factors that influence the interpretation of a text

Question 27

describe Howard Giles 1973 study regarding effectiveness as a function of accented speech

Answer 27

method
- presented 5 groups of students identical set of argument against capital punishment
G1= printed out
G2= rp presenter
G3= birmingham presenter
- students were asked how impressed they were with the competance of the presentaion
–> rp rated most competent, birmingham least

• Giles also assessed persuasiveness of each accent by comparing students’ view of capital punishment before and after presentation

conculsion
- highest competence, intelligence = RP
- more persuasive = regional accent

Question 28

describe Dixon, Mahoney and Cocks 2002 study regarding the effects on accent race and crime type on attributions of guilt

Answer 28

aim
- to test if a Brummie accented suspect would receive a higher rating of guilt compared to a suspect with an RP accent
- see whether race/type of crime would make a difference

method
- hired black and white male actors to reproduce police interviews with suspected blue/white collar crimes
- 119 pps listened to 2 minute recorded convo
- the type of crime was manipulated–> either blue or white collar
- race of suspect was also changed

results
- suspect with Birmingham accent rated more guilty compared to RP
- Birmingham was regarded as less intelligent and more likely w/c
- brummie speakers highly associated wit blue collar crimes