Accent and Dialect Theories

Question 1

How was Labovs study carried out?

Answer 1

Interviewed speakers from different agars and ethnic groups on the island. He asked them questions about their lives(avoiding language)

Question 2

What did Labov find to be the heaviest users were?

Answer 2

young men 31-35 and were Up-Islanders- original inhabitants who sought to identify themselves as vineyards, rejected mainland values.

Question 3

What did he find a particular group of speakers attempt to do?

Answer 3

They tried to move away from pronunciations associated with Standard New England norms and towards characteristically vineyard speakers.

Question 4

What did these speakers seem to be exploiting

Answer 4

Resources of the non standard accent in order to create an identity for themselves that clearly marked them out as native islanders

Question 5

Did these young men do this consciously?

Answer 5

No, they did this seemingly subconsciously to establish themselves as an independent social group with superior status.