accent + dialect Flashcards
(13 cards)
gile’s accommodation theory
he believes we adapt our language based on who we are speaking to. he believed we either converge (sound more RP, match the speaker) or diverge (highlight the differences in language between the two speakers)
gile’s accommodation theory: capital punishment study
Giles presented 4 groups of students with a set of arguments against capital punishment.
- one group heard rp
- one group heard a Somerset accent
- one group heard a Birmingham accent
- one group heard a welsh accent
gile’s accommodation theory: capital punishment study findings
giles found that RP came top for intelligence, leadership and ambition. it came bottom for friendliness, persuasiveness and was seen as ‘posh and snobby’. overall, he is effectively saying that anyone with an RP accent is superior and will achieve more than those without, potentially isolating them from opportunities. he found that the Birmingham accent was the least impressive
Sarah woods
wood replicated Giles study. she found the status of rp is changing. it is becoming “too posh” and untrustworthy
Thomas Sheridan
Sheridan was a prescriptivist. he believed that one variety of language is superior and should be promoted. he sees a ‘proper’ accent as proof a person has kept good company. Sheridans ideas gave rise to elocution as a professional way to speak
fabricus (challenges Sheridan)
conducted a study on Cambridge students and found the glottal stops were more widely used and less stigmatised
the public school accent
school inspectors would report on pupils pronunciation. teachers would challenge students for improper pronunciation.
what did trudgill say about standard English and education?
trudgill - “standard English has become the dialect of eduction”
the BBC
in 1922, speakers were expected to eradicate all regionality from their voices. instead, regional voices were used for comedy and light entertainment. Yorkshire born Wilfred pickles read the news during ww2 and listeners complained that he wasn’t believable
labovs’ social stratification theory
he studied the use of the postvocalic ‘r’ found in words like “fourth floor”. he went to 3 different department stores in New York, all of different classes (Salls - upper, Macy’s - middle, Klein - lower). he found that people who had a socioeconomic status pronounced the ‘r’ more frequently (higher class) and middle class workers tried to sound more prestigious (hypercorrection)
labov’s social stratification theory criticisms
we can’t generalise the study because it was only done in New York, which is considered socially prestigious anyway, so the study lacks cross cultural validity
petyt
he examined the dropping of ‘h’ sounds across the social classes. he found the lower working class speakers dropped 93% of ‘h’ sounds while the upper class only dropped it 12%. however, we can’t generalise due to only being tested in Yorkshire
Kim and elder
Communication difficulties between Korean and American colleagues - they were abbreviating unhelpfully, using idiomatic expressions, elaborating, etc.
