Diversity - Region

Question 1

where did Milroy & Milroy’s study take place?

Answer 1

Belfast

Question 2

what did Milroy and Milroy conclude?

Answer 2

your social network / the people you have relationships with affect your language much more than gender or social class

Question 3

why did Milroy and Milroy come to their conclusion?

Answer 3

trend for women demonstrating overt prestige and men demonstrating covert prestige was reversed.
35% male employment meant that women had a more close network - women become linguistically homogenous and enforced non-standard forms

Question 4

what is a closed network?

Answer 4

participants all know each other

Question 5

what is an open network?

Answer 5

participants tend to not know each other

Question 6

where and when did Trudgill’s study take place?

Answer 6

Norwich 1975

Question 7

what was Trudgill’s study?

Answer 7

how does social class and gender affect the use of the standard ‘-ng’ ending at the end of words such as ‘walking’ and ‘talking’

Question 8

what did Trudgill conclude?

Answer 8

• the higher the social class of the speaker, the more likely they are to use the standard ‘-ng’ ending
• women across all classes use ‘ng’ more
• ‘ng’ was used more during read from a text speech than spontaneous speech across all classes and genders

Question 9

what was Labov’s Martha’s Vineyard study?

Answer 9

MV is an island. 6000 permanent residents. 40000 summer visitors.

wanted to study the change in pronunciation of dipthongs in MV.

Question 10

what was the role of the fishermen in Labov’s Martha’s Vineyard study?

Answer 10

• seen to be ‘true islanders’
• exaggerated the traditional accent
• islanders admired the skill and strength of fishermen so subconsciously imitated their speech, including the exaggerated diphthong pronunciation

Question 11

what was concluded from the Martha’s Vineyard study?

Answer 11

• covert prestige is prevalent
• changes to diphthong pronunciation was subconscious
• islanders wanted to diverge from the summer visitors

Question 12

where and when was Labov’s ‘r’ variable study?

Answer 12

New York City 1966

Question 13

how did Labov perform his 1966 study?

Answer 13

he walked around Saks, Macy’s and S.Klein (department stores) in NYC and got store assistants to say ‘fourth floor’ by asking the location of something he knew was there.

Question 14

what did Labov’s ‘r’ variable study conclude?

Answer 14

‘r’ pronunciation was most common in middle class (Macy’s) shop store assistants, maybe due to a social aspiration as the ‘r’ variable was associated with upper class people.

Question 15

what was the Manchester Voices study about?

Answer 15

people’s perception of different Manchester accents

Question 16

how was the Manchester Voices study performed?

Answer 16

• the accent van was sent around the 10 boroughs.
• 421 people took part - 200 in the accent van and 221 in a virtual accent van.
• ‘mon-kee’ vs ‘mon-keh’
• participants drew a perception map indicating where they felt people spoke differently and shared their views.

Question 17

what did the Manchester Voices study conclude?

Answer 17

• Salford accent is perceived as the lowest status.
• Trafford seen as higher status.
• Most participants correlate accent with social class and status.
• 10 miles any direction from the middle of Manchester, communication differs