Region, social groups and social class

Question 1

Paul Kerswill

Question 2

Estuary English

Answer 2

Relatively new accent identified by Rosewarne, blend of RP and cockney.
It is debatable evidence of social mobility and levelling.

Question 3

RP

Answer 3

Received pronunciation
Prestige English accent
Not a dialect

Question 4

Sociolect

Answer 4

Varieties relating to social factors (e.g. age, gender and social class)

Question 5

Code switching

Answer 5

The ability to use different varieties as a appropriate to context.

Question 6

Convergence

Answer 6

Language becomes more like that of those around you.

Question 7

Divergence

Answer 7

Language becomes less like that of those around you.

Question 8

Mahoney - Worcester Uni

Answer 8

In mock trial, found that defendants with Birmingham accent were more than twice as likely to be found guilty than defendants with an RP accent.

Question 9

Jenny Cheshire - Reading

Answer 9

Using association between language used and ‘vernacular culture index’ scores, found that teenagers who approved of antisocial/criminal behaviour used more non-standard linguistic features. Also found that boys used more non standard features than girls.

Question 10

Labov -New York department stores

Answer 10

Tested pronunciation of ‘fourth floor’ in an upmarket, middle market and downmarket store. Found convergence with customers. Also found that middle class store workers were most likely to change their prestige when made conscious about it.

Question 11

Overt prestige

Answer 11

Mainstream social status such as RP and SE (standard English)

Question 12

Covert Prestige

Answer 12

Sub-cultural group prestige, as given to non standard varieties, such as MLE, within a particular group.

Question 13

Milroy and Milroy - Belfast

Answer 13

Researched links between language and social networks, found that the denser the social network, the more non-standard language that was used. Also found that women tended to use more standard variations of language than been but then also tended to have more open social networks.

Question 14

Labov - Gangs

Answer 14

Research into New York gang members. Found evidence of covert prestige - the more respected a person was within the gang, the more non-standard features in their speech . Similar to Jenny Cheshires reading study. Also found that language skills are highly prized and given status, e.g. in ritual insult battles.

Question 15

Labov - Marthas Vineyard

Answer 15

A small finishing community increasingly dominated by tourists. Fisherman exaggerated their local accents and dialects in order to diverge from tourists and express their local identity. Whereas people who worked in the tourist industry actually converged with the accents as the NY accent had high prestige in their line of work.

Question 16

Accent

Answer 16

The pronunciation or the sound that people make when they speak.

Question 17

Dialect

Answer 17

Refers to lexis and grammar.

Question 18

Peter Trudgill - Norwich

Answer 18

Conducted research in Norwich on upper class and lower class people looking at their pronunciation of the word ending ‘ing’. Found that there was a high proportion of the walkin’ rather than walking in lower class people but also found that women were much more likely to use the “in’ “ form than men were.

Question 19

Penelope Eckert

Answer 19

Jocks and burnouts study found that jocks who had a more positive attitude towards school and society tended to have more overt prestige with more standard grammar and low frequency lexis. Whereas the burnouts who has a more negative outlook had used language which had covert prestige within their group, this included more slang and nonstandard grammar. Eckert concluded that people tend to speak like their friends or those who had shared social practices and social networks was more important influence on language than gender or social class.

Question 20

Emma Moore

Answer 20

Investigated patterns of variation in speech among teenage girls own Bolton Greater Manchester, looked at the nonstandard use of the very ‘were’ with a singular subject. Found that

Question 21

What is an Idiolect?

Answer 21

Variation in language use which is specific to a particular person.

Question 22

What is Interactional Speech?

Answer 22

Communication that primarily severs the purpose of social interaction, e.g. small talk and conversation.

Question 23

What is Jargon?

Answer 23

The vocabulary and manner of speech that define and reflect a particular profession which may be difficult for others to understand.

Question 24

What is Polari?

Answer 24

A coded language used by the gay community established to prevent discrimination against homosexuality

Question 25

What is a Repressive Discourse Strategy?

Answer 25

Power is displayed more subtly, and can go unnoticed in conversation. Indirect language is used, and social standing is subconsciously demonstrated. e.g. a group member stating ‘they prefer the quiet’.

Question 26

What is a Social network?

Answer 26

The structure of a particular speech community. Social networks, and the interactions between the members within them, are a driving force behind language change.

Question 27

What is taboo language?

Answer 27

A word, topics or phrase that is social custom to avoid using or discussing as people find them embarrassing or offensive

Question 28

What is transactional speech?

Answer 28

Language which is used to make a transaction, and creates a result. It is different from interactional language which is used to maintain relationships.

Question 29

What did Stenstrom identify about Teen Speech?

Answer 29

Common features of teen speak include: slang, irregular turn taking, verbal duelling, overlaps, teasing and name calling, indistinct articulation, taboo and language mixing.

Question 30

What did Martinez identify about Teens vs Adults in language?

Answer 30

Teenagers use more negatives than adults; are more direct and not afraid of face threatening acts. Multiple negation is a common feature of teenage language.

Question 31

What did Jenny Cheshire state language development is based on?

Answer 31

Adult and child language develops in response to important life events such as marriage, child birth and change in social situations.

Question 32

What did Lesley Milroy identify in Belfast?

Answer 32

Social networks are composed of a ‘web of ties’ between individuals.

Question 33

What is an Anti-language?

Answer 33

Coined buy Michael Halliday it is a minority dialect, or method of communicating, within a minority speech community that excludes members of the main speech community

Question 34

What does Penelope Eckert say about the use of slang?

Answer 34

Slang is used to connect an individual to youth culture and to disassociate themselves with other generations.

Question 35

What does Unni Berland say about Teenagers use of tags?

Answer 35

Teenagers often use tags such as ‘innit’, ‘right’ and ‘yeah’. ‘Innit’ is used more by working class and ‘yeah’ by middle class.

Question 36

What does Vivian De Klerk talk about young people being able to do?

Answer 36

Younger people have the freedom to challenge linguistic norms; they seek establish new identities. Patterns of speech formed by parents are eroded by patterns within their peer groups.

Question 37

What does Zimmerman state influences teen speak?

Answer 37

Factors that influence teen speak include the media, music, graffiti and new forms of communication.

Question 38

What is a Sociolect?

Answer 38

Dialect associated with the class of a speaker

Question 39

What is an Ethnolect?

Answer 39

Language associated with ethnic groups

Question 40

What is a Register?

Answer 40

The situation or context in which a discourse event takes place which motivates the speaker or writer to adopt a particular register.

Question 41

What is Howard Giles’ Accommodation Theory?

Answer 41

The idea that people have different levels of formality of language at their disposal, and will converge or diverge their language depending on their situation.

Question 42

What did Jonathon Harrington track in 2000?

Answer 42

Tracked changes in the Queens speech over a thirty year period. Certain aspects of her speech have moved towards a more general southern British English variety, rather than RP.

Question 43

What is Paul Kerswill’s findings about dialect levelling?

Answer 43

Studied dialect levelling in Hull, Reading and Milton Keynes. The more people mix in different networks, the more people move in from elsewhere and the more scope there is for social mobility can have an impact on language used.

Question 44

What is MBE, proposed by Drummond?

Answer 44

A variety of English used by people in the UK which incorporates features associated with MLE alongside features from local accent and dialect

Question 45

What is Accent Bias?

Answer 45

An unwarranted prejudice toward interlocutors based on the sound of their speech​

Question 46

What is a diaspora?

Answer 46

The spread of an accent to other areas

Question 47

What was the main finding of the Accent Bias Research Project?

Answer 47

Young people are more positive to non-standard forms than older people

Question 48

What is MLE?

Answer 48

Multicultural London English - an Ethnolect that has been identified by Jenny Cheshire in London and is trasmitted by the Grime music scene.

Question 49

Bernstein

Answer 49

Found two types of languages, or ‘codes’. Middle class children can switch between elaborated or restricted codes. Working class children can only use restricted code. This means that education disadvantages working class children.
Elaborated code- Lacks dependence on external context e.g. did you see the Manchester United football game
restricted code- requires external knowledge of context e.g. did you see the game

Question 50

Workman

Answer 50

Matched guise study, surveying attitudes to language, Birmingham was rated lowest for intelligence and attractiveness.

Question 51

Thorne

Answer 51

Foreigners found the Birmingham accent attractive and beautiful, therefore shows that the dislike of the accent ia based off of prejudice and not actually on the accent being unattractive

Question 52

Clarke

Answer 52

There has been recent resurgence of the Birmingham accent amongst young people, perhaps to express identity

Question 53

Martinez

Answer 53

Found that teenagers used negatives more frequently in their speech than adults, especially in response to requests and imperatives. Martinez suggested that this is because teenagers are more direct in their speech and less worried than adults about threatening a speakers face.

Question 54

Berland

Answer 54

Found that teenagers were much more likely than adults to use the tags ‘innit’, ‘yeah’ and ‘right’

Question 55

Douglas Bigham

Answer 55

Young people are more likely to have social accents than regional accents. Found that regional accents are levelling but social accents are expanding.

Question 56

Goal orientation

Answer 56

Participants in a workplace conversations will often focus on specific tasks or goals
(one of the features identified by drew and heritage)

Question 57

Allowable contributions

Answer 57

In workplaces there may be restrictions on what kinds on contributions are considered ‘allowable’

Question 58

What did Numberg find about workplace jargon

Answer 58

Found that corporate jargon is like teenage slang and that it provides a sense of identity

Question 59

Hornyak

Answer 59

Found that ion workplaces, interactional talk tends to be started by the most senior person in an interaction.

Question 60

Holmes’s and stubbe

Answer 60

Found that when making requests or using imperatives towards equals, workers tended to mitigation or hedges whereas were more direct with inferiors.

Question 61

Sharma and Sankaran

Answer 61

Studied the use of the retroflex t in Indian English and found that usage varies depending on the age but also on the context. (code switching)