Dialectal Theories and Attitudes

He said that a child's language should be accepted and teachers should appreciate the importance of this An attempt to suppress an accent is irrational and neither humane nor necessary Criticising a persons speech can be an attack on his self esteem. There is an 'aesthetic' assessment of accents. This means that the researchers found a hierarchy where Received Pronunciation is at the top and it is followed by foreign and regional accents. The brummy accent was placed at the bottom Teachers feel the need to change the speech habits of their pupils so there is some conformity A thought from linguists is that utterances may be ‘correct in one situation but not in another one. It is said that linguistic correctness becomes a matter of conforming to the behaviour appropriate to the situation in which he is talking. The aim isn’t to alienate the child from the language with which they has grown up and uses naturally.

 A child's language should be accepted.  Criticism of accent effects self esteem.  Accents can label your social element- in report; top is Received Pronunciation, and 'town' accents at the bottom.  Report= Child's accent should be accepted, and suppressing it is unnecessary.  Teacher's aim should be to inform pupils of the awareness and flexibility of an accent/dialect for the children to make their own decisions change if they want to.  Correct grammar and diction within pupils language is something teachers feel they should change.  A linguists view is that an utterance may be 'correct' in one situation but not in another.  Each person belongs to many linguistic groups so speaking correctly depends on the situation.  Theory is used to extend a child's language and repertoire so language can be used effectively.  In one test Brummie was lowest.

 The English in this writing is formal and instructive which is appropriate for the particular use of the text in schools due to the educational importance of the subject to the audience (the pupils) which is easily realised by these language features.  The formality ‘All specifications in English must require…’ and use of Standard English in this writing is authoritative and therefore the essence of the text is respected by the readers.  The text itself is also informative and almost scripted hence the lack of visibly regional dialect, accent and pronunciation as something of the written mode.  The use of data ‘From 40-60%’ in the table is helpful and informative to the readers also adhering to the formal, authoritative voice representing it.  Due to the topic being about English this could be bias towards the use of Standard English in schools because of it being the requirement for that situation.

Dialect levelling is a form of standardisation where local variations of speech lose their distinctive, regional features for a more urban dialect which varies from standard English. Children nowadays are less likely to adopt their parents’ dialect as they spend more time with various groups. World Wars meant a change in roles within society especially WWII when women went out to work and soldiers mixed with a wide range of geographical and social backgrounds which may never have previously clashed this meant many accents merged and varied. In some cases, this leads to southern features being adopted in the whole country and being associated with us worldwide. Testing the Theory - Kerswill investigated the changes in dialect in Milton Keynes, Reading and Hull by interviewing local residents of different ages and studying their pronunciation of certain speech sounds and words. Milton Keynes and Reading are both viewed as towns where social and geographical mobility is high as there are plenty of newcomers from all social classes expanding the area assisting in changing the dialect. Results - Milton Keynes, older residents used vowel sounds typical of the traditional, local accent, newcomers spoke with a variety of regional accents, while children spoke like their parents for the first 4 years, this changed after. Reading - Gradual change as children were influenced by their local born-parents. Hull - Young speakers retained the northern accent of their older relatives. Conclusion - In Hull the closed social networks encourage the continuation of traditional pronunciations in in Reading and Milton Keynes it changed after the age of 5 once they mixed with various backgrounds. Kerswill says that these linguistic variations are associated with youth culture rather than social class. George Speakman

Kerswill: Dialect Levelling Dialect levelling is a form of standardisation whereby local variations of speech lose their distinctive, regional features in favour of a more urban or mainstream dialect. This means that the speech forms of different parts of the country are becoming more similar over time and this results in a reduction of language diversity. There are several factors involved in dialect levelling: Geographical mobility results in greater dialect contact between commuters. Social mobility and consequent breakdown of tight knit working class communities. Increased interaction with people of other speech varieties. Children are less likely to adopt their parents’ pronunciation as they come under peer pressure to conform to the linguistic norm of the group. Adolescents take on a vital role in language change. Economic change lead to loss of rural employment and construction of suburbs and new towns. World Wars meant a change in roles within society especially WWII when women went out to work and soldiers mixed with a wide range of geographical and social backgrounds which may never have previously clashed. Traditional Dialect Features North/Midlands ‘tha’ for ‘you’ ‘hissen’ for ‘himself’ ‘I is’ or ‘I are’ for ‘I am’ ‘reet’ for ‘right’ Southwest ‘her’ for ‘she’ ‘I be’ for ‘I am’ ‘umman’ for ‘woman’ Modern Dialect Features Multiple negation ‘I don’t want none’. Use of ‘ain’t’ for negative auxiliaries Use of ‘them’ as a demonstrative adjective ‘Look at them big spiders’ Use of glottal stops for /t/ at the end and in middle of words ‘bu/?/er’ ‘le/?/ me’. Replacement of /th/ sounds by /f/ or /v/ so ‘thin’ becomes ‘fin’ and ‘brother’ becomes ‘bruvver’. Kerswill investigated the changes in dialect in Milton Keynes, Reading and Hull by interviewing local residents of different ages and studying their pronunciation of certain speech sounds. He generally used children of the ages 4, 8 and 12 (equally divided by sex) and one caregiver, usually the mother. The recordings were from either specific tasks given to the children such as quizzes or spot the difference games or spontaneous speech obtained by interviews or playground recordings. The children’s caregivers were also interviewed. Kerswill identified a gradual move among adolescent, Southern speakers towards the more standardised, less localised variations of speech. However, in Hull, the closed social networks encourage the continuation of traditional pronunciations, for example, dropping the /h/ was widespread in both old and young residents of Hull but far less so in Reading and Milton Keynes. He suggests an economic factor – the prosperity of southern towns makes social mobility and achievable goal for young people, however, the high levels of unemployment in northern towns such as Hull makes children unconvinced of the value of education as a passport to social mobility and therefore reject the pressure from authoritarian systems such as the educational one to modify their accents. Why the /th/ fronting and glottalling in Hull then, as this is common in Reading and Milton Keynes as well? Kerswill says that these linguistic variations are associated with youth culture rather than social class as they are spread though the media and celebrity culture popular with adolescents. Hull teenagers can signify their allegiance to their region and class by maintaining the traditional northern accent as well as identifying themselves with their peer group by adopting new phonemes popular with youth culture which may still be working class but not traditionally northern. RESULTS METHOD

 William Labov, born in 1927, investigated conscious speech and it’s effect on the persons prestigiousness  There are two types of prestige – “overt” and “covert” – overt to fit in with a dominant social group and covert to fit into an exclusive social group  In Labov’s “New York Department Study” where he investigated the “r” pronounciation in 3 different department stores in New York of different “ social class”  His main findings was that as the class of the store increased – the emphasis on the pronounciation of “r” increased. The overuse of”r” known as hypercorrection – was most common in the lower-middle class and that overt prestige seemed more common in women

 William Labov, born 1927, decided to investigate conscious speech and prestige.  Two forms of prestige: ‘overt’ and ‘covert’  Overt prestige: applying more culturally dominant accent for example using RP to fit with dominant group  Covert prestige: using an accent to fit in with an exclusive community  In 1966 Labov entered three New York department stores to investigate overt prestige using the /r/ sound in ‘fourth floor’  The three department stores he visited were Saks (upper class), Macy’s (middle class) and S Klein (lower class).  He asked shop assistants where departments that he knew were on the fourth floor were (spontaneous), then pretended he had not heard the assistant, so they repeated the answer (careful)  Labov found that the pronunciation of /r/ increased as the class of the store increased,  He also concluded that the more careful the speech was, the more likely the /r/ was to be pronounced.  He found the overuse of /r/, was most common in the lower middle class  He also found overt prestige seemed more common in women than men.

Accents and prestige: Labov William Labov looked at change in language and how different social factors effected language change, ranging from age to social class to gender. He found language change consisted of two things: 1. Conscious being when people realise they are changing the way they speak, and actively encourage it. 2. Unconscious being when people change their language without noticing. The investigation looks at conscious speech change and uses the example of Labov’s New York department Store study with the involvement of PRESTIGE. Prestige can be separated into ‘overt prestige’ and ‘covert prestige’ Labov investigated the pronunciation of the ‘post-vocalic’ /r/ sound in American speech, which is the /r/ sound that comes directly after a vowel in words such as the middle of the word ‘fourth’ and the end of the word ‘floor’. Labov carried out his experiment by walking into 3 different department stores in New York representing different social classes, being Saks (upper class), Macy’s (middle class) and S. Klein (lower class). OUTCOME: Therefore Labov found that the pronunciation of /r/ increased as the class of the store increased, as well as an increase of /r/ in careful speech, and concluded that the more careful the speech was the more likely the /r/ was to be pronounced. Labov found the overuse of /r/, known as hypercorrection, was most common in the lower middle class(Macy’s), as they were most likely to be aware of which speech forms are ‘classy’ and would use these forms in careful speech to improve prestige and appear to belong to the higher middle class.

Paul Kerswill's Milton Keynes Study  The children used for the investigation were either born in Milton Keynes or had arrived there by the age of two, this is because he was looking into the way people spoke who have grown up living there.  Milton Keynes was a town that evolved with a number of different people with all different accents and dialects.  As the children grew up they adapted to all the different accents which surrounded them.  The characteristics of the way people there speak represents the new ‘speech community’  The group does most of the sociolinguistic work in new dialect formation.  As you grow you pick up the dialects and accents that you are surrounded by.

 All English people should be capable of speaking Standard English so as to be fully intelligible, as an inability to speak it is a serious handicap  People that can speak both Standard English and their own dialect are bi-lingual  In an international survey, English was voted as the best suited for being a universal language  If English is to become the international language, it must be taught in all the schools of the world - optional in primary schools, and compulsory in the secondary schools.  English children, are required by law to attend school, so should be entitled to be taught the accepted speech of their own country.

Paul Kerswill's Milton Keynes Study -Investigated 10 speech sounds with different pronunciations in Milton Keynes. -Two variables vowels tested. -Study focused on 48 kids, 16 four year olds, 16 eight year olds & 16 twelve year olds & on one cargegiver for each kid. -Recordings divided in to two main sections – elicitation tasks and spontaneous speech. -Vowel variable (ou) the second part of this vowel can be 'fronted', so that the word 'Coke' pronounced like 'cake'. The researchers quantified the fronting of (ou) on a four- point scale running from Found on average kids ‘front’ their vowels more than adults suggesting its part of a new Milton Keynes dialect. This is the same for the (u:) vowel variable. -'fronted' pronunciations of both vowels in the words 'home' and 'move' showed that he patterns are not identical for each vowel. - The speech of older children (around the age of 12) quite closely represents the characteristics of the new 'speech community' which is developing in Milton Keynes.

Dialect levelling is a form of standardisation where different local variations of speech lose distinctive features and instead gain a more mainstream, standardised dialect. So speech around England becomes less varied over time meaning there is a reduction in language diversity. What causes dialect levelling? greater geographical mobility (they move around more The breakdown of the class system Children are less likely to pick up on their parents World wars changed the roles within society Traditional dialect features that are changing North/Midlands ‘tha’ for ‘you’ and ‘hissen’ for ‘himself’ ‘I is’ or ‘I are’ for ‘I am’ and ‘reet’ for ‘right’ Southwest ‘her’ for ‘she’ ‘I be’ for ‘I am’ ‘umman’ for ‘woman’ Kerswill tested his theory and found that: There was a gradual move among young Southerners towards more standardised, less localised variations of speech. The economy of the town affected it as the stronger the economy, the more people would come into the town so the more language would change Some linguistic variations are associated with youth culture rather than social class that are spread though the media and celebrity culture popular with adolescents. Josh Irvine

1973 Criticism of a persons speech may seem like a personal attack. There is a hierarchy of accents in how aesthetic they are. Accents should be accepted, “to suppress it is irrational” “Appropriateness is more important than correctness” Context rather than “acceptable standards of grammar.” Speech communities matter due to context when speaking. R.C

 In 1970 Trudgill studied “Norwich Speech”.  One case studied was the dropping of the ‘g’ sound after words such as “walking” and “talking”, thus making the speaker seem lower class/ much more informal.  Even though this study was based on those in Norwich, Trudgill found this to be apparent for English-speakers across the country.  Pronouncing ‘ing’ at the end of words has been considered correct for the past 300 years. One of the only times it was considered socially okay to drop the ‘g’ was when upper class Edwardians would pronounce words such as ‘huntin’, ‘shootin’ and ‘fishin’.  Trudgill also found out that, when questioned, women considered themselves to be better at pronouncing ‘ing’ words correctly than they actually were, and men thought that they were more lazy and used the non-standard ‘in’ form, when in fact they spoke with standard ‘ing’ form much more.

 Accent - Way we pronounce English  Dialect - Words, Grammar and Pronunciation associated with regional area but not associated with level of formality at which it is spoken. Standard English and RP are different  RP is accentless and 3-5% of population speak it  Standard English is a dialect used in writing and spoken by powerful and educated, a minority dialect with 12-15% of population Two kinds of Regional Dialect  Traditional = spoken by small majority of population - differs from standard English and is often difficult to understand  Mainstream = Include standard and non standard English - are associated with native speakers not from the British Isles. NO SHARP BOUNDARIES EXIST WITH DIALECT  Some linguists (dialectologists) describe them with such superficial boundaries However…  The Fens is one such important boundary, with pronunciation in Norfolk of laugh /la:f/ and butter /b ∧ t∂/, and in Lincolnshire of /læf/ and /bυt∂/. The Norfolk pronunciations are newer forms.  Language change can be attributed to growth of people and immigration  Swedish, Dutch, Norwegian, Icelandic, German and English were all the same (Germanic)  Indoeuropean was the stem of these languages spoken circa 4000BC in Eurasia  This doesn't mean we can speak Dutch without study. English bought in years ago. Changes written in books etc become harder to understand.  Dialects differ in their pronunciation (accents), grammar and vocabulary. With Modern Dialects, pronunciation is the biggest clue as to where someone comes from. But there is also another difference in dialect use – how a dialect is used and what it is for.