Possible reasons that trigger changes?? WHY ACCENTS DIFFER?? Possible reasons that trigger changes??

REASONS TRIGGERING ACCENT CHANGES ACCENTS CHANGES BCS LANGUAGES CHANGE The language developments in certain areas and among different social groups are NOT the same WHY INNOVATIONS IN PRONUNCIATION OCCUR??

Why innovations in pronunciation?? Explanations: 1. Principle of least effort =post-hoc explanation-changes=decay, corruption New pronunciation patterns: result of laziness E.g., /t/→[ɾ]/ ‘V-V ‘atom’, ‘writer’ BUT it does NOT explain why one tendency in pronunc occurred and not the other (e.g why only /t/ undergoes tapping and not /p/ or /k/)

Why innovations in pronunciation occur?? 2. some segment types are more natural than others –early learning, found more frequently, etc Eg., the natural position for vowels: front, non-low:unrouded, back, non-low:rounded E.g., /l/ vocalization ‘middle’ : [mɪdɬ] =[mɪdo] E.g., ‘mince’: /mɪns/ =[mɪnts] (t epenthesis)bcs of making the transition from /n/to /s/ more natural NOT a simplification bcs one more segmnet appears

The criterion of naturalness in pronunciation E.g., assimilations, ‘th fronting’: persistent infantilism: first children introduced this, then, adults followed: /f/, /v/ instead of /ɵ/ and /ᵭ/ /f/, /v/: easier, natural sounds , more frequently occurring across Ls BUT ease of articulation stops at some point: necessity of intelligibility bcs simplification, ease , natural articulation leads to confusion

How reliable are ease of articulation, naturalness? Some accents, social groups do NOT proceed to some changes Conservatism: natural human tendency to preserve confusion , misunderstanding Sound changes may happen to preserve distinctiveness eg., /oʊ/ instead of /o:/ ‘coat’ Bcs it increases perceptibility btwn ‘coat’ vs ‘caught’ /kout/→/kəʊt/ vs /kɔ:t/

Splits and mergers One sound/phoneme→splits in two E.g., /i:/ ↗ [i:] ‘bead’ ↘ [ɪə] ‘beard’ Merger: /ɔə/+/ɔ:/→/ɔ:/ ‘wore’ /wɔə/vs ‘war’/wɔ:/ Splits and mergers contribute to the alteration of phonemic systems splits:increase phonemic inventory, mergers: shorten the phoneme system

REGULARIZATION A natural tendency among languages to remove, minimize irregularities Eg., current British trend: use a final [ʔ] instead of /k, p, t/ =simplification E.g., Scottish E: simplification of /u:/-/ʊ/ into /u/ FOOT , GOOSE LOAN WRDS: conform to E rules /gəˈra:ʒ/ →/ˈgᴂrɪdʒ/ BUT do all wrds undergo regularization??

Regularization: lexically restricted Some wrds resist regularization E.g., ‘genre’ [ʒậR] We are not able to explain all sound changes E.g., /gz/→//ks/ ‘exist’

WHY INNOVATIONS SPREAD? EITHER : CATCH ON OR DIE IF THEY CATCH ON, THEY MAY SPREAD from vicinity, longer area When is an innovation going to spread?/which innovations spread??

Which innovations spread/why? Only if they are imitated Why is going to be imitated? If it is felt ‘catchy’, admirable When is it going to be imitated? If speakers set a fashion Who are fashion setters?? Usually urban /metropolis, upper-middle class (past )

Which classes/areas trigger innovation?/ Working class/countryside: used to be more conservative speech E.g., /r/ retension in West Midlands BUT <More recently: Some changes take place from below: middle-low/working class E.g., /h /dropping low/working class men Londoners enjoy: covered prestige Overt prestige: upper-middle women

Social groups, geographical areas that trigger innovations Groups originally imitated: lose their exclusiveness and then have to move to other changes e. g,., /ou/→/əʊ/ by smart upper-middle class Br speakers Then upper-middle class fashion setters: /eʊ/ For social reasons upper-middle class stopped having overt prestige Covered prestige appeared from the middle-working class

The influence of spelling/orthography Spelling pronunciation: when pronunciation simulates spelling: some letters/sounds are pronounced bcs they appear in spelling: E.g., /swɔ:d/ ‘sword’ in the 19th c /mikrəʊ/ instead of /maɪkrəʊ/ ‘micro-…’ NES form spelling rules in pronunciation from reading Eg., ‘vehicle’ /h/ started being pronounced

PRONUNCIATION SPELLING WHEN pronunciation influences spelling E.g/. Pronounciation , fridge, telly, uvular, analadgy (by Gen Am speakers)

EXTERNAL INFLUENCES When a new L is used, the old L still exerts some influence = substratum, interference E.g., Scottish E, Irish: /l/ clear l as a remnant of Gaelic accents still appearing in RP CAN ONE’S ACCENT BE ALTERED? WHEN? HOW??

ALTERING ONE’S ACCENT Above puberty: we may alter our accent temporarily or more permanently bcs of social class or geogr. Region HOW EASY TO ALTER OUR ACCENT??

DIFFICULTIES TO ALTER ONE’S ACCENT Due to physiological difficulties, age, L1 interference even very motivated speakers CANNOT alter their accent It requires NEW ADAPTATION RULES If the alteration is overgeneralised: hypercorrection : leads to wrong decisions in pronunciation Eg., North E /ʊ/↗ /ʌ/ /ʊ/ does not operate put, good, cut, dull, But attention to cushion, put not */kʌʃn/ ,* /pʌt/ The difficulty is bcs: hypercorrection is lexically determined.