NORWICH STUDY

• Who conducted the Norwich study?

  Trudgill, studied speech in the 70s to see how accents varied
• what was one aspect Trudgill studied?

  final consonant in words eg walking, running. In Norwich they are known to ‘g-drop’. not unique to Norwich though
• what were the 4 activities participants had to do?

  reading a word list

  reading a passage

  a formal interview

  a casual chat after the interview
• how did Trudgill divide participants into social class?

  Based on neighbourhood, education, occupation and income
• what were the 5 classes?

  lower working

  middle working

  upper working

  lower middle

  upper middle
• how many times did the lower working say -ng?

  Casual - 0%

  Formal - 0%

  Reading - 3%

  Word List - 28%
• how many times did the middle working say -ng?

  Casual - 0%

  Formal - 10%

  Reading - 15%

  Word List - 43%
• how many times did the upper working say -ng?

  Casual - 5%

  Formal - 15%

  Reading - 74%

  Word List - 87%
• how many times did lower middle say -ng?

  Casual - 23%

  Formal - 44%

  Reading - 88%

  Word List - 95%
• how many times did the upper middle say -ng?

  Casual - 29%

  Formal - 66%

  Reading - 98%

  Word List - 100%
• what does the Norwich study reveal?

  all groups use the feature at some point, there is a direct link between social class and accent, direct correlation between class and -ng sound.

  All classes adjust their use of ‘g-dropping’ according to the style they’re speaking in (style shifting)

  the more formal the style, the less g-dropping