Accent+ dialect

• MacArthur- received pronunciation


  Received pronunciation is generally associated with educated British English. Many British people dislike RP. Mark of privilege and social domination by the south of England
• M.A.K Halliday et al- rural v urban accents


  Rural(non city) accents tend to be viewed more favourably

  However urban accents are frequently said to be ‘careless’

  It is suggested that urban accents represent some sort of linguistic decay.

  However, this is nonsense.

  we tend to judge accent and dialect chiefly on social grounds

  Urban accents have connotations of large working class and immigrant communities

  This causes ‘social prejudice’ and can be harmful

  Accent and dialect is a central part of identity
• Howard Giles- matched guise test


  The ‘matched guise’ method involves candidates listening to apparently different speakers representing 2 or more different accents

  Giles investigated the relationship between accent and how personality between accent and how personality is perceived by using the matched guise technique
• Howard Giles- matched guise methodology and findings 


  A two minute tape recorded passage was read in three accents:

  RP, Welsh and Somerset

  Giles found that RP speakers were seen more favourably in terms of their competence but less favourably in terms of personal integrity and social attractiveness
• Howard Giles- capital punishment experiment 


  Further research conducted by Howard Giles suggests that while people may consider RP to be better in ’quality’ than other accents, they are more likely to trust a regional speaker
• Howard Giles- capital punishment experiment methodology and findings


  Giles gave 500 17 year olds a questionnaire on capital punishment. Each group was asked to rate the presentation

  The students who heard the RP speaker were more enthusiastic than the other groups about the quality of the presentations

  Those who heard the Birmingham accent were least enthusiastic
• Trudgill and Giles- aesthetic judgements test


  When the social connotations of an accent or region vary then aesthetic responses to linguistic varieties also vary.

  visiting english speakers (American) don’t notice linguistic differences
• Trudgill and Giles methodology and findings 


  Giles and Trudgill used the verbal guide method. This involves using several speakers with different accents

  They found that English and Scottish speakers were generally rather successful at placing the speakers regionally. Therefore, social connotations were available

  Americans and Canadians were worse at identifying accents meaning social connotations werent available

  English speakers generally put RP speakers as most pleasant and Birmingham accents least favourably
• Trudgill and Giles conclusion 


  British American Canadian and Irish listeners do not make the same aesthetic responses to accents. This suggests accents are not inherently more or less aesthetically pleasing. our judgements are based on pre-existing social connotations.
• Peter Trudgill- good and bad language


  There is no way of evaluating any language more favorably than any other. Linguistics have found that all languages are complex systems.

  No English dialect can be claimed to be linguistically superior or inferior to any other.

  Differences between English dialects are principlally rather small grammatical differences
• Peter trudgill- good and bad language- Detroit study 


  Tape recordings were made of several hundred speakers in detroit.

  One of the features found was double negative e.g. ‘I wasnt no good’

  It was found that there was a strong relationship between the use of double negatives and social class
• Peter trudgil- good and bad language- Norwich study


  In standard English dialect the present tense form of verbs is as follows:

  I think, you think, but he thinks

  The third person singular form has an s

  In Norwich third person singular present tense verb forms without an s were counted

  There was a clear relationship between the dialect and social class
• Peter trudgil- good and bad language- Norwich and Bradford studies 


  There is a close relationship between the pronunciation of h and social class (pronounce hill instead ill)

  In both Norwich and Bradford the upper middle class are more likely to pronounce the h in words
• Peter Trudgil- good and bad language- Glasgow study


  One of the features investigated was the pronunciation of t between two vowels (better/be’er)

  the glottal stop pronunciation of t is often thought to be ‘bad’ English.

  In Glasgow the lower working class are most likely to use glottal stops
• Peter Trudgill- Good and bad language- New York and reading study


  When people pass judgements on accent they are not judging the language itself as ‘good’ or ‘bad’.

  Rather they are passing comment on the different social connotations that accent has. This is shown by differences between American and English accents in the pronunciation of what linguistics call post vocalic r.

  This is where the r in words like car

  In England accents that pronounce the r have a lower prestige.

  However, in New York people who don’t pronounce the r are seen as bad
• Peter Trudgill- good and bad language- aesthetic judgements 


  Most people find some accents ‘pleasant’ and others ’harsh’. However, judgements of this type are not aesthetically based.

  More social judgments

  Most accents that are widely held as ugly are urban accents