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Accents and Dialects Theories

Terms in this set (14)

Dennis Freeborn (1986)
INCORRECTNESS VIEW: All regional accents incorrect to RP
UGLINESS VIEW: Some accents do not sound nice - linked to negative social connotations
IMPRECISENESS VIEW: Some accents are lazy/sloppy e.g. Estuary English where sounds are omitted
Trudgill and Anderson (1990)
Negative attitudes towards accents are a result of location stereotypes rather than accent features

Was demonstrated by lack of negativity towards the Birmingham accent by American
Thomas Pear (1931)
Found people had different perceptions of a speaker according to the accent they heard them talk with
Howard Giles (1973 & 1975)
RP speakers rated higher for: intelligence, self-confidence, ambition, determination, industriousness

rated lower for: friendliness, warmth, talkativeness, good-naturedness, sense of humour
Dixon, Mahoney and Cocks (2002)
Used match-guise technique to study the correlation between accent and perceptions of guilt

Listeners rated an individuals with a Birmingham accent as more likely to be guilty than if he used a more standard accent
Neuliep and Speten-Hansen (2013)
How a non-native speaker is perceived can depend on the ethnocentricity of the person they are speaking to
Seligman, Tucker and Lambert (1972)
Teachers perceptions of students heavily influenced by their speech
Choy and Dodd (1976)
Teachers make judgement on students ability and personality based on the way they speak
Paul Toggle (1991)
Stereotypes associated with RP and Estuary English accents are reminders of Britain's class system
Greg Smith (1979)
Conducted 'newham study' - explores attitudes of East London secondary school children who use cockney accent - rated cockney negatively with RP - friendliness, honesty, intelligence
Dialect Levelling
The loss of distinctive accents/ dialects, where regional accents come into contact and begin to share similar features.
E.g. Estuary English and neighbouring cities.
E.g. Liverpool and Manchester are close, however keep distinct accents.
Code-Switching
Speakers can often use different forms of English depending on where they are/ who they are with.
E.g. Ethnic minority school children may use Standard English in school, a pidgin/ creole with friends and another language at home.
Vowel Sounds
Northerners typically use short vowel sounds, whilst Southerners use long vowel sounds
Features of Estuary English
- Glottal stop.
E.g. Gatwick becomes Ga'wick.
- The 'l' sound becomes a 'w' sound.
E.g. Milk become miuwk
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