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ENGLISH - LANGUAGE DIVERSITY (Grammatical variations (copular verb 'to…

- - - - one of the most fundamental ways we have of establishing our identity and of shaping other peoples views of who we are is through our use of language
      - 'use' of language may include - specific lexical choices to help form this identity, grammatical constructions in speech and variations in phonology or combination of all three
    - - Martha's vineyard study 1961 - a fairly isolated island only accessed by plane or boat - popular tourist destination in the summer
      - interested specifically in the pronunciation of the dipthongs /au/ (house) /ai/ (bite) - interviewing 69 people from different social groups including age, occupation groups and ethnicity - Labov asked them specific questions that would encourage the participants to use words that contained these vowels
      - aim was for the participants to be as relaxed as possible and unaware of what he was researching
      - main finding was that certain groups within his sample shared the tendency to pronounce the diphthongs more like /eu/ (toe) and /ei/ (bait)
        
        found this in a small group of fishermen, people between the ages of 31 and 45 and Up-Islanders (original inhabitants in a less populated area at the western end of the island which was not as popular with tourists)
        
        Labov concluded that this was done, albeit subconsciously, in order to establish an identity of themselves as vineyarders, distancing themselves from the tourists who were frequent visitors - was according to Labov, the need to retain a social identity and almost propagate a 'them and us' mentality and did this by using language
        
        similar research regarding the language of different mining communities in South Yorkshire - consensus that each mining community had slight variations in language
        
        although various pit villages along the coal seem of South Yorkshire were only a couple of miles apart, the participants in the study claimed there were differences in accent
        
        In the biggest coal seem (Barnsley) the accent was viewed as 'stronger' and the further you traveled away from this seam the 'weaker' the accent became
- - - - spoken in Liverpool
      - Liverpool's position as a port can be seen as a key influential factor in this dialect's development - largely influenced by the arrival of many migrant workers from Ireland into the city - Scouse is a mix of many dialects
    - - Spoken in the North East
      - This dialect can be traced back to the settlement of Anglo-Saxons in the North East approximately 15000 years ago - the language they spoke has evolved into several dialects, including Geordie
    - - Spoken in Birmingham
      - Another dialect that can be traced back to the Anglo-Saxons
    - - Spoken throughout the Yorkshire counties
      - there are many words and expressions in Yorkshire that have their roots in the language of the Vikings
    - - Spoken in Manchester
      - Similar to Scouse, Mancunian is likely to have developed through an influx of migrant workers moving to the city for work - was most prevalent when Manchester became a port during the Industrial Revolution
    - - works by replacing a word with a rhyming word or expression
      - eyes = mince-pies, head = loaf of bread, feet = plates of meat, face = boat race, lies = pork-pies, curry = ruby murray, alone = jack jones, clue = scooby doo, stairs = apple and pears, talk = rabbit and pork, trouble = barney rubble, wife = trouble and strife, look = butchers hook, mate = china plate, years = donkey's ears, piano = joanna, hair = barnet fair
      - originated in the East End of London during the first half of the 19th century - was probably first used by street sellers, beggars and petty criminals
      - in many cases the actual rhyming word is elided from the expression e.g. 'i don't have a scooby' and 'he's always rabbiting on' - far more common expressions
      - David Crystals suggestion that the nations's current obsession with celebrity culture has been responsible for more additions e.g. pete tong = wrong, wallace and gromit = vomit, brad pitt = fit, adrian mole = dole, calvin klein = wine
      - recent additions suggest a degree of linguistic playfulness creeping into Cockney rhyming slang with perhaps greater focus on humorous rhymes than previously
      - some phrases are being used outside the geographical area with which this dialect is associated and have become more generally used idiomatic phrases
      - spread of this dialect can be attributed to the growth of modern media - e.g.the use of rhyming slang in films such as the Italian job and social mobility
- - - - when pushed regarding these comments became apparent that actually it wasn't 'natural'
        
        we mix punjabi and english
        
        it's all about our area
        
        other people don't understand what you're saying...we use a different language so they don't know what you're saying...that isn't between a white person and a pakistani person but from pakistani to pakistani...there's different types from different areas
        
        you might say something to someone from the same country but they won't understand
        
        we might speak English to mum and dad but with our friends we add in punjabi
        
        the students distinguished themselves from 'freshies' meaning those born in Pakistan who have subsequently moved to England - identified themselves as 'British Asian'
        
        they also offered a distinction in their language based on postcode - they referred to some of their language choices as 'street' or BD8 and how BD22 language would be different and 'posh'
        
        one teenage boy stated that most slang words he used 'has a lot to do with the music industry like rap, hip hop and urban music - linked the use of slang to the idea of identity among his peers - felt that all his peers used similar slang and identified several key words and phrases that identified the group - sick, heavy munch, shotta, swag, bare, blown, killed it
        
        teenage girl stated that she never mixed English with her second language (Gujarati) she felt this becuase at school she is in the minority whereas if there were more indian people in her social group she would be more likely to use it
        
        two members of staff of Pakistani heritage were also interviewed about language use - confirmed their use of code-switching and the inclusion of Punjabi into their everyday talk
        
        all of those involved were asked to identify the most common Punjabi words they used - results included mainly taboo
    - - bare - lots of
      - calm - good or anything positive
      - switch - change mood or get angry
      - bruv - good friend - can also be used angrily if you are starting a with statement with bruv
      - live - buzzing, atmospheric
      - hype - getting excited
      - bredrin - good friend
      - madness - trouble/raucous/something negative
      - come buck me/come link me - come meet with me
      - chatting rubbish - saying things that are ridiculous
      - neek - greek
      - jerk - to rob
      - ends - from the same geographical area
      - man dem - plural term meaning lots of men/boys
      - a bag of man dem - a group of boys/men
      - yard - one's home
      - getting rude - being rude to someone
      - could divide these words into particular categories
        
        replacing standard english verb form - chatting - talking (rubbish)
        
        changing a noun to a verb - hype = hyping
        
        changing an abstract noun to a less abstract form
        
        many lexical choices originate from other countries e.g. aftro slang
- - - - social mobility has increased leading to - according to Kerswill - 'the consequent breakdown of tight knit working class communities' and also 'increased interaction with people of other speech varieties' is a possible cause of dialect levelling
      - summarises possible causes of dialect levelling as
        
        the movement of people led to greater dialect contact
        
        the movement of people led to radical changes in people's social networks, away from strictly local ones comprising family and neighbours to ones that encompass far more strangers and people in different walks of life
        
        result is dialect levelling with standardisation - however there are some regional forms that are 'surviving' and it would be incorrect to conclude that all aspects of dialect are being 'levelled'
        
        interesting to note that these 'survivors' are not common to one particular area but can be seen as characteristic features of a range of dialects - could argue that there has been some form of standardisation in the sense that variants from standard english are spreading across the country e.g. replacement of th with f or v and how this phonological variant has spread from its original origins of London
    - - Northumberland - in words such as city the final sound is pronounced as /i:/, in words such as 'dance' and 'bath' the vowel sound is /ae/, there is no distinction between pairs of words like 'put' and 'putt' both are pronounced as 'put', words which in RP have the vowel sound /au/ may be pronounced as /u:/
      - Bradford - in words such as 'city' the final sound is pronounced as 'I/, in words such as 'dance' and 'bath' the vowel sound is /ae/, there is no distinction between pairs of words like put and putt - both are pronounced as 'put', words such as make and take are pronounced as /mek/ and /tek/
      - Norwich - in words such as city the final sound is pronounced as /i:/, in words such as dance and bath the vowel sound is /a:/, is a difference between put and putt, in words such as 'room' the vowel sound is /u/ rather than /u:/
      - London and the South East - in words such as city the final sound is pronounced /i:/, in words such as dance and bath the vowel sound is /a:/ - distinction between put and putt - in words such as thin th becomes f
      - Liverpool - no contrast between pairs of words like fair and fir which are pronounced as /eupsidedowne/
      - west midlands - one and won are distinguished
      - post-vocalic /r/ where some speakers pronounce the /r/ where it occurs in the spelling of a word after a vowel e.g. work, car, fur and surf - in RP the /r/ would not be pronounced but in the West country and parts of Lancashire as well as in Scotland and Ireland the /r/ would be sounded - are rhotic accents
      - 'sloppy speech'
        
        accents e.g. east anglian accent - pronouncing /ing/ as /in/ is sometimes characterised as sloppy speech - not an accurate description of what is happening because there was no 'g' to be dropped - it is not articulated anyway - such speakers are simply substituting one sound for another - same with the pronunciation or not of the 'h' sound
        
        glottal stops - technically not a sound itself but a lack of sound - describes closing off the vocal cords to prevent sound coming out - feature of regional speech, glottal stops function as alternatives for some plosives e.g. the /t/ in button or butter - in Cockney accent being pronounced as 'bu?on' or 'bu?er' - not necessarily being lazy not pronouncing the 't' sound as it takes a lot of energy to produce a glottal stop sound
    - - Howard Giles
        
        how far responses to speakers were due to an individual accent alone or his or her character
        
        tested responses to different accents using three main parameters - status - testing how powerful and important the speaker appeared to be, personality - testing what traits of character came across and persuasiveness - testing how believable the person seemed
        
        famously conducted experiments where the same speaker performed a set speech to different audiences using a different accent for each of the audiences -called matched guise technique - many criticisms can be made of the method e.g. whether it is possible for one person to perform different accents convincingly
        
        results - RP, National accents e.g. scottish or welch, regional rural accents, regional urban accents
        
        personality - RP seen as self-confident, intelligent and ambitious but also cold and ruthless, northern-accented speech was characterised as honest, reliable, generous, sincere, warm and humerous
        
        persuasiveness - more complex to disentangle as someone can seem persuasive because of social status or friendliness so isn't really an independent dimension - however in one of the experiments the speech was about capital punishment and when a question was used a week after the speech only those who had heard the regional guises appeared to have been persuaded by the views proposed
      - over the years various studies asking people to rate accents for particular qualities have produced similar results - although RP is associated with high social status, regional speakers are trusted more and are seen as more honest, reliable, friendly and humorous
      - Estuary English
        
        David Rosewarne coined the term 'estuary' for this accent and described the accent as 'modified regional speech' and placed it along a continuum between RP and Cockney - idea of Estuary english has become well known outside linguistic circles - while many linguists see it more as an umbrella term covering a range of southern English dialects
        
        key features include glottal stops, l-vocalisation e.g. where l is pronounced as a vowel or like a w - e.g. footbaw and confrontational tag questions e.g. didn't I?
        
        speakers of estuary English are thought to be aiming for a 'classless profile' - avoiding the privileged and unfriendly connotations of RP while also, for regional speakers, sidestepping the tag of being uneducated - general agreement that it represents a shift towards more centralised varieties - Estuary features can be heard all over the British Isles which perhaps points towards the levelling of UK dialects - however at the same time some regional dialects seem to be resisting levelling e.g. Watson's study of Liverpool speech (2008) has found that contrary to indications that Estuary or hybrid accents are used UK-wide, Liverpool appears to be a 'dialect island'
- - - - concluded that differences in the pronunciation of certain sounds could be attributed to social class
      - conducted an experiment in New York department stores - results showed that speakers in the more prestigious stores who were aspiring to use a prestige accent used a particular feature - the post-vocalic /r/
      - striking that those he identified as middle class strove most to use the prestige form
    - - researching the effects of class on lanugage
      - explored the differences between people of working and middle-class backgrounds in their pronunciation of certain sounds
      - looked at the pronunciation of the velar nasal /n/ at the ends of words like 'running'
      - concluded that changing the velar nasal /n/ to an alveolar /n/ - saying 'runnin' instead of 'running' - was more likely to feature in working class speech than in middle-class speech
      - also found differences between men and women's use of the non-standard forms
  - - - idea of a social network as a 'web of ties'
      - concept focuses on the relationships between individuals and the contact patterns between group members - another important factor = the strength of the ties of acquaintances - also significant is the nature of the connections within a group - can be measured according to both their density and their multiplexity
      - multiplexity - refers to the number of ways in which two individuals might relate to each other
      - density - refers to the number of connections that people may have
      - social network - a network of relations between people in their membership of different groups
      - studied three inner-city working-class communities in Northern Ireland and found that variations in language use could be explained by the residents' social networks
      - found that where people had high network density score - through factors such as working together, living close to family members and socialising with each other - their accents were reinforced and stayed strong
      - people who were more isolated - perhaps through being unemployed or looking after children at home - had less strong accents
      - where men were the ones who were isolated their accents were weaker than those of the women who had high-density scores through working together in local factories
      - for the speakers in social networks the strong ties within communities were powerfully associated with their identity and maintaining a strong accent was a way of demonstrating and affirming this sense of themselves - showed that this was as true for men as for women showing that there was nothing necessarily gender-based about accent strength - e.g. if women used more standard speech forms than men it could be to do with how they lived rather than simply because they were female
  - - - identified two distinctive types of group
        
        jocks
        
        a group who participated in school life enthusiastically
        
        more concerned with speaking in a socially prestigious way - sometimes reflecting their more middle-class background
        
        critical of the burnouts for their ungrammatical language, their frequent swearing and for not being articulate
        
        burnouts
        
        actively rebellious and refused to take part in school activities
        
        more often used the exaggerated pronunciations associated with the urban accent of their Detroit neighbourhood
        
        sub-groups who spoke slightly different from the more-established group members
        
        saw jocks as talking just like their parents
      - found that people tended to speak more like those with whom they shared social practices and values
      - focused research on social practices of American high-school students
    - - recorded the speech of groups of teenagers in an adventure playground in reading - to look at the effects of peer-group culture
      - although many of her findings were connected with gender she also found that the 'toughest' girls and boys conformed to the group use of non-standard grammatical forms such as 'ain't'
    - - lexical items have also been found to be strong indicators of social group membership in studies and commentaries of different kinds
      - familect - where people in a family invent their own private lexis to refer to shared meanings, perhaps calling up events in the family's history or the language of different group members - this same phenomenon can feature with intimate relationships of all kinds perhaps involving pet names for loved ones