Dialects

Question 1

What is Social Network Theory?

Answer 1

• Based on the “size and diversity” of your group
• Closed networks serve as strong norm enforcement mechanisms

Question 2

What is Cheshire’s Reading Study?

Answer 2

• Studied mixed sex teenagers that truanted
• Identified 11 non-standard features (e.g. multiple negation, non-standard s inflection)
• Found that they positively correlate to social network

Question 3

What is Moore’s Bolton study?

Answer 3

• Studied 4 Communites of practice
• Studied frequency of non standard were
• Townies (upper working class) used it almost all the time
• Eden Valley girls (middle class) used standard nearly all the time

Question 4

What is Kerswill’s Dialect Levelling?

Answer 4

• Looked at regional varieties dying out
• Found that geographical mobility increased dialect contact
• Therefore there’s less pressure to speak regional forms

Question 5

What is Milroy and Milroy’s dialect levelling?

Answer 5

• Social mobility decreases regional dialect variation

Question 6

What is Dixon, Mahoney and Cocks’ Matched Guise experiment?

Answer 6

• Got people to listen to the same person in a police interview using different guises
• Found that Birmingham guise/accent was perceived as more guilty compared to RP