Language Change

Question 1

CJ Bailey

Answer 1

• Wave Model
• Change weakens across different regions, social groups and time periods
• Strong and more frequent in original regional to weaken and less used in others

Question 2

Chen

Answer 2

• S curve model
• A change begins gradually then speeds up and then slows down

Question 3

Howard Giles

Answer 3

• Accommodation theory
• People change their language in order to accommodate their speaker

Question 4

MJ Halliday: Functional theory

Answer 4

• Changes in order to meet their social, psychological and cultural needs
• Serves particular human needs

Question 5

Jean Aitchison

Answer 5

• Metaphors of prescriptivism
  1) Damp spoon syndrome: non standard is lazy - damp spoon in sugar bowl
  2) Crumbling castle: English was perfect but now is eroding
  3) Infectious disease: we ‘catch’ non standard from others around us and it spreads

Question 6

Labov Matha’s Vineyard Study

Answer 6

• Fisherman centralise their diphthong /au/ sound in order to establish as a group and isolate from tourists
• Retains their social identity

Question 7

Sharon Goodman

Answer 7

• Informalisation: There is a trend towards more informal use of language in public contexts

Question 8

Peter Trudgill

Answer 8

• 1974 Norwich Study
• Studied the pronunciation of the suffix ‘ing’
• Focused more on language is about external factors; social class and our environments
• Upper- middle and lower- working class more likely to use non standard
• Men more likely to use non - standard
• Women use non standard in humorous settings

Question 9

Geoffrey Leech

Answer 9

• Links to Goodman concept and addresses the increase in acceptability and use of features associated with informal private discourse in public and written discourse

Question 10

Labov New York Study

Answer 10

• Upper class has stronger vocalic /r/
• Lower class exaggerated this for overt prestige

Question 11

Aitchison’s PIDC model

Answer 11

• How words are formed

Question 12

Choy and Dodd

Answer 12

• Teachers judge students by accents

Question 13

Howard Giles: Matched Guise Test

Answer 13

• Participants said RP sounded more powerful
• Regional accents were more persuasive

Question 14

Basil Bernstein

Answer 14

• Working class language is ‘restricted’
• Upper class language is ‘elaborate’

Question 15

Jenny Cheshire

Answer 15

• Studied language of teens in Reading
• Found high level of non - standard in gangs e.g. multiple negation, -s inflection (I calls hers)