60 likes | 149 Views
http :// www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBXUXqf8FXk. Adam and Joe – Voice Coach’s British Pronunciation. Vowel Differences – American / British. William Labov’s findings: [au] [ əu ] “trout, house” [ ai ] [ əi ] “night, like”. What had happened?.
E N D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBXUXqf8FXk Adam and Joe – Voice Coach’s British Pronunciation.
William Labov’s findings: [au] [əu] “trout, house” [ai] [əi] “night, like”
What had happened? • There was already a tendency in the fishermen’s speech to speak in this way. • The fishermen were a close-knit community, least in touch with the ‘summer people’ and most opposed to their presence. • The fishermen subconsciously began to exaggerate their accents to show establish themselves as an independent social group with superior status to the ‘summer people’. • The men were viewed positively by the wider community as having good, old-fashioned values (contrasting with the lazy, consumerist visitors). People therefore subconsciously copies the accent so as to be seen as ‘true islanders’. • The tendency was strongest amongst those who planned to remain on the island; more standard accents were found among those who planned to leave.
Stage 1 An aspect of speech of a particular group differs from that of the ‘standard’ dialect of the area. Stage 2 A second social group admires and models itself on the first group, subconsciously adopting and exaggerating certain features of speech. Stage 3 The new feature of speech gradually takes hold and becomes the norm. Stage 4 The process repeats itself as other social groups model themselves on the second social group.
What might Labov’s “Martha’s Vineyard” research tell us about other areas of language change?