Phonological Change

Question 1

List the examples of phonological change:

Answer 1

• increased use of the ‘schwa’
• ‘th’-fronting
• ‘in’-endings
• ‘RP’ toning down
• uptalk
• great vowel shift (C14th - C18th)

Question 2

Explain how the increased use of ‘schwa’ is an example of phonological change

Answer 2

• increasingly used in present day English, e.g. ‘about - uhbout, balance - balunce’.
• makes it easier to articulate sounds.

Question 3

What is ‘th’-fronting?

Answer 3

• some speakers replace the ‘th’ sound with ‘f’, saying ‘fink’ rather than ‘think’.
• this is a feature of Estuary English, based in East London.
• cockney

Question 4

Explain the use of ‘ing’ endings before the C19th

Answer 4

• before C19th ‘ing’ was pronounced as ‘in’ (like in many regional accents today), even by mid/upper classes.

Question 5

Explain toning down / decreasing popularity of RP (Received Pronunciation)

Answer 5

• RP: the standard form of British English pronunciation, based on educated speech in South England, widely accepted as standard elsewhere.
• in the 1960s, with working class teens going to uni and the emergence of celebs with regional accents, RP lost some desirability.

Question 6

What is uptalk?

Answer 6

• when a declarative is said as though it is a question.
• since early 90s, uptalk has increased.
• may be due to influence of media, not wanting to sound aggressive.
• e.g. Marylin Monroe

Question 7

What was the Great Vowel Shift?

Answer 7

• C14th - C18th.
• long vowels of Middle English changed significantly, from ‘long’ to ‘short’.
• whilst English spelling was becoming standardised, pronunciation was changing, e.g. ‘speck’ to ‘speak’, ‘nam’ to ‘name’.
• degree of shifts can be noticed in regional dialects.
  E.g. South vs North

Question 8

What is functional theory and give an example

Answer 8

• Halliday suggests language changes in order to suit needs of users.

Question 9

What is convergence and give an example.

Answer 9

• changing how you speak in order to fit into a social group, e.g. using the word ‘mate’ or ‘fam’.
• Mick Jagger converged to put on a ‘pop star’ persona, accent sounded lower class but came from a middle class background.
• politicians nowadays converge and avoid RP accents to sound relatable.

Question 10

What is divergence and give an example

Answer 10

• using language in order to stand out by changing the way they speak, e.g. teens wanting to be seen as different to their parents.
• Margaret Thatcher had speaking coaches to teach her to speak at a lower pitch.

Question 11

List the factors which influence people to change the way they speak:

Answer 11

• convergence
• divergence
• social factors
• upwards convergence
• American English (influences British English pronunciation)

Question 12

How might social factors influence the way people speak?

Answer 12

• people adapt the way they speak depending on the context of the situation.
• we may imitate the speech of people we admire or respect in some way.
• we may use a different accent or speak in a different way with our parents compared to when we are speaking with our friends.

Question 13

What is upward convergence?

Answer 13

• moving your lang / accent closer to RP, e.g. job interviews, public speeches etc.

Question 14

What is MLE?

Answer 14

• multicultural London English
• a youth dialect, a social etc (the dialect of a particular social class).
• originated from a combination of racial backgrounds: Carribean, Asia, Greece, Africa.

Question 15

What are features of MLE?

Answer 15

• (h) dropping is slowly dying down, e.g. not many people saying ‘ot’ (hot), ‘eating’ (heating), or ‘ere’ (here).
• monophthongs, e.g. (/eI) ‘Pay, way, take’.
• /u/ tongue is positioned to front of the mouth, e.g. Do yOU know whO’s dOing the fOOd -> sounds French.
• MLE started moving to Kent and the Kent accent started disappearing.

Question 16

Give an example of a prescriptivist view on phonological change

Answer 16

• David Starkey, ‘the whites have become black’ (MLE).
• ‘black and white, boy and girl, operate in this lang together.
• coined word ‘Jafaican’, comparing the way people speak to criminality.
• ‘this Jamaican patois (nonstandard speech/accent) has been intruded in England’

Question 17

What is divergence

Answer 17

• speaker deliberately separates themself from a group of people through language -> e.g. Margaret Thatcher adopted RP to separate self from working class background.
• harsher pronunciation elongated vowel sound aaa in ‘bath’.

Question 18

what is convergence

Answer 18

• adapting language to fit in with a group.
  -> e.g. Mick Jagger adopted ‘Mockney’ accent for rock star persona.
  -> e.g. glottal stops