History And Development Of The English Language

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02 Nov 2017

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The origins of Received Pronunciation were inherited from the nineteenth century and before, due to the class and status structures. "Received Pronunciation" was not a label when Samuel Johnson’s dictionary was first published in 1757 but was later coined in 1869 by the linguist A J Ellis. However it only became used and accredited when phonetician Daniel Jones implemented it in his English Pronouncing dictionary in 1924. In the mid 19th Century, the 1960s saw a relaxation of the requirement in public schools and in broadcasting. Due to the public schools being mainly clustered in the South East Midlands, students attending such boarding schools such as Winchester meant that their speech patterns were based on the local accent of this region. Due to RP being most closely connected with the dialect of English spoken in South East England such as Oxford, it was traditionally common speech of Oxford University which furthermore meant that a selection of English dictionaries gave this university certain levels of prestige.

Language varies due to the "wide range of users it is put to" and people converse and write differently depending on the social circumstances present, context of the situation and how formal one feels it to be. (Leith, 1997) This social perception and variation of RP is conditioned as "stylistic" (Hughes & Trudgill, 1979, p. 4) It is said that there is a direct relationship with the "stratification of all levels of language and language use, and society." (KERSWILL, Paul. Language and Social Class. In: (Culpeper, Katamba, Kerswill, Wodak, & McEnery, 2009, p. 358)

For some, this is a significant unconscious act in which one will change their voice to a ‘proper’ or RP accent, sometimes intentionally; an example of this is during a telephone call when the recipient will respond with a short but professional greeting in a formal manner such as "Hello, Lucy speaking." This is because the recipient of the phone call will not know who the caller is until they have responded back and the caller may make judgements not only on the choice of grammar but also the way it is spoken and pronounced. A speaker perceives the situation depending on a range of factors which will influence the way one chooses to verbalise: this could be dependent on the purpose of the conversation and each of their ‘aims’; the age/sex of the person he is speaking to and their relative status; and how well they know each other and what they have in common. In a formal situation such as speaking on a telephone, a speaker would usually articulate more slowly and carefully and avoid omission; controversially, if it were to be an informal situation, the speaker is more likely to speak quickly, less carefully and sounds will have value changed or omitted entirely. (Hughes & Trudgill, 1979, p. 4) Gender roles change rapidly and is said to have a high degree of influence in a conversational situation (lexical and syntactic features); men and women have differing views on the same situation. Lakoff argues that "women’s language is different and deficient in comparison to a male norm – and that men come across as ‘deferential and uncertain’." On the other hand, Trudgill found "women tended to use more ‘prestige forms’ and claimed that this was because of women’s greater status-consciousness." (Culpeper, Katamba, Kerswill, Wodak, & McEnery, 2009, p. 539)

Received Pronunciation has changed over time, like all living languages, where there is a tendency at present for certain tripthongs and dipthongs to become monopthongs. (Hughes & Trudgill, 1979, p. 3) Consequently, ‘tyre’ was once pronounced /tai. Dialects are seen as regional variants of a language which also has a standardised and therefore non-regional form. (Montgomery, 2007) Because Standard English is seen to be the benchmark of ‘correct’ English grammar, regional dialects are questioned as being non-standard, grammarless and incorrect. However it is unclear as to what speaking ‘well’ or ‘correct’ actually is, and where to draw the line on what is ‘standard’ or ‘prestige’, and what is not. Regional variation could be partly due to the blurred boundaries/linguistic continua where "different varieties of English shade off into each other" which make it all that more ambiguous. An example of this are the inhabitants on the English and Scottish border whose linguistic features blend into one another and begin to use features attested on both sides of the border. There is no division between boundaries/regions to determine where one language ends; more a continuum and gradual changing of pronunciation. This is partly due to the idea that dialects appear closer to British English in syntax, than they do in pronunciation. (Wright, 2006, p. 82) However, because of improved mobility and contact between speakers, regional varieties are not as isolated as they once were. The communication and conflict between regional communities can both "strengthen and weaken boundaries" which is why some of the boundaries between regional varieties exist. (Culpeper, Katamba, Kerswill, Wodak, & McEnery, 2009, p. 343)

Society works in a way that judgement is made on the basis of the attached social knowledge rather than the actual pronunciation, and varieties of dialect are involved with power and solidarity. (Montgomery, 2007, p. 70) In present day society, there is less pressure than there once was to speak RP, even though controversially, it is seen to be at the top of the social scale. It seems that the majority of speakers, especially younger speakers, use the ‘unmarked northern mainstream monophthongal FACE and GOAT variants [e:] and [o:] (1999:40.) Reference is due to the continued social change in Britain that more people in important and influential work sectors such as the civil service and industry are held by non RP speakers and every accent is represented in "all walks of life." (Hughes & Trudgill, 1979, p. 7) On the other hand there are some prestige professions such as expensive retailers or barristers who display an RP accent and object to using local dialects in the workplace. However, it still displays concern and is a fundamental subject in British schools as to whether RP and Standard English should be taught, and if greater efforts should be made to eradicate features of local dialect. There is now an adult course which teaches Received Pronunciation aimed at those whose profession involves public speaking; it focuses on verbal techniques needed for clear pronunciation, projection and clarity. It aims to create space for accommodating English vowels and the articulation of single and compound consonants. Some linguists argued that it would be unreasonable to expect nonstandard speakers to acquire a new standard accent, and failure to acquire this new standard accent (RP) stigmatizes even further their already stigmatized nonstandard accents. (Pennhallurick, 2003, pp. 137-8) Some teachers would consider regional features of one’s dialect as non-standard English. (Hughes & Trudgill, 1979, p. 11) Whereas a number of school teachers/university lecturers see teaching RP as the most accessible way to communicate effectively and that expressing themselves in RP will help students to understand more easily, especially when teaching complex and composite ideas. Present day, conservative RP is receding rapidly amongst young speakers and low status features such as glottal stops are entering youngster’s speech and are ‘diffusing’ from place to place making those accents sound more similar to each other – this has been found to be considerable in Yorkshire. (WATSON, K. Regional Variation in English Accents and Dialects. In Culepepper, Katamba, Kerswill, Wodak, & McEnery, 2009)

Although Received Pronunciation is also regionally non-specific, in the way that it does not enclose any information about the speaker’s geographic background, it does in fact contain clues about the speaker’s social class. A study by Trudgill in 1995 compared the relationship and comparison between social variation and accent (appendix 8.2), and social variation and dialect (appendix 8.1.) Appendix 8.2 refers to the variation in pronunciation which shows that speakers at the top of the scale tend to pronounce the words they use with the same accent, roughly, Received Pronunciation, regardless of their regional background. (Mooney, et al., 2010, p. 160) And that people at the bottom of the social scale uses "numerous, much localised pronunciation" and speaks with the ‘broadest regional accents.’ The diagram between social variation and dialect also signifies that in general, "the higher a person is on the social scale, the less regionally marked will be his accent, and the less it will differ from RP." (Hughes & Trudgill, 1979, p. 6) Appendix 8.1 shows that speakers at the top of the social scale speak Standard English with very little regional variation and that the further down the triangle we go, the more regional variation is shown. Furthermore, additional evidence from Petyt 1977 between the relationship of accent and social has been illustrated with figures from ‘aitch dropping’ (For example /æt/ instead of /hæt/ in the Yorkshire accent (Bradford) (Hughes & Trudgill, 1979, p. 7)

% aitches dropped

Upper middle class

12

Lower middle class

28

Upper working class

67

Middle working class

89

Lower working class

93

A study by Trudgill in 1979 estimated that only three percent of the English population actually speaks RP which raises the question as to why this distinct minor accent is taught to foreign learners; the learner needs to realise the high "degree of variation found within Standard English and RP." (Hughes & Trudgill, 1979, pp. 5, 12) Hughes discovered a number of reasons as to why RP is taught to foreign learners: it is partially due to the idea that because of the high social status attachments to the accent, teachers want to educate their learners into the most ‘elegant’ accent. Moreover, RP is the accent on which phonemic transcriptions on vowels and consonants are established on in English dictionaries. In addition, because of the media and most TV and news reporters talking with an RP accent, this is the most recognised and acknowledged accents. It is alleged that the news only has authority when it is presented in a Standard Language, and that this "continues because speakers from all backgrounds appear to concur to this." (Mooney, et al., 2010) The BBC have said that a Broadcaster with a regional accent may "alienate listeners".

There are differing views on the idea of "Standard English" that some see it as the "norm" and the grammatical features of it are like any other dialect but ‘standard’ is seen as a "product of centuries of careful cultivation". Due to the above point that Standard English is taught in education and encouraged by teachers for students to speak, it is both the "native spoken language of educated people, and the variety we expect to find in print." (Leith, 1997, p. 32) However on the other hand, some of the population see Standard English as a linguistic variety in dialect, like any other dialect – one variety of English among many. As a named dialect like Yorkshire, it is entirely normal that we should spell the name of the Standard English dialect with capital letters. (Trudgill, 1999, p. 123)

In Britain, the media has had significant effect on the stereotypical connotations connected with certain accents and dialects. (Montgomery, 2007, p. 76) Susan Boyle made the headlines in the press after appearing on the American sitcom "Oprah Winfrey Show" where it had to be pre-recorded at her home in Blackburn, Scotland. The subtitles were added by bosses who thought American viewers would not understand her strong Scottish accent. (Leach, 2009)

In May 2011 there was an instance in the media, due to one’s accent which caught the eye of the public: Cheryl Cole was banned from the popular television show X Factor USA because the producers were worried that the American audience would not be able to ‘understand’ her thick, Geordie accent. It was also stated that because she isn’t that ‘big’ in America that they would judge her because of her accent, she said: "They don’t know me out there and I’ve got this weird accent and they be a bit like ‘what?’". (Smith, 2011) Another famous TV sitcom star Russell Brand said that the US audience should 'Just listen more, just listen very intently. All them things she’s saying – that’s English.' Whether this instance was actually due to the producers thinking the US audience would not be able to understand her, or whether it was because of the stereotypical attachments of a Geordie - we often produce assumptions that these people are tougher and stronger, particularly those with the broadest accent. The reason for these could be because of the media and the recent television programmes set in the city (Geordie Shore). The traditional ‘Geordie’ pronunciations are very localised and therefore ‘marked’; Watt suggests that the levelling shift towards Standard is most advanced amongst young middle-class men who want to retain their local/regional identity. Watt proposes this that those do not want to be associated with the ‘old fashioned, cloth cap and whippet’ image of their fathers. (Watt, 2002)

This proposes that regional accents are disappearing due to increased contact in Modern day society, which further increases and levelling to occur. This is defined by William and Kerswill: "A process whereby differences between regional varieties are reduced, features which make varieties distinctive disappear and new features emerge and are adopted over a wide geographical area." It seems regional features such as younger speakers in Lancashire and Yorkshire has been found to abandon the traditional FACE vowel [ɪ ə] in favour of [eː] which is found over larger geographical areas. This feature means that such speakers who adopt this have replaced a local feature with a less local one. (WATSON, K. Regional Variation in English Accents and Dialects. In Culepepper, Katamba, Kerswill, Wodak, & McEnery, 2009)

In conclusion, despite differences of levelling and diffusing occurring throughout regions of the UK, it is notable that although convergence attitudes like this are occurring to Language Change, divergence is also occurring which proves that accents of English will not disappear completely.

Appendix 8.2 Social and regional variation in accents

Appendix 8.1 – Social and regional variation in dialects



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