Grossenbacher, Sarah (26 November 2016). From East to West? Dialect diffusion between Swindon and Bristol. An analysis based on data gathered with the English Dialects app (Unpublished). In: Postgraduate Conference in Linguistics at Aberdeen. Aberdeen. 26.11.2016.
Despite the fact that its data were collected more than 50 years ago, the Survey of English Dialects (SED) (Orton et al. 1962-71) remains the most recent nationwide study of English dialects. More recently, the English Dialects app (Leemann et al. 2016) was launched to gather new countrywide dialect data similar to the SED. Since its launch in January 2016, the English Dialects app has been highly successful: so far it has been downloaded more than 70’000 times, and more than 30’000 people from 4’000 locations around the UK have provided information on their pronunciation and use of certain words and colloquialisms. Moreover, users could also record themselves reading a story, which allows a more detailed linguistic analysis.
This very broad corpus, in both geographic and social terms, is suitable for the study of dialect diffusion. Here, using data gathered in the app, I analyse the spread of non-rhoticity into the South West of England, focussing on the area between Swindon and Bristol in the M4 corridor. A subcorpus of more than 900 speakers with various socio-economic backgrounds was used in order to examine what variables (gender, age, mobility, education) influence the adoption of this feature. In addition, two geographical classifications were added, which will both shed light on how dialect diffusion is sensitive to the social characteristics of the different places studied. The analysis of 52 recordings further shows which linguistic environments are most likely to be affected by dialect diffusion and which ones are most likely to retain the traditional variant.
Generally, the findings suggest that there is a strong interplay between educational factors, the urban status of a location and the acquisition of non-rhoticity. This pattern, I will argue, is a result of the predominant internal migration pathway away from the city into the green and pleasant countryside.
Item Type: |
Conference or Workshop Item (Speech) |
|---|---|
Division/Institute: |
06 Faculty of Humanities > Department of Linguistics and Literary Studies > Institute of English Languages and Literatures |
UniBE Contributor: |
Grossenbacher, Sarah |
Subjects: |
400 Language > 410 Linguistics 400 Language > 420 English & Old English languages |
Language: |
English |
Submitter: |
Sarah Grossenbacher |
Date Deposited: |
22 Dec 2016 10:02 |
Last Modified: |
05 Dec 2022 15:00 |
URI: |
https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/91299 |
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