Diaects

?

Mainstream Dialect-

  • Younger speaker are influenced by the media and current fashions

  • Young people adopt a language that makes them feel as if they belong in their social group

  • Increased mobility enables people to come into contact with other dialects in social networks outside the local ones of neighbours and family

  • Politicians use a language to appeal to the largest numbers of voters possible

  • Middle class people may adopt a language so that they don't seems unapproachable and ‘posh’

1 of 3

Traditional Dialetcs

  • The older, more geographically isolated, often rural speakers use a more traditional form of language

  • Non professional people may uses non standard versions of spoken english

  • Produced and perpetuated by the industries that sustained communities (farming, textiles etc)

  • Before the invention of cars, geographical features such as rivers and mountains would isolate a community

  • Political (The division between Scotland and England for example) or economic (No trading between villages) boundaries would form a barrier to ensure that communities were separated

2 of 3

Standard English and Received Pronunciation-

  • Professional speakers have traditionally used a prestige form of english

  • Those who are in education for a long time are more likely to use a standard lexis and grammar

  • Used to make a statement about social positional, rather than a statement about a regional identity

  • Originally a dialect from the South East Midlands but gained prestige form from it’s use by the monarchy , the government, in the law and by the church

  • The growth of towns and increased access to occupational, social and geographical mobility through education, for example, creates a social rather than a regional link between people.

3 of 3

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar English Language resources:

See all English Language resources »See all Investigating language resources »