Language Variation

Conclusions continued: 

Petyt's results did not factor in the variable of situation. Social class was not the only factor to influence pronounciation. 
- He found that those that had moved up the socio-economic ladder modified their speech towards RP (the only social dialect.) 
- The lack of the "h" drop increased their prestige. 

He then furthered his research by investigating the use of the short "u" and long "uh"  sound. 
Short vowel sound = "put."
Long vowel sound = "putt."

He looked at these vowel sounds because the short "u" sound is used in northern English accents, in place of RP, but the long "uh" sound is not used. 
- Therefore, this is a good indication of social class because those that have moved up the social ladder will use the short "u" sound more often. 

However, there were also instances of hypercorrection, just like in Labov's study, where the long "uh" sound was used incorrectly, in words such as "cushion," or both vowel sounds were used together in speech.