Accent and Dialect
Examples of dialect grammar:
Non-standard reflexive pronouns e/g ‘hisself’ (reflexive possessive pronoun) rather than ‘himself’ (reflexive
object pronoun. This makes more sense grammatically as it follows the pattern found in ‘myself’ (reflexive
possessive pronoun)
‘Them’ as a demonstrative is the most common example of non-standard grammar. Cheshire and Edwards
found 97.7% of schools reported this was part of their dialect. It was part of all English dialects in 2004
(Kortmann and Szmresanyi)
Multiple negation e/g ‘they don’t sell them no more’
Verb forms like using the past participle rather than the simple past e/g ‘you done it’ rather than ‘you did it’
Pronoun apposition e/g ‘my husband he’s asleep in bed’
The form ‘ain’t’ rather than SE aren’t, isn’t, hasn’t, haven’t etc
Non-standard personal pronouns e/g ‘the man what said it’ ‘the man as said it’
Non-standard forms of ‘be’ e/g ‘he weren’t here’ ‘they wasn’t ready’
Term Definition Example
Accent Variations in the pronunciation influenced by region Trap/bath split is a feature of
RP
Covert Prestige Linguistic street cred
Creoles Grow out of pidgins. They are a stable variety used by
second generation speakers.
Descriptivism Analysis of language focusing on its use and
functionality
Dialect Variations in lexis and grammar influenced by region Ginnel/snicket where snicket is
more common in Yorkshire
Dialect Levelling The reduction or elimination of differenced between Seen with GNE
dialects over time
Downward When an individual adapts their language for the
Convergence linguistic equivalent of ‘street cred’
Norm-enforcing They monitor behaviour of agents and evaluate if they Kevin in Cheshire’s Reading
mechanisms violate any norm and intervene by responding to norm adolescents study. He was
violating agents bullied and exclude bc he rated
low on a ‘toughness’ scale
compared with the other boys,
desired a white collar job and
only used NS forms 14% of the
time, around a quarter less than
average for the group.
Overt Prestige Linguistic credibility from using accent and dialect
associated with the upper class
Pidgins A simplified language which allows communication
btwn two or more groups which don’t share a language.
It blends lexical and grammatical elements of 2+ langs
Prescriptivism Analysis of language focusing on its ‘correctness’
Shibboleths A feature, pronunciation or phrase which is a kind of
linguistic password, used by a set of people to identify
others as members or non-members of that group
Upward When individuals adapt their language so that it Typically RP
Convergence resembles the language of a high status group
Examples of dialect grammar:
Non-standard reflexive pronouns e/g ‘hisself’ (reflexive possessive pronoun) rather than ‘himself’ (reflexive
object pronoun. This makes more sense grammatically as it follows the pattern found in ‘myself’ (reflexive
possessive pronoun)
‘Them’ as a demonstrative is the most common example of non-standard grammar. Cheshire and Edwards
found 97.7% of schools reported this was part of their dialect. It was part of all English dialects in 2004
(Kortmann and Szmresanyi)
Multiple negation e/g ‘they don’t sell them no more’
Verb forms like using the past participle rather than the simple past e/g ‘you done it’ rather than ‘you did it’
Pronoun apposition e/g ‘my husband he’s asleep in bed’
The form ‘ain’t’ rather than SE aren’t, isn’t, hasn’t, haven’t etc
Non-standard personal pronouns e/g ‘the man what said it’ ‘the man as said it’
Non-standard forms of ‘be’ e/g ‘he weren’t here’ ‘they wasn’t ready’
Term Definition Example
Accent Variations in the pronunciation influenced by region Trap/bath split is a feature of
RP
Covert Prestige Linguistic street cred
Creoles Grow out of pidgins. They are a stable variety used by
second generation speakers.
Descriptivism Analysis of language focusing on its use and
functionality
Dialect Variations in lexis and grammar influenced by region Ginnel/snicket where snicket is
more common in Yorkshire
Dialect Levelling The reduction or elimination of differenced between Seen with GNE
dialects over time
Downward When an individual adapts their language for the
Convergence linguistic equivalent of ‘street cred’
Norm-enforcing They monitor behaviour of agents and evaluate if they Kevin in Cheshire’s Reading
mechanisms violate any norm and intervene by responding to norm adolescents study. He was
violating agents bullied and exclude bc he rated
low on a ‘toughness’ scale
compared with the other boys,
desired a white collar job and
only used NS forms 14% of the
time, around a quarter less than
average for the group.
Overt Prestige Linguistic credibility from using accent and dialect
associated with the upper class
Pidgins A simplified language which allows communication
btwn two or more groups which don’t share a language.
It blends lexical and grammatical elements of 2+ langs
Prescriptivism Analysis of language focusing on its ‘correctness’
Shibboleths A feature, pronunciation or phrase which is a kind of
linguistic password, used by a set of people to identify
others as members or non-members of that group
Upward When individuals adapt their language so that it Typically RP
Convergence resembles the language of a high status group
