3.4.2

Introduction to Accents & Dialects

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Accents and Dialect - Introduction

One of the most obvious ways we can tell differences in language is by listening to how people pronounce things.

Link with being raised

Link with being raised

How you speak (generally) indicates where you were raised.
- For example, you can tell if someone’s from Newcastle because they will (generally) speak with a Geordie accent and use terms like ‘pet’.

Accent and dialect

Accent and dialect

In linguistics, we use the terms accent and dialect.
- We say that dialect is the words that are fairly unique to that area.
- The term accent describes how we say words. Everybody speaks with an accent, even if they think they don’t. You will often hear people say that they ‘don’t have an accent’, but this is not true – people have difficulties understanding that they have an accent because they believe that they speak ‘normally’.

Writing about accents

Writing about accents

Before we can look at accent, we need to look at how you write about accents for your exam.
When writing about a sound, we always write the phoneme (unit of sound) in two forward slashes like this: /a/.
When describing longer sounds, we use ‘:’ after the symbol.
To transcribe sounds, we use the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). These are freely available online. But you will not be given this in your Paper 2 exam, so you will have to memorise phonological features from the studies.

1

Language Levels

1.1

Assessment Objectives

1.1.1Assessment Objectives

1.2

Lexis

1.2.1Introduction 1.2.2Common, Proper, Abstract & Concrete Nouns 1.2.3Collective Nouns 1.2.4Adjectives 1.2.5Main, Auxiliary & Copular Verbs 1.2.6Dynamic & Stative Verbs 1.2.7Transitive, Intransitive, Active & Passive Verbs 1.2.8Mood of Verbs 1.2.9Adverbs 1.2.10Personal, Possessive & Reflexive Pronouns 1.2.11Relative & Demonstrative Pronouns 1.2.12Determiners 1.2.13Conjunctions 1.2.14Synonyms, Antonyms & Phonological Features 1.2.15End of Topic Test - Lexis

1.3

Grammar

1.3.1Morphology 1.3.2Clauses 1.3.3Phrases 1.3.4Present Tense 1.3.5Past Tense 1.3.6Future Tense 1.3.7End of Topic Test - Grammar

1.4

Semantics & Pragmatics

1.4.1Semantics 1.4.2Pragmatics

1.5

Discourse Structure, Graphology & Orthography

1.5.1Discourse Structure 1.5.2Graphology & Orthography 1.5.3End of Topic Test - Semantics, Graphology etc.

2

Language, The Individual & Society

2.1

Children’s Language Development

2.1.1The Exam 2.1.2Phonemes, Vocal Tract & Articulation 2.1.3Writing About Phonemes 2.1.4Phonological Simplification 2.1.5A Child's First Year & Consonant Acquisition 2.1.6Beginning Stages of Language 2.1.7Lexical Development 2.1.8Stages of Development 2.1.9End of Topic Test - Child Language Development

2.2

Children's Language Development - Theories

2.2.1Behaviourism 2.2.2Interactionism 2.2.3Challenging Interactionism 2.2.4Nativism 2.2.5Nativism - Exam Answer 2.2.6Cognitivism 2.2.7Social Constructionism 2.2.8Writing About Spoken Acquisition 2.2.9End of Topic Test - Development Theories

2.3

Literacy Development: Reading

2.3.1Introduction 2.3.2Phonics vs Whole Word 2.3.3Debates in Reading 2.3.4Modelling Reading Acquisition 2.3.5Other Reading Theories 2.3.6End of Topic Test - Reading

2.4

Literacy Development: Writing

2.4.1Orthography 2.4.2Kroll's Theory 2.4.3Barclay's Theory 2.4.4Creativity vs Accuracy 2.4.5Other Writing Theories 2.4.6The Exam 2.4.7End of Topic Test - Writing

3

Language Diversity & Change

3.1

The Importance of Gendered Language

3.1.1Writing About Gender 3.1.2Dominance Theory 3.1.3Interruptions - Zimmerman & West 3.1.4Deficit Theory 3.1.5Difference Model 3.1.6Difference Model - Men 3.1.7Diversity Model 3.1.8End of Topic Test - Gendered Language

3.2

Social Groups

3.2.1Writing About Social Groups 3.2.2Social Class 3.2.3Social Class 2 3.2.4Age 3.2.5Age - Teen Speak 3.2.6Milroy’s Belfast Study 3.2.7Labov’s Martha’s Vineyard Study 3.2.8End of Topic Test - Social Groups

3.3

Occupational Groups

3.3.1Writing About Occupational Groups 3.3.2Jargon 3.3.3Conversations 3.3.4Hierarchy & Power 3.3.5End of Topic Test - Occupational Groups

3.4

Accents & Dialects

3.4.1Writing About Accent & Dialect 3.4.2Introduction to Accents & Dialects 3.4.3Accents - Matched Guide Experiment 3.4.4Accents - Received Pronunciation & Brummie 3.4.5Dialects - Dialectal Variations 3.4.6Accent & Dialect Case Study - London 3.4.7End of Topic Test - Accents & Dialects

3.5

Language Change

3.5.1Writing About Language Change 3.5.2Modelling Change 3.5.3Modelling Change 2 3.5.4Lexical Change 3.5.5Semantic Change 3.5.6End of Topic Test - Language Change

3.6

History of English

3.6.1Old English 3.6.2Old English 2 3.6.3Middle English 3.6.4Middle English 2 3.6.5Early Modern English 3.6.6Late Modern English 3.6.7Present Day English 3.6.8Global English 3.6.9American English 3.6.10Modelling Global English 3.6.11End of Topic Test - History of English

Jump to other topics

1

Language Levels

1.1

Assessment Objectives

1.1.1Assessment Objectives

1.2

Lexis

1.2.1Introduction 1.2.2Common, Proper, Abstract & Concrete Nouns 1.2.3Collective Nouns 1.2.4Adjectives 1.2.5Main, Auxiliary & Copular Verbs 1.2.6Dynamic & Stative Verbs 1.2.7Transitive, Intransitive, Active & Passive Verbs 1.2.8Mood of Verbs 1.2.9Adverbs 1.2.10Personal, Possessive & Reflexive Pronouns 1.2.11Relative & Demonstrative Pronouns 1.2.12Determiners 1.2.13Conjunctions 1.2.14Synonyms, Antonyms & Phonological Features 1.2.15End of Topic Test - Lexis

1.3

Grammar

1.3.1Morphology 1.3.2Clauses 1.3.3Phrases 1.3.4Present Tense 1.3.5Past Tense 1.3.6Future Tense 1.3.7End of Topic Test - Grammar

1.4

Semantics & Pragmatics

1.4.1Semantics 1.4.2Pragmatics

1.5

Discourse Structure, Graphology & Orthography

1.5.1Discourse Structure 1.5.2Graphology & Orthography 1.5.3End of Topic Test - Semantics, Graphology etc.

2

Language, The Individual & Society

2.1

Children’s Language Development

2.1.1The Exam 2.1.2Phonemes, Vocal Tract & Articulation 2.1.3Writing About Phonemes 2.1.4Phonological Simplification 2.1.5A Child's First Year & Consonant Acquisition 2.1.6Beginning Stages of Language 2.1.7Lexical Development 2.1.8Stages of Development 2.1.9End of Topic Test - Child Language Development

2.2

Children's Language Development - Theories

2.2.1Behaviourism 2.2.2Interactionism 2.2.3Challenging Interactionism 2.2.4Nativism 2.2.5Nativism - Exam Answer 2.2.6Cognitivism 2.2.7Social Constructionism 2.2.8Writing About Spoken Acquisition 2.2.9End of Topic Test - Development Theories

2.3

Literacy Development: Reading

2.3.1Introduction 2.3.2Phonics vs Whole Word 2.3.3Debates in Reading 2.3.4Modelling Reading Acquisition 2.3.5Other Reading Theories 2.3.6End of Topic Test - Reading

2.4

Literacy Development: Writing

2.4.1Orthography 2.4.2Kroll's Theory 2.4.3Barclay's Theory 2.4.4Creativity vs Accuracy 2.4.5Other Writing Theories 2.4.6The Exam 2.4.7End of Topic Test - Writing

3

Language Diversity & Change

3.1

The Importance of Gendered Language

3.1.1Writing About Gender 3.1.2Dominance Theory 3.1.3Interruptions - Zimmerman & West 3.1.4Deficit Theory 3.1.5Difference Model 3.1.6Difference Model - Men 3.1.7Diversity Model 3.1.8End of Topic Test - Gendered Language

3.2

Social Groups

3.2.1Writing About Social Groups 3.2.2Social Class 3.2.3Social Class 2 3.2.4Age 3.2.5Age - Teen Speak 3.2.6Milroy’s Belfast Study 3.2.7Labov’s Martha’s Vineyard Study 3.2.8End of Topic Test - Social Groups

3.3

Occupational Groups

3.3.1Writing About Occupational Groups 3.3.2Jargon 3.3.3Conversations 3.3.4Hierarchy & Power 3.3.5End of Topic Test - Occupational Groups

3.4

Accents & Dialects

3.4.1Writing About Accent & Dialect 3.4.2Introduction to Accents & Dialects 3.4.3Accents - Matched Guide Experiment 3.4.4Accents - Received Pronunciation & Brummie 3.4.5Dialects - Dialectal Variations 3.4.6Accent & Dialect Case Study - London 3.4.7End of Topic Test - Accents & Dialects

3.5

Language Change

3.5.1Writing About Language Change 3.5.2Modelling Change 3.5.3Modelling Change 2 3.5.4Lexical Change 3.5.5Semantic Change 3.5.6End of Topic Test - Language Change

3.6

History of English

3.6.1Old English 3.6.2Old English 2 3.6.3Middle English 3.6.4Middle English 2 3.6.5Early Modern English 3.6.6Late Modern English 3.6.7Present Day English 3.6.8Global English 3.6.9American English 3.6.10Modelling Global English 3.6.11End of Topic Test - History of English

Practice questions on Introduction to Accents & Dialects

Can you answer these? Test yourself with free interactive practice on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.

1
What is a Scouser (someone from Liverpool) using the word __'jarg'__ (fake) an example of?Multiple choice
2
Where was someone with a Brummie accent likely raised?Multiple choice
3
What do you need to remember when writing about sounds?True / false
4
What kind of accent is someone from Newcastle likely to have?Multiple choice
5
What does IPA stand for?Multiple choice

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Writing About Accent & Dialect

Accents - Matched Guide Experiment