Response to an article

Teacher ‘told to sound less northern’ after southern Ofsted inspection’ - How can you possibly tell someone to sound ‘less northern?’ How can you define what ‘less northern’ actually is? You can’t. You cannot, in my opinion, physically tell a member of staff that they have to tone down their northern accent. As if teaching wasn’t stressful enough, that poor teacher would then have to go into every single lesson, feeling on edge that the accent in which she has and cannot help just simply isn’t ‘suitable.’ Somebody’s accent does not in any way, shape or form affect their dialect; this teacher for all we know could be the best in her field. The way in which she pronounces word should not in any way, shape or form affect this. One thing that is particularly staggering though is the fact that she’s actually teaching in a northern school. Therefore, how can you justify that she should speak ‘less northern?’ It just doesn’t make any sense to me whatsoever.

Picture this: your average English school with teachers who speak in clear English accents. Suddenly, a teacher turns up who speaks with a Welsh accent, or perhaps even an Indian accent. Surely this would be classed as racism if you told them to speak ‘more British?’ That school would probably have the media hounded outside their building demanding why such a request was even made. You cannot dispute that this is unfortunately true. What happened to the common belief that everyone should embrace people’s differences? Instead of victimising people based on their regional way of speaking, it should be encouraged to promote and protect these accents. No one should feel like they should speak differently just because of a few seemingly insignificant opinions. I find it unbelievable that Ofsted have gone to this school to write a report on it yet how a teacher speaks instead of their teaching performance has been considered. It’s utterly ridiculous and the school should not sit back about this.

What I think people fail to remember is that accent and dialect are two different things. It would be a different matter if this particular teacher was frequently using taboo words and phrases/words not appropriate for the classroom but this isn’t the issue. If it was the issue, Ofsted would have had every right to comment on this. What the teachings are saying, rather than the accent in which they deliver it is much more important.

As for banning regional phrases for pupils in some schools, I think this is an outrageous thing to do. Children/teenagers have enough pressures and stresses when they enter the school building, let alone feeling anxious that they can’t say certain words and phrases. I don’t see how it can be said that certain regional phrases can damage their prospects. Typically, you would expect the vast majority of people to use slang around their friends and if this isn’t the case, everyone knows at least someone who uses slang. Surely, if regional phrases are being banned in certain schools for damaging prospects, then use of slang should be banned too. Of course you cannot physically stop slang from being used; in the same way it should be impossible to ban regional phrases. They’re wherever you go. “It’s about getting them ready for job interviews” what a lot of nonsense. If you were going into a serious job interview, you shouldn’t feel the need to use regional phrases anyway, as it is a formal scenario. What schools need to be emphasising to their students is how to actually prepare for interviews instead of saying that banning regional phrases is going to help them. Theoretically, wouldn’t you agree that schools are opting for the easy option out? ‘Oh yes, we can ban regional phrases and this will help our students in future job interviews!’ Instead of ‘we’ll run sessions for those interested to work on how they should conduct and speak in a formal interview scenario.’

The chances are, you’ll travel somewhere new in the country in the foreseeable future and during this experience you will come across a whole range of phrases that you perhaps have never even heard of. Why can this not be seen as expanding your vocabulary rather than it being stigmatised as a negative prospect?

Clichéd as it may sound, I am a firm believer that people’s differences, including differences in accent should be embraced. No one should be made to feel differently because of the way their mouth happens to shape words. That would be like judging someone because their walk is slightly different or that their hair colour is branching slightly out from the usual browns, blondes or gingers. If everyone spoke in the same way, wouldn’t life be lacking in variety?

Eckert and Cheshire/Research Task

Eckert and Cheshire

 

In every school there are always going to be distinct groups. Eckert studied two high school groups in America; the jocks and the burnouts. In the UK, there is not so much focus on the specific groups, they are often just classed as ‘friendship groups’. However having said this, you often do get the sporting groups, whether this be football or cricket or rugby etc. The members of these groups tend to be close to one another as they have to build up teamwork when they are playing and this therefore helps develop friendships. Typically, as these friendships develop, you would expect members of the group to pick up on each other’s language choices and this may be reflected in the way they later go on to speak. For example, a phrase that one member of the group may use could then go on to be a phrase that an entire group go on to use. All of this goes for the other friendship groups, whether they be a large girl group, a smaller girl group, ‘nerds’, a mixed friendship group etc. Linking this in to Cheshire’s studies, she showed that girls who didn’t have positive attitudes towards fighting and swearing etc. tended to speak using correct grammar against those who did have a positive attitude towards those things: they spoke using more incorrect grammar. This could link in with friendship groups and their overall attitude towards school; for example, stereotypically you would expect those groups who didn’t care about school or showed a negative attitude towards it to not focus so much on their grammar against those who are studious and willing to work. As a general note, I think that when surrounded by the peers in your friendship group you would tend to use more colloquial language because these are the people you feel the most comfortable around and therefore you don’t pay as much attention to the actual words you are saying.

 

Research Task

• Accent only relates to pronunciation and intonation rather than grammar and vocabulary.
• Listeners can make judgements on peoples’ intelligence and warmth purely by listening to a recorded accented speech.
• Engagement with TV programmes seems to have an influence on young’s people speech
• When analysing tweets, it was found that women use more pronouns and use terms involving emotions.
• It was also found that swearwords and taboo words  were more commonly used by men whereas women choose milder terms

Accent and Dialect

Accent and Dialogue

 

Dialect: specific variety of English that differs from other varieties in three specific ways: lexis, grammar and phonology. English dialects might be different but all speakers within the English speaking world can still generally understand them.

 

Accent: refers only to the differences in the sound patterns of a specific dialect.

Scouse Terms:

• Abar - The correct way to pronounce the word "about"*
• Arlarse (often shortened to Aarlee,  Auld-arse, Owlarse or even Old Arse)
• Auld - "Old" (pronounced "Arld")
• Baltic - Extremely cold weather
• Belter - The Scouse word for "Fantastic!".
• Bevvy - Beverage, alcoholic drink
• Bifter - A cigarette. Also in the phrase "Giving it the bifters", meaning "To do something really well".
• Bills - Underpants
• Bird - A girl. "Me bird" means "my wife". Often pronounced as "beard"
• The Bizzies - The local constabulary. The 5-0.
• Boss! - "Very good stuff!"
  Geordie Terms:
  Ma: Mother.
  Mam: Mother. The preferred northern term for Mum (or for Americans Mom).
  Mac: Make, especially in the Sunderland area.
  Mac' N' Tac: Alternative term for a native of Sunderland. See Mackem.
  Mackem: A native of Sunderland Probably referring to shipbuilders - 'We mackem, ye tackem' For a full explanation view this page on Sunderland mackems.
  Mags: Magpies - a Sunderland football club supporters' term for a Newcastle United fan.
  Man: Frequently used as a form of address. Divvent dee that man, howay man - even when talking to a woman.
  Me: My.

Spoken Speech Analysis

Person 1: when you saw him (.) I mean he was well made up /

Person 2: just thinking of Danny (.) innit

Person 1: yeah (.) that’s what I was gonna say she (.) he suddenly walked in and said are you ready and she said I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready and he comes in (.) he’s got this long wig his face is all made up (2) dress and well (.) it was hilarious cos he’s bald headed and he’s nothing to look at you know /

Person 2: yeah

Person 1: (laughs) and so Sandra said to me yesterday oh did you see that Friday she said wasn’t it funny (.) so she said I couldn’t handle it she said if (.) if Terry suddenly (laughs) said to me /

Person 2: (laughs)

Person 1: (laughs and continues sentence where she left off) I like dressing as a woman she said mind you he’d never be able to get his legs in my knickers (laughs, speaks louder)

Person 2: (laughs) she’s funny Sandra

Person 1: and we were in hysterics (3) when Danny said would she go in and see him /

Person 2: yeah and he’d dressed up

Person 1: and she said oh it was horrible (.) it was horrific but /

Person 2: you know who we’re talking about don’t you

Person 3: what

Person 2: well you wouldn’t say it (.) you know Amanda and Mel we had told you their Dad used to (.) cross dress /

Person 3: no way /

Person 2: he did seriously he asked Keeley’s mum to go in once and have a look at him dressed up seriously /

Person 1: he said would you come and see me dressed up /

Person 3: that’s so weird

Person 1: (laughing and continuing where left off) and see if you think it’s alright for me to go out like it

Analysis of spoken speech

The majority of the conversation is between my mum and nan, with my sister joining in later on. As the conversation is between family members, the register is low. There is clear use of elision on multiple instances which reinforces the sense of informality. Two examples are ‘gonna’ and ‘innit’. ‘Innit’ is a word commonly used by people in the younger generation, however the fact my mum used it conveys that it was probably said to save time. Liaison, along with elision is something else my nan used; she pronounced bald-headed as ‘bald-eded’ – this could’ve been used to avoid a hiatus between the words and helps the syllables to run together more smoothly. My nan appears to be speaking in a narrative tone in the beginning as she is talking for an extensive period. Two of Grice’s Maxims were put into practise here: quantity as she was giving an appropriate amount of detail and relevance as the topic was cross-dressing shown on the telly. Cross-dressing itself is mentioned, which could be considered a form dysphemistic language as it doesn’t attempt to disguise what could be considered a sensitive topic. Turn taking is not something greatly evident throughout the conversation as the members appear to bounce off of each other/interrupt where necessary; however having said this, it is clear my nan is the more dominant as she speaks quicker whilst trying to get across her points. It is also relevant to note that she speaks the most. She tends to speak in the same tone throughout the conversation however when she is about to laugh, intonation-wise, her voice gets more high-pitched. It is clear that my nan speaks rather quickly due to the lack of pauses; although there are pauses, for how much she speaks, you would expect there to be more.

Back challenging is used in particular by my mum. Whilst my nan is speaking, she often contributes a ‘yeah’ to the conversation to show that she is following what she is saying and that she is engaged. Non-fluency features, as expected, appear in the conversation. There is one instance where my nan is explaining what her friend was saying, and “she said” is mentioned three times. It interrupts the flow of talk however it doesn’t mean to say that she is not making herself clear as my mum laughs in response. Often my mum interrupts the flow of my nan speaking but having said this, these interruptions often show that she is an active listener because it is encouraging the speaker to continue with what they were saying. It is evident that my mum and nan are close to one another as my mum is allowing my nan to speak a great deal without the need for clear turn-taking between them; often when close to someone, in a conversation sometimes one person speaks for a long time whereas the other person chips in occasionally to show that they are engaged in what is being said.

Referential language is a huge feature throughout this conversation. My nan is providing my mum with information and in turn, she is additionally using expressive language as she is highlighting her attitudes and feelings, for example, she found something ‘hilarious’. Furthermore, the use of laughter in-between her speech shows that it is a particularly humorous topic. Towards the end of the conversation, my sister is included. Here is where turn taking is slightly more noted; for example, my mum uses the conversational marker: “you know who we’re talking about don’t you?” and this tag question encourages my sister to respond. Intonation is clearly used by my sister when she responds with ‘no way’ – her pitch gets higher which reflects a sense of shock. My nan’s dominance in the conversation is shown by the fact that she also interrupts when my mum is talking to finish what she was going to say. Although this conversation was unprepared, it supports the fact that there will always be someone/multiple people who dominate the conversation.