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Reading Working Papers in Linguistics 4 (2000) - The University of ...

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SALIENCE IN LANGUAGE CHANGE<br />

• <strong>The</strong> distance <strong>of</strong> a town from a metropolis (<strong>in</strong> this case London) is <strong>in</strong>versely<br />

proportional to the degree to which the town adopts l<strong>in</strong>guistic features<br />

from that metropolis (the gravity model: see Trudgill 1983)<br />

• Language change is most visible through the comparison <strong>of</strong> teenage<br />

language with that <strong>of</strong> adults<br />

<strong>The</strong> project <strong>in</strong>vestigated teenage speech <strong>in</strong> three towns, Milton Keynes,<br />

a new town ly<strong>in</strong>g 70 kms north-west <strong>of</strong> London and hav<strong>in</strong>g a highly mobile<br />

population (Kerswill & Williams <strong>2000</strong>), <strong>Read<strong>in</strong>g</strong>, a well-established town<br />

ly<strong>in</strong>g 60 kms west <strong>of</strong> London, and Hull, a northern city with decl<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g<br />

<strong>in</strong>dustries. <strong>The</strong> choice <strong>of</strong> southern towns (Milton Keynes vs. <strong>Read<strong>in</strong>g</strong>)<br />

enabled us to assess the effect <strong>of</strong> geographical mobility vs. stability and open<br />

vs. close-knit social networks on dialect levell<strong>in</strong>g, while the choice <strong>of</strong> Hull<br />

allowed us to <strong>in</strong>vestigate the presence <strong>of</strong> convergence or divergence between<br />

North and South. In order to f<strong>in</strong>d evidence <strong>of</strong> parallel trends across social<br />

classes, <strong>in</strong> each town two broadly def<strong>in</strong>ed social groups were <strong>in</strong>vestigated,<br />

‘work<strong>in</strong>g class’ and ‘middle class’, sampled by target<strong>in</strong>g schools <strong>in</strong> different<br />

catchment areas. In each town, 32 14-15 year olds were recorded <strong>in</strong><br />

<strong>in</strong>terviews and group discussions. Additionally, <strong>in</strong> each town, four elderly<br />

work<strong>in</strong>g-class residents were recorded. <strong>The</strong> follow<strong>in</strong>g variables were<br />

quantified:<br />

• 4 vowels (those <strong>in</strong> the lexical sets <strong>of</strong> PRICE, GOOSE, GOAT and MOUTH 3 )<br />

• 4 consonants (T-glottall<strong>in</strong>g, front<strong>in</strong>g [?] -> [f], front<strong>in</strong>g [1 -> [v], H-<br />

dropp<strong>in</strong>g)<br />

• 12 non-standard grammatical (morphological and morphosyntactic)<br />

features<br />

• the focus marker like<br />

5.2 Results<br />

We now look <strong>in</strong> detail at the geographical and social spread <strong>of</strong> a number <strong>of</strong><br />

these variables. In order to <strong>in</strong>vestigate the role <strong>of</strong> salience, we will first try to<br />

assess the possible reasons for the difference <strong>in</strong> their spread <strong>in</strong> relation to one<br />

<strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>ternal factors mentioned <strong>in</strong> section 3, that <strong>of</strong> markedness vs.<br />

3 <strong>The</strong>se words are used mnemonically, follow<strong>in</strong>g Wells (1982).<br />

75

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