Analysis of Questionnaire

                                                                   Analysis

What are the attitudes towards the afro Caribbean influence on Standard English Analysis?

I asked 20 people many questions about the influences of standard English and how they think it’s changed over the years and what’s has made it change so much.

1) Was there any links between the students/people that answered the questionnaire?

There was a link between all of the people in which that answered my questionnaire as they were all sixth form students at Shenfield high school, and were all linked into the same area, of Shenfield. As they are all sixth form students they’re all the same age range from 16-18. 100%^ of the students were in education, specifically sixth form, meaning they’re more educated and clued up which means their answers would be more educated.

2) What was the overall opinion?

Out of all 20 students asked, 85% of those asked stated that they thought that Standard English had changed over the years, and all of their reasoning’s for this was due to immigrants coming over and teaching the Standard English how to use slang and all the different regional accents have changed the way in which speech is spoken.

All people also recognised that when given an example of two sentences, one using Standard English and one using slang, that the one using Standard English was better.

When asked what their understandings of ethnicity was, all people answered that they believed that ethnicity was to do with their background and where they originate from. There wasn’t any other answers from this questions and there wasn’t any differentiation. 

3) What does this tell us about the status of Standard English?

When asked what they’re opinions of standard English was, and what they believed it consisted of, every single person asked either said that they thought it was ‘”words from the dictionary” or “Queens speech” or “proper English” however, no-one went on to explain was ‘proper English’ was. Peter Trudgill was a sociolinguist that said that Standard English was only spoken by a minority of people as it’s seen as more of a ‘prestige’ way of speaking and that’s how it’s seen in the modern day. This corresponds with the answers that I received in my questionnaire as they believed that the term ‘standard English’ was the way in which the Queen spoke meaning that it’s not used in every day speech.

4) What attitudes are there towards BEV and other variations of English?

When asked if they believed that Standard English has changed, they believed that other variations of English, specifically foreign accents and foreign language have had an influence on the way in which we speak. As people came over from other countries they didn’t know the Standard English so from picking it up by everyone else, they learn slang and only pick up some of the Standard English. This affects the way in which everyone speaks as it just rubs off onto everybody else.

What are the attitudes towards the Afro-Caribbean influence on standard English?

1. How old are you?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             10-  19                                20-29                                  30-39                                 40+

1. Are you currently in education?

 

Yes                                    No

1. How would you define standard English?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

1. Do you feel as though the typical ‘standard English’ has changed throughout the years?

                           Yes                                                     No

 

1. If your answer to the above question was yes, why do you think that is?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...……………………………….............................................................................................

1. Do you think other cultures have had an influence on the English Language?

 

                               Yes                                                       No

1. What is your understanding of ethnicity?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

1. Which sentence do you think is better?

 

1. What is the other name of this country?
2. What is da udder name of de country?

why is your option better?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

 

1.   Do you think people should change the way they speak to ensure standard English doesn’t get changed?

 

                      Yes                                                                                          No

1. If yes, why?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………  

Accent and Dialect

Manchester
The above is a map of greater Manchester and it shows what different people within the qarea think of the accent anfd dialect around them. There are words used such as 'rough', 'posh', 'broad' etc. The way different people think of accents is intriguing as it shows what the area may be best known for.
Researchers say they weren’t so much interested in whether people knew where borough boundaries were, but which areas they thought were associated with different accents.
Stockport is seen as a place, where your voice, according to the study paints you as ‘soft’, ‘posh’ and ‘well-spoken’.
But towards the east, around Oldham, common words included ‘working-class’, ‘common’, ‘rough’ and ‘poor’.
It’s better news for those in Manchester City Centre. If you live in the heart of the region, your voice is more likely to come across as ‘artsy’ and ‘metropolitan’.
Accents there were also said to represent the city’s ‘diverse’ and ‘multicultural’ nature. South Manchester accents - and those around plush parts of Trafford - were thought to be more ‘standard’.
Towards Bury and Rochdale, accents were described as ‘broad’, ‘northern’, ‘common’, ‘country’ and ‘strong’. One example was Milnrow being pronounced as ‘Milnra’.
Accents Salford-way were described as ‘rough’ and ‘common’ but ‘strong’. The word ‘scally’ even came up.
A composite map from 62 people's efforts was created, with different areas showing where people thought major dialect areas were. Darker sections indicate accent ‘cores’. The most commonly used words are bigger on the map than those used less frequently.
Linguistics lecturer Dr Drummond said: “The findings suggest perceptions of accents and dialects are closely linked with social stereotypes about the people who speak them, and several of the words that were provided appear to be descriptions of people or areas rather than accents or dialects.”
They say various words that people more south wouldn't say in replacement of these words. 
Examples:
Southerners say dinner-northerners say supper/ tea
"                         " tea- "                         " brew

"                             "Aye- "                         " yes
Essex
There are many different ways in which the Essex accent is different to other regions, Ellison is used as they put together 2 different words and miss out letters between them. An example of this would be 'you sure you wanna go'. They've used wanna instead of want to, and 'you' has been missed out at the beginning of the sentence. This is a much more conversational tone and Essex accent in general is seen as 'common' and 'chavy'.  Stress is put on the last syllable of th word even if they are monosyllabic. Abreviations are used a lot for example 'OMG' instead of oh my God. This is standard English for thse people in Essex as its used in every day language just in a conversation. Words meanings have changed over time, for example the pragmatic of the word 'sick' is that someone is ill, unwell etc however people in essex have changed these words to mean different things (semantics) they use the word sick for saying something is good or amazing. Essex uis the neighboutring county to London therefore the Essex accent has been influenced by this. The Essex accent implies and has been used for stereotypes to imply that somoene is uneducated.

Cockney
This accent is mainly situated around London and Essex region and is estimated to be the second most popular accent in Britain. Features that appear a lot in the cockney accent and dialect is:

- Raised vowel in words like trap and cat so these sounds like “trep” and “cet.”
 

- Glottal Stopping: the letter t is pronounced with the back of the throat (glottis) in between vowels; for example ‘ better’(sounds to outsiders like “be’uh”).

- L-vocalization: The l at the end of words often becomes a vowel sound Hence pal can seem to sound like “pow.”

- The th in words like think or this is pronounced with a more forward consonant depending on the word: thing becomes “fing,” this becomes “dis,” and mother becomes “muhvah.”
      
The area is near to Essex so sometimes the way in which words are spoken sound similair, yet the accent is more strong and 'rough'. Like the essex accent, stress is particularly spoken on the syllables to make it sound like more of a certain word.