Dialect Levelling in Britain - Influences

Influences

Migration within a country

Over the past forty years people have moved out of the cities and into dormitory towns and suburbs. In addition thirty-five new towns, such as Milton Keynes were created across the country (Kerswill, 2001). Industrialisation often causes an increase in work opportunities in a certain area causing people to move and evoking a general willingness to adopt certain language features that are typical for this area (Milroy, 2002).

In general first-generation adult migrants only show slight language changes, whereas their children produce a more homogeneous language. When these children become teenagers, they often feel pressured to conform to the language of their peer group and thus a new levelled language variety starts to emerge (Williams, & Kerswill, 1999).

Lateral (geographical) mobility

Modern transportation has made travel easier and more efficient. This results in people travelling larger distances to work and meeting people from different areas at work, which in turn exposes them to different dialects and encourages dialect levelling. It causes employers to expect that employees are flexible and willing to work at different locations or to change locations throughout their career. It produces language missionaries or people that move away from their native area for a period of time and then return, bringing with them some traces of a foreign dialect and it results in that fact that parents nowadays do not come from the same community, causing dialect levelling to take place within the family (Williams, & Kerswill, 1999).

Vertical social mobility

When people are promoted they often feel the need to adapt their language so that a wider group of people will understand them more clearly. They often leave out typical regional varieties and use more widely known varieties instead. Schools realize the need for a common language variety and encourage pupils to adopt Standard English (Williams, & Kerswill, 1999).

People approach new language forms positively

Popular media such as TV and radio stations broadcast mostly from London and the south, causing traces of southern accents to be found in the north. Nowadays however, one finds a generally positive attitude towards different language forms as Non-Received Pronunciation English can be heard on every radio and television station. BBC newsreaders still form an exception in this respect, though even there Welsh and Scottish accents seem to be accepted. This positive attitude towards different varieties of English seems to catch on with the general public (Kerswill, 2001)(Williams, & Kerswill, 1999).

Women are generally more open to new language varieties

Several studies show that women adopt widely used language features more easily than men. The language of women tends to be more neutral and shows less regional varieties, though their language does not necessarily come closer to Received Pronunciation. Dialect levelling often starts with women but quickly spreads to the rest of the family (Kerswill, 2003).

Speakers want to maintain a unique dialect that distinguishes them from others.

In some cases more than others, linguistic distinctiveness seems to be a sociolinguistic priority. When having a conversation with someone of a different dialect community, some people like to emphasize their own dialect (Kerswill, & Williams 2000)(Milroy, 2002). Amongst youngsters of all classes there is often a strong class awareness. Working-class teenagers for example, are known to make strong statements against ‘posh’ people. These class-based norms influence a person’s willingness to adopt standard English and Received Pronunciation and their dislike for different language varieties (Kerswill, & Williams 2000).

Natural factors

Not all language changes are caused by external influences. Sometimes language changes through the course of time. One example of such a change is -fronting (Kerswill, 2003).