Masaryk University Faculty of Arts
Department of English and American Studies
English Language and Literature
Anna Havránková
The Role of Stereotypes in Phonaesthetic Perception: Celtic Accents of English
Bachelor's Diploma Thesis
Supervisor: PhDr. Kateřina Tomková, Ph.D.
2017
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I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.
…...... Author’s signature
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Acknowledgements:
First, and most of all, I would like to thank my supervisor PhDr. Kateřina Tomková,
Ph.D. for offering her expertise and valuable insight, aiding greatly throughout the whole process. I would also like to thank everyone who took their time to participate in the research, as well as those who helped to spread the word amongst other potential respondents, for without them the research would not have been successful.
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Table of Contents
List of figures ...... 10
List of tables ...... 11
Introduction ...... 12
1. Phonology of Celtic accents ...... 15
1.1 Accent versus dialect ...... 15
1.2 Received pronunciation (RP) ...... 16
1.2.1 Vowels ...... 17
1.2.2 Consonants ...... 18
1.2.3 Prosodic features ...... 20
1.3 Standard Scottish English (SScE) ...... 21
1.3.1 Vowels ...... 21
1.3.2 Consonants ...... 24
1.3.3 Prosodic features ...... 25
1.4.Irish English (IrE)...... 25
1.4.1 Vowels ...... 26
1.4.2 Consonants ...... 28
1.4.3. Prosodic features ...... 29
1.5 Phonaestethics ...... 30
2. Sociolinguistics and accent ...... 31
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2.1 Accent and prestige ...... 32
2.2 Media stereotypes ...... 35
3. Practical section ...... 38
3.1 Research methods and goals ...... 38
3.2 Preliminary expectations ...... 40
3.3 Results from group A – “watchers “ ...... 40
3.3.1 SScE ...... 41
3.3.2 IrE ...... 45
3.4. Results from group B – “non-watchers” ...... 48
3.4.1 SScE ...... 48
3.4.2 IrE ...... 51
4. Conclusion ...... 54
Bibliography ...... 56
Primary sources ...... 56
Secondary sources ...... 56
Summaries ...... 60
English ...... 60
Czech ...... 61
Appendices ...... 63
Group A questionnaire ...... 63
Group B questionnaire ...... 66
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List of figures
Fig. 1: RP Vowels (Roach 2004, p. 242) ...... 17
Fig. 2: RP consonants (Roach 2004, p. 242) ...... 18
Fig. 3: Basilect/hyperlect continuum (Honey1998, p. 96) ...... 34
Fig. 4: Group A SScE evaluation ...... 41
Fig. 5: Group A SScE preference graph ...... 42
Fig. 6: Group A IrE evaluation ...... 45
Fig. 7: Group A IrE preference graph ...... 46
Fig. 8: Group B SScE evaluation ...... 48
Fig. 9: Group B SScE preference graph ...... 50
Fig. 10: Group B IrE evaluation ...... 51
Fig. 11: Group B IrE preference graph ...... 52
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List of tables
Tab. 1: Wells’ RP lexical sets ...... 18
Tab. 2: Wells’ SScE lexical sets ...... 22
Tab. 3: Wells’ IrE lexical sets ...... 27
Tab. 4: Hickey’s IrE consonantal lexical sets ...... 29
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Introduction
Accents of English that are considered non-standard have always been subject to stereotyping. People are often presented with these stereotypes through media and pop culture, which may shape their judgements and possibly even their phonaesthetic perceptions. In films and TV series, people are most likely to associate Australian varieties of English with surfers and explorers, just as they may expect an American farmer to have a strong Southern accent without having more information about their actual geographical and cultural backgrounds; even though in reality these accents might just as well belong to an average white-collar worker. For this reason, when it comes to native speakers, it is nearly impossible to measure how they perceive these accents from purely phonaesthetic point of view, since they cannot distinguish their preference of certain sounds from these stereotypes that have become a part of their culture. However, this thesis takes two lay groups of Czech and Slovak speakers – hence speakers sharing similar language backgrounds – and compares how the judgements of those who regularly come into contact with English media differ from the judgements of those who are not interested in the language or the culture surrounding it.
In the current modern era where English functions as a lingua franca, it is of course impossible to assume that any layperson would be utterly unfamiliar with the
English language. For this reason, the thesis does not claim to contrast the perceptions of those who are familiar with the sounds of English and of those who are not. It rather presupposes that while respondents from one group will have their perceptions based purely on their knowledge of the preferred standard variety of the language, the others will show a shift in their perceptions due to their exposure to media.
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This thesis focuses on Scottish and Irish accents, since they have very distinctive features and it therefore makes them the easy to distinguish from RP which is used as a basis for any comparisons. They also often occur in both British and American media and there are many cultural stereotypes connected to them. The Welsh accent is omitted, since it is rarely present in the media and there are no major stereotypes tied to it.
The thesis is divided into three chapters. The first one focuses on the phonetic description of the two accents, how they differ from RP and the way these features might be perceived from the phonaesthetic point of view. In this area, the works of J. C.
Wells (1982), Peter Roach (1991), Clive Upton (2004), Jane Stuart-Smith (2004) and
Raymond Hickey (2013) have proven to be valuable sources.
In the second part, the focus is shifted from phonetics to sociolinguistics. A brief overview of accent in the context of the field is introduced, as well as cultural stereotypes in media that may influence perceptions of the accents. This part then includes instances of Irish and Scottish accents being used to communicate certain character traits to viewers in contemporary films and TV series that the respondents are likely familiar with. This chapter is greatly influenced by publications from John Honey
(1998), J.K. Chambers (2009), and mostly by works of William Labov.
However, the first two chapters only provide a necessary background for the last, third chapter of the thesis, which deals with the methods and results of the research.
The goal of this section is to describe the research methods as well as preliminary expectations of the results, evaluate the results of both groups and conclude whether the research conclusively proved that people who are familiar with cultural stereotypes tied to Scottish and Irish accents find them more phonaesthetically pleasing than those who
13 are perceiving them without prior knowledge of these stereotypes, solely based on their recognition of RP as the more acceptable variety.
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1. Phonology of Celtic accents1
Before delving into the stereotypes surrounding Celtic accents, it is necessary to understand what an accent is, as well as how the instances differ from each other.
Therefore, this chapter will be examining phonology of the accents in questions, especially those features that a typical layperson may recognise.
1.1 Accent versus dialect
First step to fully grasp the differences in phonaesthetic perceptions when it comes to different accents is to fully establish the phonological differences between the accents in question and the Received Pronunciation, which I will consider a basis for the subsequent comparisons.
However, before further exploring the accents’ phonology, it is necessary to fully define the difference between an accent and a dialect, as this is an issue that
English linguistics approaches differently from many other countries; especially when it comes to Scotland. As Hughes, Trudgill and Watt (2012) state, a dialect is traditionally considered as variation of not only pronunciation, but also grammar. It shows the speaker’s cultural background. For instance, Cockney is therefore considered a dialect, as well as Scots in Scotland. An accent, on the other hand, is distinct in pronunciation, but does not inherently reflect the same level of cultural background (p.1-9). While this problematic is definitely much more complex than suggested by this simple overview and some authors use these terms interchangeably, this thesis will adhere to this distinction and will be dealing primarily with the accents, the reason being the
1 To illustrate certain points in this chapter, symbols from the international phonetic alphabet will be used. The symbols for RP are provided in the first section, any additional symbols from the Celtic accents are then explained in context of the table used for RP.
15 dichotomy between Scottish Accent of English and Scots that will be touched upon later.
That said, the following subsections will deal with the respective differences in pronunciation of Scottish and Irish accents of English2, briefly examining their phonological structure and highlighting the features that are the most different from the chosen standard – the RP. That said, consonant and vowel system 3of each accent will be introduced to help with the explanations.
1.2 Received pronunciation (RP)
Before describing the examined accents themselves, it is necessary to introduce the standard they are judged upon – the Received Pronunciation. Even though RP is a concept familiar to most, if not all, English speakers, it is fair to say that its definition might not be as obvious as one might think. As Wells (1982) states:
No accent is a homogenous invariant monolith - certainly not RP. So we must . .
. consider the variability found within it. In doing so, we might be impressionistic:
although RP is by far the most thoroughly described accent of English, there has
been very little in the way of objective quantified investigation of its variability.
(p. 279)
2 Further only SScE and IrE 3The features will be introduced in relation to the standard for each accent, rather than in correlation to the dialect or idiolects of each speaker – partly because of the decision to focus on accents rather than dialects, but also because the recordings do not provide enough material to conduct a thorough background analysis of the exact variety the speakers possess. 16
This variability is understandable – RP is wide-spread, it is used as a marker of formality or social class, as well as a standard form adapted by non-native speakers.
However, there are certain features that are shared within all the varieties and that should be briefly touched upon, to serve as a basis for further description of the Celtic accents.
1.2.1 Vowels
The standard vowel system of RP is distributed as follows:
Fig. 1: RP Vowels (Roach 2004, p. 242)
It also contains seven diphthongs: /eɪ, ʌɪ, ɔɪ, əʊ, aʊ, ɪə, ʊə/. Their distribution can be accurately represented through using Wells’ standard lexical sets, where each set represents a collection of words where the vowel realises in the same way (for instance, the words bit and bid would both belong into the KIT set). This system helps to introduce the correlation of graphemes to phonemes depending on their phonetic background.
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Tab. 1: Wells‘ RP lexical sets KIT ɪ THOUGHT ɔː
DRESS e GOAT əʊ
TRAP æ GOOSE uː
LOT ɒ PRICE aɪ
STRUT ʌ CHOICE ɔɪ
FOOT ʊ MOUTH aʊ
BATH ɑː NEAR ɪə
CLOTH ɒ SQUARE eə
NURSE ɜː START ɑː
FLEECE iː NORTH ɔː
FACE eɪ FORCE ɔː
PALM ɑː CURE ʊə
1.2.2 Consonants
The standard systems of consonants in RP is the following:
Fig. 2: RP consonants (Roach 2004, p. 242)
As is apparent, the most numerous phonemes are those with alveolar realisation, and they are also the most frequent - /n, t, d, s/ and /l/ combined make up more than
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27% of RP phonemes frequency (Cruttenden 1994, p. 196). This is however a generalisation applicable to most English accents, and a fact that is as Upton states,
“structurally conditioned”, as they often occur in particles and grammatical morphemes.
There are, however, certain phonological features that are typical for RP and that clearly differentiate it from the Celtic accents.
One of the most apparent one is glottalisation. In SScE, just as in many other
British varieties, the glottal stop /ʔ/ occurs intervocalically. As Upton states, “it is often fondly supposed that this does not occur in RP,” but such statement would not be entirely true. There is indeed presence of the glottal stop in RP, however, while it is less likely to occur in careful speech, there are certainly instances of it present. It does not occur intervocalically, but rather in “syllable-final position preceding a non-syllabic consonant” (228).
Another prominent feature of RP is the linking and intrusive R. The accent is non-rhotic, unlike the two Celtic accents, therefore there is a distinction between the two uses. This is closely connected to glottalisation, as it might be present to avoid the glottal stop. In the most careful manner of articulation, linking R traditionally does not occur in RP, rendering phrases such as far away to realise as [fɑː əˈweɪ], rather than as
[fɑːr əˈweɪ]. The intrusive R, however, is very closely connected with RP, to the point where it is becoming a norm, and as stated above, is often inserted to avoid the hiatus between two vowels, or a vowel and a plosive – therefore the idea of it realises as
[ði aɪˈdɪər əv ɪt]. It may also occur word internally, making drawing realise as [ˈdrɔrːɪŋ], to avoid the alternative of [ˈdrɔːʔɪŋ] (Upton 2004, p. 228).
Yod coalescence is also typical in RP. It refers to a process of phonetic assimilation which occurs when certain plosives precede /j/. This process then results into assimilation of /tj/, /dj/, /sj/, and /zj/ into /tʃ/, /dʒ/, /ʃ/ and /ʒ/, respectively
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(Ramsaran 187–188; Cruttenden 192). While this feature is not always present and many higher forms of RP resist this change, it is fair to say that it has become so wide- spread that it could be considered the standard. The only exceptions are higher lexical items. According to Upton (2004), “for example pendulate is likely to be [‘pɛndjʊleɪt] as well as [‘pɛndʒʊleɪt]” (p. 229).
1.2.3 Prosodic features
The stress in RP is a very difficult concept to properly identify. As Roach (1991) explains, “many writers have said that English word stress is so difficult to predict that the best approach is to treat stress placement as the properly of an individual word” (p.
75). While there are some rules, it would not be relevant for the thesis to examine those closely. It is important to mention that many theories about the rhythm of RP have been developed, trying to find pattern within stressed and unstressed syllables, possibly the most prominent of them being the stress-timed rhythm that would suggest that the stress patterns of RP are somewhat regular. But as Roach (1991) states, “the evidence for the existence of stress-timed rhythm is not strong” (p. 103).
In a similar manner, the intonation of RP is very complex. It is varied, largely depends on the context and function and as Roach (1991) states, “the risk with . . . broad approach, is that one might end up making generalisations that were too broad and had little power to predict with any accuracy the intonation that a speaker would use in particular context” (p. 150). No generalisations will therefore be made at this point in order to avoid incorrect judgements. The intonation of RP will therefore be dealt with in specific instances in the sections about the Celtic accents.
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1.3 Standard Scottish English (SScE)
As I have mentioned earlier, there is a certain dichotomy between the spoken varieties of language in Scotland. On one hand, there is Scots, a dialect (or language as many would argue) that can be very distinct in not only phonological, but also lexical, grammatical and morphological features, on the other hand there is SScE. While it acts more like a spectrum than a strict opposition and in certain, especially urban areas this distinction can blend together, it is still important to make the distinction. The recording used in the experiment is of a Scottish speaker with the SScE accent reading a pre- written passage, Scots will be therefore disregarded for the purpose of this research.
1.3.1 Vowels
The vowels system of SScE is certainly differing from RP and it lacks distinction between several phonemes that RP recognises. The vowels in this system are: /i, ɪ, e, ɛ, a, o, ɔ, ʉ, ʌ/. The diphthongs then are / ɘi, ae, ʌʉ/. It is however quite difficult to describe this system truthfully, as it is complicated by the overlapping systems of SScE and Scots merging together, especially in urban areas. Individual instances can therefore vary (Stuart-Smith 2004, p. 53).
There are certain phonemes that do not occur in RP. /ɛ/ is an open-mid front unrounded vowel, /a/ is an open front unrounded vowel, /o/ is close-mid back rounded vowel and /ʉ/ is a close central rounded vowel.
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Tab. 2: Wells‘ SScE lexical sets
RP SScE RP SScE
KIT ɪ ɪ THOUGHT ɔː ɔ
DRESS e ɛ GOAT əʊ O
TRAP æ a GOOSE uː U
LOT ɒ ɔ PRICE aɪ ae, ɘi
STRUT ʌ ʌ CHOICE ɔɪ ɘi
FOOT ʊ u MOUTH aʊ ʌʉ
BATH ɑː a NEAR ɪə Ir
CLOTH ɒ ɔ SQUARE eə er
NURSE ɜː ɜr START ɑː ar
FLEECE iː i NORTH ɔː ɔr
FACE eɪ e FORCE ɔː or
PALM ɑː a CURE ʊə ur
The distributions of these phonemes can be demonstrated with help of Wells’ system of standard lexical sets.
As can be clearly seen above, the SScE has certain typical features. It seems that there is no simple underlining rule for the changes in quantity. Some of the vowels can shift towards being more open, such as in the set DRESS, some shift more towards being closed such as in the set GOAT. The same seems to happen with front and back pronunciation, as we can see in the sets BATH and FOOT. Some then remain unchanged.
One of the most prominent features is the tendency to reduce the duration of the vowel, as we can see in the sets FLEECE or BATH. The standard lexical sets, however,
22 cannot describe the full complexity of the vowel system in this matter, as the duration of the vowel can vary depending on its phonetic surrounding. This is known as Scottish vowel length rule, or more commonly as Aitken’s Law after its founder, A. J. Aitken
(1981). He studied the issue in depth, measuring the quantity of various vowels depending on the environment, and eventually discovered a rather simple rule – in SScE the vowel is short, unless followed by a voiced fricative that is /r, v, ð, z /, /r/ or word or morpheme boundary (Wells 1982, p. 399-404).
Another prominent feature is the tendency of monophthongisation, as seen for example in the sets FACE or GOAT. This only further demonstrates the instances of
Aitken’s law. Many of the diphthongs of SScE are in places where Aitken’s law calls for a long vowel. The rules for their distribution are rather complex and are not easily generalised. SScE tends to replace many of the diphthongs with monophthongs, which often leads to shortening of words compared to RP. Furthermore, in CHOICE words, some vowels can realise as a dissyllabic sequence of monophthongs, rather than a diphthong – for example voice can realise as [ꞌvo.ɪs]. (Wells 1982, p. 405 -406)
A feature that is probably the most noticeable for a non-native speaker when comparing SScE to RP, is rhoticity. The accent has historically retained the post- vocalic /r/. This is another reason why SScE tends to lack phonemic-centring diphthongs (Stuart-Smith 2004, p. 55). While /r/ in RP traditionally realises as a post- alveolar approximant (if it is not omitted), in SScE it can realise most commonly as alveolar tap, but also as a retroflex approximant or fricative, or even, less commonly, alveolar trill (Stuart-Smith 2014, p. 63). The selection of vowels that can occur before
/r/ is wide and vastly depending on the region, even within a single lexical set. The general arrangement is, according to Wells (1982), /ɜr/ in words such as perth or heard,
/ɪr/ for dirt and bird and /ʌr/ in hurt or word (p. 407).
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1.3.2 Consonants
Consonants in SScE are as follows: /p, b, t, d, k, g, f, θ, v, ð, s, z, ʃ, ʒ, x, ʍ, h, tʃ, dʒ, r, l, m, n, ŋ, w, ʔ/. Again, just as with vowels, SScE has historically retained certain features and phonemes that have vanished in RP.
Firstly, this chapter will focus on the phonemes that RP lacks. These are /x/, voiceless velar fricative, and /ʍ/, voiceless labialised velar approximant. However, it is debateable to which extend are these two sounds still prevalent in modern SScE. They are often replaced by /k/ and /w/ respectively (Stuart-Smith 2004, p. 60).
A typical feature of SScE is also the little to no aspiration of voiceless plosives
/p, t, k/. The place of the place of articulation of velar plosives /t, d/ that are alveolar in
RP, can also move to the front and be realised as dental (Stuart-Smith 2004, 60).
However, a feature that might be very noticeable for a layperson is the glottal stop. In SScE it occurs intervocalically in case of non-initial /t/, for example butter realises as [ˈbʌʔə].
There are also other shifts in pronunciation present that may be less noticeable for a non-native speaker, but contribute to the overall difference between SScE and RP.
For instance, /ð/ is often realised as voiceless instead of voiced. There is also a general absence of /h/-dropping, but it may occur in unstressed pronouns and auxiliaries; him may realise as [im]. Yod-dropping may also occur, especially after [l,s]: lure realises as
[lu:r] and suit as [sut] (Wells 1982, p. 412.)
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1.3.3 Prosodic features
As both Wells (1982) and Stuart-Smith (2004) state, there has been a surprising lack of studies on SScE speakers’ intonation and rhythm.
The intonation, of course, varies vastly depending on the region. However, the recording that have been used in the research is of a speaker from Edinburgh that follows a pattern that Brown, Currie, and Kenworthy (1980) describe as mid-to-low falls, while RP favours high-falling patterns.
As for rhythm, SScE favours open syllables to closed and the pattern in disyllabic words is often a first short syllable followed by a second long one
(Abercrombie1979 p. 82-83). There are also distinct rhythm patterns for words with certain suffixes, such as -ize, or -ate since they have different stress patterns than in RP; organꞌize, adjudiꞌcate, as opposed to the RP stress, ꞌorganise and adꞌjudicate (Wells
1882, p. 414).
The SScE also sometimes noticeably favours weaker forms, compared to RP.
This entails realisations of to as [te] or [ti], you as [ji], I as [ʌ] or from as [fe]. These changes are in some cases directly derived from the different spelling of these words in
Scots (Wells p. 414).
1.4.Irish English (IrE)
Just as Scottish English, the modern Irish English exists as a continuum of dialects spoken across the regions. While the sources do not offer a single preferred standard, the varieties are shifting towards a more unified pronunciation due to a process which
Raymond Hickey (2007) calls supraregionalisation, which he describes as “an historical process whereby varieties of a language lose specifically local features and become less
25 regionally bound” (p. 331). In this sense, Hickey’s supraregional variety could be considered a standard, since it does not dwell on nuances of vernaculars. It also mostly correlates with the system described by Wells (1982).
The chosen recording, unlike the one for SScE, is not recorded by a speaker from the capital, but rather by a speaker from a county Northern of Dublin - Meath. The reason for this is that the Dublin English has not been retaining the typical SScE features, but has been adapting certain features from English varieties and steadily moving towards a variety that Hickey dubs New Pronunciation (86) that is not reflective of the typical Irish accent and is therefore not ideal for the purpose of this thesis. In this sense, Hickey’s assessing of Dublin English correlates with Wells’(1982), who describes the system as parallel to his general description, which only further proves that the distinctions between the standard and the variation from the capital are in this case far greater than it is in the case of SScE.
1.4.1 Vowels
Vowels of the IrE are not as vastly differing from RP as in SScE, however, there are still many apparent differences. The vowels in this system are: /i, ɪ, e, ɛ, a, æ, ɑ, ɒ, o, u, ʌ/. The diphthongs then are / oʊ, aɪ, ɒi, aʊ/.
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Their distribution is then demonstrated by the following lexical sets:
Tab. 3: Wells‘ IrE lexical sets RP IrE RP IrE
KIT ɪ ɪ THOUGHT ɔː ɒː
DRESS e ɛ GOAT əʊ oʊ
TRAP æ æ GOOSE uː uː
LOT ɒ ɑ PRICE aɪ aɪ
STRUT ʌ ʌ CHOICE ɔɪ ɒi
FOOT ʊ ʊ MOUTH aʊ aʊ
BATH ɑː a: NEAR ɪə iːr
CLOTH ɒ ɒ, ɔ SQUARE eə eːɹ
NURSE ɜː ɜːɹ START ɑː ɑːɹ
FLEECE iː iː NORTH ɔː ɒːɹ
FACE eɪ eː FORCE ɔː oːɹ
PALM ɑː aː CURE ʊə uːɹ
As is apparent from the table above, this accent is also rhotic. /R/ can be followed by almost all independent vowels (Hickey 2012, p. 316). However, unlike in
SScE, the /r/ is not rolled, but realises as either an velarised alveolar continuant [ɹɣ], a uvular /r/ [ʁ ], or an alveolar approximant [ɹ], (Hickey 2012) which may cause a layperson to misidentify it as an American accent. However, as Wells (1982) states,
“Irish English has nearly complete range of vowel oppositions in the environment following /r/,” even though he further admits that certain neutralisations can be found in
Dublin, due to influence of England (p 420).
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There are, however, certain typically Irish feature the lexical sets do not necessarily show. Some of the features are not prominent within the whole set and only show in isolated cases. One of them that Wells (1982) calls a “striking Irishizm” is the use of [æ] in the words many and any. Another very prominent feature that is often used in portrayal of stereotypical Irish accent, is the opposition of [ɔː] instead of [aː] in words such as father, rather or drama (424). The same stereotyping applies to the opposition of PRICE versus CHOICE that might be not entirely established in some word pairs, to which Wells (1982) notes, “the Anglo-American stereotype is that the
Irish say ‘noice toime’ in place of nice time, reality is rather more complicated” (p.
425).
1.4.2 Consonants
The set of IrE consonants is very different to those of SScE, as Scots has been a significant influence in formation of the accent, and furthermore, both of Irish and
Scottish Gaelic come from the same language family, so the influence there is comparable as well.
Some features, however, are worth noting. Hickey (2004), commenting that
Wells’ lexical sets are designed to deal with vowel distinctions and there seems to be a lack of similar tools for consonants, devised a table of IrE consonantal lexical sets which when compared to RP, offer a coherent overview of the most apparent distinctions between the two accents. For the purpose of this thesis, it would be undoubtedly unnecessary to discuss these differences between all consonants in great lengths. However, the different place and manner of articulation in these pairs are certainly worth noting.
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Tab. 4: Hickey‘s IrE consonantal lexical sets RP IrE
THIN Θ t̠
BREATHE Ð d̪
TWO T t
GET T t̪
FEEL ɫ ɫ
WET w w
WHICH wh ʍ
Dental fricatives [θ, ð] are realised as dental or denti-alveolar [t, d], respectively.
The RP /t/ is very weak, realises as an alveolar plosive and is often aspirated, the Irish
/t/ often realises as a denti-alveolar plosive. This is relevant to the previous statement that the most common sounds in RP are alveolar. In IrE, this may in fact shift more towards the dental realisation, which may make the accent sound overall “darker”.
While the inclusion of the FEEL set seems arbitrary, Wells (1982) explains that in IrE it traditionally realises as [l], an alveolar lateral approximant, as opposed to the
RP realisation as a velarised alveolar lateral approximant (p. 431). While this feature is disappearing with the onset of supraregional IrE, many speakers have still retained it.
IrE also uses the voiceless labialised velar approximant, similarly to SScE.
Unlike in SScE, there is no H-dropping in IrE. Yod coalescence is only frequent in Dublin, again, presumably due to the influence of RP.
1.4.3. Prosodic features
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Irish stress patterns are much more flexible than those of RP. Wells (1982) offers the examples of “af’fluence alongside ‘affluence, dis’cipline or ‘discipline, or’chestra or ‘orchestra, muni’cipal or ‘municipal (RP muni’cipal)” . He also notes that adding an unstressed pronoun may cause the stress to change, in such cases as
‘recognise, he recog’nised her (p. 436)..
The intonation does not seem to vary from RP too drastically, however, as Wells
(1982) notes, there is a distinction in yes-no questions. Where RP favours low-rise intonation, IrE exhibits a low-fall nuclear tone (p. 436).
1.5 Phonaestethics
Since this thesis is heavily uses the term phonaesthetics, it is on order to briefly explore this branch of linguistics and explain, why it is relevant to this study.
Hickey (2013) defines phonaesthetics as “the subarea of phonetics which is concerned with the possible connection between sound sequences and meaning” (p
514). In other words, phonaesthetics examines how certain phonemic clusters evoke certain feelings or associations. Hickey then further offers the example that “initial /fl-/ .
. . seems to indicate fast flow or movement, frequently of liquids, as in flow, fluid, fluent, flux, flung, flee” (p. 514). Crystal (2011) then states that the [iː] vowel signifies smallness, in instances such as teeny or weeny (p. 364).
It is apparent that if these isolated sounds can be associated with semantics, even if it is only to a small extend, it is fair to assume that these phonemic clusters can also be associated with stereotypes. And it is evident from the previous section in this chapter that Celtic languages differ in this area. Every opposition demonstrated on
Wells’ lexical sets can be assumed to carry such connotations and so can many other features.
30
2. Sociolinguistics and accent
In the previous chapter, the differences in accents on phonological level are established. This chapter, however, deals with accents’ significance in sociolinguistics and attitudes towards their variation. It is important to understand that while phonetics and some branches of phonology are by their very definition close to natural sciences, language is a social construct4, and thus must be approached as such. This claim is easily supported by the fact that linguists often struggle to offer a clear definition of the term language, especially when treating it in relation to accent, dialects and other such forms.
Various sociolinguistic studies, including that of Giles and Powesland (1975) proved that respondents seem to assign different characteristics to the same speaker, when they change accent. These characteristics might range from their level to education or their prestige, all the way to their general likability. This ties to the topic of phonaesthetics, where certain sounds gain meaning by being associated with various concepts beyond simple sound categorisation.
This chapter will also explore the concept of stereotypes. While stereotypes are certainly well known by the wide public, Labov (1972) offers a useful distinction applying this term to language variants. He speaks of indicators, which are variants with little to no social connotation, markers, which have social significance, such as the spread of certain vowel shift amongst specific social class, and finally, stereotypes – those of course carry heavy social connotations, but are also often inaccurate representation. The reason why all the features in this chapter are characterised as
4 At least language in the context of sociolinguistics. While many would argue that this is not true for code in general, language, especially when contrasted with other terms aa such accent, has no clear boundaries for its definition – these are often depended on sociological factors. It is also often dependent on artificial rules set by society. 31 stereotypes ties closely to the difference between an accent and a dialect explained in the first chapter. The Celtic accents are representative of very large group of people from different social backgrounds and an average Czech or Slovak layperson has no chance of recognising the subtle regional differences in the recordings, or other markers a native British speaker might be able to perceive. All judgements regarding the speakers’ personality or level of education are therefore arbitrary and based on stereotypes, rather than markers.
2.1 Accent and prestige
There has been little to no research conducted on how the media influences the phonaesthetic perceptions of accent, especially when it comes to non-native speakers.
There have certainly been sociolinguistic experiments regarding the perceptions of accent - when talking about sociolinguistic research, the name of William Labov comes to mind. However, his research is that of a native speaker, examining his own mother tongue. He therefore focused on sociolinguistic markers, rather than stereotypes – the research examined a feature with undisputable correlation to social class.
Nevertheless, the criteria of prestige and class must not be disregarded. While the lay Czech or Slovak person may not be aware of the importance of class distinction that comes with British accents, this distinction certainly affects the creators of media, and by extension the viewer. And it is the criterion of class that is often the gateway to imposing other stereotypes. As J.K Chambers (2009) states in his commentary on class- based sociolinguistics, “we seldom take the time to reflect on the fact that the people with more or fewer privileges than us are not necessarily endowed with greater or less intelligence, strength, or competence” (p. 38).
32
In sociolinguistic experiments, the class is often judged based on a level of realisation in one prominent feature. For instance, Labov famously studied the rhoticity of New Yorker’s’ accent, while Trudgill’s variable of choice in his study in Norwich is the degree of vowel fronting. All these studies prove that accent is indeed a measurable and valid class marker. And as James and Lesley Milroy (1998) remarked, when it comes to the standardised form, they arise from “the imposition of linguistics norms by powerful social groups. . . . variability is resisted and supressed by stigmatisation of nonstandard variants” (p. 52).
The accent situation in England is unique compared to the rest of the world.
Abercrombie (1965 explains this fact in his study R.P and Local Accent:
Everywhere else the division is into speakers of the standard language, and
speakers of dialect. There is usually a way of pronouncing the standard language,
which is more highly thought of than other ways, but it always remains a regional
accent -usually that of the capital. The non-regional type of accent, which is the
essence of R.P., is absent. (p. 12)
This fact imposes an unusual situation. The existence of this standard that extends above the country’s boundaries it creates a very strict base upon which other accents are judged. As Abercrombie notes, “the existence of RP gives accent judgements a peculiar importance in England, and perhaps makes English more sensitive to accent differences” (p. 13) He then further states that while the vast preference of RP is surely beneficial for intelligibility of English, the other merits imposed upon it, such as its aesthetics, are baseless.
33
This specific situation can be further illustrated by the following table.
Fig. 3: Basilect/hyperlect continuum (Honey1998, p. 96)
Given the language situation in Britain, the standard Celtic varieties described in this thesis would most likely classify as mesolect on this continuum, as they are varieties spoken by the majority. But especially in Scotland and Ireland, quite possible they could be also classified as acrolect, the preferred variety for official occasions.
However, in this instance, in the perception of the English-speaking community they occupy the space of meso-acrolect at best, since the acrolect is reserved for RP5. But as
Honey (1998) explains, the British continuum is specific by the existence of a higher variety, he describes as the hyperlect – a certain “super-standard” as opposed to substandard. This substandard is the marked RP. As mentioned earlier in this chapters, markers are features associated with social connotations, in this case high prestige, as marked RP is mostly associated with royal family and the aristocracy as such (Honey
1998 p. 94-96). And even when the variety used in the recording certainly does not qualify as marked RP, the mere existence of this variety may create certain
5 Disregarding General American and other American varieties, since they are not relevant in this context
34 connotations, especially in case of non-native speakers, who cannot distinguish between the two.
While neither Scottish nor Irish speakers regard RP as their preferred standard, as previously mentioned, it is regarded as a standard by the wider English speaking community. And as such, it relates to education and the academic community where it is used as a code for academic publications. It is therefore imperative that the Celtic accents are often regarded as less-educated, even when they are by no means directly connected to a certain social class.
2.2 Media stereotypes6
The stereotypes imposed upon Celtic accent speakers are apparent in media and they are directly communicated through certain archetypes. Disregarding the mostly historically accurate roles in films and TV series, such as Braveheart, Brave or
Outlander, where the character’s accent choice is obviously justified by the settings, there are number of characters in both British and American media, whose Celtic accent is obviously meant to elicit some sort of association with the reader.
This is particularly interesting in animated films, where it is the voice acting which brings the character to life. And the simplification of the cartoon art form often shows the stereotypes even clearer than live action films. Interestingly, not many recent animated characters have IrE accent – the possible reason being that most mainstream animation is produced by studios stationed in America, where cartoon depiction of Irish could be perceived as offensive by the large Irish community and therefore generally avoided in family-friendly media. However, notable examples of
6 The names of the tropes in this sections as well as some examples of the films fitting into those categories are sourced from the site www.tvtropes.org, as this site offers extensive terminology that has been partially adapted by wide public, and it would be therefore arbitrary to devise alternative terminology.
35
Scottish characters in animated films are Shrek, Gru from Despicable Me, Scrooge
McDuck from the Mickey Mouse franchise, the entirety of characters from How to Train
Your Dragon, and Groundskeeper Willie from The Simpsons. Apart from that, many
Dwarves in popular media have Scottish accent. All these roles carry certain unflattering stereotypes – none of the mentioned characters is a typical hero or heroine, they are mostly roguish characters with negative traits – they are often rude, greedy, uncivilised and not very attractive. However, they are almost never purely villainous, they mostly fit into the trope of Lovable Rogue.
This contrast sharply with the usual role of RP characters in Western animation.
The characters with RP or RP-like accents, especially in American media, are often portrayed as downright villainous. This trope is known as the Evil Brit and the examples can be clearly seen with such characters as Megatron from the Transformers films, Ra's
Al Ghul from Batman: The Animated Series, Sir Miles Axlerod from Cars 2, or even all the Egyptian characters in Prince of Egypt. This trope is obviously reflective of mostly
American media and it certainly does not apply to British media, at least not to such extend. But even there the characters from higher social circles may be portrayed as less friendly and trustworthy.
However, animated films are not the only media where this distinction of
Lovable Rogue versus Evil Brit is apparent – it clearly permeates the live-action media too. A particularly interesting instance of this opposition can be seen in Game of
Thrones. While this series’ geography is certainly inspired by the geography of British
Isles, which makes the choice of accents somewhat justified, the stereotyping is still very apparent. RP is associated with the characters belonging into the scheming and treacherous royalty, while the Celtic accents relate to somewhat more likeable, yet certainly crude, aggressive and uncivilised wildlings in the North.
36
This ties to probably the most distinct tropes connected to Celtic accents. For
Scottish characters, there are the Brave Scot and the Violent Glaswegian. Two sides of one coin, one with more positive, one with more negative connotation. Possibly drawing on the success of William Wallace in Braveheart, many SScE speaking characters are portrayed as valiant, yet violent fighters, often associated with alcohol. Such characters include Montgomery Scot from Star Trek, Leonidas from 300, Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean, Peter Capaldi’s depiction of the Doctor in Doctor Who, or recently and quite notably, Bala-Tik from Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens.
This trope has its counterpart with IrE speaking characters as well, which often even more emphasizes the role of alcohol, an is dubbed the Fighting Irish. Many minor characters are portrayed as tavern brawlers or local drunkards, always ready to pick a fight. Notable characters fitting this trope would be Dum Dum Dugan from Captain
America: The First Avenger, Bernard Black from Black Books or Patrick from Gone
Baby Gone.
But there is one other prominent stereotype connected with the Celtic accents - there is certain mysticism surrounding them, due to the extensive mythology and folklore connected to Scottish and Irish history. Media featuring Celtic characters often show magic, fairies, leprechauns and other supernatural phenomena. Probably the most prominent example of this stereotyping is Shakespeare’s Macbeth. A more negative instance would then be for example the character of McCooney in Little Britain.
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3. Practical section
3.1 Research methods and goals
The main goal of the research is to prove that the phonaesthetic perceptions of accent are derived from the listener’s consumption of culture that introduces stereotypes that are associated with the given accents. The preliminary assumption to be proven is that the test group that is more familiarised with the British media, will be more likely to find the accents in question pleasing.
To execute the experiment, two lay groups comprised of both Czech and Slovak native speakers have been chosen. One that represents people in consistent contact with
English media – group A, and one representing people, who do not consume English media on regular basis – group B. Given the status of English as lingua franca, it is not possible to obtain respondents, who would have absolutely no experience with the language, but it is fair to assume that people who do not choose to study English in depth and only see it represented through predominantly Czech or Slovak media, are mostly in contact with either RP or General American varieties and have therefore minimal understanding of accent diversity and little to no knowledge of stereotypes that would be tied to them.
The goal has been to obtain at least 50 respondents in total, even for such a small-scale experiment, since Rajend Mesthrie (2011) suggests that the number of respondents for sociolinguistic experiments of similar nature should be between 40 and
150 to achieve the best results (p. 89).
38
The research has been conducted via online questionnaires. The questionnaire for group A has been conducted in English, while the questionnaire for group B has been translated to Czech. The research also includes a short introductory part with a set of preliminary questions, ensuring that the respondents fulfil the requirements for their lay group.
The main body of the questionnaire itself is then comprised of two parts, one for
Scottish and one for Irish accent and it is, and apart from the translation, identical for both groups. The respondents have been asked to listen to an RP recording, recording A, and then compare it to the accents in question – recordings B and C. All the recordings are of male speakers of similar age group, mainly to avoid other variables such as age or gender, but also because most of the stereotypes mentioned above seem to show clear age and gender bias towards middle-aged men. The comparison has been carried out by grading characteristics of each accent on a scale from one to five, with opposing qualities on each end of the spectre. The qualities are: hard/soft, attractive/unattractive, melodic/dull, educated/uneducated and aggressive/calm. Some features have been deliberately chosen to be answered somewhat objectively – this entails the hard/soft as well as the dull/melodic aspects of the accents, which are both closely connected to the rhoticity and intonation. The other three questions, however, are designed to be fully subjective.
The last two questions in each part are then tied to the respondent’s preference between the two recordings and offer a short explanation of this choice. This question served to further contrast the anticipated divide between the two groups, or alternatively to help explain the lack of it.
39
3.2 Preliminary expectations
Based on the previous chapters, it is possible to draw certain predictions before conducting the research.
The preliminary assumption is that group B, the group of laypeople without further knowledge of English media, will show stronger preference towards the RP recording, since it is the standard form and they are unlikely to encounter the Celtic varieties. They are expected to perceive the Celtic accents as very hard and non- melodic, since the intonation and rhoticity deviates from the standard. However, they are also expected to have no strong opinion on the level of education or aggression connected with the accent.
On the other hand, group A, the laypeople with knowledge of English media are expected to have a very different opinion. They are expected to show a stronger attraction to the Celtic accents, since they should be more familiarised with them, have been exposed to the mentioned media stereotypes and might be therefore affected by the trope of Lovable Rogue. In a similar manner, they are expected to regard the accents as more melodic, based on their supposed knowledge of Irish and Scottish culture.
Nevertheless, while they are expected to find the accents more attractive and phonaesthetically pleasing, they may lean towards the more negative side of the spectrum when it came to education and aggression; both of these categories are strongly affected by the media stereotypes.
3.3 Results from group A – “watchers “
Group A is comprised of a total number of 67 respondents between 16 and 43 years, 43 women, 23 male and 2 non-binary, all of whom have claimed to be in contact
40 with spoken English media, and have not studied English linguistics, which would potentially affect their perceptions.
3.3.1 SScE
As for the judgements of the features, the results are as follows:
Fig. 4: Group A SScE evaluation
SScE - Group A 35 32 30 30 28 25 23 23 20 18 20 16 14 14 13 13 13 15 12 11 9 10 7 8 7 6 5 5
5 3 2 3 Numberrespondents of 0 Hard Attractive Melodic Educated Agressive Judged feature
1 2 3 4 5
SScE, have been judged in comparison to RP on a scale from 1 to 5. Therefore, response 5 for the melodic feature would mean the respondent deems the accent much more melodic than RP; response 1 would mean they deem it much less melodic than
RP.
As is clearly visible from the graphs, the results are rather varied. Overall it is apparent that lot of respondents from group A do not seem to be able to connect the stereotypes to the accents solely based on one short recording, but those who do generally perceive SScE to be hard, uneducated and aggressive. The hardness can be explained by the presence of rolled R. But what is clearly a proof stereotypes tied to the
41 accent is the notion that the accent sounds uneducated. Disregarding those who feel neutral about this feature, an overwhelming 85% of the respondents find the accent less educated than RP. This fact confirms that the judgements of SScE in group A is based not only on the comparison of the accent to the standard, but also on stereotyping in media.
However, the influence of these stereotypes is not only negative, but seems to have some positive consequences as well. The graph shows a fairly balanced result on the spectrum of attractiveness, but more importantly, in the overall preference of the accent.
Fig. 5: Group A SScE preference graph
SScE - Group A
9; 16%
24; 43%
23; 41%
RP ScESScE Neither
At first glance, the graph seems too balanced to help draw any conclusions.
Upon examining the individual explanation for these answers, there is of course a large portion of respondents which have simply stated it is a matter of preference that they can not identified why they like the recording they do, or that they base their perceptions on a comparison to a particular celebrity, whom they like. However, upon
42 discarding these responses and focusing on those who have stated a clear reason for their preference, various interesting trends could be identified.
One fact worth noting is that many respondents who favour the SScE have correctly identified the accent. The respondents explain their preference simply by phrases such as “I'm weirdly attracted to the Scottish-like accents”, or just by simply stating that the accent sounds Scottish. That proves that they are more likely to perceive the accent in a positive light when they recognise it as a distinct and valid variety.
However, other respondents have not recognised the accent as a valid language variety, and their perceptions are then mostly negative. One respondents has commented that it sounded “unnatural” or even “slangy, maybe from some poorer parts of
Manchester”. Others have gone as far as to claim that SScE does not sound like a native speaker, one respondent notably saying that the reader is “either not a native speaker or is from a first generation of immigrants”.
Another interesting trend is that some respondents seem to prefer the SScE variety simply because they perceive the RP variety as too stiff. Respondents have claimed that “Recording B has more spirit”, or that it sounds “less boring.” Others have even noted that RP seems “pretentious” or “artificial”. This may possibly connect to the fact that characters with Celtic accents are often show to be adventurous and more passionate and are often used to highlight the character’s personality – it ultimately ties to the distinction between Lovable Rogue and Evil Brit.
But just as the graph suggests, there is just as numerous group of those who have on the other hand favoured the RP recording because they have found it calmer and more reserved than the SScE one. Most of the respondents from this category thought that the SScE recording sounds too angry and less smooth and melodic than the RP one.
One person has commented on the RP recording that they find it “softer and more
43 sophisticated”. These results mostly correlate to the question about how angry the respondents find these accents. While the tone of the speakers is not indicative of any aggression, this criterion is probably the most recurrent throughout the explanation portion of the questionnaire; even to the point, where some respondents have made assumptions about the speakers’ personalities, such as “[the RP speaker] sounds more calm and warm, I mean you rather want to get welcomed by that voice than the one from the recording B.”
But what is possibly the most indicative proof of the media’s influence on this group, are two answers where the respondents mention alcohol. One of the respondent have written that the speaker from the SScE recording sounds like somebody they
“would like to have a drink with”, which could, of course, simply denote their preference for the accent. The choice of words is however worth noting, since alcohol is undoubtedly connected to the stereotypes of the Brave Scot and Violent Glaswegian.
However, the second response tying to alcohol is much clearer. The respondent have simply claimed that the speaker sounds drunk, which can be clearly attributed to the stereotyping, since the SScE accent does not inherently possess any of the features that could be associated with drunk person’s speech, such as slurred articulation.
44
3.3.2 IrE
The results for the IrE recordings are rather surprising.
Fig. 6: Group A IrE evaluation
IrE - Group A 35 33 30 24 24 25 20 19 20 18 18 18 17 18 15 1414 13 15 11 10 9 10 10 8 8 4 3 4
5 1 2 Numberrespondents of 0 Hard Attractive Melodic Educated Agressive Judged feature
1 2 3 4 5
In contrast to the SScE recording, the results from aggressive and educated categories for the IrE seem to lean more towards the positive side of the spectrum, which is certainly unexpected. The possible explanation is that since the rhoticity of the accent made it more intelligible to the lay respondents, who are used to the American varieties, they have assumed the accent is General American and therefore judged the accent as such.
45
The category of hardness seems unaffected by the accent’s rhoticity – in fact, the results seem surprisingly balanced. Attractiveness and melodicity then remain very similar to the SScE recording.
And just as with the previous recording, the preference graph shows very balanced results as well. The respondents seem to favour the RP recording slightly more in this case.
Fig. 7: Group A IrE preference graph
IrE - Group A
12; 18%
30; 45%
25; 37%
RP IrEScE Neither
Some of the explanations remain the same as with SScE – the respondents have claimed that the RP recording sounds more sophisticated.
Surprisingly, no respondent has successfully identified the accent as Irish, nor did anyone believe it to sound non-native (perhaps except for one respondent who has claimed, it reminds them of Spanish, supposedly because of the different stress patterns). However, confirming the hypothesis regarding the education and aggression trends, at least four of them have identified it as American with other responses suggesting the same belief. This statistic suggests that there might much larger number
46 of respondents who also identified the accent as such7. It is therefore fair to assume that their ear is not trained enough to recognises the nuances between the accent and they simply focus on the most noticeable aspect – the rhoticity. For the same reason, many respondents have mentioned that they prefer the IrE accent for its intelligibility, which is the exact opposite of responses for the SScE accent. In this sense, the research is compromised, since these respondents may have automatically applied a wrong set of stereotypes on the accent upon this faulty identification of it – in fact, upon isolating these respondents, it is apparent that they are more likely to lean towards the positive sides of the spectrum when assessing the accent.
Similarly, to the SScE recording, some respondents (also not as many) have remarked on the IrE recording sounding angry, compared to the RP one. Some have also claimed it sounds more strict, unpleasant or that the pronunciation is worse. One respondent has even written that “[IrE speaker] sounds like he is going to rob me in the middle of the night. [RP speaker], on the other hand, sounds surprisingly pleasing and calm”, which obviously ties to the TV tropes mentioned above, similarly to the comments about SScE connected to alcohol.
A certain number of respondents has, however, preferred the IrE recording to the
RP one, simply because they find the RP one to be posh or simply too boring, which again, correlates with the answers regarding the SScE recording.
However, even further proving the point about accent misinterpretation, some respondents have suggested that they prefer the IrE recording simply because they are more used to the accent, which, as is fair to say, is statistically simply not true.
But even though this misrepresentation may have compromised the experiment, there are still points to be made – Irish accents are just as represented in media as the
7 Why there is no definitive proof of that, the results seem to support this claim and compared to the SScE recording show minimal influence by the stereotyping. 47
Scottish ones and they certainly possess enough distinct features to be recognised, but it is possible that the stereotyping of the IrE might be more extreme, to the point where the supraregional variety does not accurately reflect the way Irish accent is presented. It is, however, beyond the scope of this thesis to conclusively prove that.
3.4. Results from group B – “non-watchers”
Group A is comprised of a total number of 31 respondents between 41 and 75 years, 21 women and 11 men, all of whom have claimed to have worse than average level of English and to be in little to no contact with spoken English media.
In this section, the results for group B are presented, but also compared and contrasted with the previously analysed results from group A.
3.4.1 SScE
The results are as follows:
Fig. 8: Group B SScE evaluation
SScE - Group B
25 22 19 20 16 15 9 9 10 10 8 7 7 6 6 6 6 6 5 6 5 3 3 3
2 1 2 1 2 1 Numberrespondents of 0 Hard Attractive Melodic Educated Agressive Jedged feature
1 2 3 4 5
48
Overall, they confirm the initial expectations. The respondents from group B are much more likely to lean towards the negative side of the spectrum, than respondents from group A. While they scarcely chose the rather extreme options of number 1 or 5, in most categories the majority has chosen the more negative option. This seems to be the most unanimous in the category of hardness, where a full 74% perceive the accent as harder than RP, as opposed to 60% in group A. The category of attractiveness also shows very apparent differences – 0 respondents have deemed the accent very attractive and only 4 as somewhat attractive, while in group A, the attractiveness spectrum seems mostly balanced. Melodicity is the only category that does not seem to exhibit any drastic differences – SScE is generally judged to be slightly less melodic than RP and the responses are generally slightly more negative than in group A, but overall, the difference is not as apparent as in the other cases.
When it comes to judging the level of education, group B mostly confirms the hypothesis that the respondents lack a basis for judging this feature. Surprisingly, respondents from group A have also shown some reluctance in this area, the full percentage of those who have chosen the neutral option is 45%, while in group B this number have risen to 51%, which is not a very drastic difference. Out of the remaining decided respondents, in group B 60% deems the accent as less educated and only 3% have opted for the very uneducated end of the spectrum. This generally correlates with the trend to for group B to choose the slightly more negative option. However, when this is compared to group A, the difference is staggering. The portion of decided respondents who have perceived SScE as less educated is 86%, 24% of those choosing the very uneducated option.
However, a result which is possibly the most surprising, is the category of aggression. Why group B have been expected to respond more negatively in the other
49 categories, this one is the only one that have been expected to bear opposite results due to the media trope of the Violent Glaswegian. This has been proven untrue. While group
A also tends to regard the accent as more aggressive, only 40% have chosen this option and another 47% have remained undecided. However, in group B, full 74% deems SScE more aggressive. While this fact is certainly surprising, it is not without possible explanation that remains to be revealed by the individual responses regarding the respondents’ preference.
These results have also overall fulfilled the initial expectations.
Fig. 9: Group B SScE preference graph
SScE - Group B
1; 3%
6; 19%
24; 78%
RP SScEScE Neither
It is apparent that a clear majority does not consider the SScE recording to be phonaesthetically pleasing. There is also a visibly smaller percentage of those who are undecided in their preference. The written explanations then only confirm that the respondents do not perceive SScE to be a valid variety of English.
Unlike in group A, where the respondents have mostly supported their preference for RP by explaining, why they dislike the SScE recording, respondents in group B have overwhelmingly commented on the reasons behind their positive
50 perception of RP, as if disregarding the judged recording completely and focusing on the one they have found familiar. The response that occurrs most often is that they find the RP recording to be more pleasant to the ear, more melodic, smoother, and in several cases, more resembling the film English or that it is simply “more English”. One respondent has even noted that they are not used to hearing the “Czech” R in English.
This might be the possible reason for the overwhelming majority deeming the SScE more aggressive – their responses are not reflective of how violent-sounding they found the SScE recording, but rather of how soothing they found the RP one. While the respondents from group A seem to be much more critical of RP and they are also familiar with the Evil Brit trope, which may have caused the unexpected difference.
3.4.2 IrE
Fig. 10: Group B IrE evaluation
IrE - Group B
25 22 19 20 16 15 9 9 10 10 8 7 7 6 6 6 6 6 5 6 5 3 3 3
2 1 2 1 2 1 Numberrespondents of 0 Hard Attractive Melodic Educated Agressive Jedged feature
1 2 3 4 5
It is apparent from the IrE results that given the circumstances, it would be fruitless to delve further into the in-depth analysis, as the trends are simply too similar to those from group A and suggest the same fact – the respondents have most likely interchanged the IrE with GA that they have probably heard before. While respondents
51 from group B have been by no means expected to correctly identify the accents and their misidentification should not have any extreme consequences, it would be still hard to draw comparison between the two groups, since the results from group A do not accurately reflect the influence of stereotypes.
While the trend to lean slightly more towards the negative side of the spectrum, it is less prominent than in the case of SScE – similarly to group A, where the perception also shifted more towards the positive side.
The graph of preferences shows some change to that from group A, slightly more respondents seem to prefer IrE to RP than in the SScE case.
Fig. 11: Group B IrE preference graph
IrE - Group B
2; 6%
11; 36%
18; 58%
RP IrEScE Neither
The responses regarding the preference towards RP then mostly state that IrE sounds boring, which is most likely caused by the different intonation with more stress on the first syllables.
But similarly to group A, the responses confirm the hypothesis of misidentification – at least 4 respondents have stated that they prefer the IrE recording, because it seems more intelligible. While they have certainly not been expected to
52 correctly identify any of the recordings, it seems that their judgements have been based purely on it sounding familiar. They have been therefore more likely to judge the recording positively.
53
4. Conclusion
This thesis is an attempt at determining, how the stereotypes in media, especially television, affect the phonaesthetic perceptions of Celtic accents in Czech and Slovak speakers, through a small-scale sociolinguistic experiment. It is divided into three chapters.
The first chapter deals with accents in purely phonological context. Firstly, it briefly introduces RP as a standard, and then it explains the main features and differences that would be noticeable to laypeople and could influence their judgements.
The second chapter explores sociolinguistic perception of accent and the stereotypes in media that reflect the status of the Celtic accents in society. It explains the consequences of RP being accepted as a standard and delves into the question of variability and standardisation. It then further introduces character tropes which the participants of the experiment are likely to be familiar with. This chapter, together with the previous one, serves as a theoretical foundation for evaluating the results of the experiment.
The last chapter describes the experiment. It explains the methods of research as well as the preliminary expectations, before assessing the results and identifying various trends. The two lay groups are compared and contrasted in a critical manner with application of findings from previous two chapters.
Overall, the results for SScE have proven to be mostly as expected. The results of the exposure to stereotypes are mostly apparent through individual responses which, especially in case of group A, have proven to be the most telling part of the research.
54
They certainly helped to reason the results that are not quite convincing and helped categorize the respondents into various sections which could then be judged separately.
Group A has been proven as affected by the stereotypes. Many respondents have mentioned alcohol, violence or other features as an element of their perceptions. In certain cases, the research might have been invalidated by the respondents’ faulty identification of the accents or their judgements of their preference towards the speakers’ delivery more than the actual accents, but such complications are to be expected and these constitute a very small percentage of the group. The results of group
B have mostly fulfilled the initial, expectations. The respondents have in great part favoured RP and they have been less likely to form an opinion on the questions concerning how educated or aggressive they perceive the accents to be.
However, the results for IrE have proven mostly inconclusive in both groups.
Some of the stereotypes have been confirmed, but both groups seemed to have identified the recording as General American, which may have led to automatic application of the wrong set of stereotypes. The results suggest that the respondents from group A might be more affected by the stereotyped version of regional Irish accents, rather than by the more realistic supraregional variety. However, to conclusively prove this hypothesis, further research would be in order.
Overall, the experiment has been successful in proving the initial claim that stereotypes in media play a major role in phonaesthetic perception, however, it has simultaneously revealed various trends and issues that could serve as a good platform for further research, conducted through narrowing the criteria for the participants and perhaps focusing on consumers of a particular type of media.
55
Bibliography
Primary sources
Weinberger, Steven. (2015). Speech Accent Archive. George Mason University.
Retrieved from
http://accent.gmu.edu/browse_language.php?function=detail&speakerid=1724
Weinberger, Steven. (2015). Speech Accent Archive. George Mason University.
Retrieved from
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Summary
English
This thesis is a small-scale research examining the role of media stereotypes in phonaesthetic perceptions of Czech and Slovak speakers regarding Scottish and Irish accents of English. The claim it is trying to prove is that Czech and Slovak speakers who are familiar with these stereotypes find the accents more phonaesthetically pleasing, however, they also tend to associate them with certain negative traits, such as lack of education.
The thesis is divided into three chapters, two theoretical and one practical. The first theoretical chapter examines the accents from a phonological point of view. It explains the difference between an accent and a dialect and examines the sound structure of each accent. It then briefly introduces the concept of phonaesthetics, connecting phonology to the topic of stereotypes.
The second theoretical chapter discusses accent in terms of sociolinguistics. It then explores the correlation between RP and prestige and explains the differences between markers and stereotypes. It then introduces specific instances of these stereotypes and connects them to the concept of TV tropes.
The last chapter is deals with the research itself. It explains the research methods and goals as well as initial expectations the research aims to prove or disprove. The results of the experiment are then introduced and analysed.
The research proves the correlation between media stereotypes and phonaesthetic perception only in case of the standard Scottish English accent. There it has shown the increase in preference for the accent with exposure to English media, as
60 well as association of the accent with higher degrees of aggression and lack of education.
However, a large proportion of respondents have misidentified the Irish English accent as General American and the application of the wrong set of stereotypes has rendered the results for this accent somewhat inconclusive.
Czech
Tato práce bakalářská práce je výzkumem toho, zda a jak stereotypy v médiích ovlivňují fonoestetickou percepci skotského a irského přízvuku angličtiny u českých a slovenských mluvčích. Tvrzení, které se výzkum snaží prokázat je, že čeští a slovenští mluvčí, kteří jsou seznámeni s těmito stereotypy, vnímají tyto přízvuky jako fonoesteticky přitažlivější, ale také je spojují s negativními rysy, jako je například nedostatečné vzdělání.
Práce je rozdělena do tří kapitol, dvou teoretických a jedné praktické. První teoretická kapitola zkoumá dané přízvuky z fonologického hlediska. Nejdřív vysvětluje rozdíly mezi přízvukem a dialektem a poté je představeno odvětví fonoestetiky, které spojuje témata fonologie a stereotypů.
Druhá kapitola pojednává o přízvuku v kontextu sociolingvistiky. Vysvětluje vazbu mezi standardní britskou angličtinou a prestiží a rozdíl mezi markery a stereotypy. Pak představuje specifické příklady těchto stereotypů a na základě takzvaných TV tropes.
Poslední kapitola se pak týká výzkumu samotného. Prezentuje výzkumné metody a cíle, spolu s předpokládanými výsledky, které se výzkum snaží potvrdit, případně vyvrátit. Poté následuje analýza výsledků.
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Výzkum dokázal korelaci mezi stereotypy v médiích a fonoestetickou percepcí pouze v případě skotské angličtiny. Zde je patrné zvýšení preference u respondentů vystavených anglickým médiím, zároveň však i asociace tohoto přízvuku se zvýšenou agresí a nedostatkem vzdělání.
Nicméně, někteří respondenti zaměnili irskou angličtinu s americkou a aplikovali na ni tak jiný soubor stereotypů. Výsledky pro tuto část výzkumu jsou proto méně průkazné.
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Appendices
Group A questionnaire
General information
How old are you? _____
What gender are you? MALE / FEMALE /OTHER
What is your nationality? ______
Do you encounter British varieties of spoken English in your everyday life? (films, video games, songs, etc.) YES / NO
Recording B
Please, listen to the following recording, recording A that will serve as a basis for your comparison: https://tinyurl.com/j6vtjrc
Then listen to the recording B as well and compare them with help of the questions below: https://tinyurl.com/hlo79fz
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During the listening, please don't focus on the intelligibility of the accents or voice of
the speakers, simply try to focus on the different pronunciation of the text. It's not
important for you to understand the recordings, just focus on how it sounds to you.
It is important that you answer quickly and based on your honest perception and your
first impression of the recordings, there are no right or wrong answers.
How hard/soft sounding do you find recording B compared to recording A?
1 2 3 4 5 very very soft hard
How attractive/unattractive do you find recording B compared to recording A?
1 2 3 4 5 very very unattractive attractive
How melodic/dull do you find recording B compared to recording A?
1 2 3 4 5 very very dull melodic
How educated/uneducated do you find recording B compared to recording A?
1 2 3 4 5 very very uneducated educated 64
How aggressive/calm do you find recording B compared to recording A?
1 2 3 4 5 very very calm agressive
Which recording do you like more? A / B / NEITHER
Why? (explain in a sentence or two)
Recording C
Please, listen to recording A again:
https://tinyurl.com/j6vtjrc
Then compare it to recording C, following the same rules as in the previous section:
https://tinyurl.com/zbjkfcg How hard/soft sounding do you find recording C compared
to recording A?
1 2 3 4 5 very very soft hard
How attractive/unattractive do you find recording C compared to recording A?
1 2 3 4 5 very very unattractive attractive 65
How melodic/dull do you find recording C compared to recording A?
1 2 3 4 5 very very dull melodic
How educated/uneducated do you find recording C compared to recording A?
1 2 3 4 5 very very uneducated educated
How aggressive/calm do you find recording C compared to recording A?
1 2 3 4 5 very very calm agressive
Which recording do you like more? A / C / NEITHER
Why? (explain in a sentence or two)
Group B questionnaire
Všeobecné informace
Kolik je Vám let? _____ Jakého jste pohlaví? MUŽ / ŽENA
66
Jaké jste národnosti? ______Setkáváte se v každodenním životě s mluvenou angličtinou? ANO / NE
Nahrávka B Nyní si prosím pusťte nahrávku A, která bude sloužit pouze jako základ pro Vaše srovnání https://tinyurl.com/j6vtjrc Vzápětí za ní i si pusťte nahrávku B, kterou budete s nahrávkou A porovnávat. https://tinyurl.com/hlo79fz
Nesoustřeďte se na tón nebo barvu hlasu mluvčích, ale na rozdíly v přízvuku a výslovnosti.
V dotazníku neexistují správné ani chybné odpovědi, je tedy potřeba, abyste odpovídal/a podle Vašich pocitů a dojmů, nezávisle na faktu, jestli částem nahrávky rozumíte, nebo ne. Jak tvrdě/měkce zní nahrávka B v porovnání s nahrávkou A? 1 2 3 4 5 velmi velmi měkce tvrdě
Jak přitažlivě/nepřitažlivě zní nahrávka B v porovnání s nahrávkou A? 1 2 3 4 5 velmi velmi nepřitažlivě přitažlivě
Jak melodicky/fádně zní nahrávka B v porovnání s nahrávkou A? 1 2 3 4 5 velmi velmi fádně melodicky
Jak vzdělaně/nevzdělaně zní nahrávka B v porovnání s nahrávkou A? 1 2 3 4 5 velmi velmi nevzdělaně vzdělaně
67
Jak agresivně/klidně zní nahrávka B v porovnání s nahrávkou A? 1 2 3 4 5 velmi velmi klidně agresivně
Která nahrávka se Vám líbila víc? A / B Proč? (popište jednou či dvěma větami)
Nahrávka C Nyní si prosím pro osvěžení znovu pusťte nahrávku A https://tinyurl.com/j6vtjrc Vzápětí za ní i si pusťte nahrávku C, tu pak s nahrávkou A porovnejte podle kritérií z předchozího oddílu. https://tinyurl.com/zbjkfcg Jak tvrdě/měkce zní nahrávka C v porovnání s nahrávkou A? 1 2 3 4 5 velmi velmi měkce tvrdě
Jak přitažlivě/nepřitažlivě zní nahrávka C v porovnání s nahrávkou A? 1 2 3 4 5 velmi velmi nepřitažlivě přitažlivě
Jak melodicky/fádně zní nahrávka C v porovnání s nahrávkou A? 1 2 3 4 5 velmi velmi fádně melodicky
Jak vzdělaně/nevzdělaně zní nahrávka C v porovnání s nahrávkou A? 1 2 3 4 5 velmi velmi nevzdělaně vzdělaně
Jak agresivně/klidně zní nahrávka C v porovnání s nahrávkou A?
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1 2 3 4 5 velmi velmi klidně agresivně
Která nahrávka se Vám líbila víc? A / C Proč? (popište jednou či dvěma větami)
69