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The Estuary English Effect

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The Estuary English Effect The Estuary English Effect Audience Design and Act of Identity on British Television Masterproef aangeboden tot het verkrijgen van het diploma Master in de Meertalige Communicatie Door: Els De Wit Academiejaar: 2010-2011 Promotor: Dr. Nadine Van den Eynden Morpeth Acknowledgements I would like to thank everybody who has supported me during this year of hard work. My promotor, Dr. Van den Eynden for being an inspiration to me, for her great enthusiasm and continuous guidance during the whole year. My boyfriend for being such a good critic, patient listener and supporter of everything extra-ordinary, and my parents for bringing out the best in me. Abstract Dit onderzoek combineert audience design, Estuary English en haar invloed op taalvariatie en taalverandering en televisiestudies. Door middel van 7 uitspraakkenmerken werd in 12 Britse televisieprogramma’s (6 van de private televisie en 6 van de BBC) onderzocht in welke mate Estuary English wordt gebruikt als een act of identity en als een audience design techniek. Volgens de audience design theorie past een spreker zijn stijl aan opdat die (meestal) meer op de stijl van de toehoorder zou lijken. Deze techniek kan ondermeer teruggevonden worden in conversaties en in de media. Estuary English is een veelbesproken variëteit in Engeland die balanceert tussen de (afbrokkelende) prestige van RP en het stigma van het inferieure Londense dialect Cockney. Altendorf gebruikt Estuary English als voorbeeld van hoe sprekers niet langer een taalvariëteit gebruiken om de mate van formaliteit te bepalen, maar om een bepaalde identiteit uit te drukken. Audience design en act of identity worden op televisie onderzocht omdat programmamakers een bepaald doelpubliek moeten aantrekken en omdat televisie – ook op taalgebied - sociale normen kan sanctioneren en opleggen. Table of Contents PREFACE .................................................................................................................................................9 I: THEORETICAL PART CHAPTER 1 AUDIENCE DESIGN ......................................................................................................... 11 1.1 AUDIENCE DESIGN: THE ORIGINAL THEORY ........................................................................................................... 11 1.1.1 From the Addressee to the Eavesdropper .................................................................................................... 11 1.1.2 Audience Design ..................................................................................................................................................... 11 1.1.2.1 Definition ............................................................................................................................................................ 11 1.1.2.2 Referee Design .................................................................................................................................................. 12 1.1.2.3 Style Shift ............................................................................................................................................................ 12 1.1.2.4 Initiative/Responsive Shift........................................................................................................................... 13 1.1.2.5 The Accommodation Model ......................................................................................................................... 14 1.2 REVISING AUDIENCE DESIGN ....................................................................................................................................... 14 1.2.1 Audience Design ..................................................................................................................................................... 14 1.2.2 Referee Design ........................................................................................................................................................ 15 CHAPTER 2 GEOGRAPHICAL VARIATION ...................................................................................... 16 2.1 TYPES OF VARIATION .................................................................................................................................................... 16 2.2 LANGUAGE CHANGE ON A REGIONAL LEVEL ............................................................................................................ 17 2.2.1 Language Change .................................................................................................................................................. 17 2.2.2 Language Fuzziness ............................................................................................................................................. 17 2.2.3 Dialect Death .......................................................................................................................................................... 17 2.2.4 Dialect Levelling .................................................................................................................................................... 18 2.2.5 Variety Revival ....................................................................................................................................................... 18 2.2.6 Geographical Diffusion ........................................................................................................................................ 18 CHAPTER 3 SOCIAL VARIATION ....................................................................................................... 19 3.1 OVERT AND COVERT PRESTIGE .................................................................................................................................. 19 3.2 OVER-REPORTING AND UNDER-REPORTING ........................................................................................................... 19 3.3 GENDER ............................................................................................................................................................................ 19 3.4 CLASS ................................................................................................................................................................................. 21 3.4.1 Class and Pronunciation ..................................................................................................................................... 21 3.5 AGE .................................................................................................................................................................................... 21 CHAPTER 4 PRONUNCIATION STANDARDS ................................................................................. 22 4.1 RP ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 22 4.1.1 A Social Standard .................................................................................................................................................. 22 4.1.2 How to define RP? ................................................................................................................................................. 22 4.1.3 Recent Changes in RP .......................................................................................................................................... 23 4.1.3.1 Prestigious or Vernacular? .......................................................................................................................... 23 4.1.3.2 Yod coalescence ................................................................................................................................................ 23 4.1.3.3 T-glottalling....................................................................................................................................................... 24 4.1.3.4 Changes influenced by Estuary English .................................................................................................. 24 4.1.3.4.1 T-glottalling....................................................................................................................................................... 24 4.1.3.4.2 L-Vocalisation ................................................................................................................................................... 24 4.1.3.4.3 Yod Coalescence ............................................................................................................................................... 24 4.2 BBC ENGLISH .................................................................................................................................................................. 25 4.3 ESTUARY ENGLISH: THE NEW RP? ............................................................................................................................ 26 4.3.1 Definition .................................................................................................................................................................. 26 4.3.1.1 Geographical Features .................................................................................................................................. 26 4.3.1.2 Sociological Features ..................................................................................................................................... 27 4.3.2 RIP RP? .....................................................................................................................................................................
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