Questionnaire

Questionnaire

Prior Information

It is important that you understand the following before continuing:

This questionnaire has been designed for use as a method to collect primary research for an

English Language A-Level Course. You have no obligation to answer any of the questions in this

questionnaire and you are fully within your rights to withdraw your answers at any time. If you

choose to give information however, the information you provide will be used for no other

purpose, kept strictly confidential and will be deleted after its appropriate use. You will remain

anonymous throughout the entirety of this process.

Instructions

• Answer open questions fully in the boxes provided and with necessary detail.

• Answer multiple choice questions by drawing a clear line through your chosen box.

• Please complete the following questions to the best of your ability and knowledge.

Questions

1) What is your occupation?

2) What do you understand to be the definition of the word ‘ethnicity’?

3) What ethnicity would you describe yourself as?

☐ Arab

☐ Asian or Asian British – Indian

☐ Asian or Asian British – Pakistani

☐ Asian or Asian British – Bangladeshi

☐ Asian or Asian British – any other Asian background

☐ Black or Black British – Caribbean

☐ Black or Black British – African

☐ Black or Black British – any other Black background

☐ Chinese

☐ Mixed – White and Black Caribbean

☐ Mixed – White and Black African

☐ Mixed – White and Asian

☐ Mixed – Any other mixed background

☐ White – British

☐ White – Irish

☐ White – any other White background

☐ Any other ethnic origin group

4) What age bracket would you put yourself in?

☐ 15-16 ☐ 31-40

☐ 17-18 ☐ 41-50

☐ 19-20 ☐ 51-60

☐ 21-30 ☐ 61+

5) To what degree would you concur with the following statement; ‘The Queen’s English is the

correct English and all other derivations of this are improper and incorrect’.

☐ Whole-heartedly

☐ Strongly

☐ Greatly

☐ Moderately

☐ Somewhat

☐ Slightly

☐ Not at all

6) Do you think that immigration has had an effect on the English language? If so, please

outline who/where has had the greatest effect and to what extent this effect can be seen.

7) From your own personal experience do you feel that the Afro-Caribbean Dialect has had

much of an influence on the English language as a whole? Please answer in detail.

8) Do you think that the use of modern language features (such as emojis) is enhancing or

destroying language?

9) Describe in the greatest possible detail what you would consider to be ‘Standard English’

Dialect Analysis

Language Analysis

Essex

Traits of the variation

The ‘Essex dialect’ is a non-standard variation of the English language. To someone who speaks what would be considered ‘standard English’ the majority of the language would make sense however there are some elements that would not. Some of these variances used in the ‘Essex dialect’ on ‘standard english’ are as follows:

• Use of elision (eg: ‘d’ya’ replacing ‘do you’)
• Heavy stress on the last syllable of words (even if they are monosyllabic)
• Much greater use of fillers (eg: ’shut up’, ‘like’, ‘d’ya know what I mean’ etc)
• Use of words with a changed meaning such as ‘sick’(adjective - amazing/good) and ‘beef’ (abstract verb - being annoyed with someone)
• Use of new words such as ‘reem’(adjective - cool) and ‘sort’(adjective - good looking)

These different traits have come from a variety of different sources; chief amongst which would be the language used in the east end of London. The fact that Essex and London are neighbouring counties, has been a major contributing factor in the creation of the Essex accent as it has taken many of the traits of the language used in the east end. These traits have also lead lead to a stereotype; people interpret the sound of the ‘Essex accent’ to suggest that the person is uneducated. Some of the traits listed above like the greater use of fillers (suggesting the person is unsure of what they are saying) contribute to this assumption. However, the main contributing factor would be the TV show ‘The Only Way Is Essex’ or ‘TOWIE’ that has helped to affirm this stereotype more so than the dialect itself.

Why does the variation exist?

The main reason why people in Essex use this type of language is because it makes it easier and quicker to convey a point. For example when talking to a small group of people; if using standard english you might say ‘you guys’ or ‘you lot’ whereas someone from Essex might say ‘yous’/‘youse’. This is because there is no plural of the word ‘you’ so using the way in which most words are made plural (by adding an ’s’) it allows them to more accurately describe the group of people. These kinds of logical alterations to words in order to convey a point more clearly does not only occur in Essex. For example in Southern America it would be common to use ‘y’all’ to refer to more than one person and in the ‘Pittsburgh’ area (near Ohio) ’you-uns’ would be used for the same purpose.

Geordie

Research found at http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/case-studies/geordie/

Overview:
The Geordie dialect is sometimes mistakenly used to refer to the speech of the whole of the North East of England. Strictly speaking, however, Geordie should only refer to the speech of the city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the surrounding urban area of Tyneside. Locals insist there are significant differences between Geordie and several other local dialects, such as Pitmatic and Makkem. The Geordie accent sounds extremely identical to that of the welsh accent however Geordies speak with a harsh tone.

Traits:

• Harsh
• northern
• rough

Aspects:

• Geordies have some of their own words to replace standard English ones. for example the word "crack" replaces "banter", and the word "aye" replaces the word "yes.
• Many phonemes are also used differently in their accent as the usual 'up' (u as a consonant) replaces the 'a' in "lad" essentially turning the word into lud.
• The Geordie dialect is often spoken by more low register citizens with constant exhale and length(their words are more dragged out). This makes the accent seem rough as it seems lazy. 

Received Pronunciation

Research found at http://dialectblog.com/british-accents/ 

Overview:
Received Pronunciation is the closest to a "standard accent" that has ever existed in the UK. Although it originally derives from London English, it is Non-regional. You've probably heard this accent in countless examples like in Jane Austin movie interpretations or from influential elders like Judi Dench. It emerged from the 18th and the 19th century aristocracy, and has remained the "gold standard" ever since.

Traits:

• Lengthened words
• Posh
• differentiation in pitch (it's easier to reach a high pitch from a low pitch)

Aspects:

• Non-rhoticity, meaning the 'r' at the ends of words isn't pronounced. (Mother is said Muh-thuh).
• Trap-bath split, meaning that certain 'a' words like 'bath' 'can't' and 'dance' are pronounced with the broad-a in father.
• The vowels within received pronunciation seem to be more conservative than in other areas of England as their vowels have shifted.

Language in Instant Messaging (WhatsApp)

Language in Instant Messaging

Language is used differently in instant messaging depending upon who the recipient of the message is to be. It is dependent, not only on the number of recipients, but also what relation they have to the sender. We would therefore, naturally assume that if the messages are between friends for example that the language used would be of a much lower register than between work colleagues. We have collected some screenshots from a person’s phone to different recipients. Screenshot 1 is to a ‘group chat’ comprised of the sender’s friends whereas screenshot 2 is to the sender’s father.    

Comparison Points

• The language used in screenshot 1 contains lots of short sentences; usually someone making a point followed by another person’s reaction. This pairing effect called ‘adjacency pairs’ can be observed throughout the chat where multiple utterances are often linked. 
• The style in screenshot two is quite the opposite; large, full sentences with less use of abbreviation, no use of emojis and proper use of punctuation. The use of more saturated sentences (in this case used to describe something) allows the sender to convey their point in greater detail.
• The language is also of a much lower register in screenshot 1. This can be seen from the use of ‘taboo’ language, swearing, the use of the symbol ‘@‘ instead of the word ‘at’ as well as the use of emojis. 
• There is the occasional use of emojis in the second chat however they are only used to convey an emotion that would not otherwise be possible
• The second chat uses a more traditional exclamation mark to create emphasis on the senders point whereas if this was the first chat, an emoji might have been used
• Another noticeable difference between the two is the frequency at which each utterance is posted. This is arguably because of the number of people in the chat, however it could also be because each person does not want to feel left out of the conversation. As a result, there are many examples of elision throughout the group chat. There is no such problem in screenshot 2 as there is a very relaxed nature to the chat.
• There are many examples of elision within screenshot 1. This is used to convey a point quicker as, in this case, some feel a pressure to reply quickly.

The language features, use of symbols etc used in the previous two screenshots can be observed throughout the chat (see other examples of screenshots below). Therefore, a logical conclusion to draw would be that there are specific language conventions used when speaking to specific people of groups of people.

   

Other examples:

Constraints and Affordances

Screenshot one is discussing a TV programme (however the programme does not interest the sender and so he is not active in the conversation). This could be considered a constraint of the platform as entire conversations can be carried out between the recipients that do not concern or interest the sender. However this particular platform enables you to send multiple videos, images, emojis, voice recordings, as well as text. As a result, WhatsApp can be regarded as a ‘multi-modal’ platform. This means that there are many different ways in which people can express their views, opinions, points etc. Such affordances can be used to convey a particular emotion (especially with the plethora of emojis available) or tone that would not otherwise be possible if just using text.

Screenshot 2 is talking about an image which had been sent to the recipient. The fact that you are able to send images to people on the platform and then discuss said image (as oppose to having to verbally describe what you can see) is also a major benefit of the platform. Another affordance of the platform is that it can be used across multiple devices (unlike other similar platforms such as iMessage). There are constraints that come with this however such as the fact that some emojis can’t be viewed on particular devices (see other examples below).

One interesting factor that only plays a part in this type of instant messaging platform, is that you are able to see when people are typing. This simple feature can have a quite influencing effect upon the person or people replying. For example, in a group chat scenario, some people naturally feel a pressure to respond quickly. This is because it would be natural to assume that the lack of response might be interpreted as being rude (the equivalent of ignoring someone in a real dialogue) and a quick reply is the only way to avoid this. This hypothesis would be supported if observing Erving Goffman’s ‘Face Theory’. It suggests that people have both positive face needs (feeling valued and appreciated) and negative face needs (feeling independent and not being imposed on). Any remark that may threaten a persons face (such as derogatory marks, exclusion from groups, questioning peoples opinions etc) can be classed as a ‘face threatening act’. Therefore, people try to respond quickly to avoid its absence as being interpreted as a face threatening act.