Last updated by kprzemek on 2017-11-29. Originally submitted by wjarek on 2010-09-30.
The Department of Contemporary English Language (DoCELu) invites you to a Phon&Phon meeting:
Dr Bente Hannisdal (University Bergen) [see also here on Facebook]
What’s happening in RP? An empirical look at variation and change in Received Pronunciation
Tuesday, 12 October 2010, 18:30, Room 601A
Abstract [You can also download the handout or an extended summary; link to the entire PhD thesis below. Photos on Phon&Phon's home page.]
Received Pronunciation is probably the most thoroughly described accent of English. There has, however, been very little quantitative empirical research into the accent, both phonological and sociolinguistic. The RP tradition has been dominated by informal, impressionistic observations, or introspection. This talk will present the results from a recent study of variation and change in current RP, based on a corpus of quantified empirical data.
The study investigates six phonological variables which represent different aspects of variation, and some of which reflect on-going changes or recent trends in RP:
- CURE lowering: /ʊə/ > /ɔː/ in poor, sure, pure, etc.
- Smoothing: [aɪə, aʊə] vs. [aə] in fire, power, etc.
- GOAT allophony: [əʊ] > [ɒʊ] before [ɫ] in goal, cold, etc.
- R-sandhi: /r/ vs. Ø in far away, law and order, etc.
- T-voicing: [t] > [ɾ] in city, little, a lot of, etc.
- Yod coalescence: /tj, dj/ > /ʧ, ʤ/ in tune, duke, etc.
In addition to the empirical aspects, the talk addresses some theoretical issues related to RP as a linguistic variety and an object of study, the most important of which is the question of how RP should be defined and delimited.
(Prof. John Wells's praise of Dr Hannisdal's dissertation: “This dissertation is a brilliant piece of work […] Ms Hannisdal has collected a large number of recordings of British television newsreaders […]. This constitutes an extensive corpus of contemporary RP, and has enabled her to discover some interesting facts, not previously established, about this variety of English”. More can be found in three posts on his blog here; scroll down to 25, 26 and 27 April 2007. The full text of the dissertation is available here.)
Submitted by J Weckwerth
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