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LadyEllen -> RE: The language of Apes (3/16/2008 5:54:30 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: luckydog1
Here is a question, are the regional dialects in England weakening as they are in America?
For a long time, the division of class was in language - as one looked up the social scale the more clipped became the vowels, with the Queen of course being at the top of this hierarchy, whilst as one looked down the social scale, one found more and more the natural local language, going through stages of greater regional accent into dialect with the likes of my family at the bottom, the elder of whom are difficult to understand at times. Those at the bottom were always expected to understand their "betters", though the "betters" didnt necessarily understand the rest of us.
Then came mass media - radio and TV, and greater opportunity for upwards social mobility through wider access to university education. Those who wished to escape their working class lives aspired to speak "properly" as not only the means to access the higher circles but also as an emblem of membership. Maggie Thatcher for instance, the daughter of a shop keeper in the backwaters of England, first lost her local speech and then took elocution lessons to sound like she belonged to the ruling classes. The overall effect of this process was to greatly harm local accents and dialects, speaking with which came to indicate not only low social class, but also lower intellect.
But more recently there has been a resurgence of accents - it is now more acceptable to speak with an accent, as long as one is intelligible. Even in the likes of the BBC, where one at one time had to speak "properly", there is now to be found a variety of accents. In fact, it is now looked on as rather ridiculous to speak with the articifical language formerly known as English, and rather expected that one will have an accent. Even the Queen's speech patterns have changed a great deal from the clipped pronunication of the 50s to today - the upper classes are still distinctive, but not as distinctive as they once were.
As for dialect, this is more difficult, since dialect like any form of language is an evolving entity. Certainly, apart from small areas of England much of the older local dialect has disappeared - the Black Country near where I live is one area where such dialect has survived to some extent and where afficianados pursue its preservation. Google "Black Country dialect" for some examples. But we could also count as dialect the language used by the youth of today, so to that extent dialect is alive and well, but to a great extent based on an age group rather than a geographical area - and because of mass communication to be found throughout the UK.
Whats important nowadays its seems, is to be "authentic" to one's origins but also to be intelligible. But there still remains an unspoken class system based on how one speaks - the stronger the accent, the less one is regarded - but one ought to betray some local accent still.
E
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