Pre-Arrival Task: Spreading Estuary English
Read chapters 18 and 19 in the book by George Yule. 2014. The Study of Language, 5th
Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. This is an e-book, so you can access it
through the library catalogue.
See if you can collect some data on a current accent feature of English which seems to be in a
process of change. You can either do this at home, before you leave for NTU, or on campus
in your student accommodation. Follow the guidelines below.
Task explained
Linguists have noticed some features of Estuary English are spreading beyond London and
the South East. For example, we frequently hear a feature whereby the sound /l/ (as in ‘lake’)
seems to be replaced by /w/ in consonant clusters at the end of a syllable e.g. ‘milk’ or ‘build’
Is it pronounced /milk/ or /miwk/? /bild/ or /biwd/ ?
You will need to listen closely in order to detect the difference between these two variants.
Devise a short experiment to elicit this variable (either in the same word or ones with the
same context). NB words in italics are technical terms used by linguists. You may wish to
check their meaning in the chapter or the textbook glossary before you attempt the
experiment.
To help you, there is a chart to record your observations.
TASK
Observe some speakers and notice how they pronounce /l/ in consonant clusters
e.g. ‘milk’.
Is it pronounced /milk/ or /miwk/?
You might secretly observe your speakers ordering in a coffee shop, for
example. Record your answers on the chart below.
Q.1. Briefly describe how you chose your speakers. Was it random, or did you
choose a sample on the basis of age, gender etc.? We suggest observing 8
speakers.
Q.2. Briefly describe what was said to your speakers to elicit the variable:
Results
/milk/
/miwk/
Speaker 1
Speaker 2
Speaker 3
Speaker 4
Speaker 5
Speaker 6
Speaker 7
Speaker 8
Social information:
Approx. Age
Gender
Where from?
Speaker 1
Speaker 2
Speaker 3
Speaker 4
Speaker 5
Speaker 6
Speaker 7
Speaker 8
On the basis of these results, are you able to make any generalizations about the
social identity of a speaker and their use of the variable /l/?
We plan to review the results of all participants in induction week.