Cheshire and Eckert and Attitudes towards accent

Eckert and Cheshire

 

Eckert chose to do in depth research on the different groups within American high schools, she chose to focus mainly on the burnout and the jocks. She studied the language that they used and the difference between there lexical choice, pronunciation and context they used, she then compared these factors against they’re style of upbringing, class and social position in society. In most environments in life there is different groups who alter their pronunciation and grammar in order to fit in with their social group in order to give them a sense of belonging from their group, this happens within all schools, people who originated usually from the same class with the same ethics congregate together and then speak how they are brought up, which will usually be very similar as they are the same class of people. By speaking the same way and sharing certain idioms allows the individuals to identify with each other and find a basses where a relationship can be built.

 

Cheshire chose to do a similar investigation revolving around the speech of school children and how they use their grammar in order to fit in with their friends. I believe that it is true that individuals will change their grammatical choices dependent on who they are with and the topic in which they discussing. Most people would speak differently to their friends into how they speak in a work situation. Most people use a very informal stance when they are speaking to their friends as most situation are informal and relaxed, with a low register. However , situations such as work are formal situations where it is vital that good impressions are made therefore it requires a high register due to the high formality of the situation, less grammatical errors will be made and pronunciation will be clearer and more concise.

 

Within school there will be the usual groups; the popular lot, the nerds and the average. In each of these groups their grammar will change in order to suit the people they are surrounded by. For example, the nerds will usually make very little grammatical errors as they strongly pride themselves on their intelligence and would want to represent themselves in an intellectual manner. However , the average lot of people will not make many grammatically mistake but there will be some. This is because they will be surrounded by people who have similar intellect and they won’t feel as if they have to change their language in order to fit into their social group as they all will usually have similar back grounds. However, the popular group may use more colloquial language in order to identify with a larger group of people, hence why they are known by so many people and are referred to as popular. The more relaxed language they use it become easier to identify with them because the relationship becomes less pressuring, allowing them to build multiple relationships with several groups of people.

 

Attitudes towards language

Accent is only focused around the individual’s pronunciation rather than the context of their speech. Essentially the same language is spoken nationwide however the way the lexis and phonemes are pronounced gives us an insight into their region or origin. An individual will usually make a connection with the accent being spoken with and will create a judgement based upon the way the individual pronounces their words. This is due to the fact that certain accent are originated from regions of the country which have connections with poverty and a lower standard of living , this background knowledge an individual will have an impact on the connection made between the persons accent and the social class they originate from. When someone with a foreign accent begins to speak a negative assumption is likely to be made in association with the accent they speak with. This is because more individuals believe their social group is the most important subconsciously and anyone who can’t identify with social group in a phonological manner. These people are likely to rate social groups according to their class in association with accent. Some view their accent in association with class as well as the grammatical errors which are made in connection with that specific accent. For example, having a thick northern accent , from a poor standard of living area with inadequate quality of education , the context of this person speech is likely to have many grammatical errors , which will then be associated with the accent they speak in , stereo-typing the accent negatively. Just by the accent an individual can form a whole identity of the person speaking.