Local and supra-local linguistic norms: gender-related patterns of phonological change in the Northeast of England

Lesley Milroy

Sat. 9:00-10:40 A

This paper reports results of an analysis of four variants of the vowel variable (o) (HOME, TOAD) in the conversation of 32 urban speakers from Tyneside in the Northeast of England. The sample comprises a quota of male and female speakers representing two age groups and two social classes.

The HOME vowel is described by Wells (1982: 186) as particularly regionally and socially variable. There is a large-scale regional distinction between (i) monophthongal (or near monophthongal) high, back, rounded variants, and (ii) upgliding diphthongized variants with a mid back or centralized nucleus. In the British Isles, the former (more geographically and socially restricted) set of variants is associated with the far north of England and the Celtic countries, and the latter set with the urban middle north, the midlands and the south. In the corpus of Tyneside data described above, (o) is most frequently realized by all speakers as [o:] (Variant 1), a realization stereotypically associated with the far north of England and Scotland. However, two further variants were distinguished which are even more regionally and socially restricted: Variant 2 is a central rounded monophthong which is characteristic specifically of Tyneside, and Variant 3 (described by Wells (1982: 375) as 'old-fashioned') is similar to Variant 1, but is diphthongized with a centering glide.

A variationist analysis reveals a complex distribution by gender, class and age, with the overwhelming effect being of gender. The diphthongized variants associated with the English midlands and south, which are the nearest approximation to 'standard' British variants, appeared only very rarely and were always used by younger speakers, while Variant 2, described above, is also rare, being used only by three working class males. The most salient patterns of variation involve the general northern English Variant 1 and the more localized Tyneside monophthongal Variant 2, where the overwhelming effect of gender is apparent. All 32 speakers in the sample showed a clear preference for Variant 1. However, all 16 women avoid the more localized Variant 2 entirely, while it is used variably by 15 of the 16 men.

This distribution can be interpreted in terms of an orientation by women to a supra-local norm, and is relevant to an understanding of the social mechanism by which supra-local changes are introduced into smaller communities. However, supra-local and standard (or prestige) norms are not co-extensive. The variants described here are most plausibly characterized as more or less localized.

Reference

Wells, J. (1982) Accents of English (3 vols.) Cambridge: CUP.