The Dialect of Milton Keynes: An Analysis of the Past and the Present
- Joel Girling, University of Edinburgh
- Old College Lorimer Room, University of Edinburgh
My proposed abstract is based on my current dialectology project which is entitled:
Do vowel and consonant sounds of young (24-35) and old (65+) speakers in Milton Keynes
differ? If so, how? Discuss the similarities and differences the results have with previous work
done by Kerswill and Williams (1990).
Milton Keynes, linguistically, is a very interesting case for dialectology because its initial
population was made up of migrants (nearly 85%) to the area in the late 1960’s and the children
born there developed new accents that differed from their parents. Kerswill and Williams, in 1990,
collected sounds from young children (aged 4 to 12) who have been in MK all their life and
compared them to traditional forms from elderly participants who had been living around MK before
it was opened in 1967.
My presentation will be based on my study that extends Kerswill and Williams research to ask
the questions whether this “young children” demographic still have the same sounds 20 years on
and whether old speakers will also have their accent change and challenge if there is a “critical
window” for change.
The conclusions I hope to reach are that “young children” from 1991 were over the coming
decades still evolving their phonological capabilities and their vowel and consonant sounds are
different in 2011. Elderly speakers will still reflect the same sounds of elderly speakers from
Kerswill and Williams study in 1991 and this would support a “critical window” for change at a
certain age.
As well as this diachronic analysis over time, I will also investigate the differences (and
similarities) between 24-35 year olds and 65+ informants. If there are too many differences then I
could conclude that the critical window is still open between the age groups. However if the
consonant and vowel sounds are very similar or identical then I can say that all informants are past
this “critical window” for change.
These conclusions remain to be seen until I get my results through a phonological
questionnaire and interview at the end of March. However I hope to give a presentation on the
overview of my project and what I expect to find.
NB: The Kerswill and Williams work I am referring to is
http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/1082/1/download.pdf
Do vowel and consonant sounds of young (24-35) and old (65+) speakers in Milton Keynes
differ? If so, how? Discuss the similarities and differences the results have with previous work
done by Kerswill and Williams (1990).
Milton Keynes, linguistically, is a very interesting case for dialectology because its initial
population was made up of migrants (nearly 85%) to the area in the late 1960’s and the children
born there developed new accents that differed from their parents. Kerswill and Williams, in 1990,
collected sounds from young children (aged 4 to 12) who have been in MK all their life and
compared them to traditional forms from elderly participants who had been living around MK before
it was opened in 1967.
My presentation will be based on my study that extends Kerswill and Williams research to ask
the questions whether this “young children” demographic still have the same sounds 20 years on
and whether old speakers will also have their accent change and challenge if there is a “critical
window” for change.
The conclusions I hope to reach are that “young children” from 1991 were over the coming
decades still evolving their phonological capabilities and their vowel and consonant sounds are
different in 2011. Elderly speakers will still reflect the same sounds of elderly speakers from
Kerswill and Williams study in 1991 and this would support a “critical window” for change at a
certain age.
As well as this diachronic analysis over time, I will also investigate the differences (and
similarities) between 24-35 year olds and 65+ informants. If there are too many differences then I
could conclude that the critical window is still open between the age groups. However if the
consonant and vowel sounds are very similar or identical then I can say that all informants are past
this “critical window” for change.
These conclusions remain to be seen until I get my results through a phonological
questionnaire and interview at the end of March. However I hope to give a presentation on the
overview of my project and what I expect to find.
NB: The Kerswill and Williams work I am referring to is
http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/1082/1/download.pdf