Initial Ideas for coursework.

Possibly studying children, maybe gender or development.

either: record a girl and boy aged 2/3, similar enviroments, similar games look for a change in their dialect.
OR
record a child once and then after 6 weeks record them again, seeing how far they have developed in their speech.

Lesson Response

I found the Oxford Dictionary of particular interest as James Murray, The man who came up with the orginal idea and arguably put the most effort into the OED, unfortunately passed before his dictionary was published.

Personally I would consider myself a prescriptivist if i was to label one or the other however I do think language should change as technology develops but slang and abbreviations are unnecessary.

Research on accents and dialects

The Birmingham accent/dialect
There doesn't seem to be a key origin for this accent but many believe that Immigration from country accents and black country people was a cause as they took jobs in the factories of birmingham therefore rejuvinating the Birmingham accent. Some people believe that Shakespeare is a major influence on the Birmingham accent and that he actually spoke in an accent similar to the Birmingham accent today, however this is only a theory and is not prooven. Also Medieval english is also said to be similar to the Birmingham accent and Geoffrey Chaucer was a poet during that time (1300's) so this influence may have stuck in certain parts of england e.g. Birmingham.

Characteristics of the accent include; rounding of the long I sound and the downward intonation of both words and sentence endings. Both of these elements seem to make other Brits think Brummies are unimaginative and even "thick" The rhythm of a Brummie sentence is just as important as the pronunciation. It has a fairly monotonal sound which can make the accent seem quite boring or unenthusiastic,it definitely has less tonality on a whole than RP, Estuary and most of the northern accents. Words like Friday start to sound like "Froyday." The "a" sound at the end of the word is also underarticulated because of the downward intonation, so it comes out sounding like "Froydeh." The "ee" sound is over pronounced though so "city" is pronounced like "si-tee" and even "si-tay" the closer one gets to the Black Koontray (Country) to the west of Birmingham.

An example of celebrities with the accent are the Osbournes but predominately musician, Ozzy Osbourne. Another example is comedian Jasper Carrot. An RP version of the Birmingham accent is used by presenters,  Cat Deeley is a prime example of this.

Birmingham is located in the midlands of the uk:


Phrases or Words used/ Dialect:
Cob - for a roll
Fast, Bath, Last - Pronounced without an r sound
All roight - typical Birmingham greeting
Point - when asking for a pint of beer

Babby  -Variation of "baby"

Bawlin, Bawl -To cry, as in "She started to bawl'"

Donnie - Hands, "Go and wash your donnies"

Go and play up your own end - Said to children from a different street making a nuisance. It has been used as the title of the autobiographical book and musical play about the Birmingham childhood of radio presenter and entertainer Malcolm Stent

Pop - Another word for a glass of fizzy drinks, do you want a glass of pop

Rock - A children's hard sweet (as in "give us a rock") (In the Black Country it would be "give us a suck" Suck being a hard sweet) = LOL.

Throw a paddy -To become sulky or have a tantrum (paddy being a stereotyped 'stroppy' Irishman; presumably relating to the Irish resistance to British rule)

Up the cut - Up the canal (not unique to Birmingham)

Details of the accent: It is not the only accent of the West Midlands, although the term, Brummie, is often, erroneously, used in referring to all accents of the region. It is markedly distinct from the traditional accent of the adjacent Black Country, although modern-day population mobility has tended to blur the distinction.
The strength of a persons' accent varies greatly all across Birmingham. Like most cities, the accent changes relative to the area of the city. A common misconception is that everyone in Birmingham speaks the same accent.Has on overall negative representation among Britain and is known as one of the most undesirable accent.

English & Language Change

Language Change is good because it gives us more options to choose from when speaking and our vocabulary is being widened to adapt technology and new inventions. However it is a bad thing due to the history of the language possibly being lost however I believe the change that happens now shall be all part of the language's history in the future.
Also words have been given negative connotations due to change e.g. the word gay.
However it is difficult for the older generation to keep up to date with these changes so it it is difficult to conclude whether it is overall a good or bad thing but i do not think language change is necessary.

The Origins Of English

What I learnt today: During the 12th century the English language started to become more individual due to the Hundred Years War, The influence of the French language is still there but has declined sufficiently. The Printing press first started in 1476 as William Caston invented an object that would print text onto paper instead of everything having to be hand written, this was a major step towards a standard writing system. Scottish english is now a distinct dialect with words such as "aye" entering their vocabulary.
Latin had a major influence at this time and words such as "conspiracy, genius and incredible" were included in the new vocabulary. Shakespeare and literature developed majorly during 1500's to 1650. The classical language and literature developed in studies relating to medicine art and sceince and the first Shakespeare play was published in 1623. In 1611 the first english translation of the bible was introduced due to King James, King of Scotland and England at two different times of his life, leading to the unison of both countries.

Dictionaries: Since the 1500's dictonaries have improved dramatically, it was first introduced to earn more respect and to improve the representation of England being an educational, intelligent country, possibly to further their individuality.  The first Oxford dictonaries allowed multiple meaning and pronounciations to be seen and this was introduced between 1879 and 1928. Since then it has further improved by being able to use OED online and being able to search for meanings or matching a word to a meaning online. I think that Dictonaries have improved dramatically through history and time.

English language

Accents and Dialects are actually completly different things, and accent is more like pronounciation and the way people say things, whereas dialect consists of features such as the actual vocabulary and language.

Also Invasions and war played a big part in developing our language's for example the anglo saxons invasions in 449 AD which included words such as "cheese, angel, bishop, paper and elephants"
In 787 AD the Viking Raids began and this produced words such as "widow, harbour, glitter, weak, tight" In 1066 AD the Norman Conquest (Battle of Hastings) took place which brought in administration and religous words such as "goverment, liberty, crucifix and saint"

Also I would like to add that it still will not allow me to comment on anything ! ):

Attitudes towards the Birmingham Accent

The ideas towards the Birmingham accent are mainly negative, and suggested that the accent can lead to discrimination and prejudice, making it more difficult to get a job in other parts of the country. It was said to be the least attractive accent "eve worse than silence" in one of the articles and it is suggested that they should looose their accents in order to acheive success and attraction. Foreigners are said to like the accent however those from Britain seem to have a mainly negative judgement on the accent. It is also confused with the Black Country accent which is offensive to them as it is similar but not the same. I was aware of these views having grown up in Birmingham and moving to Southampton with the accent.
I don't really have any views towards the accent as it was what I was used to for the majority of my life.I don't really think thatit puts them at a disadvantage but it may help if the accent was more clearer to other regions so they are able to understand it, however some people may discriminate against Birmingham accents or even accents overall. I think there are certain stereotypes that come with certain accents so they do matter as people may make judgements on youbecause of your accent.