Research into the realisation of the phonological variables (r) as the tapped variant [ɾ]
the FOOT vowel set (ʊ) as the GOOSE vowel set [u:] in the Scouse dialect
Introduction The aim of my research is to investigate the affect of age on language use, in particular whether different age groups use the (r) and (ʊ) variables differently. Previous research has discovered variation of these sounds in the Scouse dialect spoken in and around Liverpool, including the tapped variant [ɾ] and the GOOSE vowel [u:]; therefore I aim to research the frequencies of these variants in younger speakers of Scouse between 18-30 years old and older speakers of 30+ years.
Methodology I will use a judgement sample and control for gender by using only female participants. I will also control for other factors including ethnicity and religious affiliation as my participants will be white British and from a Christian background. My sample consists of 6 female speakers who grew up, and still live, in Liverpool and therefore speak the Scouse dialect. I have 3 participants representing the age bracket 18-30 years and 3 representing the age bracket 30+ years. I arranged times to meet with my participants individually and conducted 15 minute interviews with each of them, recording the interviews on the voice notes application on my phone. I also provided a reading passage and word list for the participants to read out on the recording in order to make sure that the variables I am interested in were expressed if not already- or only sparsely- in the interview responses. I have listened to the recordings of each participant interview, word list and reading passage and transcribed any instances of the variables and where the variants in focus are expressed. In order to gain quantitative, numerical data, I have coded and compared the frequencies of the usages of the two non-standard variants [ɾ] and [u:] within each age category and devised four tables of results to display the data for each. From these tables I have calculated the average score, as a percentage, for each category and created four bar charts to represent the separate variants and age groups.
Ethics To ensure I abided by ethical guidelines in my research I gained informed consent from each participant on separate consent forms to demonstrate that they give their permission for their data to be used. The consent form briefly outlines the use of their recorded data. Participants were also provided with an information sheet that clearly stated the interview process, how their data will be anonymous and confidential and explained the use of their data. I have discussed participant rights, including their right to ask questions, the right to withdraw at any point and their right to remain anonymous in the research. I have ensured participant protection is maintained through confidentiality and anonymity and ensured that each participant is debriefed so to avoid deception. In order to anonymise the participant data I have assigned a letter to each person (e.g. Participant A, Participant B, etc.) within their age group and have referred to the participants in this way throughout my research.
Previous Research Watson (2007) talks about [r] being realised as [ɾ]- the tapped variant- in prevocalic and intervocalic positions. He also found that it can be used as the ‘linking r’, for example, in the utterance “stronge[ɾ] of the two” or “happie[ɾ] at home”. Watson found this to also occurs after an obstruent, e.g. fricative or affricate sound like in the noun ‘st[ɾ]ipe’ (Watson, K. 2007). Louise Sardais discusses the idea that it is around adolescent age that we are most interactive. At this age we are forming our identities and rebelling, often against parents, and this can be noticed through dialect choices (Sardais, 2019). Professor Vera Regan echoes this idea that young people are keen to try out new identities rather than mirroring their parents’. She writes about the strong influence of peers on young people and the importance of forming identities and relationships with those other than parents (Regan, 2019).
Watson (2005) talks about the use of the long vowel [u:] used in words like ‘book’ and ‘cook’ where the final sound is [k]. In these cases the GOOSE vowel set is often demonstrated in Scouse rather than the standard FOOT vowel [ʊ].He found that this occurred more frequently in older speakers than younger speakers of the Scouse dialect. The idea that this feature is occurring less frequently in the speech of younger speakers is also mentioned in Watson and Honeybone’s research (Honeybone, P. & Watson, K. D. 2006).
Hypotheses Based upon previous research into the development of dialect, and phonological features of Scouse: I hypothesise that younger speakers of the Scouse dialect (18-30 years old) will display more usages of the tapped [ɾ] as realisation of the standard [r] than older speakers of Scouse. Based upon previous research into the realisation of (ʊ) as the long [u:] vowel in the Scouse Dialect: I hypothesise that older speakers of the Scouse dialect (30+ years old) will display more usages of the long GOOSE vowel [u:] in particular words ending in [k] (e.g. ‘book’) than younger speakers.
Findings
Realisation of (r) as the tapped variant [ɾ]:
As a whole, Group 1 displayed only 13 occurrences (17%) of the tapped variant [ɾ], whereas Group 2 displayed nearly three times the amount with 38 occurrences (64%). However, both of these figures are represented by only one individual speaker from each group- the other participants did not demonstrate this variant within their speech whatsoever.
In Group 1, participant B used [ɾ] as a linking (r), for example in the utterance fo[ɾ]us (for us). Other words that featured the tapped variant include; b[ɾ]ownies, ve[ɾ]y and t[ɾ]aining. In Group 2, participant C used the [ɾ] in a variety of words including; mic[ɾ]ophone, c[ɾ]ane, ve[ɾ]y, c[ɾ]eam, b[ɾ]aids, p[ɾ]esent, f[ɾ]og, ame[ɾ]icano, f[ɾ]ont and many more, including [ɾ] as the linking (r) between fire and engine- fire[ɾ]engine.
Realisation of the FOOT vowel set (ʊ) as the GOOSE vowel set [u:]:
Group 1 displayed no occurrences of the GOOSE vowel [u:] in particular words in focus ending in ‘k’, whereas Group 2 displayed 10 occurrences (83%). Again, like the [ɾ] variant, only one individual from Group 2 displayed the GOOSE vowel [u:] variant in their speech.
Participant A from Group 2 used the [u:] vowel variant in nearly all possible opportunities- b[u:]k, noteb[u:]k, c[u:]k and c[u:]ker -except for in look where the standard [ʊ] vowel was used
Summary I hypothesised that younger speakers of the Scouse dialect (18-30 years old) would display more usages of the tapped [ɾ] as realisation of the standard [r] than older speakers of Scouse. My data has contradicted this hypothesis as, in fact, the older speakers of Group 2 displayed nearly three times the number of usages of the tapped variant in their speech than the younger speakers of Group 1 . However, these figures are represented by only one participant from each of the groups- participant B from Group 1 and participant C from Group 2. With only one representative of these age categories displaying the tapped variant [ɾ], it would be unwise to generalise this result to all females from Liverpool. My second hypothesis predicted that older speakers of the Scouse dialect (30+ years old) would display more usages of the long GOOSE vowel [u:] in particular words ending in [k] (e.g. ‘book’) than younger speakers. While my data corresponds with my hypothesis- with Group 2 demonstrating more usages of the GOOSE vowel [u:] than Group 1- the figure is again collected from only one participant. Therefore, this result may not accurately represent the usage of the GOOSE vowel in this particular instance within this age category. Moreover, my participant sample of 6 speakers across both groups is not large enough to generalise the findings to the wider population of female speakers of the Scouse dialect; although, it is interesting to find that one hypothesis has been fulfilled while the other has been negated.
References:
Honeybone, P. & Watson, K. D. (2006). Phonemes, graphemes and phonics for Liverpool English. - Research Portal | Lancaster University. [online] Research.lancs.ac.uk. Available at: http://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/phonemes-graphemes-and-phonics-for-liverpool-english(bd9cfd7c-5ecf-43e2-9112-1d1cd5275893).html [Accessed 19 Mar. 2019].
Regan, V. (2019). D4 accents: 'Yes, kids speak differently from their parents. But why should this be a bad thing?'. [online] TheJournal.ie. Available at: https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/d4-accent-yes-kids-speak-differently-from-their-parents-but-why-should-this-be-a-bad-thing-3947717-Apr2018/ [Accessed 18 Apr. 2019].
Sardais, L. (2019). BBC - Liverpool - People - Ask the experts..... [online] Bbc.co.uk. Available http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/content/articles/2005/01/14/voices_linguist_feature.shtml [Accessed 18 Apr. 2019].
Watson, K. (2007). Liverpool English. [online] Core.ac.uk. Available at: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/71298.pdf [Accessed 19 Mar. 2019].
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