tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524682876220396502.post1504651681629803598..comments2024-03-27T06:56:10.255+00:00Comments on Broad Oak Magazine: Language, evolution and social classUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524682876220396502.post-60244211511171842322017-08-09T07:18:50.979+01:002017-08-09T07:18:50.979+01:00I recall reading of some research that said men te...I recall reading of some research that said men tended to intensify their regional accents in the presence of incomers, whereas women would soften theirs. Territoriality?Sackersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17284329249862764601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524682876220396502.post-67766534533720630802017-08-08T08:24:20.096+01:002017-08-08T08:24:20.096+01:00The perceptions on how people in a particular area...The perceptions on how people in a particular area speak is not backed up by the facts.<br />I was raised in the East End of London and only left when I married, in all those years I can recall only once meeting someone who spoke with the stereotype cockney accent, certainly some phrases and words were included by many in normal speech, but cor blimey guv, no.<br />I had a very good friend who lived in Bethnal Green who could lapse into a very good interpretation of a cockney, it was his party piece and very funny, and that from someone who was more East End than anyone else I knew. wiggiatlargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01679399861131265080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524682876220396502.post-54130913835736426182017-08-07T18:15:07.864+01:002017-08-07T18:15:07.864+01:00Interesting post - thank you! I recall that my ma...Interesting post - thank you! I recall that my maternal grandmother, born late 19th century in East Yorkshire would sometimes pronounce tea as "tay". I suspect her father had some Irish in him. She'd also refer to a naughty child as "a little fenian" - which used to puzzle me until "The Troubles" boosted my vocabulary. ;)<br /><br />For sure your time travelling professor would find it hard to stay undercover. I believe that pronunciation in past centuries would have contained much more that was carried over - accents and words, by interlopers to Britain - Nordic/Scandinavian in the north and east for instance. I think much of the old East Yorkshire accent was coloured by that.Twilighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524682876220396502.post-52274670946860050592017-08-07T15:35:52.449+01:002017-08-07T15:35:52.449+01:00I remember watching a 50s/early 60s vox pop interv...I remember watching a 50s/early 60s vox pop interview with teenagers and being struck by how carefully and correctly they spoke to the interviewer, obviously not in the way they would speak among themselves. Arguably, one advantage of class is that it sets standards. <br /><br />And there were many working-class people who might have got much further in life but just didn't get the chances, either because of poverty or the disruption of war. <br /><br />Modern meritocracy - if it works perfectly - means that the first, lowest layer that the customer has to deal with will be semi-morons.Sackersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17284329249862764601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524682876220396502.post-55487935946915791722017-08-07T15:23:56.199+01:002017-08-07T15:23:56.199+01:00The world before film and radio, then TV was very ...The world before film and radio, then TV was very different, as were the people. I knew quite a few born in the late 19th Century and am very wary of what is said about them by writers then and later. My memory is of people with remarkable vocabularies, structures and moderated accents and of all classes. You could not run a railway without it.Demetriushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17198549581667363991noreply@blogger.com