Peter Trudgill sociolinguistics (born November 7, 1943 in Norwich ) – British sociolinguist and author of books in the field of dialectology .
Born in Norwich, where in 1955 he began studying at the City of Norwich School. He studied modern languages at King’s College (Cambridge), in 1971 he received a doctorate from the University of Edinburgh . He lectured at the Faculty of Language Sciences of the University of Reading from 1970 to 1986, then took the position of professor of sociolinguistics at the University of Essex . He held the position of professor of English and Linguistics at the University of Lausanne in 1993-1998, then, also in Switzerland, at the University of Freiburg, which he resigned in September 2005. Currently (2015) is a professor of sociolinguistics (part-time) at the University of Agder (in Kristiansand, Norway), as well as an adjunct at the Center for Research in Linguistic Typology at La Trobe University in Melbourne (Australia) and honorary professor at the University of East Anglia in Norwich.
He conducted field research in Great Britain, Greece and Norway. He has lectured at universities in most European countries, as well as in Canada, the United States, Columbia, Australia, New Zealand, India, Thailand, Hong Kong, Fiji, Malawi and Japan. Peter Trudgill is the honorary president of Friends of Norfolk dialect society, he writes articles on linguistics in the local newspaper Eastern Daily Press.
Trudgill is a widely respected authority in the field of dialectology, as well as one of the first dialectologists to apply William Labov‘s research methodology in the United Kingdom and lay the foundation for further studies on the permeation of dialects .
Peter Trudgill is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Sciences( Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi) and the British Academy( Fellow of the British Academy , FBA) Peter Trudgill sociolinguistics
Work of Trudgill
His works include:
- 1974 The Social Differentiation of English in Norwich (based on his Ph.D. thesis)
- 1976 Introduction to Sociolinguistics
- 1975 Accent, Dialect and the School
- 1979 English Accents and Dialects (with Arthur Hughes)
- 1980 Dialectology (with J. K. Chambers)
- 1982 International English (with Jean Hannah)
- 1982 Coping With America (Blackwell, 2nd edition 1986)
- 1983 On Dialect: Social and Geographical Perspectives
- 1984 Language in the British Isles
- 1984 Applied Sociolinguistics
- 1986 Dialects in Contact
- 1990 The Dialects of England
- 1990 Bad Language (with Lars Andersson)
- 1992 Introducing Language and Society
- 1998 Language Myths (with Laurie Bauer)
- 2001 Alternative Histories of English (with Richard J. Watts)
- 2002 Sociolinguistic Variation and Change
- 2003 A Glossary of Sociolinguistics
- 2003 Norfolk Origins 7: The Norfolk Dialect
- 2004 New-Dialect Formation: The Inevitability of Colonial Englishes
- 2004 New Zealand English: Its Origins and Evolution (with et al. Elizabeth Gordon, Lyle Campbell, Margaret Maclagan, Andrea Sudbury, Jennifer Hay)
- 2010 The Lesser-Known Varieties of English: An Introduction (with Daniel Schreier, Edgar W. Schneider)
- 2011 Sociolinguistic Typology: Social Determinants of Linguistic Complexity Oxford University Press
- 2016 Dialect matters: respecting vernacular language. Cambridge University Press
- 2018 Norwegian as a normal language and other studies in Scandinavian linguistics. Novus: Oslo
Peter Trudgill investigated the dialects of England and who uses them. Where we are from is important to people, we know this because people support football teams from their home region and people return to their homes at Christmas etc. Most people have regional features in their speech and this is part of their identity. Peter Trudgill sociolinguistics
We all speak with an accent and we all speak a dialect.
Accent– the way we pronounce English. Because we all pronounce when we speak we all have an accent.
Dialect– not only pronunciation, but also the words and grammar people use. For example “I haven’t got any.” or “I haven’t got none
Standard English is the dialect normally used in writing and spoken by the most powerful and educated members of the population. It is a minority dialect, spoken by about 12% of the population. Scottish and Irish standard English are also a little different. English standard English can vary a little between north and south. Peter Trudgill sociolinguistics
There are regional dialects and there are two types; Traditional Dialects and Mainstream Dialects. Traditional Dialects are spoken by a minority of the population. They often differ from standard English and from each other. They can be difficult to understand at first. Mainstream dialect includes both the standard English dialect and the Modern Non-standard dialects. Most native English speakers speak some variety of Mainstream dialect. These dialects are associated with native speakers outside the British Isles for example in Australia. In Britain they are particularly associated with the areas which standard English originally came from; the south east, most urban areas, places that have fairly recently become English speaking (Scottish highlands, Wales, Cornwall), the speech of younger people and middle and upper class speakers everywhere. These mainstream Modern Non-standard Dialects don’t differ that much from standard English or from each other. They are often distinguished by their accent instead of their grammar.
A question always asked is why do people speak different dialects? This is easier to answer if we ask; why doesn’t everyone speak the same? Like all languages English is constantly changing. Some changes spread out to cover the whole country, others only spread so far, which leads to dialect differences between areas. Language can sometimes be explained by external factors like using words from the French after the Norman conquest of England in 1066. Peter Trudgill sociolinguistics
This is what Trudgill thinks about the future. The fact that English has been spoken in England for 1500 years and for only 200 years in Australia explains why we have so many more regional dialects. In Britain it is possible to tell where someone comes from within 15 miles. In Australia there has not been time for such regional variety to develop, though small differences are starting to appear. Also we won’t all end up speaking the same dialect eg. American English. There are changes taking place in American pronunciation which are not happening in England and vice versa. For example more people in England are starting to pronounce words like better with a glottal stop.
Complaints about the language degenerating are a feature of all generations. Language change is a natural and inevitable process, but there are always some people who worry about it. For example some people object to glottal stops maybe because the glottal stop has been associated with lower social class dialects which are now finding their way further up the scale. Some people think that all English Dialects are inferior to standard English. People think Standard English is the English Language. However standard English came to people’s attention because of its location; the southeast of England, an area that contained London, Oxford, Cambridge and Parliament. If the capital of England had been York then Standard English would have shown a close resemblance to northern dialects of England. Peter Trudgill sociolinguistics
The fact is that all dialects, both traditional and modern are equally grammatical and correct. They only differ because of their social significance. As a result of a historical accident the Standard English dialect is the dialect that is used in writing and so is used for official purposes. This is why it’s taught in British schools for reading and writing.
Trudgill’s theory has a lot to do with overt and covert prestige.
- Overt prestige- is the prestige that comes with using the type of language that is nationally recognised and is used in official and educational contexts. Speakers who use standard English are therefore considered well educated, intelligent because they are using the “correct” and “best” version of English.
- Covert prestige- on the other hand, comes from not identifying with the standard language. It is the prestige that comes with group loyalty and solidarity. Working-class speakers show their solidarity with their class and region by sticking to non-standard norms. Peter Trudgill sociolinguistics
One theory is that women are socially insecure so they are more careful to use the overtly socially prestigious forms than men.
Another is that working class language is associated with being rough and tough. In a survey people were asked to rate how well they thought recorded speakers would do in a street fight. Those with regional accents came out on top every time. These traits are considered macho and tough so men tend to lean towards talking like this and women seem to lean away from talking like this.
It is worth considering that everyone uses accent and dialect more in more informal situations like at home with friends and family. However in an interview they would speak very differently.
Trudgill found that in Norwich the ending “ng” on words like walking and talking is the prestigious variable. Like the “r” in New York, it is used by upper class and more in formal situations than informal situations. Trudgill took his research a step further and looked at the sex as well as the class of the speaker.
- Trudgill found that…
- Women of each class use the prestige variant more than men of the same class.
- Using the nonstandard variable is not just a working-class thing it’s also a male thing.
Then Trudgill did some self evaluation tests. He showed people in his survey prestigious and stigmatised pronunciation and asked them to say which they thought they normally used. He already knew the truth of what they spoke from his survey, so he was able to compare how people actually speak compared with how they thought they did. What they actually told him was how they would like to talk. He found that women of all classes tend to over-report (claim they’re using the prestigious variant when they actually don’t). Men of all classes tend to under-report (claim they used the non-standard form when in fact they use the prestigious one). This suggests that men and women as well as upper and lower class are aiming to speak a different type of language. Peter Trudgill sociolinguistics
