Sociophonetic research on current accents of English in the North of England

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K02821
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: English linguistics
• Research Institution: Senshu University
• Principal Investigator: MIURA Hiroshi 専修大学, 文学部, 教授 (00239188)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 音声・音韻 / 英語の多様性 / 社会音声学 / 発音変種 / 音声分析 / イングランド北部英語 / マン島

Outline of Final Research Achievements

From original recordings made on field trips to the North of England and the Isle of Man, the present-day distribution of the sounds of each local accent of English was analysed socio-phonetically. The recordings were made in Liverpool and the Isle of Man in 2017, in Preston (Lancashire) and Bradford (Yorkshire) in 2018, and in Lancaster in 2019. There were several new findings observed such as vowel features. For example, the merger of the lexical sets NURSE and SQUARE is observed in Preston as well as in Liverpool. The vowel of Preston and mild Liverpool accents is mainly‘central mid unrounded’, although that of broad Liverpool is‘front open-mid unrounded’. The vowel of THOUGHT-NORTH-FORCE of Liverpool, the Isle of Man and Preston is‘back close-mid rounded’, while that of Bradford‘back open-mid rounded’.

Free Research Field

英語音声学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

イギリスにおける本格的な英語方言調査は1950年代からの「英語方言調査」（the Survey of English Dialects）に始まり、多数の知見が集められているが、言語は常に変化しているので、方言調査に終わりはない。本研究課題では地域差のみならず、被験者の社会的階級や年齢を分類して音声を収録して、音響的な音声分析に基づいてデータを考察し、定説とみなされている知見にも例外があり、地域を超えた下層階級方言に共通して見られる音声特徴、及び新しい音韻体系の変化傾向を示すことができた。