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The Social Differentiation of English in Norwich Revisited

Does the individual grammar remain stable over the lifespan? A growing body of longitudinal ‘panel’ studies, comparing the same speakers at different points in time, has recently emerged in response to this question. Outcomes vary depending on the linguistic feature and community being studied, with most evidence drawn from studies concerning morphosyntactic or consonantal features.

We address this fundamental question through a replication of the UK’s first ever sociolinguistic investigation of linguistic change, namely Peter Trudgill's well-known survey of Norwich English. By re-recording as many of Trudgill’s original participants as possible as part of a panel study over 58 years, it will be possible to evaluate changes to individuals’ speech production and perception in tandem across the lifespan for the first time. We will also track community-level change across five generations. Our deep longitudinal perspective will significantly improve understanding of the causes and mechanisms behind complex community-level linguistic shifts, as our methods capture the dynamic nature of social, cultural and economic factors that influence dialect change, loss, and survival.

Main objectives:

  • Test the stability of individuals’ speech production and perception over the lifespan
  • Evaluate historical predictions of language change against contemporary realities in light of social and spatial phenomena of the past century
  • Better understand how and why linguistic changes are accepted, modified, or rejected within communities
  • Examine the social and linguistic factors that accelerate/decelerate linguistic change
  • Evaluate received methodologies