Regional Variety and Diversity: Dialect

Regional Variety and Diversity: Dialect

Task One: Bradford Asian English and South London Dialects

• Print and read Gary Ives'study of this dialect.
• Answer the following questions on the interviews from the school in Bradford:

1. What is code switching?
2. Who are 'freshies'? How did the boys interviewed diverge from the language of 'freshies'?
3. What words/ phrases unify young Asian speakers according to one teenage boy? (top of page 155)
4. What was different about the teenage girl interviewed? What does this suggest about the impact of the ethnic demographic of a school on a speaker's decision to code switch?
5. Based on interviews with all participants, which were the most commonly used Punjabi words?
6. What factors do the students feel influence their lexical choices?

• Answer the following questions on the interviews from the school from London:

1. What three categories could summarise the key features of the dialect spoken in this school?
2. Which words used in this dialect have Jamaican or Afro Caribbean roots?
3. What evidence is there from this set of interviews that language used is 'not about ethnicity' but about 'where you live now'?

• Write one paragraph to respond to this question:

How does Ives' research challenge the idea that dialect is fixed and based only on where you live?

- Include vocabulary such as: diverge/ converge/ ethnicity/ age/ variables/ evolving/ unifying mechanism/ code switching

Task Two: Dialect Levelling

• Read the extract about dialect levelling.
• Complete and print the summary table at the end of the extract.

Complete these two tasks for homework. You will be having an assessment on diversity and region in the very near future, so make sure that your folders are organised and your notes are up to date!

Regional Variation and Diversty: Accent

Accent Diversity

Task One: Attitudes towards Accent Diversity Wider Reading

1. Print, read and highlight these four articles:

Teacher told to sound less Northern
Brummie accents worse than staying silent
Britain should celebrate regional accents
How to de-posh your accent

2. Complete this table.


Task Two: Studies and Research on Accent Variation

1. Use the following resources to complete this table.

- AQA text book
- Class notes
- Cambridge A Level Language Student Book


If you want to have another look over anything we have discussed this week, the PowerPoint is here.

The Sign of the Four Context Research

The Sign of the Four Context Research

In your The Sign of the Four assessment, you will need to be able to explore how Conan Doyle comments on and explores the social, literacy and historical context of the Victorian period.

Task 1: Research

Research the following four contextual areas:

1.Crime and policing in Victorian times

2.The British Empire, colonialisation and Victorian attitudes to race

3.Attitudes towards women in Victorian times

4.Literary context – detective mystery genre/ other popular fiction of the time


There is a PowerPoint here with lots of useful information to get you started, including several links to websites on the penultimate slide.


Task Two: Collating the Research

In your books, write the date, c/w and heading: Contextual Research on The Sign of The Four.

Use one page in your books for each contextual area - make sure that you include subheadings to keep your research organised (see the list above). For each contextual area, write down five facts that you have found out. You should aim to include images as well as writing.

Task Three: Applying your Knowledge

On a new page, write the heading: Significant Contextual Issues in The Sign of the Four.

Identify five moments in the novel when you think Doyle is commenting on contextual issues of the Victorian period.

It will be your homework to complete these three tasks; use your lesson time wisely!