A Personal Language Study - My Idiolect

Spoken language is different to written language in many ways. For example, it is often less formal, and more simplified and concise. People are also generally more relaxed about grammar in spoken language, although in more recent years, thanks to text speak, written grammar has also become less noted. My idiolect has been influenced by many different things: television and radio; living in North London and Harpenden - but mainly my idiolect is shaped by my parents and my peers, and their accents.

Spoken language varies depending on context and formality. For example, if you were talking to friends, you would most likely use slang and abbreviations – whereas if you were talking to a teacher, you would be more likely to speak in more formal Standard English. This is because it is a more formal situation and relationship. For instance, I speak to my paternal grandparents quite formally so if they see how I write on Facebook, they are quite surprised as I can code-switch fairly easily. When I meet new people, they often find me to be quite formal and associate that with being posh, but as I relax around them, I speak more informally.

Dialect and accent are often confused – however, they are two different things. Accent is the distinctive way people pronounce words based on their location of social class. Dialect on the other hand is words or phrases specific to a certain region or social class. Someone saying ‘bouncez’ as bouncers would be an example of accent. Conversely, using the word ‘blokes’ would be an example of dialect. Both dialect and accent affect speech in that certain stereotypes are made, and people can be discriminated against because of them. Using a news reporter as an example, someone with what is considered to be a ‘posh’ accent would be more likely to get a job on the news than someone with a strong Liverpudlian accent. Famous ‘Geordie’ – someone from Newcastle – Cheryl Cole’s accent saw her lose a job as talent show judge in America because...