Natalie Braber

What underlies the neuropsychological pattern of irregular > regular past-tense verb production?

The disadvantage in producing the past tense of regular relative to irregular verbs shown by some patients with non-fluent aphasia has been alternatively attributed (a) to the failure of a specific rule-based morphological mechanism, or (b) to a more generalised phonological impairment that penalises regular verbs more than irregular owing to the on-average greater phonological complexity of regular past-tense forms. Guided by the second of these two accounts, the current study was designed to identify more specific aspects of phonological deficit that might be associated with the pattern of irregular > regular past-tense production. Non-fluent aphasic patients (N = 8) were tested on past-tense verb production tasks and assessed with regard to the impact of three main manipulations in other word-production tasks: (i) insertion of a delay between stimulus and response in repetition; (ii) presence/number of consonant clusters in a target word in repetition; (iii) position of stress within a bi-syllabic word in repetition and picture naming. The performance of all patients deteriorated in delayed repetition; but the patients with the largest discrepancy between regular and irregular past-tense production showed greater sensitivity to the other two manipulations. The phonological nature of the factors that correlated with verb-inflection performance emphasises the role of a phonological deficit in the observed pattern of irregular > regular.

The concept of identity in the East Midlands of England

When considering dialectal variation in the UK, linguists have frequently considered the North/South divide and the linguistic markers separating the two regions (see for example Trudgill, 1999; Wells, 1986). But it has been noted that this is not a straightforward division (e.g. Beal, 2008; Goodey, Gold, Duffett & Spencer, 1971; Montgomery, 2007; Wales, 2002). There are clear stereotypes for the North and South – but how do areas like the East Midlands fit into the picture? The boundaries between North and South are defined in different ways. Beals linguistic North does not include the East Midlands (Beal, 2008: 124–5), neither does Wales’ (2002: 48). Trudgill states that in traditional dialectology the East Midlands area falls under ‘Central’ dialects, which come under the ‘Southern’ branch, but in modern dialectology it falls in the ‘North’. Hughes, Trudgill & Watt (2005: 70) include a map which has the East Midlands in the North. Linguistically, the question has been raised whether there is a clear North/South boundary (see for example Upton (2012), where it is proposed that it is a transition zone). This paper revisits this question from the point of view of young people living in the East Midlands, to examine their sense of identity and whether this cultural divide is salient to them.

“I'm Not a Fanatic Scot, But I Love Glasgow”: Concepts of Local and National Identity in Glasgow

In this article, a grounded theory approach is used to explore notions of national and local identity held by two groups of Glaswegians: those residing in Glasgow and those living in England (sample size = 17). The data suggest that both groups have a strong sense of Glaswegian as well as Scottish identity, but there appear to be some differences between participants. Some Glasgow participants seem to identify more strongly with the negative prestige of Glasgow. For those living in England, a sense of being Scottish is more important than being Glaswegian as it allows a clear differentiation from being English. Neither group felt that a sense of Britishness forms a strong part of their identity as this has English connotations.

An Overview of Sociolinguistics in England

This introductory chapter explains how this book, similar to its counterparts in Scotland, Ireland and Wales, encompasses a range of studies representative of the research conducted in the sociolinguistic field in England in the 2010s, notably on phonological, lexical, syntactic and intonational variation in English and British Sign Language. Also included is a short synopsis of each of the chapters found in this book. The chapter considers directions which future research could, and perhaps should, take.

Pit Talk in the East Midlands

This chapter uses the first results of a recently completed research project, entitled ‘Pit Talk in the East Midlands’, funded by the British Academy to investigate the technical jargon and mining-specific lexical terms used by coal miners. For many years, coal mining formed a very important part of the East Midlands economy. In 2015, the last colliery in the region closed and much of this language is in danger of being forgotten. The language used by the miners formed an important aspect of the local identity and close brotherhood of miners, and this chapter examines what language was used and how this could be examined in future in relation to other linguistic varieties in the UK.

Language variation in the West Midlands

West Midlands English: Birmingham and The Black Country forms part of the series Dialects of English which has so far included volumes on varieties such as: Urban North-Eastern English, Hong Kong English, Newfoundland and Labrador English, Irish English, Indian English, New Zealand English, Singapore English and Northern and Insular Scots. As such, it follows the general format of the series which covers the history and geography of a region, chapters on phonetics and phonology, grammar, lexis and a survey of previous works and bibliography. This contribution to the series follows this same general format and makes it applicable to the West Midlands region of the UK.