From Received Pronunciation to Estuary English: a shift from diastratic variation

Abstract

Questo lavoro vuole affrontare la tematica dell’esistenza e della diffusione dell’Estuary English aggiungendo alla prospettiva meramente diastratica affermatasi a partire dagli anni ’90 un’osservazione della dimensione diafasica di questo fenomeno linguistico. La rilevanza sociale dell’Estuary English è stata accentuata attraverso l’osservazione del comportamento linguistico di parlanti appartenenti a categorie sociali – esponenti politici, membri della Famiglia Reale, giornalisti della BBC – generalmente associate all’utilizzo della Received Pronunciation. Prendendo in prestito da Altendorf (2003) l’idea di una Estuary English-as register-hypothesis, si è inteso verificare se alcuni parlanti riconducibili a tali categorie utilizzino i tratti fonologici non standard, riconducibili all’Estuary English, consciamente o inconsciamente e in base a quali modalità e tempistiche essi vi ricorrano in specifiche situazioni comunicative. L’osservazione e l’analisi dei testi ha permesso di concludere che l’Estuary English, non accento, non dialetto, rappresenti una valida opzione stilistica all’utilizzo occasionale di una serie variabile di realizzazioni non standard, corroborando l’ipotesi che esso rientri nella dimensione diafasica della variazione. [a cura dell'Autore]

The starting point of the present study was the idea that all the talk about Estuary English produced in the last few decades could not be ignored. The focus of the research, however, did not lie on the description of Estuary English and its ongoing development; it rather tried to concentrate on the use of this supposed middle-ground variety by speakers who, due to social factors, are generally not meant to speak it. Politicians, members of the Royal Family and BBC journalists are generally considered RP speakers; however, they sometimes shift towards less standard varieties. In this regard, questions have been asked in order to understand whether they consciously or unconsciously use Estuary English features and to investigate the place, the time and the manner for them to recur. Thus, a diaphasic perspective has been added to the prevailing diastratic relevance of the variety. The study has provided an empirical observation of the linguistic attitudes of the speakers belonging to the selected categories. Furthermore, it has verified that the Estuary English-as register-hypothesis, as proposed by Altendorf (2003), can function and represent a stylistic option for speakers who want to accommodate and converge towards wider speech communities. [edited by Author]