Questionnaire Results Analysis

What are the attitudes towards the Afro-Caribbean influence on Standard English ANALYSIS

                                                                                                                                                                                       All my questionnaire respondents are Shenfield High Sixth Form students who are a mix of male and female. They all fit in the same age bracket 16-18 years old. The main language spoken by all of the students is English and whatever their ethnicity they all consider themselves British in some form.

The answers tell us that the overall opinion between Sixth Form Students in our schools is that that Standard English language is changing.

From the answers given in the two previous questions, I can see that the status of Standard English is high. 90% of people surveyed believe that Standard English is changing but the answers they have provided with as for their reasons why show negative opinions to the change. When asked how far they agree the Queens English is the correct English, no one disagreed but everyone agreed to an extent. This shows that the status of Standard English

From the results of these questions we can see that there are mixed attitudes to Black English Vernacular and other variations. There was mixed opinion to the language used by black people being non-standard, showing that people have different views upon language variation. However when asked if English Language is mixing with other cultures, 85% answered yes. Their reasons as to why they chose this answer came as those such as because of people moving into the country from other countries and our use of dialect from other countries. There were other options such as language sued from social media and that language is simply changing as a whole. This therefore shows that there are mixed attitudes to Black English Vernacular and other variations.

 

Conclusions:

What conclusions can you draw about contemporary attitudes to Standard English and ethnicity? From the results of my questionnaire, I can see that attitudes to Standard English are that the majority of people believe that the Queens English has power to be the correct spoken English Language and almost all of the people that answered my questionnaire believe that Standard English is changing. There was mix opinion on attitudes to ethnicity however 40% said language used by Black people is non-standard. All of the people who took part recognised themselves to fall under a British category and so this result can reflect upon the attitudes of people in the 16-18 years age gap.

Using my secondary data, I can come to the conclusion that attitudes of educated adults is that Standard English is the correct and proper English. They believe that it (along with the Queens English) is the prestige and proper way to speak as it is that language that is published in the media and that we should use in formal situations such as a job interview.  Attitudes to ethnicity are that language is developed from contacts between nonstandard varieties of English and African languages and that it typically diverges most from Standard English when spoken by people with low levels of education. This shows an almost negative attitude towards language difference from people with different ethnic backgrounds however it is not ruled out.

What theories and concepts about language and society can explain these conclusions?                                

In relation to my primary research, Peter Trudgill produced a theory whereby women use more received pronunciations and men more non-standard forms.  This could mean that the females who participated in my questionnaire could represent the more negative attitudes to language change as they like to stick to conformities. The males however could represent the more positive attitudes as stereotypically these are they forms they choose to follow in their own speech.    

Different social classes stereotypically have different attitudes. It is a stereotype that people of the middle class or above look down to those that choose not to use Receive Pronunciation and instead depend on slang and ‘new’ words.

How do these conclusions compare with those of any other related studies you can find in this field?

In support of my previous answer, Deborah Tannen’s theory criticised studies, ignoring the important issue and power in some cases making assertions and generalisations based on minimal research. This means that people are quick to jump to conclusion without looking at the bigger picture or in depth reasoning.  This means that people who consider themselves of a British ethnicity and use Standard English may look down upon those who do not as they see themselves to be prestige and proper.