Description
This volume is concerned with one of the few thorough-going Labovian studies carried out in Britain. Based on a survey of over hundred randomly selected informants from the towns of Bradford, Halifax and Huddersfield, it deals first with the methodology employed, and then sketches some aspects of the 'e~traditional'e(tm) dialects of the area before describing a large number of variables. Other non-standard features encountered during the survey are described, since these too are part of the changing patterns of speech in West Yorkshire. The final chapter draws a distinction between 'e~dialect'e(tm) and 'e~accent'e(tm) which is slightly different from that generally employed, and suggests that while 'e~dialect'e(tm) features seem to have declined under the pressure of the standard language, 'e~accent'e(tm) still persists as a social differentiator.
