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Television Can Also be a Factor in Language Change: Evidence from an Urban Dialect

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Jane Stuart-Smith ,
Gwilym Pryce ,
Claire Timmins  and
Barrie Gunter
Jane Stuart-Smith*
Affiliation:
University of Glasgow
Gwilym Pryce
Affiliation:
University of Glasgow
Claire Timmins
Affiliation:
University of Strathclyde
Barrie Gunter
Affiliation:
University of Leicester
*
English Language/Glasgow University Laboratory of Phonetics, 12 University Gardens, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, Scotland, United Kingdom [Jane.Stuart-Smith@glasgow.ac.uk]
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Extract

This article considers two instances of rapidly accelerating linguistic change in Glaswegian vernacular, th-fronting and l-vocalization, both typically associated with the Cockney dialect of London. Both changes have been underway for some time, but took off during the 1990s. In this article we consider a range of factors that are contributing to the rapid proliferation of these forms in the speech of inner-city Glaswegian adolescents. Our multivariate analysis shows very strong effects for linguistic factors, as well as strong positive correlations with social practices relating to local Glaswegian street style, some links with dialect contact with friends and family living in England, and—perhaps surprisingly—also positive correlations with strong psychological engagement with the London-based TV soap drama EastEnders. Our results suggest that the changes are being propelled by several processes: ongoing transmission and at the same time continuing diffusion through dialect contact; the local social meanings carried by these variants for these speakers; and strong engagement with a favorite TV drama. For this community at least, engaging with a favorite TV drama is an additional accelerating factor in rapid linguistic diffusion.

Keywords

language changelinguistic diffusionmedia influencedialect contactsocial practices

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 89 , Issue 3 , September 2013 , pp. 501 - 536
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 Linguistic Society of America

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Footnotes

*

The research presented in this article was supported by Economic and Social Research Council grant RES R000239757 and the Royal Society of Edinburgh/Caledonian Research Fellowship to visit Hannover University, kindly hosted by Jannis Androutsopoulos. The article reflects analysis and ideas that have developed over several years, and that have benefited from comments, advice, and critique from a number of people, and in particular: Jannis Androutsopoulos, Kathryn Campbell-Kibler, Nik Coupland, Penny Eckert, Paul Foulkes, Wolf Früh, Frans Gregersen, Jonathan Harrington, Roxy Harris, Werner Holly, Sophie Holmes, Paul Kerswill, Tore Kristiansen, Ronald Macaulay, Ichiro Ota, Nicolai Pharao, Ben Rampton, Dave Sayers, Jennifer Smith, Rachel Smith, and Roeland van Hout. We are also very grateful to Greg Carlson, Sali Taglia-monte, and the anonymous referees of Language for feedback that substantially improved the article; Lesley Milroy was also a great source of advice and inspiration for the revisions. We take full responsibility for all views expressed.

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