Phonological variation and change in Sheffield English

Abstract

This master's thesis is concerned with investigating variation and change in the urban accent of Sheffield. The main aim is to see whether the Sheffield accent is levelling towards a southern pronunciation by looking at six phonological variables. Any possible changes are discussed in reference to the extralinguistic factors age and gender. The results are also seen in the light of accent levelling, a much-reported subject in sociolinguistic research today.