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Cardiffians’ perceptions of English in the UK

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 June 2020

Betsy E. Evans ,
Matthew Dunbar  and
Nicole Chartier
Betsy E. Evans*
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
Matthew Dunbar
Affiliation:
Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
Nicole Chartier
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Betsy Evans, Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

This Perceptual Dialectology (PD) study asked residents of Cardiff, Wales, about their perceptions of English in the United Kingdom (UK). In addition, because face to face exposure to dialect variation has rarely been included as a variable in PD studies, participants were asked about their travel experience to ascertain whether this might influence their responses to a PD map task. Participants’ responses to the map task were analyzed using ArcGIS to create composite maps. Results show that these Cardiffians perceive “dialect or regional” speech boundaries to be located around major cities in England and Wales but also southwest Wales. Composite maps and polygon counts suggest that the more traveled respondents have a more nuanced perception of dialect regions than those who claim to travel less, suggesting that travel experience may influence PD participants’ responses to map tasks.

Keywords

perceptual dialectologywelsh Englishtravel experience
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Linguistic Geography , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , April 2020 , pp. 1 - 8
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Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2020

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