Social variation in the English of the Southampton area

This study provides an introduction to social variation in the English of the Southampton area. As the central Southern coast of Great Britain, in which Southampton is situated has been largely neglected by dialect research, very little is known about the linguistic situation in the Southampton area. The present study seeks to rectify this situation. Lexical, grammatical and phonological data have been collected using an adapted version of the Survey of Regional English methodology. This study describes the Survey's means of data elicitation, and how it has been revised for use in the Southampton area. The present study also employs an identity questionnaire, a grammar questionnaire, and a word list to collect linguistic and attitudinal data. Linguistic data from sixty informants are analysed according to the speaker variables of sex, a e. social class and identity, all of which have been shown in previous social dialectological research to influence language use. These linguistic data are also considered in the light of qualitative attitudinal data provided by informants. The matter of identity is of particular interest given Southampton's central location on the southern coastline, and use of a range of linguistic features is examined according to informants' feelings of identity with both the Southampton area, and the South East and South West of England.