Sociophonetic perception of Dh-Stopping in South Yorkshire English
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36505/TheLinguisticProceedings/2025/16/01/019/000679Keywords:
dh-stopping, linguistic attitudes, Sheffield English, solidarity, ruralityAbstract
This study investigates covert linguistic attitudes towards the phenomenon known as dh-stopping ([ð] → [d]) in Sheffield English. This feature is particularly salient in the pronunciation of Old English second-person pronouns (thee, thou), although it also occurs in function words. The study explores how different sociodemographic groups perceive this variation in relation to solidarity, accent, rurality, and perceived age. A total of 111 participants from Sheffield and surrounding areas completed a matched-guise experiment in which they rated speakers based on pronunciations using the dental fricative [ð] and dental stop [d] variants. The results showed that gender, age, and geographic background strongly influenced perceptions of these variants, highlighting the complex social meanings associated with phonetic variation in Sheffield English.
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