Study links ‘happy vowel’ pronunciation to social class in Manchester

A sociolinguistic study from Lancaster University and the University of Manchester found that pronunciation of the "happy vowel" — the final vowel in words such as happy, baby, chilly and city — varies by social class across Manchester. Published in the journal Language Variation and Change, the research showed that middle-class speakers tend to say "happee" while working-class speakers are more likely to say "happeh," with higher social classes using a tenser vowel overall. Researchers noted that some features of the city's accent have remained stable in working-class speech despite social and economic changes. Variation was also observed across ethnicities, with working-class south Asians more likely to say "happ-ee" compared to black and white Mancunians of the same class who typically say "happ-eh." Danielle Turton, a senior lecturer in sociolinguistics at Lancaster University, said the findings show that local working-class speech is not being erased by rapid redevelopment. Turton added that the study demonstrates how different socioeconomic brackets speak differently, challenging the idea that class no longer matters. She noted that people can change their accents when moving between social classes, but some features are harder to alter than others.

What’s reported

Key figures

Sources: The Guardian