There is a study conducted on the famous couple,
Victoria and David Beckham, on how certain circumstances may have affected
their pronunciation of words. Researches have compared the couple’s
pronunciation back then and now which concluded that their pronunciation has
become more elegant. The hypothesis is that once someone passed puberty, his
pronunciation is fixed. However, research shows that even during adulthood a
person may improve his speech. Furthermore, there is lot of factors such as
social mobility, that can play a big role on how someone pronounce words.
I strongly believe that someone’s pronunciation can
change due to circumstances because I have experienced it myself. When I first
started attending classes of English I could not pronounce the TH, but after a
while of hearing it and practicing with it I can finally say I can dominate it.
The strongest motivations why I wanted to be able to dominate the TH are both
instrumental and integrative. The Beckham’s motivation is instrumental because
they have to adapt their speech to where they live and for the careers they are
pursuing. By adapting their pronunciation they sound more upper-class.
Bibliography:
Smith,S.(17april 2013),Newsnight. David
and Victoria getting posher, studies say. Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-22179969
I think it's funny they did this study based on the Bekhams. I am not surprised of the outcome though. You know what they say: You are never too old to learn! That is for speach as well.
ReplyDeleteafter seeing this i can believe that they actually did a study on them. it still helps on changing the learning theories of speech. they still could have pick more average people though.
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