Language, Performance and Region: Discourse and Sociocultural Identity in the Black Country

Our research in the Black Country is looking at how people’s use of language can change from moment to moment, and the reasons why this might happen. Our project will initially look at performers in the Black Country area.

Background

The common perception among many researchers and members of the public is that dialects are ‘dying out’ and becoming increasingly more alike (a process referred to as dialect levelling). In reality, this theory is too simplistic.

It is true that certain language features such as the glottal stop (as in a Cockney pronunciation of ‘bottle’ for example) are turning up in more and more areas of the UK. However, there is also evidence that distinct regional dialects (i.e. the Black Country dialect) are alive and well.

Dialect and the performing arts

A distinctive feature of dialect use in the region is its use in the performing arts – primarily stage performances, storytelling and writing.

Our project will investigate:

• The relationship between dialect use and identity. How is dialect used for cultural purposes? Is it used in the performing arts to challenge wider UK perceptions of the Black Country dialect and its low social status?

• The relationship between content and language. Do comedians use more local language forms if their jokes are set in the Black Country? Do they use a more standard dialect if they don’t like their hometown? Do musicians sing in a more local accent if the song is about the local area?
  

Carrying out the research

To address these ideas, we are collecting three sets of data:

• Existing recordings of performances, scripts of performances, plays, short stories, poetry and other written texts 
• Two performances will be recorded and transcribed so that we can look in detail at dialect use
  
• Interviews will be held with performers and members of audiences at performances.

Expected outcomes

Our project is expected to produce unique ideas about the way people choose to speak the way they do. It should prove we all choose what we do with our language and that we are not tied to one way of speaking.

This research is supported by the Economic and Social Research Council.