The participants were asked to describe how they spoke in their own words.
How do you describe your accent: "Newport people speak with a lot of slang words."
Have there been other influences on the way you speak: "I spent 10 years in Risca at the age of about 23-33 where I started to pick up the accent."
Do you have skills in languages other than English?: No
Other languages: None
TANIA: Maybe at the hospital or at the doctors when you come out with certain words, you know they do look down on you. Um, in a shop maybe, you're buying something and they say, 'Look at her, she doesn't have no money, listen to the way she talks.' So it does influence people, you know, so you try and be posh when you go into a shop, especially a posh shop. I think so, yeah definitely. You know, you sorta got to put your opinions over to the situation you're in then or your accent over. Um, some people can be rude, yeah, you know perhaps if you're in Marks and Spencer or somewhere like that and you say, 'Oh, I'll have one of them love,' and they say uuhh (disapproving sound) look at her, so. INTERVIEWER: They actually say it, you mean?Or you feel it? TANIA: You feel it, you feel it more than you hear it, yeah. Yeah
Women talk 'posher': Across the world in almost every language studied, females use more 'prestige', 'standard' forms of language. The exception is extreme Arabic societies where women do not participate in public life.
