Sex, covert prestige and linguistic change in the urban British English of Norwich

TLDR: This article found that women use linguistic forms associated with the prestige standard more frequently than men than men and that working-class speech has favourable connotations for male speakers, but these attitudes to non-standard speech are not normally expressed, however, and emerge only in inaccurate self-evaluation test responses.

Abstract: Women use linguistic forms associated with the prestige standard more frequently than men. One reason for this is that working-class speech has favourable connotations for male speakers. Favourable attitudes to non-standard speech are not normally expressed, however, and emerge only in inaccurate self-evaluation test responses. Patterns of sex differentiation deviating from the norm indicate that a linguistic change is taking place: standard forms are introduced by middle-class women, non-standard forms by working-class men. (Sociolinguistic variation; linguistic change; women's and men's speech; contextual styles; social class; British English.)