Take part in our Norwich community recordings
We’re looking to interview people from all over the the city of Norwich. By sharing your voice, you’ll be contributing to university research that is helping us to understand how our language has changed in Britain over the last century. Your contribution will also become part of a permanent record of Norwich accents and dialects, which can be used by the next generation of researchers and educators. Find out more information below.
Who can take part?
We’re looking for people who live in Norwich and have strong links to the city. You can take part if you:
→ Have lived in Norwich for most of your life, with no more than two years spent away (e.g. for university, work, or family reasons).
→ Are willing to answer a few short background questions (e.g. your age, gender and education).
→ Are aged 12 or above.
→ Are happy to be audio-recorded by our team.
What does taking part involve?
→ You’ll be give a project information sheet and consent form in-person before the interview begins.
→ We’ll ask you a few brief background questions.
→ We’ll record a short interview about everyday topics, for example: what it’s like to live in Norwich, how the city has changed, whether you know any dialect words, etc.
→ You’ll be asked to read the following out loud: a list of words and an excerpt from a short story. This is not a test – word lists and short stories were used in Trudgill’s original research and we are simply looking to make direct comparisons.
→ You’ll take part in a listening experiment.
→ We will do our best to make things easy: we can usually come to you, or we can meet in a convenient public place such as a library or community venue.
Why are we doing this?
Accents and dialects are an extremely important part of our local heritage and it is important to document and preserve them. By recording speakers today and comparing them with earlier recordings from the city, we can see which features of Norwich speech have stayed the same and which are changing. We can also determine whether any of our local dialect words might be disappearing.