A Sociophonetic Analysis of Accent Variation in Adele's Speech

Alabusheva T. A Sociophonetic Analysis of Accent Variation in Adele's Speech : Master’s thesis in Philology / supervised by A. Karaban. Kyiv, 2025. 86 p.

This master’s thesis explores the sociophonetic evolution of the public accent of British singer Adele from 2011 to 2024. The relevance of the study stems from the growing interest in adult accent change under the influence of media exposure, social status, shifts in linguistic environment, and globalization. The object of the research is Adele’s spoken language, while the subject is the changes in her segmental and prosodic features, reflecting a gradual neutralization of socio-regional speech characteristics.
The aim of the thesis is to trace the changes in Adele’s accent as a manifestation of sociophonetic adaptation to a new communicative environment, particularly in connection with her relocation to the United States. The research objectives include identifying key phonetic shifts; constructing a diachronic corpus; conducting acoustic measurements; performing discourse analysis of speech contexts; and comparing findings with sociolinguistic models.
The methodology is based on a combination of observation, in-depth analysis of individual speech patterns, transcription, acoustic analysis, categorical coding, and qualitative data interpretation. These methods were selected for their appropriateness in capturing real-time changes in speech and interpreting them in the context of media exposure and geolocation shift. Particular attention is given to the analysis of formants (F1, F2), intonational features (F₀), and consonant variants in dynamic progression.
The structure of the thesis consists of three chapters that reflect the stages of the research—from theoretical overview to integration of findings. The findings indicate a gradual reduction of regional markers in Adele’s speech and the emergence of a more neutral, media-adapted accent. This process is interpreted as a soft neutralization of sociolinguistically marked features, driven by both adaptation to public performance demands and a change in life context due to relocation.