Abstract
Despite the considerable stigma attached to it, many people in Liverpool have the impression that Scouse, the local accent, is getting stronger. This paper reports an apparent time study investigating whether young Liverpudlians use local variants of two consonantal variables (/ŋ(g)/ and lenition of /k/) more than older speakers and whether increased usage can be linked to decreasing salience. The data suggest that younger speakers are only “more Scouse” with respect to /k/, the variable that is part of the stereotype of the accent. The salience of this feature is actually increasing, so a very strong desire to express a local identity is a more probable cause for the change.
