It’s not children, but a controversial 2003 study by Betty Hart and Todd Risley argued that people with this characteristic suffered from a “30 million word gap.” Speakers may use languages associated with this characteristic to gain “covert prestige,” according to William Labov’s 1966 study of department stores. Estuary English is associated with this characteristic, like another (10[1])English dialect whose features include (-5[1])th-fronting and dropping an h before a stressed (-5[1])vowel. (10[1]-5[2])Speakers of Mockney sometimes claim this characteristic by using the negative “ain’t”rather than “isn’t.” For 10 points, regional English dialects such as Scouse and Cockney are usually associated with speakers from what type of background? ■END■