ACCENTS OF ENGLISH

IN BRITAIN
 Bibliography
• Trudgill, P., J. Hannah (2017). International
English. A Guide to Varieties of English
Around the World. Routledge.
• Roach, P. (2006). English Phonetics and
Phonology: A Practical Course. Cambridge
University. Press.
• Wells, J.C. (1992). Accents of English. An
Introduction. Cambridge University Press.
 Dialect vs. accent
• Dialect: a speech variety which is more than
an idiolect and less than a language. The term
variety lect is generally preferred nowadays.
• Accent: differences between varieties that
involve only pronunciation.
• Traditional dialect: small area variety.
• Wells (1992): phonological factor seems to be
the key distinction between speaking a
traditional dialect and General English.
 Sources of accent differences
• Phonetic differences in realization of a given
phoneme.
• e.g., the vowel in the words: goat, coat, snow
• [əu] - standard
• [ow] – old fashioned back variant
• [ëu] – fronted
• [ʌu] – south-east of England
• [o:] or [o] – Scotland.
• Phonetic distribution:
• accent may differ in environments in which
particular phonemes do or do not occur.
• e.g., the distribution of the consonant /r/: in
rhotic accents it appears in every phonetic
context in non-rhotic it is excluded from
preconsonantal and final.
• Accents may differ in terms of phonemic
systems:
• in the number or identity of the phonemes they
use.
• e.g., in Scottish Eng. there is only one
phoneme /u/, so foot rhymes with boot, good.
 Standard
• Accent that has a special position, is
considered a model.
• In Britain: the standard developed around the
Royal Court, artistocracy and elite.
• According to Trudgill (2017) standard English
is not the native dialect of more 15% of the
population of England.
Grammatical differences between standard and non-
standard English varieties

• Do
• Standard: do, did – both aux. and a main verb
• Non-standard: done- past tense of the main
verb, did is only a form of aux.
• Negative concord
• Non-standard: couldn’t and none or nowhere
are possible.
• Reflexive pronouns
• Non-standard: possible regular way of
forming: hisself, theirselves.
• Past forms of “be”
• Non-standard: was for all persons
• Distinction between past tense and perfect
verb forms:
• Possible: I could have went, I seen him.
• Father were very tired after his lengthy
journey. – formal style from the north of
England.
 Standard and pronunciation
• For Trudgill (2017), Standard English has
nothing to do with accent and can be spoken
with any pronunciation.
• However, when it comes to the variation
between varieties of English, they mostly
concern the level of pronunciation.
 Models of English
• Inner Circle Englishes – a term depicting
varieties spoken in ENL (English as a native
language) countries.
• Expanding Circle Englishes (EFL - English as a
foreign lang.) – Poland, China, or Brazill. People
use it to speak to foreigners.
• Outer Circle Englishes (ESL - English as a
second lang.) – India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Kenya,
Singapore. English has governmental status.
 British English
• In terms of grammar and vocabulary it is a
Standard English.
• In terms of pronunciation, it is the RP accent
which is taught to foreigners. It is used by only
3-5% of the population in England.
• RP – from the south-east of England, a social
accent associated with BBC, the public schools
and upper-classes.
• British Standard + RP= English English
(EngEng)
• Until recently many European universities
could only teach EngEng. Other varieties
were not allowed. This was a result of a
conscious decision to avoid confusion of
conflicting models.
• Video: Original pronunciation
Major varieties in England
 Southern
• -regular use of "broad a" (/a:/), where GA
(General American) would use /æ/,
• -final unstressed “I” is pronounced [i], where
GA uses /i:/),
• - “t” between vowels retained as [t] (or a
glottal stop, in its variants), where GA changes
it to [d].
 RP
• Mainstream RP-central tendency
• U-RP, upper-crust RP-exaggerated
• Adoptive RP/Near RP-adults who did not
speak RP at home.
• Conservative RP – older generation
• Advanced RP-younger generation of exclusive
social groups.
• Mainstream – Vowel system for RP, non-rhotic
• U-RP, e.g.:
That man - diphthongized
Price, mouth –front-starting point
Strut, bath – back
Near, square, cure- open second element in free
position
Obey, November, poetic, follow –
monophthongization in unstressed syllables, lip-
rounding
• Possibly, city- the happy vowel very open
• Me- only /I/
• Plosives never glottalized.
• My- [mə] a weak form of my, e.g. tutor
[mətju:tə]
Conservative or mainstream?
Watch and listen: The Queen’s speech, William
and Kate, Prime Ministers
 London: Cockney, Estuary
• Cockney
- Originally the dialect of the working class of
East End London.
• - initial h is dropped, so house becomes /aus/ (or
even /a:s/).
• - /th/ and /dh/ become /f/ and /v/ respectively:
think > /fingk/, brother > /brœv'/.
• - t between vowels becomes a glottal stop: water
> /wo?i/.
• - diphthongs change, sometimes dramatically:
time > /toim/, brave > /braiv/, etc.
• Estuary English
-From London down the Thames and into
Essex, Sussex, and even Kent,
- a new working- and middle-class dialect has
evolved and is rapidly become "the" southern
dialect,
- combines some of the characteristics of
Cockney with RP, but makes much less use of
Cockney slang.
 Practice
• Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0ueYcG
9npI
Questions:
• - problems with RP
• - definition of variety
• - location
• - phonology
Other varieties of English in Britain
• East Anglian
• -similar to the Southern:
• -/t/ between vowels usually becomes a glottal
stop,
• -/ai/ becomes /oi/: time > /toim/,
• -/j/after n, t, d is dropped as in American
English.
• East Midlands
• - now predominantly RP,
- r's are dropped,
- but h's are pronounced,
• - /u:/ in go /gu:/.
• - /j/after n, t, d is dropped as in American
English.
• The West Country
• - r's are not dropped.
• - initial “s” often becomes “z” (singer >
zinger),
• - initial “f” often becomes “v” (finger >
vinger),
• - vowels are lengthened.
• West Midlands
- dialect of Ozzie Osbourne!
- While pronunciation is not that different from
RP, some of the vocabulary is:
• - are > am
• - am, are (with a continuous sense) > bin
• - is not > ay
• - are not > bay
• Lancashire
• - north and east of Liverpool,
• - southern habit of dropping r's,
• -/u/ in luck (/luk/).
• - /oi/ in hole (/hoil/)
• Scouse
• -distinctive Liverpool accent, a version of the
Lancashire dialect, that the Beatles made
famous.
• - the tongue is drawn back.
• - /th/ and /dh/ > /t/ and /d/ respectively.
• - for is pronounced to rhyme with fur.
• Yorkshire
- sing-song quality, a little like Swedish
• - retains its r's.
• - luck (/luk/).
• - initial “h” is dropped.
• - was > were.
• - still use thou (pronounced /tha/) and thee.
• Northern
• - resembles the southern-most Scottish
dialects,
- retains many old Scandinavian words, such as
bairn for child
- r's is rolled
- Geordie, the dialect of the Newcastle area.
 Scottish, Welsh and Irish English
Practice
• Listen to the Scottish, Welsh and Irish English (Northern
and Southern) paying attention to:
• - rhoticity
• - pronunciation of “r” (approximant, flap or retroflex as in
Am. Eng.),
• - vowels,
• - occurrence of contrasts which are absent in SSBE, e.g., /w/
vs. /M/ as in witch-which
• - aspiration in syllable initial and final position of /p, t, k/.
• - dental fricatives,
• - /l/ clear or dark?
• etc.
Scotland
In the south-east of Scotland English has been spoken for as long as in England.
In the south-west it dates from the Middle Ages. In the Highlands and islands of
northern and western Scotland, English has been spoken for about 200 years.
There Gaelic is still the native language of several thousands of people.
• - rhotic, thus no centring diphthongs,
• - “r” is a flap [ſ],
• - the glottal stop may occur in places where non-initial /t/ is
expected,
• - /l/ may be dark in all positions,
• - the velar fricative /x/ as in loch [lɔx],
• -initial /p, t, k/ often unaspirated,
• - no distinction between /æ/ and /a:/ does not exist, so we use /a/
for the vowels in bad,
• - no distinction between /u/ and /u:/ so pull and
pool are homonyms,
• - no distinction between /ɒ/ and /ɔ:/ so cot and
caught are homophones too,
• - there are mostly monopthongs with the
exception of /ai/, /au/, and / ɔi/,
• - vowels have approx. the same length, with the
exception of /ɪ/ and /ʌ/ before /v, ð, z, r/ where
they are longer,
• - /ʌ/ and / ɪ/ and /u/ are central vowels.
Wales
• - sing-song quality
• - Educated Welsh English it is non-rhotic with some exceptions in the east
and far south-west,
• - /r/ is flapped,
• - /l/ is often clear in all positions,
• - lengthening of intervocalic consonants, e.g., butter, money,
• - Voiceless, velar fricative /x/ and voiceless, lateral fricative /ɬ/ occur in
place names Llanberis, bach,
• - last, dance have /æ/,
• -unstressed a is usually /æ/ than a diphthong sofa,
• - unstressed o is usually /ɒ/ than /ə/ condemn,
• - no contrast between /ʌ/ and /ə/ so rubber /rəbə/,
• So, soar in many varieties have /o:/,
• Centring diphthongs do not occur so: fear is /fi:jə/, poor /pu:wə/
• tune, music /tɪʊn/, /mɪʊzɪk/
Ireland
- Irish speaking until the 17th century
- English originally spoken in and around Dublin
- In the north of Ireland English is affected by south-west Scotland
Northern Irish English
- /r/ as in Am. Eng., so no centring diphthongs
/e/ pre-consonantally [iə] gate [giət]
- /ɒ/ and /ɔ:/ may contrast before /p, t, k/, cot vs. caught, unlike
Scottish Eng. where they are homophones
- /l/ rather clear
- intervocalic /t/as a flapped [d]
Southern Irish English
- path, dance often /æ/ rather than /a:/
- horse, mourning pronounced as /ɔ:/
- Nurse /nʊrs/
- Book, cook, rook with /u:/
- Dog, doll, cross with /ɔ:/
- Length distinction among vowels similar to SSBE
- Aspirated final /p, t, k/
- -/r/ as in Am. Eng., so no centring diphthongs
- In some varieties of Irish English the contrast /t/-/θ/ and /d/-/ð/ are absent
so the dental [t] and [d] are used
- -the contrast /M/ and /w/ is preserved as in which-witch