ENGL 345 (week 2, class II)

Englishes (accents)
Study Questions

• What is the difference between accent and dialect?

• What do we mean by the following:
➢ Received Pronunciation (RP)
➢ B B C English
➢ Cockney Dialect? London dialect
• What is Estuary English? Is it important? Why?
• What is the recommended accent in this course?
• Why is it g o o d to concentrate on one model?
• Are some accents inferior/ superior to others?
Englishes and accents

➢ English is a global language, a lingua franca

➢ Which English should we study? (British English, American English, Australian English,
South African English, etc)
➢ Difference between accent and dialect (Roach, 2009)
➢ Which accent is usually used for teaching British English?
Accent Vs. Dialect

• Accent: varieties differ in pronunciation by people of

different sociolinguistic factors such as
➢ Geographical places
➢ A ge s
➢ Social classes
➢ educational backgrounds.
Accent Vs. Dialect

• Dialect: varieties differ in pronunciation , vocabulary ,

grammar and word order .
Accent usually used for teaching British
English (Roach, 2 0 0 9 )

➢Northern (Lancashire, Yorkshire and northern counties) and

southern English (south of England)
➢RP (Received Pronunciation)/BBC (British Broadcasting
Cooperation)/Geneal British/SSBE (Standard Southern British
English)
➢Queen’s English https://pronunciationstudio.com/queens-
english/
➢Cockney English (cf. RP)
Map of England, Britain and UK
Accents

• Rhotic and non-rhotic accents

•The history and status of ‘r’
(Chapter one in Knight 2012,
1.8).
SSB E/RP

• Why is it go o d to concentrate on one model?

➢ RP/BBC/SSBE is the one accent mostly described
➢Has been used for a long time in many pronunciation
textbooks
Are some accents inferior/ superior to others?

• No (see Knight’s discussion in chapter 1)

• Phonetics is descriptive not prescriptive (see Roach, 2009,
chapter 1
 Some examples of accents

A) Listen to examples of different accents from around the world

https://accent.gmu.edu/browse_language.php?function=find&languag
e=english
B) Listen to examples of British regional accents
*Received Pronunciation/BBC/General British/Standard Soutern
British English*
http://pointpark.libguides.com/content.php?pid=209576&sid=1
746431
*Cockney/Estuary/London accent*
https://pronunciationstudio.com/a-london-accent/
References

Knight, R. A. (2012). Phonetics: A coursebook. Cambridge

University Press.
Roach, P. (2009). English Phonetics and Phonology Paperback
with Audio CDs (2): A Practical Course. Cambridge university
press.

https://www.sltinfo.com/ess101-comparing-accents/