LINGUISTIC AND SOCIO-

COMMUNICATIVE DIMENTIONS
OF AN ACCENT
 The accents of English
1. Frameworks for comparing accent of English
2. Phonological and phonetic dimensions for
accent description / comparison:
• Segmental differences between accents
• Prosodic differences between accents
• Voice quality features of accents
3. Social and communicative dimensions of an
accent
 • Accent displays the following
features
1 phonological and phonetic or
linguistic
2 social and communicative
The accents of English
 Linguistic dimensions:
1. segmental = sounds / phonemes peculiar features
2. supra-segmental (=prosodic) = pitch utterance – level
stress, effects of speech tempo, rhythm
3. voice quality (voice settings, articulatory settings)
4. coarticulatory (adjustment) phenomena
(assimiliations, reductions, elisions)
 Social – communicative dimensionspersonal
characterictics = sex, age, regional affiliation, social
and educational status
 The accents of English
Segmental differences between accents
 phoneme inventory
 phonotactic/structural specifications
 phoneme lexical distribution
 phoneme / realization / production
 Phoneme inventory involves the number and type of
word-differentiating phonemes available to the
accent
 Phonotactic/structural specifications concern the
freedom which specific phonemes have to combine
with other phonemes to form structures such as
syllable of words
 Phoneme lexical distribution concern the way
phonemes are distributed in words differences
between accents concern
1) number
2) sequence
3) lexical distribution of phonemes at the phonological
level
The accents of English
Phoneme realization / production differences
are differences in allophonic variation;
differences at the phonetic level
Prosodic differences include
• word – stress patterns
• utterance – level stress
• intonation specifications
• Differences in intonation between accents
include:
1. Variations in pitch range and in configuration of
the nuclear tone.
2. Different uses of certain nuclear tones in
identical communicative situations.
• Voice quality is the most global and longest
aspect of prosody because sounds are
produced within the limits of the voice quality
set by the articulators and breath stream
coming from the lungs.
 Social dimensions
 Idiolect – the accent of a given speaker viewed as an individuating
marker identifying the speaker against the mass or other members of
the wider group
 Sociolect – the accent of a given speaker viewed as a group worker of
the speaker’s membership of a certain social group

 Annolect is a set of features in pronunciation attributed to the

speakers on the basis of their age.
 Acrolect, mesolect, basilect are sets of pronunciation distinctions
differentiated on the basis of speaker’s educational level.
 Acrolect – accent of the speaker’s with high level of education and
socio-economic status.
 Mesolect – accent between acrolect and basilect.
 Basilect – accent of the elderly people with little education in rather
isolated areas.

 Sexolect – is a set of features in pronunciation ascribed to the

speakers on the basis of their gender.
 RP/ BBC English distinctions in
pronunciation
Mainstream RP (middle class educated
speakers)
U - RP (upper class, aristocratic RP)
Adoptic RP ( adults who didn’t speak RP as
children)
Near – RP (sreakers preserving strong regional
features)
3 types of RP ( A. C. Gimson, A. Cruttenden)
General RP
Refined RP
Regional RP
Thank You for
your Attention