Dialects and Accents of the British Isles: A Linguistic Journey
Late Modern and Contemporary English
British Isles = UK + Ireland, UK = Britain + Northern Ireland, Britain: England, Scotland & Wales. 4 major dialectal areas: EngEng, ScotEng, WalEng, IrEng (North & South).
English Dialects and Accents
Based on historical dialects (Northumbria, Mercia, Midlands, etc.). Dialect: grammatical and lexical variation. Accent: phonological variation. Most prestigious BrEng accent today: RP, also BBC English or Queen’s English.
Northern Dialects (Scotland)
- Rhotic area
- Pairs of words like put / putt are homophonous
- ‘bus’, ‘must’ or ‘but’ sound /u/
- Open vowel ‘o’ , long is pronounced /laŋ/
- Diphthong /ai/ in night, time have older pronunciation /nit/ /tim/
- No diphthong /ou/ in house, pronounced /hu:s/
- No long vowel ‘oo’ in spoon, pronounced /spjun/
- Use of pronoun ‘thou’, in Northumberland (Newcastle) ‘ye’
- Use of ‘for to + infinitive’: for to get
- Vocabulary: bairn = child, lug = ear, lad = boy, lass = girl, to delve = to dig
Midland Dialects
- Partly northern, partly southern
- Pairs of words like put / putt are homophonous
- ‘bus’, ‘must’ or ‘but’ sound /u/
- Pronounce –ing in west midlands more than east (dancing, singing)
- Some rhotic areas
- you is /jau/
- Few glottal stops
- Multiple negation: I didn’t get nothing
- Past tense ‘was’ as in we was dancing
- Vocabulary: lug / tab = ear, armhole = armpit, bairn = child, wench / lass = girl
Southern Dialects
Southwest
- Voicing of ‘s’ to ‘z’: I zee (see), I zay (say)
- Voicing of ‘f’ to ‘v’: the varmer (farmer)
- ‘t’ is pronounced ‘d’ in city, better
- Rounded u in boot, rude /ü/
Southeast
- More similar to RP
- Some diphthongs different: /ei/ becomes /ai/ in Spain, rain, plain
- Loss of ‘l’ at the end of words like school, fool, Paul
- /p,t,k/ heavily aspirated
- Glottal stop very common
- /h/ is sometimes lost (Cockney)
Traditionally several regional dialects, most typical: Northern and Southwest dialects. Also ‘urban dialects’ in cities: Geordie (Newcastle), Glaswegian (Glasgow), Scouse (Liverpool), Brummie (Birmingham), Cockney (London).
Glaswegian (Scotland)
Influence from Scots & Irish English, stigmatized as ‘corrupt, debased’, etc.
- Pronunciation: ‘the’ becomes ‘ra’ , ra polis (the police), ramorra (tomorrow), murra (mother)
- Unstressed final / / in fella (fellow), Glesca (Glasgow), awfa (awful), yisfa (useful)
- ‘d’ is lost after /l/ and /n/: caul (cold), roon (round), win (wind)
- Negative: –nae, -ny as in cannae (can’t), dinnae (don’t)
- (Ulster origin) 2nd personal pronoun plural form: youse, yese, yiz
- Vocabulary: bam, bampot, bamstick = idiot, boggin, bowfin = smell, hairy, herry, hingoot = girl, stocious = drunk, nooky = sexual intercourse
Scouse (Liverpool)
Working-class accent, influence from Ireland & Wales, leading to stigmatization.
- Pronunciation: alveolar ‘r’ (rhotic)
- Intervocalic ‘t’ replaced sometimes by ‘r’ as in marra (matter)
- Confusion of some consonants /t,d/ in these three /dese tree/
- Flat intonation
Geordie (Newcastle)
- Pronunciation: non-rhotic
- Initial ‘h’ not dropped
- Strong glottal stop in final position or before weak vowel (city, local)
- /o/ vowel in know, goat
- Grammar: Aa (I) as in Aa don’t know, diven’t / don’t: I diven’t do nothing (I don’t do anything)
- Vocabulary: bonny lad / lass = boy / girl, hinny (honey): form of address
Cockney (London)
Origin: 18th century, used in London, especially East-End part (working class).
- Pronunciation: glottal stop for medial and final /t/ and /k/: butter
- Non-rhotic but Linking ‘r’
- /f/ for ‘th’ as in /firty fahsn/ thirty thousand and v for th in /muvver/ mother
- No initial h: house /aus/
- Diphthongs: /ai/ for /ei/ in Spain; /oi/ for /ai/ in right; /a/ for /au/ in about
- Grammar: double negation, done = did and seen = saw: I done it yesterday
- Vocabulary: rhyming slang: Would you Adam and Eve it? (believe it?) and back slang: yob (boy)
- Phrases: Gawdelpus (God help us!)
- From Romany: chavvy (child), mush (mate)
- From Yiddish: schlemiel (fool)