English accents
10. Liverpool (Scouse)
Liverpool
located in Merseyside
Scouse accent
1. Northernisms
•
STRUT words have /ʊ/
• BATH words have /æ/ (phonetically [a])
• [g] is retained after [ŋ]
No FOOT-STRUT
put
pʊt
cut
kʊt
split
full
fʊl
dull
dʊl
In the north of England, /ʊ/ and /ʌ/ have not
become separate phonemes
no BATH broadening
æ remains short / _ [-voi +fric]
bæθ
pass, glass, grass, staff, raft, laugh, bath, path, after, castle
Rhymes:
bath - math(s), castle - tassel, pass - gas
lexical incidence: BATH words
• typical southern accent
TRAP
BATH
START
æ
ɑː
ɑː
gas, pass, farce
æ
ɑː
ɑː
• typical northern accent
TRAP
BATH
START
a
a
aː
gas, pass, farce
a
a
aː
strong short vowel systems
• typical southern system
(6 vowels)
KIT
ɪ
FOOT
• typical northern system
(5 vowels)
KIT
ɪ
FOOT-STRUT
ʊ
DRESS
e
STRUT
DRESS
ʌ
æ
TRAP
ʊ
ɒ
LOT
ɛ
TRAP
a
ɒ
LOT
final [g] remains after [ŋ]
sɪŋg
compare
ˈsɪŋgɪŋg
ˈsɪŋgə
[g] retained in northwest England, lost elsewhere
ˈfɪŋgə
2. Irish characteristics
•
/θ, ð/ are realized as plosives (TH stopping)
• /t/ is realized as a fricative in certain positions
• /l/ lacks clear-dark allophony
TH stopping (London)
D becomes d in
initial position
text messaging:
da = the
wiv dis = with this
TH stopping
θ  t̻ or t
ð  d̻ or d
thick and thin
a thick tick
faith - fate
father
these and those
breathe - breed
no clear-dark /l/ allophony
mɪlk
ʃɛl
bʊlb
ˈbɒtlz
ˈpɛnsl
wɔːl
3. Other striking Scouse characteristics
•
frication or affrication of other plosives
• /eə/ is merged with /ɜː/
• the GOAT vowel is realized as [oʊ] or [eʊ]
• non-standard intonation patterns
frication or affrication of plosives
k  x (or χ or kx or qχ) in final position
d  dz
snake [sneɪx]
back [bax]
work [wɛ̈ːx]
NB: no phoneme /x/
Dad [dzadz]
SQUARE vowel merged with NURSE vowel
fare = fur
[fɛ̈ː, fɜː]
work [wɛ̈ːx]
Homophones:
stare - stir
pair - purr
fairy = furry
[ˈmɜːri]
long mid diphthonging
face feːs  feɪs
day
deɪ
goat goːt  goʊt ( geʊt)
GOAT vowel as [oʊ] or [eʊ]
noʊ aɪ doʊnt No, I don't
neʊ aɪ deʊnt
prosodic characteristics: intonation
I don't /like ¯it
= RP etc
I don't \like it
Are 'you from \Liverpool?
= RP etc
Are 'you from /Liverpool?