World of englishes
Key concepts

Language variation: geographical, social, functional situational

Variant and variety: standard, standardized (specific situation), dialect mixing.

Contact and change ‘linguistic dynamism’.

Accent and dialect

Space and time (coexistence and blurring/overlapping of concepts and situation)
Present extension and stabilization vs historical background for the expansion.

Mechanism underlying ‘change’ are current

Social – linguistic contexts: social group , ethnic group

Levels of variation : spelling , phonetics/phonology , vocab , morpho-syntax

Different functions: native,official , second , foreign,international , global.

The open university:
Track 1: - english is a flexible language
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We can adapt things-> english language no longer belongs to English
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Writings in english coming from all around the world
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The way certain varieties have emerged was brutal (im
Track 2 : - China exposed to english early on
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They teach in Singapore everything is taught in English
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Lot of code switching
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Singlish ( mixed languages not very good
Track 3 :
- working class area
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English = identity – no effort to speak properly
Track 4 :
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From New Zealand to Sydney moderate the way he speak
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Moved to london , moderate the way to speak , be more easily understood , more
formal register
o
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English in science : - lingua franca for research
You start to get used to caring different accents —> new ways of pronouncing and
stresses
o
English in Malaysia : - to attract multi nationals
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To teach english as a second language worked only for more privileged schools
Variations
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Speaker of English sound rather different from one another —> physical differences ,
rapidity , voice
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There is also more systematic variation between speakers related to —> the social
groups they belong to , their patterns of interaction with others
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Tiny variation serve to relate us according to others
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Contempory variation also relates to the processes of language change over time —>
mechanics of how english changes , gradually giving rise to distinct varieties
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Contemporary changes in english can help us understand larger term historical change
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Contempory variation and change can provide a window of the kinds of social and
linguistic factors
-
Variable = something that varies in people use of english
-
Variant = alternative forms of a variable
Linguistic factors —> pronunciation of sounds , different words for the same concept ,
different pronunciation of the same word .
-
Variation and change —> link between variation in how people talk and how changes
unfold every time
Changes precedes by variation in the language use —> no change is possibile without
some procedibg variation . New varieties of english don’t exist in a social vacum.
9.03.2021
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Language change and language contact
1. All languages always change (aware or not) (lexical innovation)
2. All languages are in contact with other languages and are modified thereby —>
causes of differences between varieties
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Speech habits (adoption and adaption)
Principles of language change are als effective in the emergence of new varieties
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Social causes and changes (prestige ,identity expression)
Language – internal causes
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Analogically formation and regulation — distrino form expression
o
2
Bilinguism and multilinguism in many parts of the world
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In this context new varieties of english emerged (and still emerge)
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A language existed side by side with one or more other languages —> language contact
comes indifferent degrees off intensity
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Specific linguistic effects : 1. Lexical borrowing (light , superficial contact ) 2. Structure
interferences , some changes in morphology and syntax . ( when a minority lives in a
majority territory ). 3. Intense contact (people living together closely) – new language
system
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Languages in contact – it occurs when two or more languages of varieties interact
Varieties of the phenomena – creation of new languages ( creolization and mixed
languages) , strata influence , language shift, borrowing of vocabulary
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Categorizing world of Englishes
Strang 1970s

English as a native language (ENL)
Mother tongue of the majority of the population (UK , USA , Australia )

English as a second language (ESL)
Strongly rooted for historical reasons , assumes important internal functions ( alongside
indigenous languages) , politics , education, institutions , media , business life , legal
language , contexts of bilingualism and multilingualism , typically postcolonial countries
( India , Malaysia, Nigeria )

English as a foreign language (EFL)
Widely taught in the education system , acquisition for its international usefulness , no
internal functions .
Kachru 1980s 1990s three circles

Inner circle (ENL)
Mother tongue speaker
norm providing circle

Outer circle (ESL)
Historical reasons , important internal functions
Norm developing circle

Expanding circle (EFL)
Taught , international usefulness
Norm depending circle
-
Challenges the predominance pf the seemingly homogeneous inner circle ( not
necessarily a British model of usage )
-
Emphasizes the independence and practical importance of the outer circle
However – as the previous categorization by Strange , the three circles model – abstracts
for complex reality , fails to reflect the spread of English and changes of its status in any
regions .
Schneider 2003-2007
Dynamic model: five developmental stages
3
Emerging varieties of English in postcolonial contexts have typically followed an
underlying , fundamentally uniform evolutionary process caused by the social dynamics
between the two parties involved in a colonization process .
1. Foundation – English arrives
2. Exonormative stabilization= extensive English usage , particularly amongst the native
English speaking settler community
3. Nativization= the English used by native English speakers is used alongside a more
indigenous one
4. Endonormative stabilization = the indigenous variety takes root and becomes more
widely accepted by the local community
5. Differentiation= speakers of the indigenous variety take pride in their variety
Certain synchronic differences between new englishes can be regarded as coexistent nut
independent manifestations of subsequent stages of the same underlying diachronic process.
The entire process of the rerooting of English in foreign land can be viewed from two
1. Competing and 2. Complementary perspectives – the settlers’ perspective, experience and
situation of the indigenous population
In the settlers’ group ( or colonizers’ that is British emigrants and their descendants ) English is
continuously transmitted from one generation to the next without a radical break in linguistic
continuity in an experience of language shift.
But in the course of time their time their speech behavior undergoes substantial modification
and evolution trough – 1. Contact between dialects of English. 2. Contact with indigenous
tongues at first , with IDG strand usage later ( the IDG strand represents quite a different
experience initially , that of being expounded to a politically dominant foreign language which is
gradually being acquired and adopted by the indigenous community.)
Essential points of Schneider’s model is:
-
Both groups which share a piece of land increasingly share a common language
experience and communication ethnography
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The forces of accommodation are effective in both directions and inn both communities
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The result is dialect converge and increasingly large shared sets of linguistic features and
conventions
-
The end result is an overreaching language community with a set of shared norms.
The evolution of postcolonial englishes: the dynamic model
Phase 1: foundation
1. English begins to be used on a regular basis in a country that was not Englishspeaking.
2. Typical texts include: military forts, trading outposts, emigration settlements.
3. Indigenous language(s) is/are spoken in this/these area(s)
4. Contact operates on two levels , independent of each other at first , involving 1)
dialect contact – dialect mixing – accommodation ( group-internal communication
4
among the English-speaking settler): different regional backgrounds , not
linguistically homogeneous , different regional and social dialects
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To secure communication, forms that are widely used and shared by many will be
communicatively successful
-
Over time, speakers will mutually adjust their pronunciation and lexical usage to
facilitate understanding a process generally known as KOINEIZATION, the emergence of
a relatively homogeneous ‘middle-of-the-road’ variety
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Tend toward linguistic homogeneity
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Process pf levelling , focusing , simplification, and the occurrence of phonetically-- or
grammatically intermediate dialect forms
2) language contact (interaction between these settlers and the indigenous population)
Phase 2: Exonormative stabilization


Colonies or settlers’ communities tend to stabilize politically:
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English regularly spoken – in a new environment – withs resident community of
expatriate native speakers providing ‘stable usage’
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Settlements – outposts of Britain – social identity from a common territory of origin –
cultural belonging
-
Cultural and linguistic norm orientation – conservative and unaltered, though
increasingly distant – external norm (written and spoken British English, educated
speakers) as standard of reference
-
Adjustments to the local environment – gradually modify the English being spoken in the
new country – STL strand begins toward a local language form
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Interaction opens to structural Nativization
Shift to a new language:
1. Transfer phenomena on the levels of phonology and structure
2. Earliest structural features typical of local usage emerge
3. Contact-induced change (code switching , code alteration , passive familiarity , second
language acquisition strategies)
4. Negotiation: speakers change their language A to approximate what believe to be the
patterns of language or dialect B
Phase 3: Nativization
-

Central phase with immediate linguistic consequences
Language use is a major practical issue and an expression of new identity
1. Lexicalization
2. Syntax
3. Discourse
4. Style
5. Genres
5

Gradual political and linguistic independence
Linguistic orientation follows from social and political changes
1. Identity constructions
2. Gap between immigrant and indigenous groups is reduced
3. Both permanent residents of the same territory
4. STL and IDG strands become closely and directly intertwined
5. STL and IDG strands are unlikely to be equal partners
6. Mutual approximation tends to be assumed primarily by members of the IDG strand group
7. Linguistic and cultural assimilation

Sociolinguistic continuum:
Conservative language users – advanced users
1. Adequacy of linguistic usage
2. Complaint tradition (conservative language observers – deterioration)
3. Insecurity about linguistic norms (external norm – local usage)
4. Process of transition, increasing readiness to accept localized forms
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Restructuring of the English language itself
1. Heavy lexical borrowing for cultural terms but loan words permeate also everyday
vocabulary (widely used words)
2. Change in language organization (not only referential meaning)
3. Marked local accent
4. Constructions peculiar to the given country
Phase 4 : endonormative stabilization

Gradual adoption and acceptance of an indigenous linguistic norm:
New locally rooted linguistic self confidence
1. A new standard is on the way
2. Conservative attitude is a minority position
3. Political independence presupposed
4. Identity, alignment of STL-strand speakers to switch from a self-association with the
former mother country, to a truly independent identity
5. Locally-based identity, new identity construct (greater prominence to a group’s
permanent territory of residence)
6. Indigenous identity-identity negotiation > acceptance of local forms of English as means
of expression of that new identity
7. New local norm also accepted in formal usage
8. Difference between STL and IDG strands disappers , or is reduced to different
sociolinguistic communities within a new speech community
6
9. Mutual negotiation > shared variety, perceived as remarkably homogeneous
(homogeneity emphasized) process of language shift.
10. Heterogeneity downplayed or ignored.

Language and official recognition
Requires accepted reference books.
1. Dictionaries: they come first, since the nr of local words increases
2. Grammars: they come later, since the nr of grammatically deviant patterns is smaller
than the nr of local words. New grammatical norms are more are more difficult to
accept as ‘correct.’
3. Usage guides: codification in these contexts may also be regarded as an interaction
between spoken behavior and written norms in society.
4. Acceptance of earlier spoken realities as appropriate to formal and written contexts:
mutually reinforcing process.
Ex. New national identities cause an awareness of the existence of new language
varieties – productions of dictionaries of these varieties. a dictionary reinforces the
distinct national and linguistic identity.
Differences between phase 3 and 4 – English in x – x English – implications – both
designation types are two distinct ways of conceptualizing language use and its
Nativization and identity with the language.
Phase 5: differentiation
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
New identity> new language variety
Turning point from which something new springs
1. Stage of dialect birth: more internal diversification
2. Individual’s identity construction: from the national to the immediate community scale
3. Single entity against the former colonial power > a composite of subgroups
 Identity determined by sociolinguistic parameters.
 Age
 Gender
 Ethnicity
 Regional background
 Social status
 Etc.
7
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New group identities within overall community
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Regional and social dialects , linguistic markers ( accents, lexical expressions , structural
patterns)
-
Differences between STL- and IDG-strand varieties are likely to resurface ethnic dialect
makers at this stage
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Phase 5 does not entail monolingualism in English at all:
Varieties of English may coexist with other , mostly indigenous , languages with fulfilling
identity-marking functions
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It should be possible to apply the model to most, ideally all, of the new englishes around
the globe.
16.03.2021
Lezione 5

Indian English accent (umbrella term – include more varieties)
One of the most important of English because
a. Its speaker numbers.
b. Its historical, socio-cultural, and linguistic background

Aim: to reveal those aspects of this indigenised variety

Indian English – hides a host of varieties.
1. Partly a native variety (certain speakers use it a native language, most educated the
wealthy)
2. Partly a shift variety
3. Partly an L2 variety
4. Some pidginised varieties
a. Butler English (English for kitchen servants)
b. Babu English (English used by office workers)

Focus: forms of Indian English that can be referred to collectively as L2 englishes
1947—turning point from that time on English has performed the function of an associate
official language an intrathecally neutral link language – important role in the system of
education – associated with upward mobility.
Little role in the domain of hearth and home
It is acquired in a variety of contexts (British English provides a model)
1. Public schools: private institutions of secondary education with excellent facilities for
learning English> stable and high-quality access to English, starting from grade one >
they provide ideal circumstances for the acquisition of englishes as L2.
2. Vernacular government schools: offer only minimal opportunities in terms of English
instructions> English is taught and acquired as one of the schools subjects.
3. Rural areas: are mostly unaffected by the spread of English.
Speakers of Indian English – best described as representing a cline of proficiency in a
second language.
Indian English host of sub-varieties, including.

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Basilect forms: most basic forms of language (often stripped of morphosyntactic, semantic
or pragmatic elaboration).
Simplification of the process – universal strategies underlying adult language acquisition (omission of
copula BE and articles, omission of do-support in negations, use of time adverbials instead of
tenses)

Mesolectal forms: they fall somewhere in between basilects and acrolects, the two
extremes, thus representing an intermediate stage of L2 acquisition.
Intermediate stage of L2 acquisition – salient characteristic: omission of morphosyntactic material
(plural marking, use of past perfect instead of present

Acrolect forms: those varieties spoken by speakers with a ‘native-like’ command of
language. …
Indian English pronunciation
Video 1: more central /t/ sound, more rhotic /r/, /l/ sound is more central (not alveolar)
Joe Madiath (educated speaker):
The alveolar consonant /t/ /d/ /s/ /l/ /z/ tend to be replaced by retroflex consonants.
In some varieties /v/ and /w/ are not distinguished
Similarly, /p/ and /f/ /t/ and // /d/ and // /s/ and // depending on the region.
The consonants /p/ /t/ /k/ tend to be unaspirated.

IndEng differs considerably from other forms of English in stress, rhythm and intonations –
this makes comprehension by speakers of other English varieties extremely difficult.

Particularly, IndEng tends to be syllable-times rather than stress-times.

‘This means that each syllable occurs at approximately regular intervals rather than, as in
other forms of English such as EngEng or USEng, each stressed syllable occurring at
approximately regular intervals’.

Syllables that would be unstressed in other varieties of English receive some stress in IndEng.
Caribbean English
From the early 1700s, thousands of people were transported as slaves to the Caribbean, particularly
from west Africa , so a number of pidgin languages developed – a pidgin language is a
linguistically simplified means of communication.
Workers on the colonial plantations: variety of ethnic languages+ language imposed on them
(English)
Pidgin language: based on the sounds, vocabulary and grammatical structures of all the contributing
languages.

Not a mother tongue

No native speakers

It may become the first language of children.

It may begin to increase in complexity as it is spoken in a wider range of contexts.
This produces what linguists call a creole – a creole is a pidgin that has expended in structure
and vocabulary and has all the characteristics of other languages.
A Caribbean creole can appear unintelligible to outsiders, there are a number of elements that
characterise most forms of Caribbean English.
9
The meaning is always clear, despite the apparent simplification, in fact creoles are just as rule
governed as dialects and languages.
Jamaica
Colonial period: 1655-1962 – Britain’s stronghold.
Largest and wealthiest possession in the Caribbean – the largest country of the region
‘Caribbean English’—it was a classic sugar colony. Today, its linguistic make-up shows the
continuum between.
1. A rural basilect
2. A range of mesolects
3. An acrolectal form of standard English with a Caribbean accent.
After independence in 1962, the young nation started to forge a distinct cultural identity.
A process which strongly implied a readiness to accept African cultural roots.
The making of Jamaican culture—Jamaica’s language situation.
In the past, creole was strongly stigmatized as bastardized distortion of English to be avoided in
public discourse.
Last few decades: Patwa> accepted as the nation’s distinct language, as part of cultural heritage
Nowadays, it can be heard in the media, in public announcements in the mouths of politicians
(relationship with the population at large)
Mesolects forms are found increasingly in public discourse even in writing in some contexts as
explicit projections of distinct local identities.
Political initiatives to recognise the creole in the country’s constitution.
To overcome discrimination—Patwa very much a part of Jamaica’s reality
23.03.2021
Producing new varieties
The good old
Hardly anybody speaks ‘proper English’ – language variability is intrinsic to speech.
1. Language is an entity but a process.
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It exists in speaking: in a conversation it activated, revitalized, reconstructed.
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The forms and features of language are continuously ‘replicated.
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Language is a sequence od such replications.
2. Language is continuously re-enacted.
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There is always the possibility of modification, of changing the balance between the
forms and features it consist of.
3. Frequency plays a major role.
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Forms and patterns frequently repeated become natural, subconscious habits (sounds,
words, set, phrases, syntactic rules and pattern)
4. Forms and features of new Englishes emerge from anywhere in the communicative
environment.
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People interaction
-
Some forms disappear, others are successful and ‘get selected’.
Superstrate and substrate
In contact situations
1. Superstate,
-
Dominant language – the term reflects the social status of the languages involved.
2. Substrate
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Indigenous languages

Features coming from the underneath, not immediately visible contributions.

Loan words

Pronunciation features (they may represent the transfer of indigenous articulatory habits)

Grammatical level (words which seem to be plainly English, but they are used in patterns
which replicate indigenous syntactic habits)
Internal and external factors
Language-internal factors
1. Rooted in the nature of language, and its physical and cognitive manifestations.
2. Articulatory in the nature organs (determining which/how many sounds we can produce)
3. Cognition (conditions of how language develops: the acoustic signal is processed by the
mind)
11

Simplicity – complex proprieties are omitted in the acquisition process.

Maximizing ease of production—is a fundamental principle, omission of sounds or
constituents, example in casual conversation.

Economy of production— omission of a plural -s after numerals in certain varieties> all our
object

Grammaticalization—lexical items get formally weakened an ultimately become function
words (Singlish know as discourse marker)

Exaptation—or functional reallocation a form is recycled to adopt a new function (does in
many Caribbean varieties as maker of habituality> im does go)
Language-external factors
1. Mostly social factors
2. Social evaluation and embedding in linguistic forms.

The majority choice

Desirable social group
-

The larger the nr of speakers of any given variety, the more frequently will their speech
forms be produced and replicated.
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Founder effect.

It refers to the linguistic influence od the earliest settler groups in a new territory.

The earliest generations of migrants find no pre-existing linguistic norm to adjust to (in the
course of time, they create one of their own >Koineization

Later immigrants find some social and linguistic habit already established and prevailing in a
community a target to gradually adjust to
-

Earlier immigrant strata
In a newly forming community have disproportionally more influence on an emerging
language form than later ones.
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Solidarity: language as an instrument to exert power or to signal solidarity

Those in power usually establish their own behaviour and expectations as the guideline for
the entire community.

English is viewed as a gateway to economic opportunities and a better life: economic power
of the language.

Language solidarity strengthens peer group forms of (linguistic) behaviour.
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Prestige; linguistic reflection of social evaluation

Overt prestige is officially attributed typically to formal language usage, standard English, by
the authorities.

Covert prestige is frequently assigned in a community to those speakers who are really
admired and respected by the people.
-
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Demography
Identity: linguistic differences as a means of signalling group membership

Linguistic variants typically carry a socially symbolic function and serve as identity markers.

Projecting desired identities that a speaker is striving for.

Language variability as a powerful tool to actively manipulate one’s social relations and
ambitions.
Common core
World englishes
1. They share a common core of English features and properties.

Otherwise, it would not be possible to identify them as varieties of English.

Common core vocabulary (most basic and concrete lexemes)

Similar sounds

SVO pattern
2. Myriad difference and common tendencies

Lexis: loan words from indigenous languages (topographical, plants, animals, objects,
customs, physical objects, food, clothing, social customs, religion and superstition)

Word formation: hybrid compounds

Calques: word-by-word translations of indigenous phrases into English or rendering of
cultural metaphors

Archaisms: some successfully revitalized

Innovations: systematic ways of creating new lexical items familiar lexical material (semantic
and formal levels; broadening and narrowing of meaning and coining new words)
3. Pronunciation

Tendencies across varieties of English are more difficult to generalize.

Impact of substrate languages tends to show directly.

Wide range of typologically unrelated substrate languages spoken in regions where new
englishes have developed> influences fostering differences.
4. Reductive pronunciation

Reduction of complexities and distinctions

Tendency to use a syllable-timed rhythm in which all syllables (including the unstressed in
RP) take a roughly equal amount of time and a full vowel quality.

Monophthongisation od diphthongs especially those with a mid-high onset: face and goat
/ei/ and /ou/ respectively become /e:/ and /o:/.

Rare sounds which many languages do not have ex. <th> are replaces systematically by other
‘similar’ sounds (segmental change, concerning single phonemes)

Consonant cluster a re reduced/simplified: consonant cluster reduction (suprasegmental
change, several consonants in a row difficult to articulate are reduced/simplified)
5. Grammar
13

Dialect patterns which are common in British and in general Inner Circle settler dialects

Multiple negation

Never used to negate a single past time event rather then an indefinite period of time (I
never called him yesterday vs. I have never called him)

Use of me instead of I in coordination.
6. Vernacular universals: global distributed nonstandard forms, grammatical patterns
considered characteristic of new englishes.

Omission of inflectional endings

Pluralization of mass nouns, thus making them ‘countable’.

Variable article usage

Progressive use of stative verbs

Lack of inversion in main clause interrogatives

Invariant tag questions

Omission of sentence constituent (ex. subject)

Reduplication to intensify adjectives/adverbs.
How do such innovations emerge and spread?
1. They tend to start at the boundary between lexis and grammar.
2. Specific words (often verbs) and semantically coherent groups begin to be used or to be
preferred in a specific pattern.
3. (linguistic) habits get more entrenched, become regular usage, and spread to other words.
Elitism and grassroots spread
Outer circle

Frequently the medium of instruction.

Associated with education and upper-class people (leading strata in a society)

The quality of an individual’s performance tends to correlate with one’s educational
attainment.

Huge demand for English also among those with little formal education (instrumental
motivation, social mobility, access to better paid jobs)

Spreading rapidly among the less educated

Grassroots-growth the natural acquisition and rapid, uncontrolled spread of English in many
countries ‘beyond the elites’ (ex. Singlish)
-
14
School system
‘killer language’

English accused of killing indigenous languages and cultures.

English is widely embraced for the political and social implications tied to its use.

Frequently speakers shift to major regional or national languages which are actively
promoted by language policies.

Knowledge of English is recognized as a powerful tool, an instrument of learning.

Retention of English as an official or co-official language in many young nations for its ethnic
neutrality.
International English


Non-regional, common core form of the language for the use in transnational
communication
-
Such a language form seems to have emerged or should deliberately be promoted.
-
The general issue is intelligibility.
-
Direct connection between the promoting of ‘standard’ English as the target of
education, and the limitation of indigenous varieties (language policy, ex. Singlish vs.
standard Singapore English)
-
Promotion of supernational homogeneity (attempt to resort to the lexical and
grammatical common core of the language and to near-standard pronunciation norms
to communicate successfully)
-
Linguistic side
Differences between national varieties of English are relatively inconspicuous, consisting
mostly of subtle usage preferences which do not impede intelligibility (peculiarities on the
levels of word choice and pronunciation)
-

Political evaluation
Strategy of avoiding overt regional makers in formal and intercultural contexts.
English as a Lingua Franca

ELF between speakers of different languages
-
Reductive process
1. Avoidance of complex words and structures.
2. Substitution of difficult sounds.
3. Omission of morphological endings.

-
Show parallels with some features of outer circle englishes.
-
Does ELF constitute an emerging distinct language form?
-
Has ELF a norm of its own?
Whose norms?
1. Exonormative tradition prevails in many postcolonial and Outer Circle countries
-
Upholding British English
2. Endonormative orientations have been suggested in many countries.
15

Proposed to describe the English used by educated local speakers and models as the forms
students should also strive for.
-
To accept new or modified norms requires consensus.
-
Forms and features which are used regularly by educated speakers should ultimately
quality and be accepted as elements of a new standard variety.
-
Codification (systematic, empirical analysis and description of educated indigenous
forms of English in dictionaries and grammars) > overt prestige.
30.03.2021
Unit B
English in England
Traditionally two major dialect group can be distinguished in England – southern and northern.

Result of Anglo-Saxon settlement patterns

One of the most important dialect boundaries is known as the FENS in eastern England
(swampy area in the east Midlands), both North and South of this people used to pronounce
LUAGH and BUTTER as /la:f/ and /bʊtə/
South of the line the pronunciation began to change. /lɑ:f / and and /bʌtə/
Most differences are more fine-graded than north/south split.

Taking a nr of pronunciation features into account, sixteen dialect regions in England may be
identified.

Some defining and recurrent features are:
-
<ng > > /ŋg / (singer rhymes with finger: Central Lancashire Merseyside Northwest Midlands and
West and West and West Midlands)
-
<all> > > /ɑː / instead of / ɔː / (Newcastle: all, bal,call > ahl , bahl , cahl )
Dialect division are continually changing ‘dialect attrition (loss of traditional dialect forms) also depends on
increased social mobility.
Introducing global englishes
Variation of English spoken in the British Isles:
Sounds-phonemic variation
Five accents groups:
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1.
Scotland and the north of Ireland
2.
South of Ireland
3.
Wales
4.
North of England
5.
South of England
1.
South-west
2.
South-east
Vowels
1.
Vowel merger of /ʌ/ and /ʊ/ strut-foot
-
2.
Long-short vowel merger /ʊ/-/u:/ and /ɒ/-/ɔː /
-
3.
The vowel /ʌ/ does not appear in north of England accents (including the Midlands) and some
Irish accents, where the /ʊ/ sound is realised in both words. The /ʌ/ -/ʊ/split did not take place in
north of England.
Pool-pull and cot-caught
Lexical distribution of /a/ and /ɑː/
-
A distinction in north and south England can also be made with the vowels /a/ and /ɑː/
-
Northern accents: accents: /a/ or æ/ in bath; pam-pam sound homophones
-
Southern accents: /ɑː/
English language in northern England: the English language in northern England has been shaped by the
region’s history of settlement and migration, and today encompasses a group of related dialects known
as northern England English (or simply northern English in the United Kingdom). Historically, the
strongest influence on the varieties of the English language spoken in Northern England was the
Northumbrian dialect of old English but contact with Old Norse during the Viking age and with Irish
English following the Great Famine have produced new and distinctive styles of speech. Some “Northern”
traits can be found further south than others: only the northernmost accents of Northumberland and
Tyneside retain the pre-Great Vowel Shift pronunciation of words such as town (‘toon’), but all northern
accents lack the foot-stroot split, and this trait extends a significant distance into the Midlands.
H-dropping
h-dropping or aitch-dropping or haitch-dropping is the deletion of the voiceless glottal fricative or “H sound”.
The phenomenon is common in many dialects of English and is also found in certain other languages,
either as a purely historical development or as a contemporary difference between dialects. Although
common in most regions of England and in some other English-speaking countries, H-dropping is often
stigmatized and perceived as a sign of careless or uneducated speech. The reverse phenomenon, Hinsertion or H-adding is found in certain situations, sometimes as a hypercorrection by H-dropping
speakers, and sometimes as a spelling pronunciation or out of perceived etymological correctness.
Rhoticity in English
Though most English varieties in England in England are non-rhotic today, stemming from a trend toward this
in south-eastern England accelerating in the very late 1700s onwards, rhotic accents are still found in the
west country (south and west of a line from near Shrewsbury to around Portsmouth), the Corby area,
some of Lancashire (north and west od the centre of Manchester), some parts pf Yorkshire and
Lincolnshire, and in the areas that border Scotland. The prestige form, however, exerts a steady pressure
17
toward non-rhoticity. Thus, the urban speech of Bristol or Southampton is more accurately described as
variably rhotic, the degree of rhoticity being reduced as one move up the class and formality scales.
By the 1790s, fully non-rhotic pronunciation had become common in London and surrounding areas and was
being increasingly used even inn more formal and educated speech. By the early 19 th century, the
southern British standard was fully transformed into a non-rhotic, variety, though some variation
persisted as late as the 1870s. This loss of postvocalic in British English influenced southern and eastern
American port cities with close connections to Britain, causing their upper-class pronunciation to become
non-rhotic while the rest of the United States remained rhotic.
1.
Differences in /ŋ/
-
2.
In northern varieties a distinct final /g/ is added> /ŋg/
Dental fricatives as alveolar plosives
-
Think-they /θ/ and /ð/ as /t/ and /d/
-
This phenomenon exists across the British Isles and often has developed independently in
different geographical regions (Scotland, Yorkshire, London, the south-west, and the south-east)
The north east dialects
The north east region as defined within the Diachronic electronic corpus of Tyneside English project
has it northernmost reaches at the Scottish-English border and continues from there to the
southern banks of the river Tees in the south. its westerly boundary is demarcated by the
Pennine hills and the county boundaries of Northumberland and Durham with Cumbria. These
hills, along with the three major rivers of the region namely the Tyne, Wear and Tees, and the
North Sea coast, which forms its eastern boundary, its major urban centres include
Newcastle/Gateshead, Sunderland and Middlesbrough and it is the most northerly region of
England.
There is a general perception within the rest of the British Isles and further afield that the North east
is synonymous with the ‘Geordie’ dialect and that the area exhibits a degree of homogeneity
which is not matched on the ground. Research has how not only that there are indeed quite
distinctive regional varieties throughout the north east, but the native speakers of these
dialects are proud od their differences and that older people, in particular are keen to maintain
them.
The Geordie accent.
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
examples of Geordie
I went down the toon and bought a shirt
I went to the centere of town and bought a shirt
Notice the /u:/ pronunciation of down and town. Notice the striking pronunciation of shirt as
short.
Gey it some welly
Put some effort into it.
Notice the pronunciation of give without a final /v/. this is similar to the Scottish pronunciation
of the word.
A ye gannen the match?
Are you going to the match?
A divven knaw.
I don’t know
Notice the unrounded of know. This is also found in the words home and stone in broad
Geordie.
Gan canny or we’ll dunsh summick
Drive carefully or we’ll crash into something.
Canny is characteristic of Tyneside English as is dunsh. Notice the stiking pronunciation of
something.
Me da’s in good fettle today, like.
My father’s in a good mood today
The word fettle is found in Tyneside and neighbouring Teesside. The /mi/ pronunciation of my is
found in most non-standard pronunciations throughout Britain.
I’m from Newcastle, I’m a Geordie
The pronunciation of am as /am/ is common to most non-standard pronunciations of British
English.
13.04.2021
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Yorkshire dialect and accent
Divided in three main regions: northern, west (central), east (south)
The following Eight words display the differences and similarities in speech between North and East
Yorkshire (north and east ridings or NER) and west riding (WR)
A double consonant following a vowel indicates that that vowel is shortened. (rhotic accent)
.
The linguistic of Yorkshire
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-
Words such as wrong, long, strong are pronounced with a short <a> rather than an <o>
that is found in standard English.
-
Words such as find, blind, kind use a short <i>
-
A modified version of the long <a> is found in words such as home and stone changing
their pronunciation to hee-am and stee-an
-
-ing is shortened to -in (walkin’, talkin’)
-
The short <a> is used in words such as bath and dance.
-
Words that begin with a <h> dropped
Yorkshire dialect and accent
Oh that? Couldn’t do it. Don’t matter.
The glottal stop is very common in these persons English.
I’m gonna go have a picnic on the grass. I’m gonna go for a dance.
The pronunciation of going as /gune/ is found in many varieties of English.
I’ ate the rain (I hate the rain)
Notice the h-dropping in hate.
North west: Lancaster
The Lancashire dialect and accent (lanky) refers to the northern English vernacular speech of
the English county of Lancashire…
Lancashire dialect is now much less common than it once was, but it is not quite extinct, still
spoken by the older population.
21
North west: Manchester
North west England, one of nine official regions of England, consists of the five counties of
Cheshire, Cumbria, greater Manchester, Lancashire, and Merseyside.
It is the third most populated region in the United Kingdom after the south east and Greater
London.
Mancunian (or Manc) is a dialect, and the name given to the people of Manchester, in north
west England, and its environs.
The dialect is distinguishable from other Northern English dialects. A major feature of the
Mancunian accent is the over-enunciation of the vowel sounds when compared to the
flattened sounds of neighbouring areas. Traditionally, the Manchester area was known for
glottal reinforcement of the consonants.
Mancunian accent main features:
North west: Liverpool
Scouse (called Liverpool English or Merseyside English) is an accent and dialect of English
found primarily in the Metropolitan county of Merseyside, and closely associated with the
city of Liverpool.
The scouse accent is highly distinctive and has in common with those used in the
neighbouring regions of Cheshire and Lancashire.
Inhabitants of Liverpool can be referred as Liverpudlians but are more often described by
the colloquialism ‘scouser’.
The word ‘scouse’ is shortened from ‘lobscouse’, whose origin is uncertain…
It refers to a stew commonly eaten by sailors.
22
Liverpool accent main features:
20.04.2021
The midlands and west midlands
Black country
-
In the 70s it was a centric area; in the near future it looks like the midlands could
become smaller and it is moving west.
-
First, it is important that black country typical dialect and brummies’ dialect are different
even if these are very close. Brummie is spoken in Birmingham whereas black country
dialect is spoken in Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, and parts of Wolverhampton.
-
Second speakers of the dialect that we identify as black country are also called ‘yam
yam’.
-
In England, rhoticity is now very much a western, and primarily, a south-western feature
(rhotic accent are across a huge swathe south and west of a line running from Kent to
the west midlands, skirting the conurbation of London, Birmingham, and
Wolverhampton.
-
Even within rhotic areas there is evidence that younger people are less likely to
pronounce /r/ in words such as arm. Rhoticity is a recessive feature in England.
-
However, features which appear to be receding on a national level may still be very
important markers of local identity.
Black country
Velar nasal plus
-
The tendency for speakers in the north-west and west midlands to pronounce the
orthographic <g> in the cluster <ng> /ŋg/ when elsewhere in England only a velar nasal
/ŋ/ is pronounced.
-
For speakers with ‘velar nasal plus the velar nasal is not a separate phoneme, but a
variant of /n/ which only and always occurs before /g/ or /k/
This feature differentiates the accents of the west midlands from those of the East midlands.
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-
This /ŋg/ is a relic of a formerly more widespread pronunciation: within the North-west
and west midlands, this feature is very stable and not at all stigmatised.
-
Since the late eighteen century, attention has been focused on the phenomenon which
is often inaccurately described as ‘dropping the <g> in word final -ing. The stigmatised
pronunciation is one in which the alveolar nasal /n/ is used instead of the velar /ŋ/.
-
In the north-west and west midlands, pronunciations such as [siŋgiŋg ] for singing are
considered ‘correct’ or even ‘posh’ compared to [siŋgiŋg ] , which is stigmatised because
pf ‘dropping the <g>.
Main features of the black country accent
Brummie accent
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West country
Bristolians that live in areas that had less influence from students or immigrants and also old people
use a special dialect called Brizzle. Anyway, Swedish had a great influence on Bristol, a L sound is
added to words that end with the A letter. For example, ‘area’ become ‘areawl’ and in Swedish ‘ikea’
is known as ‘ikeawl’.
This accent is not only a city accent, but also chiefly a regional accent that is a part of West country
dialects. We actually presented the ‘typical dialect’ of this area that is also called Mummerset
dialect, and even If very close of it, Bristolian is different. This is one of the reasons, why this accent
is also associated with lack of education and farmers.
25
04.05.2021
East England and south England (London)
Nottingham: Gerrup> link r to connect to words.
Yod dropping: this phenomenon is confined to the east (now is expanding to the south)
-
-
-
Words such as few /fju:/ are pronounced with a glide /j/ (known as yod) followed by a
vowel everywhere except in east Anglia, where pronunciations such as <few> /fu:/ are
heard. This has come to be recognised as a stereotypical East Anglian feature. Ex.
Beautiful ‘bootiful’ /ju:/ becomes /u:/. This is a relic feature (as rhoticity and velar nasal
plus in the west midlands) confined to the geographical isolation of east Anglia.
Until the seventeen centuries, the /j/ was pronounced in words such as chew, rude and
blue, but it began to be assimilated into the palatal consonant /tʃ/ in chew and dropped
from rude and blue etc. this was a very gradual process, and yod-dropping was
considered incorrect for a long time.
In most varieties within England, including RP, yod dropping is now found in words such
as chew, rude, and suit; after /n/ , /t/ and /d/ in words such as new, tune and due, it is
found in London and parts of the midlands, but the full extension of yod-dropping to all
environments, including words such as beautiful, few, human , is largely confined to East
Anglia.
East midlands: main features
-
-
-
H retention: east Anglia
The distribution of h-dropping in accents of England is perhaps more of a social than a
geographical phenomenon: since the late eighteen centuries, failure to pronounce initial
/h/ in all but very restricted set of French or Latin derived words (honour, hour, and
related words) has become highly stigmatised, so that it is now.
Even though h-dropping is marked socially, it is the norm geographically, BUT traditional
dialects: h-retention is typical in two geographically peripheral parts of the country, the
northeast and east Anglia.
In east Anglia H-retention in now recessive, it is still found ‘rural East Anglia’ but has
been partly lost in Norwich.
South east- estuary- London
South east: there are especially close, front realizations of unstresses syllables in essex, liking, jacket,
porridge headed, surprising, expensive. These vary between slightly lowered and somewhat raised,
advanced. This is a feature popularly associated with modern south essex accents, giving rise to
26
common humorous re-spelling such as <Essiiiix>. It should be noted that this respelling is crudely
indicative of vowel placement, but not necessarily vowel duration within conversational speech.
Present pronunciations and moving on …
The decline of the centring diphthongs
In brief. Although most dictionaries are full of the symbols /ɪə /, /eə /, /uə/, the centring diphthongs
of RP are rarely heard today. These are increasingly replaced with long monophthongs [ɪː], [ɛː], [ɛː],
[ɵː], [o:].
The cure diphthong /ʊə / is following the same path. For a long time, words have been switching,
their preferred pronunciation from /ʊə/ to the thought-north vowel. / ɔː/, in contemporary
pronunciation [o:]. Many speakers use central monophthongs [ɵː] or [ʉː].
Force /ɔə /, board, force, more, etc. now have the thought-north vowel / ɔː/, in contemporary
pronunciation [o:]. So hoarse, once /hɔəs/, is now pronounced the same as horse, /hɔːs/ / hoːs h/
The decline of the centring diphthongs
In brief. Although most dictionaries are full of the symbols /ɪə /, /eə /, /ʊə /, the centring diphthongs
of RP are rarely heard today. These are increasingly replaced with long monophthongs.
Two wasy: near /ɪə/
1. One change, which began decades ago, was the tensing of the first part. This become more
like the fleece vowel, resulting in [iːə ] or or [ɪjə], potentially two syllables. As a result,
career, traditionally /kəˈrɪə/ in RP, become like Korea /kəˈriːə / kəˈrɪjə.
2. The other change is smoothing process, which result in a long monophthong [ɪː]. The usual
pronunciation when /r/ follows, as it often does, eg. Appearance, RP /əˈpɪərəns /,
contemporary, əˈpɪːrən(t)s.
Square /eə/ this centring diphthong has undergone a process of monophthongisation since RP, so
that it’s now very widely produced as a long [ɛː] eg. Square, there ðɛ ː, where and wear we: This is
same quality as the short dress vowel /e/, which is now [ɛ], [but not the same quantity]. Retaining a
centring diphthong [eə ]or [ɛə] is characteristic of a broad London area accent.
27
/tʃ /and /dʒ:/: a new si-chew-ation
In brief. Rp’s consonant clusters /tj/ and /dj/ are increasingly replaced by /tʃ /and /dʒ/ in SSB. This is
more common in weak syllables, e.g., education, but in increasingly heard also in stressed syllables,
e.g., Tuesday
-
-
-
In the other words, for any given phone, speakers have a repertoire of variants that they
can choose from according to the situation. Among those variants, there exists a
prototypical realisation of the phone that corresponds to its phonological
representation. Smith reminds the reader that Jone’s definition of the notion phoneme
is ‘a family of related sounds’. These related sounds are organised around the
prototypical value.
Jone’s definition corresponds to a mental, rather than a functional conception of the
phoneme. the prototypical value can vary from speaker. It follows that, owing to hypoor hyperadaption phenomena, the listener may change his/her pronunciation, though a
process of identification with and adoption of the prototypical value of his/her
interlocutor.
Yod coalescence after /t,d/ can clearly the illustrate the model proposed by smith. When
a speaker A who only has palatalised forms in unstressed syllables actually, fortune,
duality, durability) interacts with another soeaker B who has palatalised forms in both
unstressed and stressed syllables (actually, fortune, duality), adoption of the
prototypical values of B may lead to a modification of the consonantal system of A.
If change is always potential whitin variantion, it is necessary to have an interaction between extraand intralinguistic factors at a particular time for a particular change to occur and then to diffuse
into the community. This raises the question of the actuation of change on large scale. Why is a
given change actuated at a particular time? Why not earlier of later? Smith argues that the reason
28
why some innovations catch on in the community is often related to social considerations. The
evolution may even originate in major historical events or ideological changes.
Epen-t-thesis.
In brief. RP generally made a distinction between words like prince and prints, Thomson, and
Thompson. Today many speakers pronounce such pairs the same, as a result od an ‘epenthetic’
plosive introduced into words like prince and Thomson.
Traditionally, many words of English contain a nasal followed by a fricative, an example would be
prince, /prɪns /. The /n/ is a stop sound, which means that the oral airflow of speech is stopped; the
tongue blade is held against the alveolar ridge while breath is re-directed through the nose. As /n/
changes to /s/, airflow must be switched from nasal to oral, and at the same time the stoppage at
the alveolar ridge must be stopped. This is a brief oral stop or plosive at the same place of
articulation as the nasal, creating in this case [prints], which may be indistinguishable from prints.
Th appearance of such extra sounds is called ‘epenthesis’. The extra sounds themselves are called
‘epenthetic’ sounds. Epenthesis ps an oral stop between a nasal and fricative is very Natural.
Many speakers have nost lost these contrasts, and many others use epenthesis variably. For the
learner, it’s worth being aware od epenthesis, but not yet important to adopt it.
Glottal stops, part 1
In brief. The glottal stop was not characteristic of rp but is very common today as a dorm of /t/,
being entirely standard before consonants e.g., football, Great Britain. [f]amously characteristic of
working-class London speech, of ‘cockney’, these features were stigmatizing to varying degrees, and
RP speakers generally avoid them, but they can all be heard from the more middle-class speakers of
SSB today.
11.05.2021
Scotland and Ireland
Scottish English
-
29
Varieties of English spoken in Scotland.
Spoken in the south-east and south-west of Scotland for centuries.
In the highland and the islands of northern and western Scotland, it has only been