HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
A language variety where users regional /
social background appears in their use of
vocabulary & grammar.
The features of pronunciation (the speech
sounds) that show regional/social identity
(and arguably that of an individual, since one
could have a personal and idiosyncratic
accent).
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Traces of Saxon pirates in the fourth century A.D.: A city wall was
built along the river Thames in London after A.D. 360
A.D. 477 and A.D. 495 –
The Saxons & Frisians (Germany) >> Wessex, Essex, and Sussex.
A.D. 547 - the Jutes >> Kent;
the Angles >> north:
+ East Anglia
+ Mercia
+ Northumbria
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(south-east England)
(central England)
(northern England).
Conversion to Christianity in A.D. 597
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Northumbria - the Angles
Mercia
- the Angles
East Anglia - the Angles
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Essex
Sussex
Wessex
- the Saxons
- the Saxons
- the Saxons
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Kent
- the Jutes
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Anglo-Saxon place-names: -bury, -ford, -ton, -ham, -worth, -field, -ing, -ley
Bourne: Stream
Burn: Stream
Burg: Large village
Bury: Fortified place
Croft: Small enclosure
Ford: Shallow river crossing
Ham: Village
Ing: People
Lake: Lake
Ley; Lea: Clearing
Mere/Mer/Mar: Pool
Moor: Moor
Moss: Swamp
Ney: Island
Riding; Rod: Cleared land
Stead: place
Stoc: Summer pasture
Stoke: 'Daughter' settlement
Stow: Holy Place
Ton; Tun: House; Farm
Weald; Wold; High Woodland
Wic; Wike: Farm; Group of huts
Wood: Wood
Worth: Fenced land
Dialect differences - 4 dialects:
West Saxon
Mercian
Kentish
Northumbrian
West Saxon developed a literary standard
 it is NOT the ancestor of Modern English
West Saxon
: Anglian
 ea
o
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ceald
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ie
hieran
cald
e
heran
> ModE ‘cold’
> ModE ‘hear’
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cynn > kinn ‘kin’ = Northern / East Midlands
kunn = West Saxon
kenn = Kent / Southern
OE myrige > merry (Southern)
OE lyft > left (Southern)
OE byrgan > bury (West Saxon) /beri/
(Southern)
OE bysig > busy (West Saxon) /bɪzi/
(Northern)
Kentish ken < kin, zen < sin
Front / i-mutation / i-umlaut:
back vowel + /ɪ/, /i:/, or /j/ in the following
syllable:
 u: > y: > i:
 o: > e:
Gothic
OE
Mod E
 *mǔsiz >
mȳs (Umlaut)
mice /maɪs/(GVS)
 *fǔlljan >
fyllan (Umlaut) fill /fɪll/ (no GVS)
 *fŏdjan >
fēdan (Umlaut) feed /fi:d/ (GVS)
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mouse-mice,
full-fill,
gold-gild,
fox-vixen,
food-feed,
doom-deem,
goose-geese
tooth-teeth,
book-beech,
man-men,
Canterbury-Kent,
long-length,
tale-tell
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A number of local dialects
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The OE disunity - considerably increased
#1 the isolation of districts in the feudal state
#2 the two foreign influences
Northumbrian
>
NORTHERN
(Northern, Lowland, Scottish)
MIDLAND
Mercian
>
(West Midland, East Midland,
South-West Midland)
LONDON
SOUTHERN
MIDLAND
West Saxon
>
(West Midland, East Midland,
South-West Midland)
LONDON
SOUTHERN
Kentish
>
KENTISH
The mixed dialect of London:
the South Western type
>> SHIFT >>
the East Midland type
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The earliest records - written in the local
dialects
No literary standard yet in existence
Some time after the Norman conquest (1066)
English literature practically nonexistent
Some dialects – an almost 200-year gap
The earliest MidE samples of prose:
the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles
>> the Petersborough Chronicle (1122-1154).
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England - UPPER CLASS (RECEIVED PRONUNCIATION)
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Phonology
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[r] if not followed by a vowel
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[o] ¡ [Ïw] know, so, though, blow,
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[a] ¡ [Ø] not, what, got
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accent: library,
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Morphology
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have is a modal auxiliary:
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It is raised: have you a quid?
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It is cliticized: I've five quid
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Collectives:
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the parliament are in session
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the team are fit
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the group are out playing
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Syntax
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Discontinuous verbal particles: catch you up, ring you up
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Default pro-verb: Did you get the paper? I would have done, but I didn't have tuppence.
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phrases
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come a cropper
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bangers and mash
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Lexicon
knock up
ring up
catch you up
bonnet
wind screen
boot
chips
crisps
bangers
rubber
lorry
dust bin
napkin
knickers
petrol
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Phonology
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Morphology
 Me for my
 drop [h]
 high, hope, he, her
 I got high hopes he won't hit her
 [l] : [ʊ] pill, call, tall
 [t] : [ʔ] little , bottle, what ya got vere mate
 [eɪ] : [aɪ] mate, gain,
 [aɪ] : [ɒɪ] high, flighty, might,
 [aʊ] : [æʊ] mouse, house, come round
 [u] : [u:ʊ] who, new, blue
 [æ] : [a] cab, cat, rat
 Interdentals become labiodentals
 right nice little thing
 Wot's wif yu?
 me muvvuh
me mum
at's me book you got 'ere
Past tense BE: were
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Lexicon
Bloody, lolly, bugger off!, bloomin‘, bangers , knickers, Fancy that!, guv'na, knackered
◦ Phonology
 [r] - trill
 [u] : [y] Look at the school!
 [a] : [æ]
 intonation: talking 'up'
 'Canadian' raising [aɪ] : [ɪj] : light, right, kite
◦ Morphology
 Articles: t for the
 Contraction: dunna, dinna
◦ Syntax
◦ Lexicon
 bairn
 wee
 loch
 kirk
 Lad : lassie
◦ Phonology
 [l] : [ʊ] except before vowels (fill, belt, told)
 [eɪ] : [aɪ] (gate, mate, gray, say, fail)
 [e] : [ə] (bed, Fred, let, tell, spell)
 [a] : [æ] (bad, cat, bat)
 [h] : [ø] (high, hug, hate, hover)
 [r] : [ø] (part, car, fear, pear))
◦ Lexicon: diminutives
Barby, dunny (toilet), down under, outback, bang up
East Midlands
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once varied from county to county
Now predominantly RP
R's are dropped, but h's are pronounced.
The only signs that differentiate it from RP:
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ou > u: (so go becomes /gu:/).
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RP yu; becomes u: after n, t, d... as in American English.
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The West Country
r's are not dropped.
initial s often becomes z (singer > zinger).
initial f often becomes v (finger > vinger).
vowels are lengthened.
West Midlands - the dialect of Ozzie Osbourne!
Pronunciation is not that different from RP,
some of the vocabulary is:
are > am
am, are (with a continuous sense) > bin
is not > ay
are not > bay
Brummie is the Birmingham-spoken version of West Midlands
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Lancashire
This dialect, spoken north and east of Liverpool, has the southern habit of dropping r's. Other features:
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/ʌ/ > /u/, as in luck (/luk/).
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/əʊ/ > /oi/, as in hole (/hoil/)
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Scouse is the very distinctive Liverpool accent, a version of the Lancashire dialect, that the Beatles
made famous.
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the tongue is drawn back.
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/th/ and /dh/ > /t/ and /d/ respectively.
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final k sounds like the Arabic q.
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for rhymes with fur.
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Yorkshire
The Yorkshire dialect - sing-song quality, a little like Swedish, and retains its r's.
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/ʌ/ > /ʊ/, as in luck (/luk/).
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the - reduced to t'.
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initial h-dropping.
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was > were.
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still use thou (pronounced /thɑ:/) and thee.
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aught and naught (pronounced /aut/ or /out/ and /naut/ or /nout/) = anything and nothing.
Northern
The Northern dialect ~ the southern-most Scottish dialects.
Many OScan words, e.g. bairn = child
/r/ (often a roll) kept
The best-known is Geordie (Newcastle)
 -er > /æ/ - father > /fædhær/
 /ou/ > /oa/- boat > each letter is pronounced.
 talk > /ta:k/
 work > /work/
 book > /bu:k/
 my > me
 me > us
 our > wor
 you (plur.) > youse
http://eleaston.com/world-eng.html#ng
http://eleaston.com/world-eng.html#sa
http://eleaston.com/india-eng.html
http://eleaston.com/world-eng.html#sp
http://eleaston.com/world-eng.html#phil
http://eleaston.com/australian-eng.html
http://eleaston.com/nz-eng.html
http://eleaston.com/world-eng.html#car
http://eleaston.com/world-eng.html#Welsh
http://eleaston.com/irish-eng.html
http://eleaston.com/world-eng.html#car
http://eleaston.com/am-eng.html
PIDGIN is a simple form of a language which
speakers of a different language use to
communicate. Pidgin is not anyone's first
language.
CREOLE is a language that has developed from
a mixture of different languages and has
become the main language in a particular
place. (=patois)
American Indian Pidgin English
Chinese Pidgin English
Chukotka Pidgin English
Fulani Pidgin English
Japanese Bamboo English
Japanese Pidgin English
Korean Bamboo English
Kru Pidgin English
Liberian Interior Pidgin English
Loyalty Islands Pidgin English
Madras Tamil Pidgin English*
Maori Pidgin English*
Micronesian Pidgin English
Nauru Chinese Pidgin English
New Caledonian Pidgin English
Newfoundland Pidgin English
Port Augusta Pidgin English
Port Jackson Pidgin English
Queensland Kanaka English
Scottish Pidgin English
Sierra Leone Pidgin English
Samoan Plantation Pidgin
Taiwan Pidgin English
Thai Pidgin English
Togolese Pidgin English
Vietnamese Pidgin English
West African Pidgin English
Atlantic
Eastern
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Bahamas Creole English
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Sea Island Creole English
Southern
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Antigua and Barbuda Creole English
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Bajan
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Grenadian Creole English
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Guyanese Creole English
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Tobagonian Creole English
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Trinidadian Creole English
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Vincentian Creole English
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Virgin Islands Creole English
Turks and Caicos Creole English
Fernando Po Creole English
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Krio
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Pidgin, Nigerian
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Pidgin, Cameroon
Suriname
Ndyuka
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Aukan
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Kwinti
Sranan
Western
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Belize Kriol English
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Nicaragua Creole English
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Islander Creole English
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Jamaican Creole English
Pacific
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◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
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Afro-Seminole Creole
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Krio
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Northern
Bislama
Hawai'i Creole English
Ngatik Men's Creole
Pijin
Kriol
Torres Strait Creole
Tok Pisin
Saramaccan
THE END