What is Britain?
Lesson 3:
An introduction to the
people of Britain
Demographics
Part
Population %
England
50,093,800 83.7
Scotland
5,078,400
8.5
Wales
2,952,500
4.9
Northern Ireland
1,710,300
2.9
United Kingdom
59,834,900 100
Demographics

Population
–
–
–

male: 23,922,144
female: 25,216,687
total: 49,138,831
Place of birth
–
–
–
UK: 90.7%
EU: 2.3%
Outside EU: 6.9%

Ethnicity
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
White: 90.9%
Indian: 2.1%
Pakistani: 1.4%
Mixed: 1.4%
Black Caribbean: 1.1%
Black African: 0.9%
Chinese: 0.4%
Black Other: 0.2%
Demographics

Religion
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Christian: 71.7%
None: 14.6%
Not Stated: 7.7%
Muslim: 3.1%
Hindu: 1.1%
Sikh: 0.7%
Jewish: 0.5%
Buddhist: 0.3%
Other: 0.3%
2001 Census
The most common countries of birth for foreignborn British residents in 2001 were:






India - 466,416 people
Pakistan - 320,767 people
Germany - 262,276 people (although most are
thought to be German-born children of British military
personnel)
The Caribbean - 254,740 people
The USA - 155,030 people.
The Republic of Ireland was the birthplace of
498,850 people, a decline of 97,433 from 1991, but
for the purpose of this survey and in British law they
are not considered "foreign".
1991 – 2001 Census
The greatest percentage increases in foreign-born
population between 1991 to 2001 were from:





Albania - 1374% (from a base of 154 people)
Former Yugoslavia - 242% (from a base of 13,846)
Sierra Leone - 170% (from 6,280).
Greece - 142% (from 14,459).
Zimbabwe - 130% (from 21,427).
Location of foreign-born population



7.5% of people living in
Britain were born abroad.
The non-native-born
population tends to be
strongly attracted to London
and the South East region
1.7 million foreign-born live
in London, representing 25%
of the city's total population,
although 52% of Wembley's
population was born abroad.
Population Change from 1971
Languages In Britain




The United Kingdom has no
official language.
“English” is the main language
and the de facto official
language, spoken
monolingually by an estimated
95% of the UK population.
Norman French is still used in
the Houses of Parliament for
‘some’ official business.
Parts of the UK have
frameworks for the promotion
of minor languages.
Languages In Britain




In Wales, English and Welsh are both
widely used by officialdom.
“Irish” is often used alongside English
in Northern Ireland (official business)
Scottish Gaelic in Scotland has an
“official” status.
The UK Government has committed
itself to the promotion of certain
linguistic traditions. Welsh, Scottish
Gaelic, Scots, Irish and Cornish
Regional Languages








Welsh is spoken by about 20% of the population of Wales
(~600,000 speakers).
However, not all speakers are 100% fluent.
Many Welsh people are proud to speak Welsh.
Scottish Gaelic has about 60,000 speakers (~1% of Scotland).
In Northern Ireland, ~7% speak Irish Gaelic (~110,000 speakers)
and 2% speak Scots (~ 30,000 speakers).
Cornish is spoken by ~3,500 people (0.6% of Cornwall).
Scots is spoken by 30% of Scottish people (~ 1.5 million).
British Sign Language (for the deaf) is understood by less than
0.1% of the total population of the UK.
Varieties of English

English (British English)
– Cant
– Cockney rhyming slang
– English English
– Estuary English
– Geordie
– Mid Ulster English
– Polari
– Scottish English
 Highland English
– Scouse
– Sign Supported English
"Language vs Dialect"




Many people disagree on whether some of
the various tongues spoken in the UK are
Languages or Dialects (of a single language)
E.g. - Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic are
viewed as different languages but are often
intelligible to each other.
The same is been true of Ulster Scots
(Ireland) and Lowland Scots in Scotland.
It is often a matter of national pride
Dialects of “English”








The British Isles is one of the most linguistically diverse areas
in the English-speaking world.
Significant changes in dialect (pronunciation, grammar, and
vocabulary) may occur within one region.
The four major divisions are:
Southern English dialects
Midlands English dialects
Northern English dialects,
Scottish English (including Scots and Ulster Scots)
The various English dialects differ in the words they have
borrowed from other languages. The Scottish and Northern
dialects include many words originally borrowed from Old
Norse; the Scottish dialects include words borrowed from Scots
and Scottish Gaelic
Try this Website


http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/recordings/index.shtml
You can listen to
real British people
from different
parts of Britain
Cockney Rhyming
Slang







Cockney rhyming slang is a form of
English slang which originated in the
East End of London.
Many of its expressions have passed
into common language.
Rhyming slang developed as a way to
hide the meaning of sentences from
those who did not understand the slang.
Apples = apples and pears = stairs - e.g. "Get up the apples!"
Barnet = Barnet Fair = hair - e.g. what´s a matter with yer
Barnet
Frog = frog & toad = road - e.g. "I was crossing the frog"
Rosie = Rosie Lee = tea - e.g. "Have a cup of rosie"
Cornish (of Cornwall)


Thought to be a “dead”
language (not really spoken,
or not fluently spoken by
anyone).
A number of children are
being brought up to speak
the language.
Shelta








Also known as the Cant
Is a language spoken by
parts of the Irish Traveler
people (Irish Gypsies).
Shelta's vocabulary is based
largely on Irish,
The language's structure
contains many grammatical
similarities with English.
It also contains elements of Romany languages,
There are ~86,000 worldwide speakers of Shelta (~6,00025,000 in Ireland).
Spoken almost exclusively by Travellers.
Shelta existed as far back as the 13th century.
Geordie

Geordie derives much less influence from French
and Latin than does Standard English, being
substantially Angle and Viking in origin.

The accent and pronunciation, as in Lowland Scots, reflect old AngloSaxon pronunciations, accents and usages.

Personal pronouns differ a lot from Standard English:
Geordies use "youse" for plural "you", "me" for "my", "us" for "me", "wor" for
"our".
Vowel sounds are unusual. "er" on the end of words becomes "a" ("father"
is pronounced "fatha", both "a" sounds as in "hat").
Many "a" sounds become more like "e": "hev" for "have".
Double vowels are often pronounced separately: "boat" becomes "boh-ut".
Some words acquire extra vowels ("growel" for "growl", "cannet" for "can't").
The "or" sound in words like "talk" becomes "aa", while "er" sounds in
words like "work" becomes "or". The "ow" in words like "down" or, most
famously, "town" becomes "oo“.




Scouse



Scouse is the accent or dialect of English found in the
northern English city of Liverpool.
The Liverpool accent is highly distinctive and sounds
wholly different from the accents used in the
neighboring regions of Cheshire and rural Lancashire.
Inhabitants of Liverpool are often called Scousers.
The word Scouse was originally
a variation of lobscouse
(probably from the north
German sailor's dish Labscaus),
the name of a traditional dish of
mutton stew mixed with
hardtack eaten by sailors.
British English Around the World







British English is still the model for the English spoken in many
Commonwealth countries:
Australia
New Zealand
South Africa
India
British English is still taught and used in former British colonies
of Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia
American English is often taught in Chinese and Japanese
schools, and throughout other schools in Asia.