Dialects and accents of British English

The United Kingdom is probably the most dialect-obsessed nation in the world.

Accents of British English depend on the place where English language is spoken. We should take into account that it isn’t the same language spoken in the countryside than language spoken in the city and, above all, we know that accent varies according to geographical areas (North, South, etc)

Now, I’m going to show the accents of British English and their features:

 *Received pronunciation: is the closest to a ``standard accent´´ that has ever existed in the UK. Although it originally derives from London English, it is non-regional. It emerged from the 18^th and 19^th century aristocracy. Some features of received pronunciation are:

    -Non-rhoticity, meaning the `r´ at the end of the words isn’t pronounced. Ex: mother (muhthuh).

    -Trap-bath split, meaning that words like ``bath, can’t or dance´´ are pronounced with the broad –a in father.

   -The vowels tend to be a bit more conservative than other accents in Southern England.

*Cockney: is probably the second most famous British accent. It originated in the East of London. It shares features with other dialects. Its features are:

    -Raised vowel in words like ``trap (trep) and cat (cet).

    -Non-rhoticity: the `r´ at the end of the words isn’t pronounced.

    -Trap-bath split: words like ``bath, can’t or dance´´ are pronounced with the broad –a.

    -London vowel shift: the vowel sounds are shifted around so that Cockney ``day´´ is pronounced /daei/.

    -Glottal stopping: the letter `t ´is pronounced with the back of the throat (glottis) between vowels.

    -L-vocalization: the `l´ at the end of words often becomes a vowel sound. Examples: ``pal´´ can seem to sound like ``pow´´.

    -Th-fronting: the `th´ in words like ``think or this´´ is pronounced with a more forward consonant depending on the word: ``thing´´ becomes ``fing´´, ``this´´ becomes ``dis´´.

*Estuary English (Southeast British): is derived from London English which has achieved a status slightly similar to ``General American´´ in the US. Features:

    -Similar to Cockney, but in general Estuary speakers don’t front `th´ words or raise the vowel in trap.

    -Glottal stopping of `t´ and l-vocalization are markers of this accent, although there’s some debate above their frequency.

*West country (Southwest British):  it refers to a large swath of accents heard in the South of England. Characteristics:

    -Rhoticity: `r´ is pronounced after vowels.

*Midlands English: it can be divided into East Midlands and West Midlands. The most famous of these dialects is Brummie (Birmingham English). Here, I show some features:

    -The foot-strut merger: the syllable in ``foot and could´´ is pronounced with the same syllable as ``strut and fudge´´ (ʊ).

    -System of vowels: short i in ``kit´´ sometimes verging toward kit (`keet´) and extremely open ``loose´´ diphthongs.

    -A variety of unusual vocabulary: some East Midlands dialects still feature a variant of the word ``thou´´.

*Northern England English: accents and dialects spoken in north of the midlands, in cities like Manchester, Leeds an Liverpool. Their features are:

    -The foot-strut merger.

    -Non-rhoticity, except in some rural areas.

    The diphthong in words like ``kite and ride´´ is lengthened so that ``kite´´ can become something like /ka:it/.

    -Unique vocabulary includes use of the word mam to mean mother, similar to Irish English.

 

*Geordie: it usually refers to areas of Northeast England but it mainly refers to people of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. Features:

    -The foot-strut merger.

   -Non-rhoticity.

    -The /ai/ diphthong in ``kite´´ is raised to /ei/.

    -The /au/ diphthong in ``about´´ is pronounced /u:/ in strong dialects. ``Bout´´ can sound like ``boot´´.

*Welsh English: it refers to accents and dialects spoken in the country of Wales. Features:

    -Usually non-rhotic.

    -Syllables tend to be very stressed, and the prosody of the accent is often very ``musical´´.

    -The letter `r´ is often trilled or tapped.

*Scottish English: it refers to English spoken in the country of Scotland. We must know that Scottish English is different than Scots.

Scots has a strong influence on how English in Scotland is spoken. Features:

    -Rhotic, with trilled or tapped r’s.

    -Glottal stopping of the letter `t´ between vowels. It is similar to Cockney.

    -Monophonic pronunciation of the /ei/ and /ou/ diphthongs. Ex: face /fe:s/, goat /go:t/.