INTRODUCTION
In Great Britain some travelers often face the difficulty of understanding native speakers. It is important to find out the reason of that problem. That’s why I took a decision to do a research work. The relevance is caused by the fact that English language we study at school differs from modern spoken English. So I propose hypotheses that language difficulties are caused because of accents and dialects that we do not study at school.
My work is devoted to the research of British accents. To achieve the goal I set next tasks: to study publications, articles, to watch English films and videos on you-tube channel and to make an experiment.
The aim of my research work is to study the characteristic features of some British accents and to identify the similarity and difference between them.
The hypotheses: a great number of accents cause difficulties in understanding native speakers.
The object of the research is the British accents.
The objectives are:
- to study the origin of the English language
- to give the definition to the concept “Accent”
- to reveal the difference between British accents
- to reveal the similarity between British accents
Methods of research are theoretical and empirical:
- study, analyses and generalization of British accents
- survey
- practical experiment
The material of the research work is based on scientific articles, books written by linguists, articles and videos from the Internet.
Practical value of this work is that its discovery could be interesting for those who are keen on varieties of the English accents.
In linguistics, accent is a manner of pronunciation peculiar to a particular individual, location, or nation. A famous British linguist, David Crystal, in his book “You say POTATO, a book about accents” (2014) says, “Our accent is the most important index of identity that we’ve got. Everybody wants to say who they are and where they’re from. And the easiest and cheapest and most universal way of doing that is through their accent. There is no such thing as an ugly accent, like there’s no such thing as an ugly flower”. An accent may identify the locality in which its speakers reside (a geographical or regional accent), the socio-economic status of its speakers, their ethnicity, their caste or social class. Accents typically differ in quality of voice, stress, pronunciation of vowels and consonants. The word accent refers specifically to the differences in pronunciation, whereas the word dialect encompasses the broader set of linguistic differences. Accent is often a subset of dialect.
David Crystal says that accents have always existed. Accents are being mixed. It depends on where a person lives and with whom he socializes. (D. Crystal’s report “Accents in English, their Past, Present, Future”).
Some accents are perceived to carry more prestige in a society than other accents. This is often due to their association with the elite part of a society. For example, in the United Kingdom Received Pronunciation of the English language is associated with the traditional upper class. However, in linguistics there is no differentiation among accents in regard to their prestige, aesthetics, or correctness. All languages and accents are linguistically equal.
Speaking about the role of accents in communication, we can say that they are an important part of individual’s or community’s life. However, having an accent may cause some difficulties in communicating with a person of other community or a foreigner.
THE MAIN PART
THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
The history of the English language began with three Germanic tribes that invaded Britain in the fifth century AD. These tribes were the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, that came from what is now Denmark and Northern Germany, crossing the North Sea. At that time, the inhabitants of Britain spoke Celtic, but the invaders pushed the Celts to the Western and Northern edges of the island. In fact, to areas which are Wales, Scotland and Ireland now. The Angles called their country "Englaland "and their language was called" Englisc "- hence the words" England” and "English".
In fact, the history of the English language is a fascinating process. It is Germanic tribes’ dialect that inhabitants of Britain spoke in the 5th century and that dialect turned into the language which about 8 million people speak all over the world nowadays.
English language is considered to be North-Germanic language that was formed on the basis of Anglo-Frisian dialect that was brought to Britain by German invaders and inhabitants of present north-western Germany, western Denmark and the Netherlands in the V-VII centuries AD.
Old English included different groups of dialects, reflecting the origin of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, which were formed in different parts of Great Britain. As a result, West-Saxon dialect became dominating. Old English had a great influence on Middle English language.
The Anglo-Saxon period of Old English developed into Middle English language, which was spoken from the times of Norman invasion (1066) till the end of the XV century. Contacts with the North-Germanic tribes, Scandinavians, Normans influenced much the formation of the English language.
Early Modern English language, the language of Shakespeare, has been widely spoken since 1500. Many borrowings of Latin, Greek, French, German and Holland are in the language of Shakespeare. English language became much similar Modern English. That was the period when there were great changes in pronunciation. Modern English is a result of Great Vowel Shift happened in the 15th century. Standardized London dialect in the government and administration field influenced the language. As a result, English acquired such terms as “accent” and “dialect”. There were next changes then:
How invasions influenced the English language
I have looked at the English language from a different perspective and different angle. It is interesting to learn the history of the language, how it has developed because the English language has not always been the way it is today. It has developed over hundreds and hundreds of years. Now hundreds of millions people speak English all over the world whether it is the first language or the second language or just one of the foreign languages that they speak and learn at school. However, hundreds of years ago the English language that we know today did not really exist. It was put together gradually by different historical events.
We are going back in history. You can see a time line which shows significant periods of the British history.
In 55 BC it was the Roman invasion of Britain. Roman Empire and Julius Caesar were famous and powerful then. The Roman Empire spread in different directions and Britain was one of the directions they did it. They came to Britain, stayed a while and built nice buildings, roads and a long wall that goes across between Scotland and England. It is called Hadrian’s Wall because the Emperor was Hadrian that time. Anyway, when they came and stayed for some time they brought their language with them. It was Latin and it is called dead language today. However, it has influenced so many languages, especially in Southern Europe, such as Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese. In those countries we experience the Latin influence. The natives of the country started learning Latin words and it became integrated into the language. Let us have a look at some words we use today. English language has 29% of Latin words which were borrowed during Roman invasion. Here are just a few words of Latin origin (human, animal, dental, decimal, digital, manual, factory, library, lunar, solar, military).
The next major event was in 450 AD. Germanic migration moved across from the Saxony. The language they brought with them was Anglo-Saxon, it merged with the English. Another name for that was Old English that was completely different. They brought a different language. English has 26% words of Germanic origin (Old English, Middle English, Old North, Dutch). Here are some examples (apple, bad, good, eat, drink, boy, girl, foot, arm, eye).
In the 6th century England was that is called “a pagan country”, a sort of pre-Christianity. St. Augustin came and started converting people to Christianity. Augustine was a monk in Rome when in 595, Pope Gregory the Great chose him to lead a mission in order to convert the pagan Anglo-Saxons to the Christian faith. Christianity was introduced in England during Roman times. St. Augustin brought the bible and some other books written in different languages. So, again Latin, Greek and Hebrew came in. English language contains only 6% of Greek words. These words are used in academic language (life, android, academic, cinema, climate, democracy, economy, geography, history, idea).
In 8-11th centuries some more invasions to Britain happened. Vikings, who were from Scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark), came across the sea and settled down. It was just one invasion happened over 8-11 centuries. They spoke Scandinavian languages (Old Norse is one of them).
The Norman invasion in 1066 was a big date in English history. They were French who came across the channel. The Normans had a big battle near the south coast of Britain and they won. During the Norman invasion, they brought French for the first time and some more Latin again, because anyway French developed from Latin. (beef, pork, veal, continue, liberty, justice, journey, people, very, true).
English language did not stop developing, other things happened, for example, in the 15-16th centuries people started exploring the world finding such places as America, India, Portugal, China. New words, such as tobacco, potatoes came into language.
The age of colonialism came in the 18-19th centuries. Britain became involved politically in different activities.
The language is still developing now, the Internet, travelling to different countries bring a lot of words from Asia, Middle East (balcony, bungalow, guru, kiosk, pyjamas, sandals, shampoo)
So, English language is a cauldron with a lot of ingredients added to it.
English spread in Great Britain, Ireland, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and some parts of Africa from the times of British colonization. Now it is a means of international communication.
The Variety of Accents
Spoken English shows a great variation across regions where it is the predominant language.
Accent is the part of dialect concerning local pronunciation. It is a type of pronunciation or a feature of one which can be found in speech of any individual or the whole speech community. Thus, phonetics is mainly concerned with accents of English, as spoken on different territories, in diverse social groups, by particular individuals.
Non-native speakers tend to carry over the intonation and phonetics of their mother tongue in English speech.
Native-speakers show great variability in terms of regional accents. Some accents are easily identified by key characteristics; others are more obscure or easily confused. Broad regions can possess sub-forms as identified below; for instance, towns located less than 10 miles (16 km) from the city of Manchester, such as Bolton, Rochdale, Oldham and Salford, each have distinct accents, all of which together comprise the broader accent of Lancashire county.
In the United Kingdom there are more than thirty accents.
The main ones are:
The Description of the Main Accents
It was interesting for me to learn not only about different accents in Britain, but about famous people’s accents too. We know that they come from different towns and cities and we can suppose that they speak their native accents. Now let us pay close attention to some of them.
Received Pronunciation
Received Pronunciation, or RP, refers to an accent in English regarded by many people as a “standard” accent. It has also been called “the Queen's English” or “BBC English”. The strangest thing is that only a very small percentage of people speak with this accent (only about 3%).They are people in positions of power, authority or reign. It is a very clear accent.
Though, in the past, RP had high status in the UK, indicating an educated speaker. For example, Benedict Cumberbatch, a famous actor, speaks with Received Pronunciation as he was born in West London and got his education in Harrow School, a prestigious public school in Britain.
Cockney
This is one of the UK’s most famous dialects, and it goes hand in hand with London. It came about as the dialect of the London working classes, especially in the poorer East End of the city. Cockney is spoken in “Harry Potter” by Argus Filch and Mundungus Fletcher. Such famous musicians as Eric Clapton, David Bowie and a footballer David Beckham speak Cockney.
Estuary English
The “Estuary” accent is the Thames Estuary, and this dialect is spoken by people who live along its stretch. It is now becoming one of the most widely spoken accents down south. EE as a variety of modified regional speech, a mixture of non-regional and local southeastern English pronunciation and intonation. This English variety is associated with the middle class society. Lots of famous people speak it. Comedians like Ricky Gervais and Russell Brand, presenters like Jonathan Ross and the TV chef Jamie Oliver, a singer, Adele speaks Estuary English.
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a big county in England, and lots of people speak with a variation of the Yorkshire dialect as a result. The dialect has roots in Old English and was influenced by Old Norse. Known as “God’s Own County”, Yorkshire has a delicious dialect. The famous rock band “Arctic Monkeys” are Yorkshire-accented speakers.
Northern Irish
The Northern Irish accent is quite a beautiful one and a strong one too. The first thing you will probably notice about Northern Irish is how many letters seem to be missing from words when people speak it. For example, “Northern Irish” would be pronounced more like “Nor’n Ir’sh”. A singer, Van Morrison and an actor, James Nesbitt are the celebrities who speak Northern Irish.
Brummie
It is quite soft, elastic and lumpy sounding. This accent is considered to be the most difficult to reproduce. It is spoken in Birmingham. A famous actor, Cillian Murphy, spoke with Brummie in the film “Peaky Blinders”.
Scottish
The Scottish dialect varies hugely from city to city, town to town, and becomes increasingly like the Irish accent in the Western Isles, and increasingly like Nordic languages in the islands to the far north. The more remote the area, the stronger the accent seems to become, so people from the Shetland Islands can be hard to understand at first. Besides, Glaswegian can be tricky too, even for Scots themselves.
Mel Gibson in “Brave heart” tried to speak Scottish but it turned out difficult for him to imitate that accent.
Scouse
Scouse is one of the most distinctive regional accents in England with unique sound variations and a melody all of its own. The Liverpudlian accent is one of the most famous British regional accents thanks to the Beatles, and it is a very nasal dialect that can be hard to copy at first. Scouse became trendy and many other Liverpool bands took advantage of that.
Geordie
People from Newcastle speak the Geordie dialect, and they are called Geordies too. One of the biggest differences between Geordie and RP is that the ‘r’s at the end of words are not pronounced, and tend to be pronounced as ‘ah’ instead. So a word like “sugar” becomes “sug-ah”. The celebrities like Sting, Andy Taylor (of Duran Duran), singer Cheryl FernandezVersini, singer Perrie Edwards are some well-known Geordies.
Practical Part
Comparative Analyses of Different Accents
So let us have a look through some of the accents that we have in the UK.
The main accents which I want to explore:
- Cockney
- Geordie
- Scouse
- Yorkshire
- Scottish English
- West country
- Northern Irish
- Manchester
1. Cockney
This is one of the UK’s most famous dialects. I suggest you get acquainted with the five most famous examples of Cockney slang, well known to every Briton.
- Apples and pears - Stairs (I am just going down the apples to get a cup of tea from the kitchen.)
- Adam and Eve - Believe (Would you Adam and Eve it?)
- Dog and bone - Phone (My dog is ringing)
- Loaf of bread - Head (Use your loaf! Think!)
- Baked bean - Queen (Look! Who is on TV, it is the baked bean!)
Cockney accent examples:
- The “th” sound, Cockney person may not use the “th”, they will use an “f” sound or a “v” sound instead.
- The sound “t” is not pronounced.
- When there is an “l” sound in a word, like in the word “milk”, Cockney speakers tend to make a “wa” sound instead of the “l”.
2. Geordie
People from Newcastle speak the Geordie dialect, and they are called Geordies too. One of the biggest differences between Geordie and RP is that the “r” s at the end of words are not pronounced, and tend to be pronounced as “ah” instead. So a word like “sugar” becomes “sug-ah”.
- The feature we are going to look at is the short [ʌ] sound in words such as up, above, strut and etc. Funny (u-[ u ])
- Now let’s move on to our diphthong sounds. A diphthong sound is two vowel sounds that sit together to make one long moving vowel. The first one we are going to look at is the /au/ present in words such as town, brown, pound. (ow, ou - [əu])
- /ai/ diphthong presents in words such as price, night, right.(i - [i:] )
- Next we have the /ei/ diphthong presents in these words: eight, away, rain (ei, ay, ai-[i:])
- Moving on, we have the /əu/ diphthong presented in words such as hope, own, goat (o-[o:])
- Next we are going to look at consonant sounds and a glottalized /p/. Now this glottal sound will happen when «p» is between two vowel sounds for example in the following words and phrases: proper, paper, jumper (mild sound).
- We can also plot lies the “k” if it appears between two vowel sounds for example: lucky, walk away (a very short sound)
- And of course we can glottal sound “t” if it appears between two vowel sounds: better, automatic, attitude (short sound, it isn’t accented).
- Also speakers may drop the linking sound which would normally sound when a word ends with the letter “r” and the new word starts with a vowel sound. For example if you say «four oranges» we would normally link it with an “r” (fororanges).
3. Scouse
The Liverpudlian accent is one of the most famous British regional accents thanks to the Beatles, and it is a very nasal dialect that can be hard to copy at first! People in Liverpool are very friendly and down-to-earth but if you find yourself in a conversation with a Scouser you might find that you are a little bit confused because they use some words that we do not normally use in standard British English. Scouse has a fast, highly accented manner of speech, with a range of rising and falling tones typical of most Northern English dialects.
We are going to go through some of the common ones.
- Bizzies - Police
- Kecks - trousers
- Made up - really happy
- Cob on - bad mood
- Bevvy - drink
- Scran - food
- Geggin in - being nosey
So, let us now look at the actual accent and some of the differences in pronunciation between a Scouse accent and a standard British English accent.
- The first thing we are going to look at is the fricative “t”. Well, when a “t” is at the end of a word and sometimes when it is in the middle of a word then rather having a plosive sound a Scouser might make it fricative. (For example if I say “right” a Scouser would say “rights”, “do not” – “do nots”.
- Another typical feature of the Scouse accent is the “k” sound. So, when a word ends with a “k” a Scouser may constrict this sound (back-bah).
- One of the differences in vowels is the [ʌ] vowel.
- For example: come - [o]
- One more example: the sound [ð] but in the Scouse we have [d]. For example: though
- ([ð] - [d]).
- Sometimes when a “t” has a vowel on either side some old-school Scousers may change the “t” for an “r” and a very famous example of this is the “Lorra lorra laughs”- a lot of a lot of laughs.
4. Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a big county in England and many people speak with a variation of the Yorkshire dialect as a result.
- Now we are going to look at the short vowel “ah” present in words such as love, some, cup, fun this is a very different sound in the Yorkshire accent.
- [Λ] → [u]
- The next feature is the treatment of the long vowel /a:/ present in words such as bath, past, last, chance and etc. in the Yorkshire accent this becomes a short vowel /æ/
- [a:] → [æ]
- [a:] → [æ]
- Next let us look at the diphthong [əu] present in words such as goat, tone, spoke, no, go in Yorkshire these are very different sounds.
- [əu] → [o:]
Another diphthong is the /ei/ can be found in these words: late, compensate, date.
- [ei] → [e։]
- Often but not always you will hear the /h/ omitted.
- You may sometimes hear the middle /t/ or a double /t/ being glottalized.
- When a word ends with /i:/ in Yorkshire accent you will hear this as a short /i/ sound.
5. West Country
West Country is a loosely defined area of south-western England. The term usually encompasses the historic counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, and Somerset, and is often extended to include Wiltshire and Gloucestershire in the South West region. There are certain phrases that you would only hear from someone in the West Country.
For example:
- hello mate - gurt lush
- very good - Ark at he
- in any case - skew-whiff
- Where are you going- where be to?
- wood louse - Chucky pig
Some people will associate the West Country accent with farmers but it is not true.
Now let us look at some of the common features of the West Country accent.
- So, we are going to start with “r” sound. A Standard British English accent does not have “r”. We only pronounce the “r” if it is at the beginning of a word. But when you are speaking with the West Country accent we do pronounce the “r”
For example:
- farm (we do a long sound)- form
- warm- vorm
- lover-lover
- first- first
- The next feature we are looking at the [aı] diphthong. In the West Country accent it is more rounded with the “or” vowel rather than the /ai/ vowel at the beginning.
- I - [oi]
- guide - [ goid]
- white - [voi]
- life - [loif]
- The next feature is the [ŋ] sound. Only when we have an –ing ending.
So, for example:
- walking-walkin_
- talking- talkin_
- Another feature of the West Country accent is the [ʌ] vowel:
This sound is more closed than normal.
- The final feature we are going to look today is the West Country accent relationship with the sound “t”. When a “t” appears at the end of the word they generally omit it.
Some examples:
- that-tha_
Also when a “t” is in the middle of a word, mostly when it starts the final syllable, it becomes a glottalized “t’’
- For example:
- water - wa_er
- butter- bu_er
6. Northern Irish
Some common phrases you may hear from an Irishman:
What’s going on?- What’s the craic?
- dead on-Fine
- aye - Yes
Now let’s have a look at some of the common features of this accent:
- First of all we are going to look at the long vowel [a:]
- The second is an [aʊ] diphthong:
- how- hi
- now- ni
- cow- ci
- The third feature is the sound “r” which we normally ignore in standard English, in Northern Irish is more rhotic English, so they color the “r” a little bit more:
- water-water
- mother- mother
- doctor- doctor
- The fourth is the sound [ŋ]
- talking- talkin_
- speaking- speakin_
- swimming- swimmin_
- The fifth feature is the sound [t]. When a word ends with “t” they omit it:
- cat- [kа]
- that- [ðа]
- hat- [ha]
- The sixth feature is that sound [u:] is pronounced as [ju]:
- School-[skjul]
- fool - [fjul
7. Glaswegian
First of all let us look at individual sounds that may be different between a Glaswegian accent and a standard British accent.
- The first sound is the short vowel [ɪ]
- Secondly, the “r” is generally tapped:
- bring- [briŋ]
green grass- [gri:n gra:s]
- bring- [briŋ]
- Thirdly, we are going to look at the [w] sound but specifically when “w’’ is followed by “h” the sound [h] is pronounced.
- what - [whot]
- where - [whɛə]
- Next let’s look at the diphthong [əu]
- go - [gu ]
- home - [hum]
- do not - [dunt]
- show - [∫u]
- Well, we are going to look at [ai] diphthong in this accent this diphthong is shorter than in normal British accent.
- kind - [kaınd]
- fight - [faıt]
- The next diphthong is the [au]:
- how - [hou]
- about - [about]
8. Scottish dialect
Some of the Scottish dialects you would hear specifically in Glasgow.
- Instead of saying “yes” and “no” you might hear “aye” and “naw” (ai and no )
- When you hear words such as “shouldn’t , wouldn’t, couldn’t and etc…” those types of words will change and end on” knee”
- couldn’t - couldnae [kudni ]
- And some more examples
- little - wee
- head - heed
- going - gon
9. Manchester
The Mancunian or Manchester is a northern accent. First let us look at some of the dialect that you would use:
- chewing gum- chuddy
- trouble - mither
- ignorant, foolish – muppet
- extremely happy – buzzing
- a residence – guff
Some characteristics of the Mancunian accent include dropping the “r” and “t” at the end of words. The “t” is also dropped when it is in the middle of words, and is substituted with a “glottal stop”. Another characteristic also includes dropping the “h” sound at the beginning of a word. There is no difference in pronunciation of the sounds [u] and [u:].
- letter - le’ah (glottal stop)
- hand – _and (dropping the ‘h’ sound at the beginning of a word)
- fast – fast (short sound [ʌ])
- strut - [u] (short sound [u])
- foot - [u] (short sound [u])
CONCLUSION
An accent is a reflection of the unique background of each person and many people are proud of their individual accent and style. All the accents played an important role in the development of the English language, as we know it today.
The British accents have been forming for a long time, so they have their own history. Roman, Norman, Scandinavian, German invasions influenced much the formation of different British accents.
People, who speak accents, do not pronounce a number of sounds. They may pronounce one sound instead of another. Accent speakers also change plosive sounds into fricative ones.
Accent speakers arouse the interest of producers and managers who work on TV or in the cinema industry. Accents are becoming popular nowadays. One can see many characters, who are speaking British accent in movies, TV-shows that are broadcasted in English-speaking countries. That means that the culture of accent speakers strongly influences British mass culture, as we understand it today.
Finally, it turned out that even if we know English, we can not understand the British well enough because we do not know accents. So, it is significant to learn them.