G4 Proseminar

Dialectology

http://www.ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/

Accents of the North of England and Welsh English

DIALECTS OF ENGLAND

The West Country

Greater London and the
Home Counties

East Anglia

The Far North

The Middle North

The Midlands

G4 Proseminar

Dialectology

http://www.ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/

Accents of the North of England and Welsh English

GENERAL FEATURES OF NORTHERN SPEECH

•

Linguistic North: everything north of the line Severn – Wash, as defined by

retention of Middle English

/u/

and development of 18

th

century

/æ:/

to

/a/

–

not classic, cultural definition of “North” which would not include Midlands

–

also not historically defined as descendant of Northumbrian Old English

–

definition relies on two major isoglosses

•

phonetic/phonological features common throughout the north of England

–

no split of Middle English

/u/

into

/ʊ/

and

/ʌ/, therefore “put” and “putt” both

pronounced

/put/, similarly “brother” (/bɹuðə/), “must” (/must/) etc.

•

is considered a very typical features and somewhat stigmatized

•

northern Near-RP speakers may produce pronunciations with

/ə/

(“cup” as

/kəp/)

–

/ɑ:/ when derived from /æ:/ in the 18

th

century is pronounced

/a/, thus “laugh”

/laf/, “last” /last/ or “path” /paθ/, “glass” rhymes with “gas”

–

lax vowels

/ɪ ɛ a ɒ

u/ generally perceptibly lower than in RP

–

/u/

and

/ɒ/ only weakly rounded

–

different diphthongs before old velar fricative:

/ɛɪ/

as

[ɛɪ] in “weigh”, but [e:] in

“way”;

/aɪ/

as

[aɪ] in “rite”, but [i:] in “right” (except in West Midlands);

distinction increasingly lost under RP influence

–

in the central north (Manchester, Leeds) final –y as

/ɪ/ like in RP (“happy” [apɪ]),

in Nottingham even lower

/ɛ̈/, peripheral areas (Birmingham, Newcastle,

Liverpool) however with

/i:/

G4 Proseminar

Dialectology

http://www.ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/

Accents of the North of England and Welsh English

THE MIDLANDS

•

East Midlands (Leicester, Nottingham) with affinity to Middle North; West
Midlands (Birmingham, Wolverhampton) with most southern-like
characteristics, but north-western transitional area (Stoke-on-Trent, Derby)

•

diphthong

/aɪ/ has a back starting point /ɑɪ/

or even

/ɒɪ/, i.e. “price” as

/pɹɑɪs/

•

lax vowels

/ɪ ɛ a ɒ

u/ like RP in the West Midlands, in the east lowered like

in the rest of the North

•

diphthong

/əʊ/ is pronounced /ɔʊ/

or

/ʌʊ/, i.e., “goat” as /gɔʊt/

or

/gʌʊt/

•

monophthongs generally short (northern-like characteristic), diphthongs
either RP-like or with southern characteristics

•

the distinction

/ʊ/ -

/ʌ/ (non-existent in the North) sometimes merged as

/ɣ/ in so-called ‘Fudged Lects’ in the transition zone, e.g.., both “put” and
“putt” as

/pɣt/

•

/ŋ/ is not a phoneme in most of the West Midlands (see Middle North)

G4 Proseminar

Dialectology

http://www.ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/

Accents of the North of England and Welsh English

THE MIDDLE NORTH

•

distinction between

/i:/

from Middle English

/e:/

as in “meet” (

/mi:t/) and

/i:/

from Middle English

/ɛ:/

as in “meat” (

/mɪət/)

•

diphthong

/aɪ/

most often articulated as

[aɛ]

throughout the Middle North

•

/ɔ:/

lowered to

/ɒ:/,e.g., “law” (/lɒ:/) vs. “low” (/lo:/)

•

traditional dialect in some words with

/əʊ/

is

/ɔɪ/ in South and West

Yorkshire, central Lancashire (“coal-hole” as

/kɔɪl hɔɪl/)

•

/ɑ/

produced as more front

/a(:)/

(typical of city accents of Manchester,

Leeds): “park” (

/pa(:)k/)

•

Yorkshire Assimilation: final voiced obstruent becomes voiceless when
adjacent to initial voiceless obstruent within compound or across word
boundary: “bed-time” (

/bɛt taɛm/), “live performance” (/laɛf pəfɒ:məns/)

–

total devoicing, i.e. “white trousers” = “wide trousers”

•

no phoneme

/ŋ/:

–

situation in Middle English is retained and

/g/ not dropped after [ŋ

], thus no

mininal pairs of the type “sin”-”sing” as “sing” remains

[sɪŋg]

and

[ŋ]

is just an

allophone of

/n/

–

Examples: wrong (

[ɹɒŋg]), ringing ([ɹɪŋgɪŋg]) etc.

G4 Proseminar

Dialectology

http://www.ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/

Accents of the North of England and Welsh English

MERSEYSIDE

•

“Scouse”-Accent: Liverpool greater urban area (County of Merseyside)

–

clearly distinct from neighboring areas

–

came into existence in the 19

th

century due to large number of Irish immigrants

•

most obvious Irish influences

–

dental stops for dental fricatives: “tooth” as

[t

h

ut̪] (only working-class Catholics)

–

voiceless stops lack complete closure in some syllable-final environments, resulting

in fricatives: “snake”

[sne:x], “cup” [k

h

uɸ], “short” [ʃɒ:ț]

•

further development in affrication of all stops in syllable-initial environments: “my dad”

[mi d

z

ad]

•

characteristic velarized voice quality: raised/backed tongue, tightened pharynx,
larynx pushed upward creates ‘adenoidal’ voice quality similar to speech with

an obstructed nasal passage

•

prosody: rise with level tail in declaratives (e.g. “I don’t like it”), skip-fall in

Yes/No-questions (e.g. “Are you from Liverpool?”

•

/ɛə/ (“square”) and /ɜ:/

(“nurse”) merged to

/ɛ̈:/, /ë/

or

/ɛ:/, such that

“pair” = “purr”, “furry” = “fairy”

•

no phoneme

/ŋ/ as in most of Middle North

•

/i/

and

/u/

slightly diphthongized in final position: “bee”

[bɪi], “two” [t

h

ɪu]

G4 Proseminar

Dialectology

http://www.ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/

Accents of the North of England and Welsh English

THE FAR NORTH

•

Great Vowel Shift differences (distinguish Far North from Middle North):

–

Middle English

/u:/ remains unchanged (“shout” as [ʃu:t])

–

Middle English

/o:/

becomes

/ɪə/

(“shoot” as

[ʃɪət])

•

Northumbrian Burr: former uvular fricative

[ʁ] influences preceding vowels

(e.g., “birds”

[bɔ

ʁ

:dz]), which are retracted, if not uvularized (in

Northumberland, northern Durham County, but not Newcastle)

–

can cause a following alveolar to be retroflex, e.g. “short” as

[ʃɔʈ]

•

diphthong

/aɪ/

most often articulated as

[ɛɪ]

throughout the Far North

•

diphthong

/əʊ/ is pronounced /o:/, /ʊə/

or

/oə/

and some even more

divergent pronunciations in traditional dialects, e.g. “stone” as

[steǎn]

in Dent

•

No H-Dropping throughout the Far North

•

Northern T-to-R Rule:

–

/ɹ/

is used instead of

/t/

when preceded by a short vowel and followed by a word

boundary and a vowel: “shut up” as

[ʃuɹ

up], “get off” as [gɛɹ

ɒf]

•

historical explanation

[t] formerly as a tap [ɾ] (still in traditional dialect areas)

G4 Proseminar

Dialectology

http://www.ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/

Accents of the North of England and Welsh English

TYNESIDE

•

“Geordie”-Accent: Newcastle greater urban area (County of Tyne-and-Wear)

•

only urban accent in England with no H-Dropping, clear “l”

•

(post)glottalization of

/p t k/

in syllable-final position (“rock” as

[ɹɒʔ]

or

[ɹɒkʔ] and before a weak vowel: “pity” as [pɪtʔi], “couple” as [k

h

upʔəl]

•

influence of historic uvular

/ʁ/ leads to lowering of preceding unstressed

vowel, e.g., “letter” as

[lɛtɑ], “under” as [undɑ]

•

/aɪ/

is

[ɛɪ] except finally and before voiced fricatives: “Tyneside”

[t

h

ɛɪnsɛɪd], “in my time” [ɪn maɪ

t

h

ɛɪm], “five” [faɪv]

•

/i:/

has the allophone

[ei]

in morpheme-final position: “knees”

[neiz]

•

diphthongs /

ɛɪ/

and

/əʊ/

usually monophthongal:

/e:/

and

/ɵ:/ (mid

central rounded vowel) or centering dipthongs in traditional dialect forms:

[eə]

and

[ɵə]

(“pay” as

[p

h

e:], “home” as [hɵ:m]

•

strong accent: RP

/ɜ:/

is

/ɔ:/

(“work”, “first”), whereas

/ɔ:/

is

/ɑ:/

(“walk”)

•

/a/ is long when followed by voiced consonant alone or in a voiced cluster:
“lamb” (

[la:m]), “band” ([ba:nd]), “slant” ([slant]), “laugh” ([laf])

˚

˚

G4 Proseminar

Dialectology

http://www.ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/

Accents of the North of England and Welsh English

WELSH ENGLISH I

•

not English-speaking until mid-19

th

century, except for small eastern areas

–

English learned imposed by schoolteachers as a result of political pressure

•

no North-South dialect areas due to hilly topography: influence of south-
western (south Wales) , Midlands (mid Wales) and northern (north Wales)
English accents in the corresponding regions

•

fall-rise “sing-song” intonation

–

transfer from Welsh

–

considered most striking feature of Welsh English by English speakers

•

avoidance of secondary stress in long words/compounds, without vowel
reduction, but resyllabification across morpheme boundaries: e.g., “Bridgend”
as

/bɹɪˈʤɛnd/

in Welsh English vs.

/ˌbɹɪʤˈɛnd/ in RP

•

lengthened (geminated) consonants in intervocalic position: e.g., “city” as

[sɪtti:], “nothing” as [naθθɪŋ], “ever” as [ɛvvə] etc.

•

diphthongs

/əʊ/

and

/ɛɪ/

as monophthongs

/o:/ and /e:/

–

/e:/ only when from ME /a:/, ME /aɪ/ is /ɛɪ/, thus “maid” (/mɛɪd/) vs.
“made” (

/me:d/)

G4 Proseminar

Dialectology

http://www.ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/

Accents of the North of England and Welsh English

WELSH ENGLISH II

•

non-rhotic accent except for southern parts under long-time influence of
southwestern accents as well as native speakers of Welsh from areas where little
English is spoken

–

cause is non-rhoticity as norm in 19

th

century when English was formally taught

•

“r” usually realized as tapped

/ɾ/

•

/ʌ/

merged with

/ə/, e.g., “rubber” as /ɾəbə/; “a large untidy room” = “a

large and tidy room”

•

diphthongs

/aɪ/ and /aʊ/ have mid central starting points /əɪ/

and

/əʊ/,

e.g. “life”

/ləɪf/, “loud” /ləʊd/

•

avoidance of centering diphthongs and smoothing:

–

/ɪə/ either as /jɜ:/

(“beer” as

/bjɜ:/) or split into two syllables (/bi:jə/)

–

similarly

/ʊə/:

“poor” as

/puwə/

–

no smoothing of diphthong + schwa, instead syllable splitting: “fire” as

[fəɪjə],

“power” as

[p

h

əʊwə]

•

long mid central /

ɜ:/ strongly rounded in south Wales: “church” = [ʧœ:ʧ]

•

clear /l/, H-Dropping

G4 Proseminar

Dialectology

http://www.ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/

Accents of the North of England and Welsh English

EXERCISES:

/ɒ ɔ ʊ u: ɛɪ ɛ aɪ ɔɪ aʊ/

1.

Don got caught in a storm

2.

Gordon ordered a pot of coffee

3.

Paul knocked off at four forty

4.

Sean got off at the corner of Oxford Street

5.

Mr. Porter’s not a lot shorter than Mrs. Potter’s shorter daughter

6.

Miss Hooker’s a good-looker

7.

Could I have a look at your books?

8.

Mr. Butcher put his foot down

9.

The cook pushed Pussy of the cushion

10.

Mr. Buller’s on the hook for cooking his book

11.

A soup for me too, please

G4 Proseminar

Dialectology

http://www.ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/

Accents of the North of England and Welsh English

EXERCISES:

/ɒ ɔ ʊ u: ɛɪ ɛ aɪ ɔɪ aʊ/

12. Who flew to Luton?

13. Cows moo, doves coo, cats mew

14. Two more soup spoons, Sue!

15. Do you do doodles too, Lou?

16. Stu’s too blue to boo

17. Look at Luke

18. Captain Hook saw a spook

19. There’s a soot on your suit, Lou!

20. Could you book two good seats for Tuesday?

21. Lucy put her foot on Mr. Cooper’s pouf

22. Kate hates snakes

G4 Proseminar

Dialectology

http://www.ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/

Accents of the North of England and Welsh English

EXERCISES:

/ɒ ɔ ʊ u: ɛɪ ɛ aɪ ɔɪ aʊ/

23.

Stay for another day, Fay

24.

Daisy’s baking David a birthday cake

25.

Kate mainly blamed fate for her state

26.

Let’s not be late

27.

Ten men met Jane at the main gate

28.

Ned stayed in the shade of the shed

29.

Kate kept eight pets in Ted’s bed

30.

Ivor’s a diver

31.

I’d like a piece of pie

32.

I had a fine time in the Highlands

33.

“There’s a fly in my eye”, Eliza sighed

G4 Proseminar

Dialectology

http://www.ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/

Accents of the North of England and Welsh English

EXERCISES:

/ɒ ɔ ʊ u: ɛɪ ɛ aɪ ɔɪ aʊ/

34.

Noises annoy Ms. Floyd

35.

Joy’s too coy for her latest boy

36.

“I enjoyed that point”, said a joyful voice

37.

It’s a noisy noise that annoys an oyster

38.

Mr. Bowden’s out

39.

The bouncer clouted a lout

40.

The cowed lout shouted “Ouch”

41.

A mouse pounced on Mr. Townsend’s stout spouse