Regional Dialects
Dialect -accent, vocabulary, grammar and idioms of a particular grou of speakers.
Each area developer its own regional peculiarities and a very large number of distinct dialects grew up. There is nowhere else in the English-speaking world that has so many different dialects in so small a space as in Great Britain. Dialect suggests not only the accent that belongs to a particular area, but special features of vocabulary, grammar, idiom. In 889 “The Present English Dialects” by Alexander John Ellis was published. Ellis divided the country into 42 areas, ignoring large cities where dialects tend to be mixed. In 1948 Harold Orton and Eugen Dieth “Survey of English Dialects” began a survey of dialects throughout England. Jospeh Wright ”English Dialect Dictionary”
The most obvious dialectical divide is between north and south. Particularly distinctive are northen /a/ compared with southern /æ/, northern /u/ compared with southern /Λ/ ex. butter, /e:/ = /eI/, /o:/= /әu/.
Not only sounds but words vary. What is called a cowshed in one region, in others may be a cowhouse, stable. A donkey may be a cuddy, dicky, neddy. In many dialects verbs have been regularized, though not in the same way in all dialects. Some have the present tense ending in -s for all person, others have lost the -s in the 3rd person singular.
To many Northerners the whole of south-east England is inhibited by Cockneys. Even cities geographically close together often have distinctive speech ( Manchester and Liverpool).
Scottish
In the 5th century most of the inhabitants of Scotland spoke Gaelic, a Celtic language introduced from Ireland, and rather different from the Brythonic Celtic spoken in Wales. The Scottish nobility no longer took their southern neighbours as a model, and their language developed differently from any variety of English spoken south of the border. The Scottish aristocracy engaged English tutors for their sons to enable them to get rid of their provincial accent and idiom. The Church also contributed to the decline of the Scots tongue. In 1579 it become law that every household above a certain income must possess a Bible in the vernacular. After the Authorized Version of the Bible was published in 1611, King James ordered that every church should have a copy and use it in their Sunday services.
Sometimes the negative becomes -na attached to the end of the verb. So cannot becomes canna.
Welsh English
In the last 200 years the aWelsh language has declined. At the beginning of the 19th century the majority of Welsh people still spoke Welsh, and few of them knew English. By the end of the century only 2/3 could speak Welsh, and most were bi-lingual, today only 20% of the population speaks Welsh. Wales is bi-lingual, with all road signs and official notices in both Welsh and English. In many schools all classes are conducted in Welsh. Modern Welsh has borrowed many words from English. What is most distinctive about a Welsh accent is the intonation with its consonant musical rise and fall that is found nowhere else in Britain. Besides the music of their speech, the Welsh are famous for their oratory.\
Irish
Like other Celtic language, Irish Gaelic is in decline. In 1800 it was spoken by about 3,5 millions out of the total of 5 millions. At he beginning of the present century 85% of the population spoke only English. Today Irish Gaelic is an official language of the Irish Republic, and its use it encouraged in schools. The Irish have their own way of stressing words, not always on the same syllable as in Standard English.
Australia
In 1768 Captain James Cook claimed both New Zealand and Australia as British territory. A number of native words were adopted into English: kangaroo, boree, coala, wombat, boomerang. Many of the words and expressions now regarded as typically Australian had their origin in English dialect. Australians have been inventive in developing their own slang and colloquial expressions: crook `ill', drongo `fool'. Australia has been affected by American speech, but is arbitrary in its borrowings. Australians use English boot, petrol, trap, not American trunk, gasoline, but they follow Americans in using freeway, elevator, cookie, not British motorway, lift, biscuit, and their currency is the dollar no longer the pound. Australians have a tendency to swallow half their syllables, so that the word Australian comes out as Strine.
E.E. Morris “ a Dictionary of Australian Words, Phrases and Usages”, Dr W.S. Ramson ` the Australian National Dictionary”
New Zealand
New Zealand is sometimes overshadowed by Australia in the same way that Canada is by United States. The original inhabitants of the New Zealand are the Maoris. Words with a partocular New Zealand flavour include: `bach'- week and cottage, `line'- road, `dragging the chain' - working slowly.
Canada
British people can seldom distinguish Canadians from Americans, though Americans often comment on the Britishness of Canadian English. Canadian accents over an area larger than the USA vary even less than American ones. In their speech Canadians often prefer to use an American word: gas, truck. Sometimes, however, they prefer the British word: tap, braces. They use British spelling in: colour and theatre, but American in tire and aluminum. About 3 quarters of Canadians pronounce schedule, tomato, missile in the American way; about the same number say zed not zee, pronounce the first syllable of progress with a long vowel. A very distinctive feature of Canadian speech is the idiomatic use if eh at the end of the phrase or sentence. Young Canadians prefer to use the American idiom, seeing it as more up-to-date and dynamic.
South Africa
British involvement in South Africa dates from 1798, and the country came under British control in 1806. The steady stream of immigrants became a flood when gold and diamonds were discovered in the 1870s. The most outstanding characteristic of South Africa speech is the rising of the vowel / æ/ and /e/. Many Africaans words are used in South African English. One of the best known today, familiar not just in English but in other languages is apartheid, a few words have become part of the English language without reference to their background: commando, commandeer, spoor, trek. A peculiarly South African idiom is the use of with as an adverb. Most educated Black South Africans speak English but not Africaans, most educated Afrikaners also speak English.
The West Indies
In the early 17th c. the notorious `triangular trade' between Britain, the west coast of Africa and the New World began.
A pidgin language is a simplified language developed as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common, in situations such as trade, or where both groups speak languages different to the language of the country in which they reside. A pidgin language is not the native language of any speech community, but is learned as a second language. It can be built from words, sounds, or body language from multiple other languages. Omission of -s in the 3rd person sing, omission of “to be”
A creole language is a language that originated from a mixture of various languages. The creole language consists of words inherited from the parent languages, except for phonetic and semantic shifts. On the other hand, the grammar and words often has original features and may differ substantially from those of the parent languages.
A feature of pidgins and creoles in that inflections disappear. The 3rd person singular form of the present tense has lost its -s ending, there is no plural marker (3 book) the verb to be is omitted in the present continuous tense. Besides the unfamiliar grammatical usage and vocabulary, West Indian pronunciation often makes the language unintelligible to other English speakers. There is no /Ө/ and /б / Sounds at the beginning and at the end of words tend to be lost: mus -must.
Krio
Along the west coast of Africa there are a number of English-based pidgins and creoles. One such language, spoken in Sierra Leone, is Krio, a name that obviously comes from “creole'. An English-based pidgin developed with elements of several native languages. Krio has been used in informal writing for some time, and is becoming more and more frequent in newspapers, literature, the theatre, news, broadcasts and education. The grammatical structure of Krio is largely African, as is its system of pronunciation. Its lexis is 80% English, with a mixture of African languages and a few words of Portuguese and French. The style of Krio, both spoken and written, tends to be much more ornate than English. It has been influenced by political jargon. Religious idiom, taken from the language of Christian missionaries is quite commonly heard.
India
The number of English speakers in that population is variously estimated at between 3% and 10%. If we take the lower figure as being more realistic for the number of competent speakers, that still gives 26 million speakers. These are the most influential people who shape the country's development, those in parliament, in the legal system, in education, and in the arts and literature. There are over 1,600 languages and dialects in India, including 14 official ones. In 1857 English-speaking universities were established in Bombay, Calcutta. In the Indian sub-continent English is spoken at many different levels from the crudest pidgin to Oxbridge English. This is the speech of the 2 great universities of Oxford and Cambridge, where many upper-class Indians are still educated. Many Indians learned their English from books, often old classics so sometimes linking are inappropriate.
Hobson - Jobson “A Glossary of Anglo - Indian Words”
Singapore
The small island of Singapore has a population of about 2,5 millions, whose native languages are mainly Chinese, Malay, Tamil. All are encouraged to learn both to speak and write English. At a less formal level, however, the people have their own very different language, influenced by the various native tongues, and generally known as “Singlish”.
American English
1584 expedition to the New World - Roanoke Island (now North Carolina)
1607 Captain John Smith- new expedition- Chesapeake Bay
1620 Mayflower - Pilgrim Fathers to Cape Cod- Puritians
Southern settlers from West Country, voicing of /s/ to /z/, /r/ after vowel
Along the coast from N.carolina and Delaware the accent known as Tidewater English, - the nearest to the accent of Shakespeare
Puritians came from East Anglia, no /r/ after vowel.
19th c. - influention of Scots, Irish, German, Dutch, Central Europeans, Italians
Borrowing from Spanish: Canyon, mesa, rodeo, tornado, alligator
Borrowings from Mexican: chocolate, tomato, chilli, barbecue, hammock, canoe
Borrowings from French: prairie, levee, depot, dime
Borrowings from Dutch: Brooklyn, Bronx, waffle, cookie, boss
Borrowings from German: hamburger, noodle, kindergarten
Borrowing from Italy: pasta, pizza, lasagna, espresso
Isaac Cander “A Summary View of America by the Englishman”
James Femimore Cooper “Notions of the Americans”
Noah Webster(he change spelling) “A grammatical Institute of the English Language”, “The America Spelling Book”, “The American Dictionary of the English Language”(revised by Charles and George Merriam- The Merriam Webster dictionary)
American speakers stress the 2nd syllable where British speakers stress the 1st in ballet, harass.
British and American English use sometime different words: elevator(A)-lift(B), baggage(A)-luggage(B)
Immigrants took names from their old homeland and attached them to similar objects in the new country or took English elements and combined them in new ways
Many place names were taken from Indian languages-states, rivers, lakes, mountains
Black English America
Black people in America are the descendants of slaves who were shipped to the New World to work on the plantations
Deep structural differences between black and white ZEnglish, which they trace to the original African languages
Black American Vernacular English- the dialect of English used by most African Americans in the USA in familiar and informal settings. Characteristic linguistic features:1. characteristic word order or syntax 2. the use of suffixes or inflections 3. double negatives.
Slang
Colloquial language with words and usages not accepted for dignified use. Slang deals in metaphor, doesn't look for beauty and harmony. Francis Grose ” Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue” (-> Lexicon Balatronicum) John Campden Hotton “ A dictionary of Modern Slang, cant and Vulgar Words” Eric Partridge “ Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English”
Slang tend to originate in subcultures, racial minorities, ghetto, sport groups, drug addicts, criminals, school pupils.
Modern English is divided into three subperiods:
Early Modern English 1500-1650, corresponds with Eng Renaissance. Introdced several words from Latin : executor, index, major, minor,memento, neuter, gratis, simile.
Late Modern English 1650-1800, covering the Age of Enlightened
Present Day English from 1800 on
Latin: -ate verbs (exterminate), false etymology (island- Lat. Insula), aureate terms.
Differences between British and American English
Pronunciation:
/i:/, /I/ , /e/ , /u/, /u:/ the same
/æ/ Am, Br /a/ bath , path , last, grass
/o/ Br , Am /a/ box, pot, god, hot, stop, lot, dollar
/ou/ Am, Br /әu/ boat, coat
/u:/ Am, Br /ju/ new , student, tune
In MA Eng /r/ is pronounced
Spelling:
British: - our (honour, colour) Am -or (honor, color)
British: -s- (emphasise, criticize) Am- -z-(emphasize, criticize)
British -re (theatre, centre, Am - er (theater, center)
British -ll (traveled) Am -l (traveled)
British oe,ae (aneaemia), Am e (anemia)
British -gue (monologue) Am -g (monolog)