The Popular English Accents - Essay Example

? The popular English Accents THE POPULAR ENGLISH ACCENTS Introduction There are great variations in regional accents for English speakers across regions where the first language is English. This report seeks to research on the various pronunciation variations that are identifiable, deriving from the local dialect’s phoneme inventory (Giegerich, 2011: p22). It will also discuss the local varieties of English among different populations of the native speaker. Local English accents are also part of the local English accents with all English dialects having unique features of grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. Accent is descriptive of pronunciation and not vocabulary or grammar. English speakers who are not native to the UK tend to integrate the phonemic and intonation inventory into their English pronunciation from their mother tongue. Among the native speakers, there exist many accents. Some of these accents from specific regions, for example, the Pennsylvania Dutch English, can be identified easily by particular characteristics. There are further variations that can be found in the regions discussed in this report; for instance, the towns that are found less than 16 km from Manchester like Salford, Oldham, and Bolton posses varying accents that all form the collective Lancashire accent (Giegerich, 2011: p28). However, in extreme circumstances, they are different such as to be noticed by listeners, not from the area. People from various regions have a lot of room for misunderstanding; the manner in which one word’s pronunciation in a specific accent will sound different when said in another accent. For example, the word petal when pronounced in American English is different from its pronunciation as pearl by the Scottish. Methodology This research will utilize a methodology that was first used by Ainsfeld and Lambert in the late 50s and early 60s. The methodology was further refined by Bourhis and Giles and involves the important feature of matched guise that employs one person speaking in two accents that are different (Yan, 2009: p716). All attempts were made minimizing the paralinguistic variables like number of hesitations and reading speed. However, paralinguistic variations do occur, despite this minimization on these variables. Therefore, it was important to consider this, especially because of the monotonous reading style in the recordings. The practice voice used in the study was meant to familiarize the listeners with the questions they were to fill in the questionnaire found in the appendix. The study was interested in impressions that were created in listeners by the speaker. Often, it is possible to tell where the speaker is from using the voice alone, for instance, when one hears a stranger talk on the radio or even on the telephone. The listeners were given recordings of various speakers with the speaker saying similar things and were obligated to pay attention to the way the person sounded rather than the content of the speech (Yan, 2009: p717). After hearing each speaker, the subjects, were expected to take a moment to think and then answer the questions in the questionnaire according to their impression. The subjects were not expected to take too much time in answering but were, rather, expected to give their first impressions with no wrong or right answers (Yan, 2009: p717). Discussion The United Kingdom, probably, is the nation that is most obsessed with accents in the entire world. With accents that are believed to have been shaped through many years of history, few nations that speak English have as many varieties of the language in a space as small as the UK (Donn & james, 2011: p25). The following were the accents that were identified during the study. Received Pronunciation This accent is the closest we have to a standard accent in the United Kingdom. While it originated from London English, at present, it has no specific region of origin. This accent is especially common in Oscar Wilde plays, Merchant ivory films, and Jane Austen adaptations. Received Pronunciation emerged from the aristocracy between the 18th and 19th century and, ever since, has managed to remain as the gold standard (Donn & james, 2011: p27). Its features include the trap-bath split, which means that various a words; for example, cannot, bath, and dance are pronounced with a broader a like in father. This is dissimilar from the most American accents where the words in question are pronounced with a shorter version of a like in cat. Another feature is its non-rhoticity, which means that the letter r at the terminal end of words is not pronounced. For example, mother is pronounced as muhthuh (Grabe et al, 2012: p165). Finally, the vowels also tend towards being conservative than in other Southern England accents that have seen a significant shift in vowels over the past hundred years. Current examples of people speaking this accent are Author Christopher Hitchens, former PM Margaret Thatcher, and Actress Judi Dench. Cockney This is undoubtedly the second most popular and famous accent in the UK. Its origin was from London’s East End but had numerous shared-influences and features with other dialects from the area (Donn & james, 2011: p25). The accent has various features, including non-rhoticity as explained in Received Pronunciation. It also has raised vowels, for example, in words like a cat and trap, which sound like cet and trep, as well as the trap bath split as in Received Pronunciation. Cockney also features the London Vowel shift with shifting of vowel sounds so that words like day sound like the American version of die, and buy sounding close to the American version of boy. In Th-fronting, the th sound in such words as this or think is pronounced using a consonant that is more forward depending on the word. Mother becomes Muhvah; this becomes dis, and thing becomes ding. There is also L-vocalization where the l at the end of words is turned into a vowel sound with pal sounding like pow. Finally, another feature of Cockney is glottal stopping with t pronounced at the glottis or back of the throat between vowels (Grabe et al, 2012: p166). For example, better sounds like be’uh. Speech samples include heavy metal artist Steve Harri and actor Ray Winstone. Estuary English Estuary, or Southeast British, is an accent that originates from London English and has a status that puts it close to the general American accent in the United States. This accent can be heard in East Anglia and Southeast England and has slowly crept into the North and the Midlands (Wells, 2012: p54). Its features include similarities to Cockney, although estuary speakers lack the front th words, as well as raising vowels in words like trap. However, the accent has few hard-and-fast rules. This accent also has l-vocalization and glottal stopping of t. However, there has been a debate concerning their frequency (Grabe et al, 2012: p169). Famous people who speak with an Estuary accent include comedian Ricky Gervais, comedian Russell Brand, and celebrity chef Ramsay Gordon. West Country West Country accent is in reference to a large proportion of accents that dominate in England’s southern regions from approximately 50 miles off the West of London to the border with Wales (Wells, 2012: p56). Its features include rhoticity where the letter r is pronounced following the vowels. For example, while a person from London would say muthah in place of mother, a person from Bristol would pronounce it as mutherrr, i.e. the same way as the Irish or Americas say it (Grabe et al, 2012: p170). This accent has numerous variations and is a huge area for dialects. Famous people who speak in a West Country accent include comedian Justin Collins, Comedian Stephen Merchant, and archaeologist Phil Harding. Harding is from Wiltshire while Collins is from Bristol. Midlands English This is one of the more stigmatized accents in England. It can be technically divided into West Midlands and East Midlands. The most popular and famous of the dialects is Brummie, or Birmingham in English (Hughes et al, 2012: p45). Its feature include a system of vowels that are reminiscent of accents from Australia with a shortened I as in kit that at times verges towards keet, as well as extremely open and loose dipthongs. The accent also has a foot strut merger, which means that the syllable in could and foot is the same as that in fudge and strut (Grabe et al, 2012: p172). The accent also has some unusual vocabulary with some in the East Midlands still using the word thou. A famous person with Midlands English is Black Sabbath rocker Geezer Butler. Northern England English The accent and dialect is spoken to the north of the Midlands in places such as Liverpool, Leeds, and Manchester. There are also related accents to be found in the rural parts of Yorkshire, although there are also some other unique accent features in these regions (Hughes et al, 2012: p52). Its features include non-rhoticity with the exception of some areas in the rural parts, the foot-stut merger as in the Midlands accent. The accent also has dipthongs in words like ride and kite such that kite sounds almost like kaaait. Finally, this accent includes unique vocabulary, for example, the use of mam that is like Irish English (Grabe et al, 2012: p173). Famous people who speak in this accent include singer Joe Cocker, Bernard Sumner, and comedian Craig Charles. Geordie This refers to the people and the accent in the Northeast of England in Newcastle upon Tyne. This word may also be a reference to dialects and accents generally found in the Northeast of England. This region can be taken as a different region from the rest of the North since its accent is so different from that spoken in its surrounding cities (Hughes et al, 2012: p61). Its features include non rhoticity in the cities and the foot-stut merger such as in the Midlands accent. The /ai/ dipthongs, such as in kite is raised to sound more like the standard British or American kate. The /au/ dipthongs, for example, as in about is pronounced in strong accents as aboot, as well as bout sounding like boot (Grabe et al, 2012: p175). An example of a famous person who speaks Geordie is singer Cheryl Cole. Welsh English These accents are spoken in Wales. This region has accents that are heavily influenced by the language of the Welsh that has remained spoken widely in the modern era, in comparison to other Celtic languages (Trudgill, 2011: p143). Its features include non-rhoticity, the letter r feeling tapped or trilled, and the importation of some dialect words from the language of the Welsh. Welsh English is also modeled, generally, after accents related to Received Pronunciation, although it also possesses numerous holdovers that come from the language of the Welsh. Finally, the syllables are evenly stressed with a musical rhapsody found in the accent (Loots & Niesler, 2011: p77). Famous people who speak in Welsh English are rocker Gruff Rhy, singer Tom Jones, and Actor Rhys Ifans. Scottish English Scottish English is a broad definition that is used to describe the English accents spoken in Scotland. However, Scottish English is different from Scots, which is a language that comes from Northumbrian old English, which is used in Scotland. Scots, that being said is highly influential on the English spoken in Scotland (Trudgill, 2011: p146). Its features are rhoticity, monopthongal pronunciations of /ou/ and /ei/ dipthongs in Scottish accent sees face become fes and goat become got (Loots & Niesler, 2011: p78). There is also glottal stopping of t when it occurs between vowels as is with Cockney accent and other associated accents. Famous people speaking this accent include actor Ewen Bremner and actor Peter Mullan. Irish English Ireland has various groups of English accents such as those spoken in Dublin and the areas surrounding Dublin on the east Coast where they have spoken English ever since the early colonization period by the British (Trudgill, 2011: p147). English can also be found in the Ulster accents that have a strong Scottish influence and the Gaelic stratum, which approaches Scottish Gaelic in the province of Ulster. There are also various South, Midlands, and West accents in Ireland. Ulster The English accent in Ulster has two major sub accents, such as Ulster Scots and Mid Ulster English. The Ulster accent is spoken in the nine Ulster counties, as well as some areas to the North of the bordering counties like Leitrin and Louth (Vinson et al, 2010: p145). The Ulster English accents are quite similar to Scottish English via influence from the Scots Ulster varieties. Various features of the Ulster accent include the merging of the /u/ and /?/ vowels so that the words Luke and look sound homophonous; the vowel being high centrally rounded as [?]. In addition, dipthong /a?/ in Ulster English is pronounced as [??] with many variations among the different social classes found in Belfast. /e?/, as a monopthong in Belfast, has open syllables, for example, day but has rising dipthongs for the closed syllables, for example, in daze (Loots & Niesler, 2011: p80). However, the monopthong remains during addition of inflectional endings. This causes daze to contrast with the word days. Munster, Leinster, and Connacht Munster, Leinster, and Connacht are three provinces whose accents significantly fluctuate from flat tones found in the Midlands counties of Offaly, Kildare, and Laois, to the soft accents found in Galway and Mayo, and to the sing-song perceived in the counties of Kerry and Cork (Vinson et al, 2010: p145). Historically, the regions of Louth and Wicklow of the Dublin county area were heavily influenced by the initial English settlements, also known as the pale. This influence in their accent remained until they achieved independence from the British as the most prevalent concentration in the entire island of English influence. The accent of the Corkonians consists of a unique lyrical like intonation (Loots & Niesler, 2011: p83). Each sentence in this accent ends with a typical trademark elongated tail off around the end words. There is a heavier emphasis in Cork on the brrr sound attached to the sound R. Reference Giegerich, H., 2011. English phonology : an introduction. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. Donn, B. & James, G., 2011. Evaluating English accents worldwide. Linguistic Society of New Zealand , 21-28. Grabe, E., Post, B., Nolan, F., & Farrar, K., 2010. Pitch accent realization in four varieties of British English. Journal of Phonetics , 161–185. Hughes, A., Trudgill, P., & Watt, D., 2012. English Accents and Dialects: An Introduction to Social and Regional Varieties of English in the British Isles. London: Routledge. Jenkins, J., 2011. Implementing an International Approach to English Pronunciation. Teso Quarterly , 535–543. Loots, L., & Niesler, T., 2011. Automatic conversion between pronunciations of different English accents. Speech Communication , 75–84. Trudgill, P., 2011. Language in the British Isles. Cambridge: CUP Archive. Vinson, D., Barry, W., & Howell, P., 2010. Strength of British English accents in altered listening conditions. Perception & Psychophysics , 139-153. Wells, J., 2012. Accents of English. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. Yan, Q., 2009. Analysis, modelling and synthesis of formants of British, American and Australian accents . Conference Publications, 712 – 715. Appendix Questionnaire 1. What region does the speaker represent 2. What distinguishes this person from the rest Read More