Received Pronunciation (RP) is, in fact, just another dialect
but, unlike other dialects, it concerns only pronunciation because it has
neither specific vocabulary, nor grammar. It is a matter of ten home counties situated
south-west of London but speakers mainly acquire RP in boarding schools like Eton,
Rugby and Harrow for rich children. It was a standard pronunciation of educated
people in Britain. This language of middle and upper class was closely
connected with the leading role Britain played since it was a superpower and
for administration Britain needed the official standard language spoken by civil
servants.
Can RP be considered standardized
English? If so, it could not be a dialect because the upper class does not want
to be associated with working class which IS considered talking in dialects
which are perceived as something inferior. It was Peter Trudgill with his book Dialects of
England who firstly came with a statement that RP is just another
dialect and his theory was not accepted for a long time.
A great
achievement of Daniel Jones was his
codification of RP for teaching purposes. However, Jones was born in 1881 so
Jonesian RP is unquestionably obsolete. If we are to continue to prescribe RP
as the model for foreign English learners, we clearly have to reflect the
changes. In former times the label educated people might have been used to
identify RP-speakers but demographic changes show that it is no longer the case
that all educated people speak RP as traditionally described. Nowadays 70% of
teenagers go to university, whereas it was only 7% fifty years ago. Naturally, those 70% come from
various social and regional backgrounds and do not adopt RP anymore.
Aspects of
RP:
Smoothing (vyhlazení) - a process where a
diphthong may lose its second element when followed by another vowel. For
example fire /ˈfaɪə/ may be smoothed to [faə]. science /ˈsaɪəns/ -> [saəns],
power /paʊə/ as [paə], Howard /ˈhaʊəd/ -> [haəd]. Although not absolutely
correct, this is clearly part of RP, since it is frequently observed in the
speech of native speakers located towards the upper end of the social scale.
Linking and intrusion R - ordinary linking /r/ is the final
consonant sound that comes and goes, appearing when a word is followed by a
vowel sound in the next word. For example better /ˈbetə/, but better off /ˈbetər
ˈɒf/. Speakers of all social classes add an /r/-sound even where there is no
letter r in the spelling to make pronouncing easier, as for example comma /ˈkɒmə/,
but put a comma in /ˈpʊt ə ˈkɒmər ɪn/. Just as fear /fɪə/ gives fear of /ˈfɪər əv/.
Objectively intrusive /r/ is part of RP. Subjectively, the speech-conscious
often disapprove of pronouncing a letter that isn't there so they would exclude
it from ideal model.
Words spelt WH - In words spelt with WH all English people
normally pronounce plain /w/, as why /waɪ/, when /wen/. The words whine and
wine are homophones. However, a few speech-conscious people make the effort to
pronounce /hw/ in these words, thus /hwaɪ, hwen/. Ideally, it should perhaps be
regarded as part of RP but for EFL Jones rightly judged that it was an
unnecessary complication.
Standard English = form of English which is current, uniform
and recognized as acceptable wherever English is spoken or understood (contrasted
to dialect words). It is a variety codified in dictionaries and grammars,
adopted by most major publishers internationally. It is often associated with
RP. In the United States it is generally associated with the General American accent.
Dialects
A DIALECT refers to a variety of a
language that is characteristic of a particular region or a group of speakers.
There are many dialects in Britain which make it very hard for foreigners to
understand. In America, differences are not that huge so a non-native speaker
has much bigger chance to understand Americans across the U.S. than the British
of various regions. The term comes from the Greek word dialektos meaning discourse
(dia = through, lego = I speak). A dialect is distinguished by its vocabulary,
grammar, pronunciation and intonation. However, where the pronunciation only is
involved, we speak of an ACCENT.
We can distinguish various types of
dialects:
Geographical dialects = connected to particular regional areas
(London's Cockey, Liverpool's Scouse)
Generation dialects = use of language through
generations. Older people would not say fuck
in other meaning that having sex, however, youngsters use it very frequently as
a swear word whose meaning became blank.
Sociolect = a dialect associated with a particular social class.
Idiolect/Lingo = a particular speech patterns used by an
individual.
Jargon = a professional dialect mainly differentiating in its lexicon
(vocabulary). A person working in a certain work environment (doctors,
builders…) is expected to be able to communicate with these special words.
Slang = the use of informal and often taboo words.
Cant = a secret language devised to mislead people not involved in the group
(thief’s guild slang).
British dialects
Geordie is a dialect of the area in North
East England with the main city Newcastle.
It retains many old Scandinavian and Celtic words and pronunciation -er
> /æ/
father > /fædhæ/.
Yorkshire in is the largest county and considered to be
among the greenest in England due to the vast stretches of unspoiled
countryside. The dialect is known for its sing-song
quality. The famous people from this region are Brontë sisters. Ing is
pronounced as -in' (walkin', talkin')
Scouse is /ˈskaʊs/ is a dialect of Merseyside but
closely associated with Liverpool. Inhabitants of Liverpool are familiarly
called Liverpudlians but are also
named Scousers. The word scouse is a shortened form of lobscouse, a
word for a meat stew commonly eaten by sailors. In the 19th century,
poorer people of Liverpool ate "scouse" as it was a cheap dish so
they received the same name. it is a birthplace of The Beatles who started new
beat rock tradition called Mersey sound. The Scouse accent is highly
distinctive from other English dialects as it uses rising intonation even in non-question statements.
To be a Cockney, you have to be
born within hearing distance of the church bells of St. Mary Le Bow in the City
of London. 150 years ago, Cockey could be heard in quite a wide area but
nowadays only in a small area in the City with road and aircraft noise
pollution.
heavy
use of glottal stop instead of the
letter T (water - wa'er)
dropping
of H at the beginning of words (house - ‘ouse)
the
letter l can often sound like W as in "milk
- miwk"
use
of ain´t
use
of double negatives
Estuary English is a way of speaking which has features of
Standard English and English that is typical of London. Estuary English
combines elements of RP and Cockney and its evolution was possible thanks to
disruption of English class system. Middle class people tended to abandon the
RP pronunciation because it was too pushy so it is basically comprise between traditional RP and Cockney.
in
its use of glottal stop it is very
similar to Cockney
Use
of intrusive R - the same as in
RP.
L vocalization - dark allophone [ɫ] is now undergoing a process of vocalization
(becoming a vowel): ɫ → o. Thus in a word such as milk, traditionally [mɪɫk]
->[mɪok].
Yod coalescence - this makes Tuesday /ˈtjuːz-/
-> /ˈtʃuːz-/.
frequent
use of gap fillers "basically, like"
use
of question tags = I said I was going,
didn't I.
Scots is not an English dialect but considered a separate language. It must
not be confused with Scottish Gaelic of Highlands as the Scots of Lowlands has
many dialects of its own.
All R sounds are rolled which is the hardest
sound to learn
Scots
tend to say "nae" for "not."
instead
of "lad" or "lass," a Scot use the diminutive
"laddie" or "lassie"
use
of "ye" instead of "you."
Welsh English was by the beginning of the 20th century no
longer widely since because of the educational policy schools taught almost
exclusively English. However, Welsh survived remarkably well in rural areas. A
more enlightened policy in recent years, notably the compulsory teaching of
Welsh in schools, and a renewed sense of cultural pride has led to a steady
increase in the number of Welsh speakers. Many speakers were and are bilingual
in English and Welsh.
the
characteristic fall-rise “sing-song” intonation pattern
words
that derive from Welsh are bard, dad, flannel
the
use of the tag question isn't it? regardless of the form of the preceding
statement
tendency
to use a 3rd person singular verb when referring to the 1st or 2nd person
singular or plural. (I lives in Cardiff.)
Englishes
English is a national language used
in Great Britain, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It is also a
used in Gibraltar, Nigeria, South Africa, India, Bangladesh, Israel and many other
places. However, they are significant differences in these Englishes.
Australian English contains around 10 000 words of
Australian origin.
bushed –
lost, paddock – field, pommy – English immigrant, Pommyland – Australia, dingo – dog, koala, boomerang.
Canadian English was
influenced by both British and American and has also some specifics of its own
= canadianisms
= special Canadian words.
clumber –
small iceberg, bush pilot – pilot
supplying people in distant places, habitant
– French Canadian, bateau – small
boat.
Indian English includes India,
Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
dandy – man
excessively concerned about his appearance, rickshaw – vehicle, sari
– dress, bungalow, khaki, mango, pyjamas.
American English
American English is not considered
as a separate language from British English but a geographical variety of
English used in the United States. Americanism = a word which originated in
America, having different meaning in Britain such as elevator (BrE – zdvihač, AmE – výtah). It can be also a word which
originated in America and now used in BrE like supermarket.
In BrE, collective nouns can take either singular or plural
verb forms, according to whether the emphasis is on the body as a whole or on
the individual members respectively. In AmE,
collective nouns are almost always singular. (The committee was unable to agree.)
In British English the present perfect is used to
express an action that has occurred in the recent past that has an effect on
the present moment but in American English, also past simple is accepted for
recent past together with "yet, recently, just." I've
already seen that film OR I already saw that film.
There are two
forms to express possession in English. Have or Have got. (He hasn't got any friends. He doesn't have
any friends.) While both forms are correct in both British and American
English, "have got" is generally the preferred form in British
English.
The following verbs have two
acceptable forms of the past simple/past participle in both American and
British English, however, the irregular
form of verbs is more common in British English and the regular form is
more common to American English. (Dream - dreamt OR dreamed)
There are
also differences in spelling.
British
American
-RE centre, theatre -
ER
center, theater
-OUR armour, colour
-OR armor, color
-AE archaeology, mediaeval -E
archeology, medieval
-SE analyse, criticise
-ZE analyse,
criticize
Most
noticeable difference is in clear
pronunciation of ending R in American English and some differences in
the placement of stress.
Of course,
there are also differences in
vocabulary.
British
English American
English
holiday vacation
pocket money allowance
flat
apartment
lavatory toilet
shop store
tin can
lift elevator
primary school elementary school
rubber eraser
subway tube
petrol gasoline
rubbish garbage
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