ENGLISH DIALECTSHISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
A language variety where users regional /
social background appears in their use of
vocabulary & grammar.
DIALECT
The features of pronunciation (the speech
sounds) that show regional/social identity
(and arguably that of an individual, since one
could have a personal and idiosyncratic
accent).
ACCENT
The timeline of the variouslanguage contacts in the English-speaking world.
The Germanic Conquest of Britain
Traces of Saxon pirates in the fourth century A.D.: A city wall was built along the river Thames in London after A.D. 360
A.D. 477 and A.D. 495 – The Saxons & Frisians (Germany) >> Wessex, Essex, and Sussex.
A.D. 547 - the Jutes >> Kent; the Angles >> north: + East Anglia (south-east England) + Mercia (central England) + Northumbria (northern England).
Conversion to Christianity in A.D. 597
The Old English Period
Anglo-Saxon Britain
Northumbria - the Angles Mercia - the Angles East Anglia - the Angles
Essex - the Saxons Sussex - the Saxons Wessex - the Saxons
Kent - the Jutes
Anglo-Saxon Britain - Heptrachy
Anglo-Saxon place-names: -bury, -ford, -ton, -ham, -worth, -field, -ing, -ley Bourne: Stream Burn: Stream Burg: Large village Bury: Fortified place Croft: Small enclosure Ford: Shallow river crossing Ham: Village Ing: People Lake: Lake Ley; Lea: Clearing Mere/Mer/Mar: Pool Moor: Moor Moss: Swamp Ney: Island Riding; Rod: Cleared land Stead: place Stoc: Summer pasture Stoke: 'Daughter' settlement Stow: Holy Place Ton; Tun: House; Farm Weald; Wold; High Woodland Wic; Wike: Farm; Group of huts Wood: Wood Worth: Fenced land
Anglo-Saxon Place-Name Elements
Old English Dialects
Dialect differences - 4 dialects:
West Saxon
Mercian
Kentish
Northumbrian
Old English Dialects
West Saxon developed a literary standard it is NOT the ancestor of Modern EnglishWest Saxon : Anglian ea o ceald cald > ModE ‘cold’
ie e hieran heran > ModE ‘hear’
Old English Dialects
cynn > kinn ‘kin’ = Northern / East Midlands kunn = West Saxon kenn = Kent / Southern OE myrige > merry (Southern) OE lyft > left (Southern) OE byrgan > bury (West Saxon) /beri/
(Southern) OE bysig > busy (West Saxon) /bɪzi/
(Northern) Kentish ken < kin, zen < sin
Dialects today: Old English short y
Front / i-mutation / i-umlaut: back vowel + /ɪ/, /i:/, or /j/ in the following
syllable: u: > y: > i: o: > e: Gothic OE Mod E *mǔsiz > mȳs (Umlaut) mice /maɪs/(GVS) *fǔlljan > fyllan (Umlaut) fill /fɪll/ (no GVS) *fŏdjan > fēdan (Umlaut) feed /fi:d/ (GVS)
Sound changes: I-mutation(Umlaut)
mouse-mice, full-fill, gold-gild, fox-vixen, food-feed, doom-deem, goose-geese tooth-teeth, book-beech, man-men, Canterbury-Kent, long-length, tale-tell
More on i-mutation: examples
A number of local dialects
The OE disunity - considerably increased #1 the isolation of districts in the feudal state
#2 the two foreign influences
Middle English Dialects
Northumbrian > NORTHERN(Northern, Lowland, Scottish)
Mercian >
MIDLAND(West Midland, East Midland,
South-West Midland)LONDON
SOUTHERN
West Saxon >
MIDLAND(West Midland, East Midland,
South-West Midland)LONDON
SOUTHERN
Kentish > KENTISH
The mixed dialect of London:
the South Western type
>> SHIFT >>
the East Midland type
Middle English Dialect Shift in the course of MidE Period
The earliest records - written in the local dialects
No literary standard yet in existence Some time after the Norman conquest (1066)
English literature practically nonexistent Some dialects – an almost 200-year gap The earliest MidE samples of prose:
the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles>> the Petersborough Chronicle (1122-1154).
Middle English Records
BRITISH ENGLISH DIALECTS
England - UPPER CLASS (RECEIVED PRONUNCIATION) Phonology
[r] if not followed by a vowel [o] ¡ [Ïw] know, so, though, blow, [a] ¡ [Ø] not, what, got accent: library,
Morphology have is a modal auxiliary:
It is raised: have you a quid? It is cliticized: I've five quid
Collectives: the parliament are in session the team are fit the group are out playing
Syntax Discontinuous verbal particles: catch you up, ring you up Default pro-verb: Did you get the paper? I would have done, but I didn't have tuppence. phrases
come a cropper bangers and mash
Lexicon knock up ring up catch you up bonnet wind screen boot chips crisps bangers rubber lorry dust bin napkin knickers petrol
Regional English Dialects
Phonology drop [h]
high, hope, he, her I got high hopes he won't hit her
[l] : [ʊ] pill, call, tall [t] : [ʔ] little , bottle, what ya got vere mate [eɪ] : [aɪ] mate, gain, [aɪ] : [ɒɪ] high, flighty, might, [aʊ] : [æʊ] mouse, house, come round [u] : [u:ʊ] who, new, blue [æ] : [a] cab, cat, rat Interdentals become labiodentals
right nice little thing Wot's wif yu? me muvvuh
Morphology Me for my
me mum at's me book you got 'ere
Past tense BE: were Lexicon
Bloody, lolly, bugger off!, bloomin‘, bangers , knickers, Fancy that!, guv'na, knackered
COCKNEY
◦ Phonology [r] - trill [u] : [y] Look at the school! [a] : [æ] intonation: talking 'up' 'Canadian' raising [aɪ] : [ɪj] : light, right, kite
◦ Morphology Articles: t for the Contraction: dunna, dinna
◦ Syntax ◦ Lexicon
bairn wee loch kirk Lad : lassie
SCOTLAND
◦ Phonology [l] : [ʊ] except before vowels (fill, belt, told) [eɪ] : [aɪ] (gate, mate, gray, say, fail) [e] : [ə] (bed, Fred, let, tell, spell) [a] : [æ] (bad, cat, bat) [h] : [ø] (high, hug, hate, hover) [r] : [ø] (part, car, fear, pear))
◦ Lexicon: diminutives
Barby, dunny (toilet), down under, outback, bang up
Australia
East Midlands
once varied from county to county Now predominantly RP R's are dropped, but h's are pronounced.
The only signs that differentiate it from RP: ou > u: (so go becomes /gu:/). RP yu; becomes u: after n, t, d... as in American English.
The West Country r's are not dropped. initial s often becomes z (singer > zinger). initial f often becomes v (finger > vinger). vowels are lengthened.
West Midlands - the dialect of Ozzie Osbourne! Pronunciation is not that different from RP, some of the vocabulary is: are > am am, are (with a continuous sense) > bin is not > ay are not > bay Brummie is the Birmingham-spoken version of West Midlands
Other English Dialects (1)
Lancashire
This dialect, spoken north and east of Liverpool, has the southern habit of dropping r's. Other features:
/ʌ/ > /u/, as in luck (/luk/). /əʊ/ > /oi/, as in hole (/hoil/)
Scouse is the very distinctive Liverpool accent, a version of the Lancashire dialect, that the Beatles made famous.
the tongue is drawn back. /th/ and /dh/ > /t/ and /d/ respectively. final k sounds like the Arabic q. for rhymes with fur. Yorkshire
The Yorkshire dialect - sing-song quality, a little like Swedish, and retains its r's. /ʌ/ > /ʊ/, as in luck (/luk/). the - reduced to t'. initial h-dropping. was > were. still use thou (pronounced /thɑ:/) and thee. aught and naught (pronounced /aut/ or /out/ and /naut/ or /nout/) = anything and nothing.
Other English Dialects (2)
NorthernThe Northern dialect ~ the southern-most Scottish dialects. Many OScan words, e.g. bairn = child/r/ (often a roll) keptThe best-known is Geordie (Newcastle) -er > /æ/ - father > /fædhær/ /ou/ > /oa/- boat > each letter is pronounced. talk > /ta:k/ work > /work/ book > /bu:k/ my > me me > us our > wor you (plur.) > youse
Other English Dialects (3)
http://eleaston.com/world-eng.html#nghttp://eleaston.com/world-eng.html#sahttp://eleaston.com/india-eng.htmlhttp://eleaston.com/world-eng.html#sphttp://eleaston.com/world-eng.html#philhttp://eleaston.com/australian-eng.htmlhttp://eleaston.com/nz-eng.htmlhttp://eleaston.com/world-eng.html#car
ENGLISH VARIETIES WORLDWIDE – EAST OF LONDON
http://eleaston.com/world-eng.html#Welshhttp://eleaston.com/irish-eng.htmlhttp://eleaston.com/world-eng.html#carhttp://eleaston.com/am-eng.html
ENGLISH VARIETIES WORLDWIDE – WEST OF LONDON
PIDGIN is a simple form of a language which speakers of a different language use to communicate. Pidgin is not anyone's first language.
CREOLE is a language that has developed from a mixture of different languages and has become the main language in a particular place. (=patois)
PIDGIN : CREOLE
American Indian Pidgin EnglishChinese Pidgin EnglishChukotka Pidgin EnglishFulani Pidgin EnglishJapanese Bamboo EnglishJapanese Pidgin EnglishKorean Bamboo EnglishKru Pidgin EnglishLiberian Interior Pidgin EnglishLoyalty Islands Pidgin EnglishMadras Tamil Pidgin English*Maori Pidgin English*Micronesian Pidgin EnglishNauru Chinese Pidgin EnglishNew Caledonian Pidgin EnglishNewfoundland Pidgin EnglishPort Augusta Pidgin EnglishPort Jackson Pidgin EnglishQueensland Kanaka EnglishScottish Pidgin EnglishSierra Leone Pidgin EnglishSamoan Plantation PidginTaiwan Pidgin EnglishThai Pidgin EnglishTogolese Pidgin EnglishVietnamese Pidgin EnglishWest African Pidgin English
ENGLISH-BASED PIDGINS
Atlantic Eastern
Northern Afro-Seminole Creole Bahamas Creole English Sea Island Creole English
Southern Antigua and Barbuda Creole English Bajan Grenadian Creole English Guyanese Creole English Tobagonian Creole English Trinidadian Creole English Vincentian Creole English Virgin Islands Creole English
Turks and Caicos Creole English◦ Krio
Fernando Po Creole English Krio Pidgin, Nigerian Pidgin, Cameroon
◦ Suriname Ndyuka
Aukan Kwinti
Sranan◦ Western
Belize Kriol English Nicaragua Creole English Islander Creole English Jamaican Creole English
Pacific◦ Bislama◦ Hawai'i Creole English◦ Ngatik Men's Creole◦ Pijin◦ Kriol◦ Torres Strait Creole◦ Tok Pisin
Saramaccan
THE END
ENGLISH-BASED CREOLS