Features of English dialects
The dialects of the English language are the collection of dialects that developed in the British Isles, resulting from the expansion of the British Empire and, after World War II, the influence of the United States throughout the globe. The number of dialects and English-based creoles and pidgins is quite large.
The English language does not have a central body coordinating its development, such as, for example, the Académie française for the French language, which leads to the absence of a unified language norm.
The two most common standardized dialects of English are Southern British dialect-based "British (Royal) English" and Midwestern American dialect-based "American (General American) English." In addition to these, there are other regional varieties of English, which in turn include many sub-dialects and dialects, such as Cockney, Scouse and Geordie in the UK; Newfoundland English in Canada or African American and Southern American English in the USA.
British (Royal) English.
Queen's English is the language spoken in each of the four parts of the UK: Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland. In each of the four parts of Great Britain, the English language has its own differences.
A Scot can be recognized by the main features of his speech, one of which is a very strong, booming sound [r]. Which sometimes sounds where it should not be in the speech of the inhabitants of southern England. In addition to a certain peculiarity of pronunciation [r], residents of Wales, Scotland, and Ireland use many regional words and expressions in their speech.
To convey the speech of a Scotsman in literature, words and phrases such as:
“wee” instead of “little”;
“aye” instead of “yes”;
“Idinna ken” instead of “I don’t know”;
“ye” instead of “you”.
Based on this, the speech of a Scot is not always understandable to a resident of the southern part of England.
As for the speech of the inhabitants of Ireland and Wales, they are characterized by melodic and uniform intonation. In turn, an affirmative sentence spoken by an Irishman will be perceived by an Englishman as interrogative.
To convey the speech of the Welsh in literature, words and phrases such as:
“look you” instead of “do you see”.
“boyo” instead of “man”;
And in Irish speech they use expressions such as:
“would you be after wanting for” instead of “do you want” and repeating the last phrases, for example, at all, at all;
“begorra” instead of “by god”.
There are also a large number of regional dialects in the UK. Many large cities, as well as every county in Great Britain, have their own dialect. Some of the most recognizable and most distinct urban dialects are the London and Liverpool dialects.
Cockney (English cockney) is one of the most popular types of London vernacular, named after the dismissive and mocking nickname of Londoners from the middle and lower strata of the population.
According to legend, a true Cockney is a Londoner born within earshot of the bells of St Mary-le-Bow. A special feature of this dialect is its peculiar pronunciation, irregular speech and rhyming slang. You may also notice that some English-speaking actors, when imitating Cockney speech, use a fake accent, called "Mockney".
Typical features of Cockney speech are:
Skip sound [h]. For example, “not 'alf” instead of “not half”.
Using “ain’t” instead of “isn’t” or “am not.”
Pronouncing the sound [θ] as [f] (for example, “faas’nd” instead of “thousand”) and [ð] as (v) (for example, “bovver” instead of “bother”).
Conversion to [æː], for example, "down" is pronounced as .
Using rhyming slang. For example, “feet” - “plates of meat”, instead of “head” - “loaf of bread”; Sometimes such phrases are shortened to form a new word: “loaf” instead of “loaf of bread”.
Using a glottal stop instead of [t] between vowels or sonants (if the second of them is not stressed): bottle = “bo’l”.
Pronunciation of "dark" l as a vowel: Millwall as "myouo".
Using labiodental [ʋ] instead of [r], which sounds reminiscent of [w]. (“Really” instead of “really”).
Omitting the sound [t] at the end of a word, example: [ʃui] instead of [ʃaɪt].
Another such dialect is the Scouse dialect. Scouse has a fast, highly accented manner of speaking, with a range of rising and falling pitches atypical of many northern English dialects. But despite the fact that Scouse is an urban dialect, different parts of the city have their own characteristics. For example, in the southern part of the city the accent is softer, lyrical, and in the north it is rough and hard. Basically, discriminating data can be identified when pronouncing vowels. While the northern part of the city does not pronounce words like “book” and “cook” according to the normative pronunciation, those in the southern part of the city do. The use of the long in such words was once considered the norm throughout Great Britain, but currently this pronunciation prevails only among residents of Northern England and Scotland.
American (General American) English.
American English is the main language in the United States, but despite the fact that this version is used everywhere, there is no law yet that it is the official language.
American English, or American English, differs significantly from British English. American English can be called simplified English. Unlike the British version, the American version is easy to understand and is also more flexible and open to change.
Let's look at the main differences between the options.
Unlike the American version, intonation patterns predominate in the British English language.
In unstressed syllables in American English, the suffix -our is often replaced by -or: color, labor, flavor, humor, parlor. The ending -re is replaced by -er: center, meter, liter, theater.
In American English there is a loss of double consonants, as, for example, in traveler, traveling.
In American English, the usual spelling is check, not check, tire, not tire; the letter combination ct is replaced by x:
connection (connection),
kerb is written as curb,
gray as gray.
This spelling of words does not seem incorrect to an American, but to a British person it is a mistake.
Also in British English, words ending in –se are verbs, and –ce are nouns (license - license, licence - license). In American English, all homonymous pairs of verb and noun are written the same way in -se: pretense, practice, devise, advise.
Another noticeable difference is the use of prepositions and articles. In some cases, American English does not have prepositions and articles where they are normally used in British English, and vice versa. For example, Americans usually say:
We work nine through five (Am) - We work nine till/to five (Br);
It’s a quarter of five (Am) - It’s (a) quarter to five (Br);
It’s twenty after five (Am) - It’s twenty past five (Br);
in school, in hotel (Am) - at school, at hotel (Br);
in weeks (Am) - for weeks (Br);
in ages (Am) - for ages (Br);
different to (Am) - different from (Br);
on the street (Am) - in the street (Br);
He’s in the hospital (Am) - He’s in hospital (Br).
But the biggest and most noticeable difference is the pronunciation. This can easily be detected in the pronunciation of [r] in the words: port, more, dinner. While this sound is not pronounced in British English, in Scotland it is the dominant sound in speech.
Also, some words in American English are pronounced with a different accent than in British English.
American English is a "general dialect of American English" or Midwestern American, as it is not only used by the majority of the country's population, but is also used on national television
A dialect is a non-standard language that has its own characteristics and, differing from the standard version, is widely used in a certain area. Today we will look at how to learn to distinguish which dialect we are dealing with, and whether it is worth studying each individual dialect in the English language system. In addition, you will have a unique opportunity to find out how multiple dialects differ from each other.
So, traditionally, everyone divides the English language into American and British English, which are significant not only in vocabulary and grammatical structures, but also in the manner of pronunciation of individual words and even expressions. However, with an in-depth analysis on a territorial basis, English dialects are divided into other regional variants, namely:
Directly British;
Irish;
New Zealand;
Scottish;
Welsh;
Australian;
Canadian;
directly American.
When visiting the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, you will notice how varied it is from north to south and from east to west. Here you can find the following dialects of British English:
Glasgow;
Edingurgh;
Scottish;
Lancashire;
Geordie;
Yorkshire;
Essex;
London;
Cockney;
Estuary;
South-Eastern;
Brummy;
West Country;
Comish;
Welsh;
Scouse;
Irish;
Ulter Scots;
Irish and Scottish Gaelic.
You can hear 17 British accents right now
These are not all the versions that can be found in the UK. If you are going to visit small villages, you will certainly understand what we are talking about. For those planning to travel, it will be useful to know that the varieties of spoken English also differ from each other. Queen Elizabeth II speaks exclusively the Queen's English, i.e. Queen's English or Conservative English. News channels, newspapers and magazines are full of an accepted standard called Received Pronunciation or BBC English. It is impossible to keep young people within the framework of the classics, so the most changing and developing language, which actively absorbs other dialects, is Advanced English.
But you can find out what real Britons are doing with Marcus Butler
Believe me, this will be a real discovery for you!
What do the British say?
I have got many new friends who have similar interests. – I have many new friends who have similar interests.
The expression “have got” is used everywhere and has no other equivalent in the UK. The negative form is constructed according to the following principle:
I have not got = I haven’t got
She has not got = she hasn’t got
The interrogative form is formed by placing “have” at the beginning of the sentence, thus producing the following:
Have you got?
Has she got?
No Briton will allow himself to say the sound “r”, unless it connects two words, but even in this case it will sound smoothly and almost imperceptibly.
If you know how to use, this is exactly the case when everything happens according to the classical principle, exactly as it is written. All sounds are pronounced properly, and if there should be an “a”, then there will be an “a”, for example, in the words “fast”, “past”, “example”. All spellings are British Standard, ending in
Tre (theater);
our(color);
ence (offence);
ise(optimize);
yse (analyse).
Vocabulary also has its own characteristics. If you need the ground floor, remember to say “ground floor”, otherwise you will end up on the second floor. Everyone remembers from school English that homework is called “homework”, but luggage is called “luggage”. In the “store” you will find “maize” corn, “porridge” oatmeal and “biscuit” cookies, and if there is a line waiting for you at the checkout, it will be proudly called “queue”. Walking home along the pavement sidewalk, you will see an old tram passing by, and children playing football. Read more about native British words.
How does Irish English differ from Scottish English?
Scotland is rich not only in its traditions, but also in its languages, of which there are three: standard English, Anglo-Scottish and Gaelic. The largest number of people speak a mixture of Standard English and Scots, and only about 50 thousand people speak Gaelic. The locals themselves note about 6 dialects that can be found throughout Scotland.
The Scottish dialect of English has its own characteristics, the most common are the following:
Pronunciation of a clear “r” sound;
the absence of many diphthongs that are characteristic of classical English (down - dun, town - tun, face - fes, place - ples);
All vowels have the same short length;
Pronunciation of sounds “wh” (who, what, while);
the final “y” is replaced by “e” or “i”;
The passive voice is formed using the verb “got” (it got read, they got told);
abbreviation am not = amn’t;
replacing “won’t” with “ll not” (they’ll not visit that place);
use of verbs of feelings in Continuous (I am wanting, they’re feeling).
Scottish vocabulary is completely different from English, pay attention to the following words:
Yes – yes;
small – wee;
fine – braw;
big – muckle;
poor – poor;
she – scho;
England - Down South;
money - poppy.
This is what real Scots say
The Irish dialect of English is increasingly acquiring independent features. Thus, interdental sounds are absent and are completely replaced by [θ] with [t], and the sound [ð] with [d]. Try to practice saying the following words: there, theater, three, thou, through. The Irish dialect is characterized by “okanye”, as a result of which “i” is replaced by “io”, for example, mice = moice, like = loike, strike = stroike.
The most difficult thing begins when the average resident of Russia, coming to Ireland, understands that there is no English as such there. This is especially true for the manner of pronunciation of “wh”, which is pronounced the opposite of “hw”. Now again a minute of practice: which, where, what, whatever, wherever, whale.
The letter “t” at the beginning of a word is replaced by the sound “ch” (Tuesday), however, this pronunciation can also be heard in America.
The grammatical structures of the Irish dialect can drive any philology student crazy, because everything he studied for 5 years actually turns out to be gobbledygook. It would be correct to say in the Present Simple
I says;
I do;
I go.
The Present Perfect is replaced by a construction with “after”, i.e. She has done it = she is after doing it.
Past Simple is characterized by the presence of the verbs “do” and “see” in the third form: She done her homework yesterday.
The Irish can be immediately heard by the characteristic words at the end of the sentence: “now”, “so” and “eh”. But you can feel the real Irish right now
What dialects of Australian English can you find?
Coming to Australia, you will immediately notice a pronounced Broad Austrian, which gives way to the more familiar General Austrian and Cultivated Austrian. The main difference from classical English is the voicing of “t” (in British it is softened, in American it is replaced by “r”, and in Australian it is emphasized, for example “better”). There are also characteristic American sounds pronounced as “j”, “tzh” - “educate” is read as “edzhukate”. Some lexical units are completely impossible to recognize without familiarizing yourself with them in advance, for example:
Sheep – jumpbuck;
New Zealander – Kiwi;
chicken – chook;
sausage – snag;
stupid – noong;
day – avro.
Find out more about Australian slang here
An excellent video that clearly shows the presence of different vocabulary in Aussie English can be viewed below:
Welsh English: Is it English?
The third form of verbs is not used, it is replaced by the second (cool, isn't it?). Double negatives are used freely, as in Russian. The article “an” is not used (something for which each of us received a bold red minus at school, because there cannot be “a elephant”). As in Irish, the ending “s” is found in the verb in the first person singular. Present Simple is freely replaced by Present Continuous, while the marker words of the simple present tense remain. (I am reading a new magazine every day).
The lexical differences are clearly demonstrated in the picture.
But you can hear the Welsh version of English here
What is American English famous for? Dialects can drive you crazy.
We have already noted above that there is an American dialect and its northern brother, the Canadian dialect. is divided into the following subgroups:
Basic American;
eastern type;
southern type.
This is the most common variation, but do not forget that when moving from state to state, pleasant surprises await you, which you can find out about right now:
Canadian English
This dialect is a mixture of British English in terms of writing and American English in terms of vocabulary and phonetics. Note that the influence of the French language is also of particular importance. The majority of people in Canada speak a language officially called General Canadian. Quite often, Canadians use inserts such as “hm”, “ok”, “eh”, which is constantly a reason for jokes from Americans. By the way, this very “eh” can mean anything, from “hey” and “yes” to “what” and “good”. Another cornerstone is the word “about,” which Canadians pronounce “ebout.” However, many Americans are sure that they are saying a completely different word - “ebut”, but this is not so.
Find 10 differences between Americans and Canadians with Matthew
The voicing of the sound “t” in the position between vowels occurs in the same way as in American English, resulting in homophones, for example, bleating - bleeding. The words “dictionary”, “ordinary”, “obligatory” often have double stress.
You can see and hear real Canadian with Ronnie
And finally. Classics are popular regardless of time and location, so you shouldn’t rush to learn a certain dialect to be understood. You will be understood if you speak.
"DIALECTS OF BRITISH ENGLISH"
As is known, “dialect” is understood as a variety of a national language, used by a relatively limited number of people connected by a territorial, social, and professional community. At the same time, a dialect (as opposed to a variant of a language) functions along with the literary norm and cannot be separated into a separate independent language. On the other hand, a dialect can displace other dialects from a certain territory and even become the basis of a literary language. This has happened before in the history of the English language. In the 8th-9th centuries, the dialect of the West Saxon kingdom of Wessex, displacing other dialects, became the norm of communication between all seven kingdoms. The English language was associated with the Wessex dialect until the Norman conquest of England in the 11th century. After two centuries of the dominance of the French language in Britain, the role of the leading dialect, which was destined to unite the English in the fight against the French aristocracy, was assigned to the London dialect. It was he who became the basis of modern literary English.
The classification of modern English territorial dialects presents serious difficulties, because their boundaries are very unstable, and the language standard is increasingly invading the area of distribution of dialect speech. One of the most serious attempts at such classifications was made by A. Ellis. Although this classification is not without its shortcomings, it generally quite accurately reflects the dialect map of modern England and is accepted as the basis by many dialectologists. According to the author, English dialects can be divided into 5 large groups:northern, central oraverage , Western , southern Andeastern . In addition to these groups in the United Kingdom, it is advisable to distinguishScottish, Welsh AndIrish dialects of the English language.
For example, in the Irish dialect you can find the following phrases:
It's sorry you will beinstead ofyou will be sorry;
– “Why did you hit him?” – “He was after insulting me”instead ofhe had insulted me.
Moreover, in modern Great Britain it is regional dialects, and not literary English, that are most popular. According to surveys of British people, the most attractive dialects to hear are:
1) Mancunian - a dialect of the inhabitants of Manchester, which is distinguished by the separation of the nasal sound [ŋ ] to the sounds [n] and [g]. There is a tendency towards obvious nasalization of all consonants and glottal strengthening of consonants [p], [t], [k]. In the words deal, heal, lean, speak, weak digraphea pronounced as instead of the norm;
2) Merseyside (Scouse) - Liverpool dialect. This dialect is completely non-rhotic. Letteru in closed syllables it is pronounced u: butter. LetterA in a closed syllable it is reflected as [o], especially beforem , n : apple, lad, back, man. The fricatives [θ] and [ð] are pronounced as [f] and [v], respectively;
3) dialects of Scotland, northern England (Geordie) . These dialects largely did not undergo the vowel shift of the 15th-16th centuries: the words house, out, down are pronounced , . In the words stone, bone, hole, rode, etc., the diphthong is pronounced: , , , . It is noteworthy that the vowel [ε:], as in the word “bird”, is pronounced in Geordie as in the word “chalk”, so “heard” becomes indistinguishable from “hoard”, and “bird” from “board”. . In Scottish dialects, the words dance, glance, chance are usually pronounced long [æ:]. In northern dialects, the words cat, hand, hat have the sound [a];
4) Northern Irish dialects . In all of the dialects listed (except, perhaps, the northern ones), the consonant sound [h] at the beginning of words has disappeared.
The south-eastern and Welsh dialects are considered the most unattractive. London occupies a special place here. The arrogant intonation of its inhabitants and the habit of lengthening the sound [e] have earned them a reputation for being rude people.
Recently, in the English language there has been a clear tendency towards distortion of the language norm. ThisEstuary English - a pointedly gracing accent, a symbol of bad taste, disseminated from television screens. On the other hand, it is a form of English spoken in and around London, and, more broadly, in the south-east of England - along the Thames and its estuary. It is used not only by famous politicians, athletes and program presenters, but also by the youngest son of the Queen of England, Prince Edward. Estuary English is distinguished by a vocalized [l], similar in sound to [w], when milk bottle is pronounced as miwk bottoo, or football as foo"baw, or the almost complete elimination of the sound [t], when instead of quite nice we hear.
One of the main features of modern English territorial dialects (as well as dialects of other languages) is their conservatism. Certain deviations from the literary standard are mostly due not to evolution, but rather to the lack of evolution: the dialects retain many linguistic phenomena from different periods of the history of the language, as well as various kinds of foreign language influences - Scandinavian, Norman, French, etc. Another feature of modern English dialects is their variation at all language levels (phonetics, grammar and especially vocabulary).
However, in addition to belonging to a certain territory, a dialect can also be associated with social and professional associations of people.
Social dialects include a range of genetically, functionally and structurally different phenomena:
1. Professional dialects , i.e. a type of social dialect that unites people of the same profession or occupation;
2. Jargons (argot), i.e. dialects consisting of more or less arbitrarily chosen, modified and combined elements of one or more natural languages and used (usually in oral communication) by a separate social group for the purpose of linguistic isolation, separation from the rest of the given linguistic community, sometimes as secret languages (for example , thieves' jargon).
You can note such varieties of English jargon as:
a) “reverse slang”: for example, yob instead of boy;
b) “central slang”: for example, ilkem instead of milk;
c) “rhyming slang” (most often Cockney, when a certain word is replaced by the first component of a phrase that rhymes with it), for example, money is replaced by bread (bread and honey); face – on a boat (boat race); lodger - on dodger (artful dodger);
d) so-called “medical Greek”: for example, douse-hog instead of house-dog. All these types of pseudoslang are used solely for the purpose of making the language of a particular social group incomprehensible to the uninitiated. Jargon is characterized not only by distortion of existing words of the language, but also by numerous borrowings, the appearance of which is often modified in such a way that they are no different from other lexemes of the given language.
The highly specialized nature of jargon can be illustrated by the vocabulary typical of various educational institutions: outside these institutions, this vocabulary is either not used at all or is used with a different meaning.
For example, the following jargons are used at Eton: scug "insignificant person", "scoundrel", tug "college student"; in Westminster School: bag “milk”, beggar “sugar”; at Winchester College: to go continent “stay at home”, tug “tasteless, stale”; "ordinary, simple."
The so-calledslang . The most diverse lexical and stylistic phenomena are often subsumed under this concept. The largest researcher of English slang, E. Partridge and his followers, define slang as very fragile, unstable, uncodified, and often completely disordered and random collections of lexemes that exist in the conversational sphere, reflecting the social consciousness of people belonging to a certain social or professional environment. Slang is considered as the conscious, deliberate use of elements of a general literary dictionary in colloquial speech for purely stylistic purposes: to create the effect of novelty, unusualness, difference from recognized models, to convey a certain mood of the speaker, to give the statement specificity, liveliness, expressiveness, accuracy, and also to avoid cliches.
Every dialect of modern Britain is replete with slangisms. They are the result of the influence of both various lexical and phonetic processes (assimilation, reduction). For example, in certain areas of London you can find the rhyming slang mentioned abovecockney : apple pie – sky, Brahms and Lizst – pissed, baked potatah – see you later, Cain and Abel – table, saucepan lid – kid, Mickey Mouse – house, whistle and flute – suit.
The slang of the second largest city in England, Birmingham, is known asBrummy (Brummy). More oftenTotalCanhearfollowingwordsAndexpressions: aagen – again, ar kid – younger brother, borrow me – lend me, come off it – to show disbelief, gob – mouth, gew – to go, avya – have you, awroit – all right.
DialectTyneside – Geordie – isbinderlinkbetweenEnglandAndScotland, That's whystronglyis differentfromEnglishdialects: bairn – baby, bait – a packed lunch, canny – lucky, gan – to go, netty – toilet, spakka – fantastic, borstin – in need of the washroom, berra – better, fatha – father, mutha – mother.
Mancunian the dialect is used by residents of Manchester and the north-west of England. Among all known dialects, Mancunian is distinguished by the greatest variability in its lexical composition:adam’ sale – water, barmpot – afool, beltup – bequiet, bobbins – rubbish, brass – money, chara – abus, chinwagging – gossiping, clock – tosee, earwig – tolistenin, flummoxed – puzzled.
The value for dialectology is the studyWelsh AndScottish dialects of the English language. In addition to English, Scotland and Wales are known to have native Celtic languages. As a result, a certain linguistic assimilation occurs.
Scottish The dialect is replete with words reinterpreted precisely from the standpoint of Celtic languages: abune - above, agley - not straight, aye - yes, bairn - baby.
ApproximatelyThatsamethe mostis happeningAndWelsh dialect: awa – uncle, batch – a load of bread, bished – tired out, boo nor bah – nothing, croeso – welcome, dal – little.
Despite the existing diversity of English dialects in the UK, it would be premature to say that speakers of different dialects will not understand each other. Dialects imply deviation from the literary norm, but such deviation should not be exaggerated.
Bibliographic list:
1. Wikipedia
2. Artemova A. F.FirstAidinEnglish. – M., 2005.
3. Veykhman G. A. New things in the grammar of modern English. – M., 2006.
4. Makovsky M. M. English social dialects. – M., 1982.
5. Rosenthal D. E., Telenkova M. A. Dictionary-reference book of linguistic terms. – M., 1976.
5. E. Partridge. Slang To-Day and Yesterday. – London, 1960.
— phonetic converters for text transcription
English dialects around us
The United Kingdom is probably the most dialect-obsessed nation in the world. In such a small space that it occupies, countless dialects have formed over a thousand-year history. Here is a partial list of the most important varieties of British English: correct (standard) pronunciation, Cockney, South British, South West, Midland, Yorkshire, Geordie, Welsh, Scottish and many, many others.
The concept of dialect includes not only the pronunciation of sounds, which is called accent, but also the use of certain words and language structures.
The English language itself began as a dialect of ancient Germanic, thanks to the fact that Germanic tribes began to settle on the island. In the process of development, English began to borrow from other languages, in particular: from Latin, French, Scandinavian.
Apparently, this is why there are so many words in the English language. Currently, thanks to the development of communications and transportation, dialects are being smoothed out. At the beginning of the 20th century, English philologist Joseph Wright decided to conduct research and identify all English dialects. The task, of course, was not an easy one, since there is no clear boundary and definition of one dialect or another; one can only identify certain generalizations used by a group of people in each specific area.
As a result, he published a six-volume English dialect dictionary containing all the words used in the last 200 years. 
But dialects arise not only due to differences in regions, but also from the conditions of education and professional activity. People from different social classes can have their own dialects. People of different ages can use their own special vocabulary, and it often happens that older people do not understand young people and vice versa. Women and men also tend to have their own set of words. Such dialects are called social, in contrast to regional dialects - based on locality.
Besides the United Kingdom, English dialects exist in other English-speaking countries - America, Canada, Australia, India, New Zealand, etc. To all of the above, it is also worth adding the accents of people for whom English is a second language.
However, despite the fact that English dialects can be very different, they are still united by the fact that they are all derivatives of the same language, and a person fluent in English, as a rule, will always understand another who speaks some dialect.
And finally, watch this funny video “How to get rid of an accent”