Accents & dialect

Accents

An ‘accent’ is a distinctive way of pronouncing language and the way in which people from a particular area speak. They are usually associated with a particular country or area. Dialect however, refers to a form of language which different to a specific group or region.

The Uk is seen as the most dialect obsessed nation in the world. There are a significant amount of accents shapes by many people throughout history, with only few English-speaking nations with as many varieties of language in such a small space.

ACCENTS:

 Northern English: These are the accents and dialect spoken north of the midlands, in cities like Manchester, Leeds, and Liverpool. Related accents also found in Yorkshire, although there are some unique dialect features. Which are:

• ·         Non-rhoticity, ein most areas.
• ·         The dipthong in words like kite and ride is lengthened so that kite can become something like (i.e. it sounds a bit like “kaaaait”)
• ·         Unique vocab includes use of the word mam to mean mother, similar to Irish English.

Geordie: Geordie usually refers to both the people and dialect of Newcastle, in Northeast England. The word may also refer to accents and dialects in Northeast England in general. I would classify this as a separate region from the rest of Northern England because it’s very different from the language spoken in nearby cities. People can also see this accent as very different and distinct of where it comes from but is also seen as highly annoying.

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• ·         Non-rhoticity (in the cities)
• ·         The /ai/ dipthong in kite is raised, so it sounds a bit more like American or Standard British “kate.”
• ·         The /au/ dipthong in “about” is pronounced: (that is, “oo”) in strong dialects. Hence bout can sound like “boot.”

Scottish English: This is the broad definition used to describe English as it is spoken in the country of Scotland. Note that Scottish English is different than Scottish, a language derived from Northumbrian Old English that is spoken in Scotland as well. That being said, Scots has a strong influence on how English in Scotland is spoken. The accent used in Scotland makes many words hard to understand and can be irritating to people from other places.

• ·         Rhotic, with trilled or tapped r’s, hard to pronounce.
• ·         Glottal stopping of the letter t when in between vowels (similar to Cockney and related accents).
• ·         Monopthongal pronunciations of the /ei/ and /ou/