English English

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English English is a term that has been applied to the English language as spoken in England. In English-speaking countries outside the UK, the term "British English" is more frequently used for this variety of English; however, Peter Trudgill in Language in the British Isles introduced the term English English (EngEng), and this term is now generally recognised in academic writing in competition with Anglo-English and English in England.

In this usage the term British English has a wider meaning, and is usually (but not always) reserved to describe the features common to English English, Welsh English, Hiberno-English, and Scottish English. According to Tom McArthur in the Oxford Guide to World English (p. 45), the phrase British English shares "all the ambiguities and tensions in the word British, and as a result can be used and interpreted in two ways, more broadly or more narrowly, within a range of blurring and ambiguity".

The different accents and dialects that exist in Britain are a source of interest for many. Joseph Wright compiled the English Dialect Dictionary, which is now extremely valuable. The 2006 BBC Voices survey, the more comprehensive Survey of English Dialects and the existence of societies that seek to maintain regional dialects all study the diversity within the nation. Dialect research papers are often sold for hundreds of pounds. It is not uncommon for people to be very proud of their local accent/dialect.

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The British Isles are one of the most linguistically diverse areas in the English-speaking world. Significant changes in dialect (pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary) may occur within one region. The four major divisions are normally classified as Southern English dialects, Midlands English dialects, Northern English dialects and Scottish English, and the closely related dialects of Scots and Ulster Scots (varieties of Scots spoken in Ulster). There is also Hiberno-English (English as spoken in Ireland) and the form of English used in Wales. The various English dialects differ in the words they have borrowed from other languages. The Scottish and Northern dialects include many words originally borrowed from Old Norse; the Scottish dialects include words borrowed from Scots and Scottish Gaelic. Hiberno-English includes words derived from Irish.

An important feature of English regional accents is the bundle of isoglosses — geographically running roughly from mid-Shropshire to south of Birmingham and then to The Wash — separating Northern and Southern accents. This reflects the historical Danelaw division, which split England into Viking-controlled and Saxon-controlled areas.

Accents throughout Britain are influenced by the phoneme inventory of regional dialects, and native English speakers can often tell quite precisely where a person comes from, frequently down to a few miles. Historically, such differences could be a major impediment to understanding between people from different areas.

However, modern communications and mass media have reduced these differences significantly. In addition, speakers may modify their pronunciation and vocabulary towards Standard English, especially in public circumstances. In consequence, the accent best known to many people outside the United Kingdom as English English, is that of Received Pronunciation (RP). Rural accents are often ignored in dialect studies[1], sometimes being grouped to the nearest large city. This can be unfortunate in cases where a large city has a very different accent from a surrounding rural area [e.g. Bristol and Avon, Hull and the East Riding].

Until recently, RP English was widely believed to be more educated than other accents and was referred to as the King's (or Queen's) English, or even "BBC English" (due to the fact that in the early years of broadcasting it was very rare to hear any other dialects on the BBC). However, for several decades, regional accents have been more widely accepted and are frequently heard. Thus the relatively recent spread of Estuary English is influencing accents throughout the south east.

British Isles varieties of English, including English English, are discussed in Wells (1982). Some of the features of English English are that:

  • Northern versions of the dialect often lack the foot-strut split, so that there is no distinction between /ʊ/ and /ʌ/, making put and putt homophones as [pʊt].
  • In the Southern variety, words like bath, cast, dance, fast, after, castle, grass etc. are pronounced with the long vowel found in calm (that is, [ɑː] or a similar vowel) while in the Midlands and Northern varieties they're pronounced with the same vowel as trap or cat, usually [a], as they are in Scottish English. For more details see Trap-bath split. There are some areas of the West Country that would use the Southern variety for some words and the Northern variety for other words.
  • Many varieties undergo h-dropping, making harm and arm homophones. This is a feature of working-class accents across most of England, but was traditionally stigmatised (a fact the comedy musical My Fair Lady was quick to exploit) but less so now. See Trask (1999), pp104-106. The accents of Northumberland and Tyneside are an exception to this rule. In the past, working-class people were often unsure where an h ought to be pronounced, and, when attempting to speak "properly, would often preface any word that began with a vowel with an h [e.g. henormous instead of enormous, hicicles instead of icicles]; this was referred to as the "hypercorrect h" in the Survey of English Dialects, and is also referenced in literature [e.g. the policeman in Danny the Champion of the World ].
  • A glottal stop for the letter t is now common amongst younger speakers across of the country. It was originally confined to some areas of the south-east and East Anglia, but has now spread across the country, often to the disapproval of the older generation.
  • Most varieties have the horse-hoarse merger. However some northern accents retain the distinction, pronouncing pairs of words like for/four, horse/hoarse and morning/mourning differently. (Wells 1982, section 4.4)
  • The consonant clusters [sj], [zj], and [lj] in suit, Zeus, and lute are preserved by some.
  • Many Southern varieties have the bad-lad split, so that bad /bæːd/ and lad /læd/ don't rhyme.
  • In most of the eastern half of England, plurals and past participle endings which are pronounced /ɪz/ and /ɪd/ (with the vowel of kit) in RP may be pronounced with a schwa, /ə/. This can be found as far north as Wakefield and as far south as Essex. This is unusual in being an east-west division in pronunciation when English dialects tend to divide along north-south lines.
  • Generally speaking, the only vowel which is pronounced the same in every regional accent in England is the short "e" as in keg or deck.[citation needed]
  • Across of England, segments of old forms of the language can still be heard. For example, the use of come as a past participle rather than came, the use of a clitic to have rather than to have got, use of thou and/or ye for you.

Main article: Southern English dialects

In general, Southern English accents are distinguished from Northern English accents primarily by the use of broad A (that is, words like "cast" and "bath" are pronounced /kɑːst/, /bɑːθ/ rather than /kæst/, /bæθ/. There are other peculiarities in specific regions. Accents originally from the upper-class speech of the London–Oxford–Cambridge triangle are particularly notable as the basis for Received Pronunciation,

Southern English accents have three main historical influences:

  • The London accent, in particular, Cockney. [However, London has continuously absorbed migrants throughout its history, and its accent has always been prone to change quickly]
  • Received Pronunciation ('R.P.').
  • Southern rural accents, of which the West Country, Kent and East Anglian accents are examples.

Relatively recently, the first two have increasingly influenced southern accents outside London via social class mobility and the expansion of London. From some time during the 19th century, middle and upper-middle classes began to adopt affectations, including the RP accent, associated with the upper class. In the late 20th and 21st century other social changes, such as middle-class RP-speakers forming an increasing component of rural communities, have accentuated the spread of RP. The south-east coast accents traditionally have several features in common with the West country; for example, rhoticity and the a: sound in words such as bath, cast, etc. However, the younger generation in the area is more likely to be non-rhotic and use the London/East Anglian A: sound in bath.

After the Second World War, about one million Londoners were relocated to new and expanded towns throughout the south east, bringing with them their distinctive London accent (and possibly sowing the seed of Estuary English).

The Cornish language was once used in the county of Cornwall. Although this is no longer in common use, Cornwall and the West Country have varied and complicated dialects. Surveys such as the Survey of English Dialects and Voices 2006 found that these dialects were as far away from Standard English as was anything from the far North. See West Country dialects for more details.

The Norfolk dialect is spoken in the traditional county of Norfolk and areas of north Suffolk. Famous speakers include Lord Nelson and Keith Skipper. The group FOND (Friends Of the Norfolk Dialect) where formed to record the county's dialect and to provide advice for TV companies using the dialect in productions.

  • As in the North, Midlands accents generally do not use a broad A, so that cast is pronounced [kast] rather than the [kɑːst] pronunciation of most southern accents. The northern limit of the [ɑː] in many words crosses England from mid-Shropshire to The Wash, passing just south of Birmingham.
  • Midlands speech also generally uses the northern short U, so putt is pronounced the same as put. The southern limit of this pronunciation also crosses from mid-Shropshire to the Wash, but dipping further south to the northern part of Oxfordshire.[citation needed]
  • The West Midlands accent is often described as having a pronounced nasal quality, the East Midlands accent much less so.
  • Old and cold may be pronounced as "owd" and "cowd" (rhyming with "loud" in the West Midlands and "ode" in the East Midlands), and in the northern Midlands home can become "wom".
  • Whether Derbyshire should be classed as the West or East Midlands in terms of dialect is debatable. Stanley Ellis, a dialect expert, said in 1985 that it was more like the West Midlands, but it is often grouped with the East and is part of the E.U. region "East Midlands".[citation needed]
  • Cheshire, although part of the North-West region, is usually grouped the Midlands for the purpose of accent and dialect.

  • Dialect verbs are used, for example am for are, ay for is not (related to ain't), bay for are not, bin for am or, emphatically, for are. Hence the following joke dialogue about bay windows: "What sort of windas am them?" "They'm bay windas." "Well if they bay windas wot bin them?". There is also humour to be derived from the shop-owner's sign of Mr. "E. A. Wright" (that is, "He ay [isn't] right," a phrase implying someone is saft [soft] in the jed [head]). Saft also may mean silly as in, "Stop bein' so saft".
  • The Birmingham and Coventry accents are quite distinct, even though the cities are not very far apart.
  • The g sound may be emphatically pronounced where it occurs in the combination ng, in words such as ringing and fang.
  • Around Stoke-on-Trent, the short i can sound rather like a short e, so milk and biscuit become something like "melk" and "bess-kit". Strong accents can even render the latter as "bess-keet".

  • East Midlands accents are generally non-rhotic.
  • Yod-dropping, as in East Anglia, can be found in some areas, for example new as /nuː/, sounding like "noo".
  • The u vowel of words like strut is often [ʊ] and even shorter than in the North, with no distinction between putt and put.
  • In Northamptonshire, crossed by the North-South isogloss, residents of the north of the county have an accent similar to that of Leicestershire and those in the south an accent similar to rural Oxfordshire.
  • The town of Corby in Northamptonshire has an accent with some originally Scottish features, apparently due to immigration of Scottish steelworkers. [2]
  • In Leicester, words with short vowels such as up and last have a northern pronunciation, whereas words with vowels such as down and road sound rather more like a south-eastern accent. The vowel sound at the end of words like border (and the name of the city) is also a distinctive feature. [3]
  • In Nottinghamshire north of the Trent, ee found in short words is pronounced as two syllables, for example feet being ['fijəʔ], sounding like "fee-yut" (and also in this case ending with a glottal stop).[citation needed]
  • Lincolnshire also has a marked north-south split in terms of accent. The north shares many features with Yorkshire, such as the open a sound in "car" and "park" or the replacement of take and make with tek and mek. The accent in Hull is a descendent of North Lincolnshire dialect. The south of Lincolnshire is close to Standard English, although it still has a short Northern a in words such as bath.
  • Mixing of the words was and were when the other is used in Standard English.

Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire and south Northamptonshire form the basis for Received Pronunciation. Unlike the rest of the Midlands, they use a long A: in words such as bath, demand, etc. To many Britons, it is hard to distinguish them from the rest of the South-East, but there are some key differences:

  • The word room is pronounced with a long oo, as it is in the rest of the North and the Midlands. Not as "rumm", as is said in the South-East.
  • The u sound in cup, putt, luck, etc. is shorter than in the South, although not as short as in the North.
  • Words that end in th are said with a final v rather than a final f.
  • A final y on a word is said as ee. Not as ay, which is common in the South-East.
  • Glottal stops for a t are much less common, although do feature when surrounded by other consonants [e.g. bluntness, nightwatchman].

There are several accent features which are common to most of the accents of northern England (Wells 1982, section 4.4).

  • The "short a" vowel of cat, trap is normally pronounced [a] rather than the [æ] found in traditional Received Pronunciation and in many forms of American English.
  • The accents of Northern England generally do not use a broad A, so cast is pronounced [kast] rather than the [kɑːst] pronunciation of most southern accents. However, the words "father" and "rather" are increasingly being pronounced with a broad A by the younger generation.
  • Northern English tends not to have /ʌ/ (strut, but, etc.) as a separate vowel. Most words that have this vowel in RP are pronounced with /ʊ/ in Northern accents, so that put and putt are homophonous as /pʊt/. But some words with /ʊ/ in RP can have /uː/ in Northern accents, so that a pair like luck and look may be distinguished as /lʊk/ and /luːk/.
  • The Received Pronunciation phonemes /eɪ/ (as in face) and /əʊ/ (as in goat) are often pronounced as monophthongs (such as [eː] and [oː]), although the quality of these vowels varies considerably across the region.
  • In many areas, the letter y on the end of words as in happy or city is pronounced [ɪ], like the i in bit, and not [i].
  • The "present historical" is often used. Instead of saying "I said to him", many Northerners would say, "I says to him". Instead of saying, "I went up there", they would say, "I goes up there."
  • People from the North are generally more likely to use old-fashioned phrases, and less likely to use American phrases.

For more localised features, see the following sections.

Main article: Scouse

See Yorkshire dialect and accent.

The accents for Middlesbrough and the surrounding towns is sometimes grouped with Yorkshire and sometimes grouped with the North-East of England, for it shares characteristics with both. See Tees speak. Note that Hartlepool is invariably classified as a Durham accent.

Lancashire Dialect and Accent

See Cumbrian dialect.

  • The Newcastle Upon Tyne/Tyneside dialect is known as Geordie whereas the dialect of neighbouring Sunderland/Wearside is Mackem. The two are broadly similar but do have slight differences in word usage and pronunciation. For example, with words ending -re/-er, such as culture and father, the end syllable is pronounced by Geordies as a short 'a', such as in 'fat' and 'back' therefore producing "cultcha" and "fatha" respectively. Natives of Sunderland (Mackems) pronounce the syllable much more closely to the standard English. Similarly, in Geordie "make" is pronounced in line with standard English e.g. to rhyme with take. However, a Mackem would pronounce "make" to rhyme with "mack" or "tack". For other differences see the respective articles. For an explanation of the traditional dialects of the mining areas of County Durham and Northumberland see Pitmatic.

Misrepresentations can also appear in the media. The soap "Emmerdale" is set in Yorkshire, yet some of the actors have Lancashire accents. "Coronation Street" is set in Lancashire, yet some of the actors speak with Yorkshire accents. It's fair to say both programmes have actors from either side of the Pennines. As most Britons cannot tell the difference between an accent from Lancashire and one from the West Riding of Yorkshire, media set in these areas tend to continuously use the same actors, such as Pete Postlethwaite, Bernard Wrigley and Michelle Holmes.

"The Archers" has had characters with a variety of different West Country accents (see Mummerset). Also, CBBC show Byker Grove is set in Byker, Newcastle whereas the actors in recent series often have Sunderland accents.

The shows of Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement have often included a variety of regional accents, the most notable being Auf Wiedersehen Pet about working class men in Germany. Other programmes by them include Porridge featuring London and Cumberland accents, and The Likely Lads, featuring north east England.

The programmes of Carla Lane such as The Liver Birds and Bread also feature Scouse accents.

The film Brassed Off is known for being a terribly inaccurate representation of accents in the Barnsley area of Yorkshire.

In the 2005 version of the science fiction programme Doctor Who, various Londoners wonder that if the Doctor (played by Christopher Eccleston) is an alien, why does he sound as if he comes from the North? (Eccleston used his own Salford accent in the role; the usual response is "Lots of planets have a North!") Other accents in the same series include Cockney (used by actress Billie Piper) and Estuary (preferred by Eccleston's successor, David Tennant).

Channel 4's reality programme "Rock School" was set in Suffolk in its 2nd series, providing lots of examples of the Suffolk dialect.

The television character, Stewie Griffin, from the popular animated TV series "Family Guy" is well known for his English accent in the US, despite not sounding authentic to most English people. His voice actor Seth MacFarlane, also creator of the TV series, is American. Dick van Dyke had similar success with his Cockney accent in the Disney film "Mary Poppins".


    • Peters, Pam (2004). The Cambridge Guide to English Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62181-X.
    • McArthur, Tom (2002). Oxford Guide to World English. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-866248-3 hardback, ISBN 0-19-860771-7 paperback.
    • Trask, Larry (1999). Language: The Basics, 2nd edition. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-20089-X.
    • Trudgill, Peter (1984). Language in the British Isles. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-28409-0.
    • Wells, J. C. (1982). Accents of English 2: The British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-28540-2.

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