استاذ انور
17-06-2010, 01:02 PM
Southern
Southern English engages in r-dropping, that is, r's are not pronounced after vowels, unless followed by another vowel. Instead, vowels are lengthened or have an /'/ off-glide, so fire becomes /fai'/, far becomes /fa:/, and so on.
regular use of "broad a" (/a:/), where GA (General American) would use /æ/.
"long o" is pronounced /'u/, where GA uses /ou/.
final unstressed i is pronounced /i/, where GA uses /i:).
t between vowels retained as /t/ (or a glottal stop, in its variants), where GA changes it to /d/.
The English of well-bred Londoners, especially graduates of the public schools (e.g. Eton and Harrow) and "Oxbridge" universities, was the origin of "the Queen's English," also known as Received Pronunciation (RP), BBC, or "posh."
Cockney
Originally the dialect of the working class of East End London.
initial h is dropped, so house becomes /aus/ (or even /a:s/).
/th/ and /dh/ become /f/ and /v/ respectively: think > /fingk/, brother > /brœv'/.
t between vowels becomes a glottal stop: water > /wo?i/.
diphthongs change, sometimes dramatically: time > /toim/, brave > /braiv/, etc.
Besides the accent, it includes a large number of slang words, including the famous rhyming slang:
have a butchers -- take a look [from butcher's hook = look]
north and south -- mouth
plates -- feet [from plates of meat = feet]
boat race -- face
skin and blister -- sister
trouble -- wife [from trouble and strife = wife]
dustbin lids -- kids / children
whistle -- suit [from whistle and flute = suit]
oily rag -- fag = cigarette
jam jar -- car
mince pies -- eyes
pen and ink -- stink
porkies -- lies [from pork pies = lies]
titfer -- hat [from tit for tat = hat]
apples and pears -- stairs
Jimmy -- urinate [from Jimmy Riddle = piddle]
Bertie Woofter -- gay man [from Bertie Woofter = poofter]
China -- mate / friend [from China plate = mate]
]
rabbit and pork -- talk
tea leaf -- thief
taters -- cold [from potato mold = cold]
dog and bone -- phone
loaf -- head [from loaf of bread = head]
brown bread -- dead
elbows and knees -- trees
gold watch -- Scotch
pride and joy -- boy
current bun -- Sun
dicky -- shirt [from dicky dirt = shirt]
pots and pans -- hands
jugs -- ears [from jugs of beers = ears]
ones and twos -- shoes
daisies -- boots [from daisy roots = boots]
bird -- prison [from bird lime = time, as in doing time]
(from Kryss Katsiavriades at http://www.krysstal.com/cockney.html)
Estuary English
From London down the Thames and into Essex, Sussex, and even Kent, a new working and middle class dialect has evolved and is rapidly become "the" southern dialect. It combines some of the characteristics of Cockney with RP, but makes much less use of Cockney slang.
East Anglian
This dialect is very similar to the Southern:
t between vowels usually becomes a glottal stop.
/ai/ becomes /oi/: time > /toim/.
RP yu becomes u: after n, t, d... as in American English.
East Midlands
The dialect of the East Midlands, once filled with interesting variations from county to county, is 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
This is the dialect of Ozzie Osbourne! While 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 version of West Midlands spoken in Birmingham.
Lancashire
This dialect, spoken north and east of Liverpool, has the southern habit of dropping r's. Other features:
/œ/ > /u/, as in luck (/luk/).
/ou/ > /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 is pronounced to rhyme with fur.
Yorkshire
The Yorkshire dialect is known for its sing-song quality, a little like Swedish, and retains its r's.
/œ/ > /u/, as in luck (/luk/).
the is reduced to t'.
initial h is dropped.
was > were.
still use thou (pronounced /tha/) and thee.
aught and naught (pronounced /aut/ or /out/ and /naut/ or /nout/) are used for anything and nothing.
Northern
The Northern dialect closely resembles the southern-most Scottish dialects. It retains many old Scandinavian words, such as bairn for child, and not only keeps its r's, but often rolls them. The most outstanding version is Geordie, the dialect of the Newcastle area.
-er > /æ/, so father > /fædhæ/.
/ou/ > /o:'/, so that boat sounds like each letter is pronounced.
talk > /ta:k/
work > /work/
book > /bu:k/
my > me
me > us
our > wor
you plural > youse
Wales
Welsh English is characterized by a sing-song quality and lightly rolled r's. It has been strongly influenced by the Welsh language, although it is increasingly influenced today by standard English, due to the large number of English people vacationing and retiring there.
Scotland
Scotland actually has more variation in dialects than England! The variations do have a few things in common, though, besides a large particularly Scottish vocabulary:
rolled r's.
"pure" vowels (/e:/ rather than /ei/, /o:/ rather than /ou/)
/u:/ is often fronted to /ö/ or /ü/, e.g. boot, good, muin (moon), poor...
There are several "layers" of Scottish English. Most people today speak standard English with little more than the changes just mentioned, plus a few particular words that they themselves view as normal English, such as to jag (to prick) and burn (brook). In rural areas, many older words and grammatical forms, as well as further phonetic variations, still survive, but are being rapidly replaced with more standard forms. But when a Scotsman (or woman) wants to show his pride in his heritage, he may resort to quite a few traditional variations in his speech. First, the phonetics:
/oi/, /ai/, and final /ei/ > /'i/, e.g. oil, wife, tide...
final /ai/ > /i/, e.g. ee (eye), dee (die), lee (lie)...
/ou/ > /e/, e.g. ake (oak), bate (boat), hame (home), stane (stone), gae (go)...
/au/ > /u/, e.g. about, house, cow, now... (often spelled oo or u)
/o/ > /a:/, e.g. saut (salt), law, aw (all)...
/ou/ > /a:/, e.g. auld (old), cauld (cold), snaw (snow)...
/æ/ > /a/, e.g. man, lad, sat...
also: pronounce the ch's and gh's that are silent in standard English: nicht, licht, loch...
Plus, the grammar:
Present tense: often, all forms follow the third person singular (they wis, instead of they were).
Past tense (weak verbs): -it after plosives (big > biggit); -t after n, l, r, and all other unvoiced consonants (ken > kent); -ed after vowels and all other voiced consonants (luv > luved).
Past tense (strong verbs): come > cam, gang > gaed and many more.
On the other hand, many verbs that are strong in standard English are weak in Scottish English: sell > sellt, tell > tellt, mak > makkit, see > seed, etc.
Past participle is usually the same as the past (except for many strong verbs, as in standard English)
Present participle: -in (ken > kennin)
The negative of many auxiliary verbs is formed with -na: am > amna, hae (have) > hinna, dae (do) > dinna, can > canna, etc.
Irregular plurals: ee > een (eyes), shae > shuin (shoes), coo > kye (cows).
Common diminutives in -ie: lass > lassie, hoose > hoosie...
Common adjective ending: -lik (= -ish)
Demonstratives come in four pairs (singular/plural): this/thir, that/thae, thon/thon, yon/yon.
Relative pronouns: tha or at.
Interrogative pronouns: hoo, wha, whan, whase, whaur, whatna, whit.
Each or every is ilka; each one is ilk ane.
Numbers: ane, twa, three, fower, five, sax, seeven, aucht, nine, ten, aleeven, twal...
And finally, the many unique words: lass, bairn (child), kirk (church), big (build), bonny, greet (weep), ingle (household fire), aye (yes), hame (home)... As you can see, Scottish English in its original glory is as near to being different language as one can get, rather than simply another dialect of English. See Clive P L Young's Scots Haunbuik at http://www.electricscotland.com/tourist/sh_gram.htm for more detail.
There are also several urban dialects, particularly in Glasgow and Edinburgh. The thick dialect of the working class of Edinburgh can be heard in the movie Trainspotting.
In the Highlands, especially the Western Islands, English is often people's second language, the first being Scottish Gaelic. Highland English is pronounced in a lilting fashion with pure vowels. It is, actually, one of the prettiest varieties of English I have ever heard.
Ireland
English was imposed upon the Irish, but they have made it their own and have contributed some of our finest literature. Irish English is strongly influenced by Irish Gaelic:
r after vowels is retained
"pure" vowels (/e:/ rather than /ei/, /o:/ rather than /ou/)
/th/ and /dh/ > /t/ and /d/ respectively.
The sentence structure of Irish English often borrows from the Gaelic:
Use of be or do in place of usually:
I do write... (I usually write)
Use of after for the progressive perfect and pluperfect:
I was after getting married (I had just gotten married)
Use of progressive beyond what is possible in standard English:
I was thinking it was in the drawer
Use of the present or past for perfect and pluperfect:
She’s dead these ten years (she has been dead...)
Use of let you be and don’t be as the imperative:
Don’t be troubling yourself
Use of it is and it was at the beginning of a sentence:
it was John has the good looks in the family
Is it marrying her you want?
Substitute and for when or as:
It only struck me and you going out of the door
Substitute the infinitive verb for that or if:
Imagine such a thing to be seen here!
Drop if, that, or whether:
Tell me did you see them
Statements phrased as rhetorical questions:
Isn’t he the fine-looking fellow?
Extra uses of the definite article:
He was sick with the jaundice
Unusual use of prepositions:
Sure there’s no daylight in it at all now
As with the English of the Scottish Highlands, the English of the west coast of Ireland, where Gaelic is still spoken, is lilting, with pure vowels. It, too, is particularly pretty.
Southern English engages in r-dropping, that is, r's are not pronounced after vowels, unless followed by another vowel. Instead, vowels are lengthened or have an /'/ off-glide, so fire becomes /fai'/, far becomes /fa:/, and so on.
regular use of "broad a" (/a:/), where GA (General American) would use /æ/.
"long o" is pronounced /'u/, where GA uses /ou/.
final unstressed i is pronounced /i/, where GA uses /i:).
t between vowels retained as /t/ (or a glottal stop, in its variants), where GA changes it to /d/.
The English of well-bred Londoners, especially graduates of the public schools (e.g. Eton and Harrow) and "Oxbridge" universities, was the origin of "the Queen's English," also known as Received Pronunciation (RP), BBC, or "posh."
Cockney
Originally the dialect of the working class of East End London.
initial h is dropped, so house becomes /aus/ (or even /a:s/).
/th/ and /dh/ become /f/ and /v/ respectively: think > /fingk/, brother > /brœv'/.
t between vowels becomes a glottal stop: water > /wo?i/.
diphthongs change, sometimes dramatically: time > /toim/, brave > /braiv/, etc.
Besides the accent, it includes a large number of slang words, including the famous rhyming slang:
have a butchers -- take a look [from butcher's hook = look]
north and south -- mouth
plates -- feet [from plates of meat = feet]
boat race -- face
skin and blister -- sister
trouble -- wife [from trouble and strife = wife]
dustbin lids -- kids / children
whistle -- suit [from whistle and flute = suit]
oily rag -- fag = cigarette
jam jar -- car
mince pies -- eyes
pen and ink -- stink
porkies -- lies [from pork pies = lies]
titfer -- hat [from tit for tat = hat]
apples and pears -- stairs
Jimmy -- urinate [from Jimmy Riddle = piddle]
Bertie Woofter -- gay man [from Bertie Woofter = poofter]
China -- mate / friend [from China plate = mate]
]
rabbit and pork -- talk
tea leaf -- thief
taters -- cold [from potato mold = cold]
dog and bone -- phone
loaf -- head [from loaf of bread = head]
brown bread -- dead
elbows and knees -- trees
gold watch -- Scotch
pride and joy -- boy
current bun -- Sun
dicky -- shirt [from dicky dirt = shirt]
pots and pans -- hands
jugs -- ears [from jugs of beers = ears]
ones and twos -- shoes
daisies -- boots [from daisy roots = boots]
bird -- prison [from bird lime = time, as in doing time]
(from Kryss Katsiavriades at http://www.krysstal.com/cockney.html)
Estuary English
From London down the Thames and into Essex, Sussex, and even Kent, a new working and middle class dialect has evolved and is rapidly become "the" southern dialect. It combines some of the characteristics of Cockney with RP, but makes much less use of Cockney slang.
East Anglian
This dialect is very similar to the Southern:
t between vowels usually becomes a glottal stop.
/ai/ becomes /oi/: time > /toim/.
RP yu becomes u: after n, t, d... as in American English.
East Midlands
The dialect of the East Midlands, once filled with interesting variations from county to county, is 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
This is the dialect of Ozzie Osbourne! While 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 version of West Midlands spoken in Birmingham.
Lancashire
This dialect, spoken north and east of Liverpool, has the southern habit of dropping r's. Other features:
/œ/ > /u/, as in luck (/luk/).
/ou/ > /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 is pronounced to rhyme with fur.
Yorkshire
The Yorkshire dialect is known for its sing-song quality, a little like Swedish, and retains its r's.
/œ/ > /u/, as in luck (/luk/).
the is reduced to t'.
initial h is dropped.
was > were.
still use thou (pronounced /tha/) and thee.
aught and naught (pronounced /aut/ or /out/ and /naut/ or /nout/) are used for anything and nothing.
Northern
The Northern dialect closely resembles the southern-most Scottish dialects. It retains many old Scandinavian words, such as bairn for child, and not only keeps its r's, but often rolls them. The most outstanding version is Geordie, the dialect of the Newcastle area.
-er > /æ/, so father > /fædhæ/.
/ou/ > /o:'/, so that boat sounds like each letter is pronounced.
talk > /ta:k/
work > /work/
book > /bu:k/
my > me
me > us
our > wor
you plural > youse
Wales
Welsh English is characterized by a sing-song quality and lightly rolled r's. It has been strongly influenced by the Welsh language, although it is increasingly influenced today by standard English, due to the large number of English people vacationing and retiring there.
Scotland
Scotland actually has more variation in dialects than England! The variations do have a few things in common, though, besides a large particularly Scottish vocabulary:
rolled r's.
"pure" vowels (/e:/ rather than /ei/, /o:/ rather than /ou/)
/u:/ is often fronted to /ö/ or /ü/, e.g. boot, good, muin (moon), poor...
There are several "layers" of Scottish English. Most people today speak standard English with little more than the changes just mentioned, plus a few particular words that they themselves view as normal English, such as to jag (to prick) and burn (brook). In rural areas, many older words and grammatical forms, as well as further phonetic variations, still survive, but are being rapidly replaced with more standard forms. But when a Scotsman (or woman) wants to show his pride in his heritage, he may resort to quite a few traditional variations in his speech. First, the phonetics:
/oi/, /ai/, and final /ei/ > /'i/, e.g. oil, wife, tide...
final /ai/ > /i/, e.g. ee (eye), dee (die), lee (lie)...
/ou/ > /e/, e.g. ake (oak), bate (boat), hame (home), stane (stone), gae (go)...
/au/ > /u/, e.g. about, house, cow, now... (often spelled oo or u)
/o/ > /a:/, e.g. saut (salt), law, aw (all)...
/ou/ > /a:/, e.g. auld (old), cauld (cold), snaw (snow)...
/æ/ > /a/, e.g. man, lad, sat...
also: pronounce the ch's and gh's that are silent in standard English: nicht, licht, loch...
Plus, the grammar:
Present tense: often, all forms follow the third person singular (they wis, instead of they were).
Past tense (weak verbs): -it after plosives (big > biggit); -t after n, l, r, and all other unvoiced consonants (ken > kent); -ed after vowels and all other voiced consonants (luv > luved).
Past tense (strong verbs): come > cam, gang > gaed and many more.
On the other hand, many verbs that are strong in standard English are weak in Scottish English: sell > sellt, tell > tellt, mak > makkit, see > seed, etc.
Past participle is usually the same as the past (except for many strong verbs, as in standard English)
Present participle: -in (ken > kennin)
The negative of many auxiliary verbs is formed with -na: am > amna, hae (have) > hinna, dae (do) > dinna, can > canna, etc.
Irregular plurals: ee > een (eyes), shae > shuin (shoes), coo > kye (cows).
Common diminutives in -ie: lass > lassie, hoose > hoosie...
Common adjective ending: -lik (= -ish)
Demonstratives come in four pairs (singular/plural): this/thir, that/thae, thon/thon, yon/yon.
Relative pronouns: tha or at.
Interrogative pronouns: hoo, wha, whan, whase, whaur, whatna, whit.
Each or every is ilka; each one is ilk ane.
Numbers: ane, twa, three, fower, five, sax, seeven, aucht, nine, ten, aleeven, twal...
And finally, the many unique words: lass, bairn (child), kirk (church), big (build), bonny, greet (weep), ingle (household fire), aye (yes), hame (home)... As you can see, Scottish English in its original glory is as near to being different language as one can get, rather than simply another dialect of English. See Clive P L Young's Scots Haunbuik at http://www.electricscotland.com/tourist/sh_gram.htm for more detail.
There are also several urban dialects, particularly in Glasgow and Edinburgh. The thick dialect of the working class of Edinburgh can be heard in the movie Trainspotting.
In the Highlands, especially the Western Islands, English is often people's second language, the first being Scottish Gaelic. Highland English is pronounced in a lilting fashion with pure vowels. It is, actually, one of the prettiest varieties of English I have ever heard.
Ireland
English was imposed upon the Irish, but they have made it their own and have contributed some of our finest literature. Irish English is strongly influenced by Irish Gaelic:
r after vowels is retained
"pure" vowels (/e:/ rather than /ei/, /o:/ rather than /ou/)
/th/ and /dh/ > /t/ and /d/ respectively.
The sentence structure of Irish English often borrows from the Gaelic:
Use of be or do in place of usually:
I do write... (I usually write)
Use of after for the progressive perfect and pluperfect:
I was after getting married (I had just gotten married)
Use of progressive beyond what is possible in standard English:
I was thinking it was in the drawer
Use of the present or past for perfect and pluperfect:
She’s dead these ten years (she has been dead...)
Use of let you be and don’t be as the imperative:
Don’t be troubling yourself
Use of it is and it was at the beginning of a sentence:
it was John has the good looks in the family
Is it marrying her you want?
Substitute and for when or as:
It only struck me and you going out of the door
Substitute the infinitive verb for that or if:
Imagine such a thing to be seen here!
Drop if, that, or whether:
Tell me did you see them
Statements phrased as rhetorical questions:
Isn’t he the fine-looking fellow?
Extra uses of the definite article:
He was sick with the jaundice
Unusual use of prepositions:
Sure there’s no daylight in it at all now
As with the English of the Scottish Highlands, the English of the west coast of Ireland, where Gaelic is still spoken, is lilting, with pure vowels. It, too, is particularly pretty.