ENGLAND

Question 1

RP

Answer 1

• model accent
• not regional
• frequently taught to learners of English, used in textbook and dictionaries
• minority accent, 3-5% of the British population
• Upper class

Question 2

Accent

Answer 2

• only pronunciation, typical regionally and socially
• “British with a Scottish accent”
• “British urban working-class accent”

Question 3

Dialect

Answer 3

• pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, lexis
• specific variety of a language, regionally or socially, differing from the standard language in various ways

Question 4

Isoglosses

Answer 4

• imaginary line dividing two geographical areas to indicate some linguistic discontinuity
• dialect boundaries are often to clearcut, but may criss-cross
• where isoglosses for several different linguistic features “bundle”, a dialect boundary may be interpreted

Question 5

Types of isoglosses

Answer 5

• pronunciation: isophone
  > phonological features
• grammar: isomorph
  > morphological features
• vocabulary: isolex
  > lexical items
• meaning: isoseme
  > semantic features

Question 6

Dialects in the UK: pronouns

Answer 6

North: us instead of our
Example: “we like us town”
Midlands: possessive pronouns ending in -n
Example: “yourn, hisn, hern”
- South-East: 3rd person that instead of it
Example: “That’s raining”
- Scotland: myself instead of me/I
Example: “this is myself with a cow”

Question 7

dialect levelling in the UK: pronouns

Answer 7

• non-dialect-specific non-standard features
• un insetad of me
  > “Give us a kiss”
• me instead of my
  > “he knew me name”
• reflexive pronouns formed by using possessive pronouns
  > “He saved hisself”
• them instead of those
  > “if you had them sixty pound”

Question 8

Dialect in the UK: grammar

Answer 8

• Two forms of address, signalling different degrees of formality
  > you and thou (tha) in the North
• “Invariant” forms, used for all persons, of be, such as is or am in the North, and invariant be in the West Country
• Three-dimensional demonstratives, that is, with a further degree of remoteness, as in this/that/yon in the north and thease/that/thik in the west country
• Do as a marker of aspect
  > I see refers to a single event, whereas I do see refers to a habitual or repeated action, also in western varieties

Question 9

Dialect levelling in the UK: grammar

Answer 9

• non-dialect-specific non-standard features
• absence of plural marking on noun of measurement
  > five pound of flour
• what as subjective relativiser
  > the film what was on last night
• never as a past tense negator
  > No, I never did that
• regularised reflexive pronouns
  > myself/yourself/hisself
• there’s/there was with plural subjects
  > there’s three dogs in the garden
• perfect participles sat and stood with progressive meaning
  > she was over there, he was stood in the corner
• adverbs with the same form as adjectives, without -ly
  > come quick!
• indirect object preceding direct object in pronominal double object constructions
  > Give me it!
• ain’t, in’t
  > that ain’t/in’t working
• non-standard was
  > we was singing

Question 10

Dialects in the UK: lexicon

Answer 10

• More difficult to establish regional variation in vocabulary
• Language contact may result in the adoption of loanwords
• Norse in the viking period in the North of England
  > gate (“street”)
  > ending -by (“settlement”) in placenames (like in Yorkshire)
• Celtic in Cornwall
  > Fuggan (“pastry-cake”), gook (“bonnet”), muryans (“ants”)

Question 11

Cockney pronunciation

Answer 11

• (f) insteaad of (θ)
  >Thirty, nothing, broth
• (v) instead of (ð) in non-initial-porsition
  > brother, breathe
• These two changes are sometimes called TH-fronting
• Initial h-dropping
  > House, but hypercorrection also possible, e.g. (h)ever
• Glottal stop (ʔ) for voiceless plosives in non-initial position, especially for (t), but also occasionally for (p) and (k)
  > But, butter, stop, background
• No (hw)
  > While and wile, or where and were are homophones
• Occasionally confusion between (w) and (v)
  > Wery vell
• Yod-dripping
  > no (j) news (nu:z) (cf.GA)
• Vocalisation of dark (ɫ)
  > Milk, tell
• More open diphthongs
  > Face (fʌɪs), goat (gʌʊt), like (lʌɪk)

Question 12

Cockney grammar

Answer 12

• Double negatives
  > “there ain’t nuffink like it”
• Non-standard simple past
  > Done for did, seen for saw
  -Vowel between t and plural-s
  > Fists (fɪstɪz), posts (pәʊstɪz)
• Dropping of prepositions to and at in relation to places
  > i’m going down the pub” or “they’re over me mum’s”
• Invariant question tag innit (from isn’t it or ain’t it)
  > he gets upset quick, innit?

Question 13

Cockney vocabulary

Answer 13

• Rhyming slang
  > Apple and pears = stairs,
  > Adam and Eve = believe
  -> Second element in the phrase may be dropped
  > butcher’s = look (from butchers hook), so “take a butchers”
• Back-clipping plus-o
  > Aggro for aggravation
• Back slang
  > Yob for boy, yobbo for boyo
• Phrases running together
  > Gawdelpus = God help us
  > Geddoutovit = get out of it (also possible with three glottal stops!)
• Romany loans
  > Chavvy (child) > chav, mushc (mate)
• Yiddish loans
  > Nosh (eat)
  > schemozzle (disturbance)
  > scblemiel (fool)
• Arabic loans
  > Bint (girl)
  > shufti (look)
• Hindi loans
  > Dekko (look)
  > doolally (=indian town, “mad”)

Question 14

Eustary English

Answer 14

• South-eastern accent (rather than dialect) connected to London
• Many characteristic pronunciation features taken from Cockney
  > TH-fronting
  > glottal stop in certain contexts
  > mixed with RP
• Had been speading among England as it is seen as attractive and trendy
• described both as “regional middle class RP” and “working class accent”

Question 15

Geordie grammar

Answer 15

• 3rd person plural is for are
  > “five pillars of islam is our five rules which we live by”
• 3rd person plural was for were
  > “the tables was the best, cause that lasted years”
• Historic present with -s:
  > “they bairns now, they says: Dad, we thought you were hard and you were hard then and we were frightened to talk to you”
• Past tense done for did:
  > “bought out house and its the best thing we done”
• Past participle took for taken > “was big basket tok with food”
• 2nd person plural youse for you
  > “ill see youse in the woods”
• Reflexive pronouns in -sell and -sells for -self and -selves > “we had the best years for entertaining oursells”
• Demonstrative pronoun them for those
  > “them are my mothers”
  -Negation with div’t for don’t:
  > “divn’t think they’re right now”
• Multiple negation
  > “you can´t do nothing with them”
• For to + inf:
  > “most people kept a few hens for to get a few eggs”