English Dialects

Question 1

Regional Variation – Basic concerns

Answer 1

• Regional variation as one of several types of variation:
  → sociolect (social variation)
  → register (=functional variation)
  → ideolect (= personal variation)
• Dialect continuum: language is geographically organised in a continuum of variation → the further apart two places are, the more linguistically different they are

Question 2

Isogloss

Answer 2

= boundary between two usage areas on a map with regards to one linguistic feature
→ Isogloss bundles (i.e. a number of isoglosses that occur in the same area) mark the boundaries of a
variety or a more general divide

Question 3

Modern Dialects of England

Answer 3

16 major Modern Dialect regions of England, e.g. Cockney, Cumbria, Scottish

Question 4

sociolect / Social Variaton

Answer 4

• social variation is motivated by the socio-economic status (SES) of the speaker
• SES: Occupation, Age, Gender, Level of edu/income, ethnicity
• terms: genderlect, jargon, ethnolect

Question 5

most prominent features of RP

Answer 5

• long [ɑː] sound in words such as bath, palm and start
• Words such as news are pronounced with a /j/ sound:
  /nju:z/ → other accents such as AmE have dropped the /j/ → /nu:z/

Question 6

Trudgill’s Accent Triangle

Answer 6

• Regional and social Variation in the UK
• lowest class: broad local accents
• highest class: RP
  → the lower the social class the broader the accent variation

Question 7

Scottish English

Answer 7

• 450 AD Anglo-Saxon invasions → introduced northern variety in south-east Scotland
• Vikings; Norman conquest → form of Celtic (south-east: Anglian; north/west: Norse)
• 12th-14th century → variety of English in Lowland Scotland: Inglis
• aye for yes; vowel change: Myself /aɪ/ → Meself /i:/

Question 8

Irish English

Answer 8

• English first introduced in 12th century (Anglo-Norman settlements on Irish East Coast) + Gaelic influence
• the Great Famine → migration and spread of Irish westwards in 19th century
• grand used to signal approval → That is a grand idea!
• /d/ instead of /ð/ → breathe

Question 9

Welsh English

Answer 9

-1536 Acts of Union: Wales was integrated to England, Welsh largely banned and people had to speak English → English became official language of business of Wales

phonetic feature e.g.:
- [d] in RP and [t] in Welsh → gold (unvoicing)
- words are stressed at the beginning of a sentence → a
horse it was

Question 10

features (some) Celtic varieties of English have in common

Answer 10

• More open vowels
• Glottal stop (computer, matter)
• Rhoticity (pronunciation of the historical rhotic consonant /r/ by speakers of certain varieties of English)
• Phrase structure (“A horse it is”)
• Alveolar/ dental stops instead of fricatives (Irish, Welsh Eng)