Varieties of Spoken English

PLAN:
1. Spread of English in the world.
2. Pronunciation Standards.
3. British English.
4. RP - Received Pronunciation.
5. Changes in the Standard.

Spread of English in the world.

British Empire 1921

Three Circles of English
The expanding circle
English as a foreign or international language
The Outer Circle
English as a second or official language
The Inner Circle
English as a mother tongue

The Inner Circle
English as a mother tongue,
e.g. UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand

The Outer Circle
English as a second or official language,
e.g. India, Singapore, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, the Philippines

The expanding circle
English as a foreign or international language,
e.g. Japan, France, Germany, Russia, China, Egypt, Brazil

WHO SPEAKS ENGLISH TODAY?
ENL, ESL and EFL
"English has official* status in at least 75 countries with a total population of over two billion.
English is spoken as a native* language by around 375 million and as a second language* by around 375 million speakers in the world.
Speakers of English as a second language will soon outnumber those who speak it as a first language.
Around 750 million people are believed to speak English as a foreign language*.
One out of four of the world's population speak English to some level of competence."

Varieties of Spoken English
English-based
pronunciation
standards
American-based
pronunciation
standards

Modern Varieties of Englishes

English-based pronunciation standards
British
English
Irish
English
Australian
English
New Zealand
English
English
English
Welsh
English
Scottish
English
Northern Ireland
English

BRITISH ENGLISH
(BrE, BE, en-GB)
"the English language as spoken or written in the British Isles; especially the forms of English usual in Great Britain, as contrasted with those characteristic of the U.S.A. or other English-speaking countries."
The Oxford English Dictionary

Dialect & Accent
Any dialect of English is a language variety which has unique features in pronunciationAny dialect of English is a language variety which has unique features in pronunciation, vocabularyAny dialect of English is a language variety which has unique features in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar.
The term "accent" describes only the sound form of the language, namely, pronunciation.

British English
English
English
Welsh
English
Scottish
English
Northern Ireland
English

Accents & Dialects of GB
English English :
Southern English dialects
Midlands English dialects
Northern English dialects
Welsh English
Scottish English
Irish English
The various British dialects also differ in the words that they have borrowed from other languages. The Scottish and Northern English dialects include many words originally borrowed from Old NorseThe various British dialects also differ in the words that they have borrowed from other languages. The Scottish and Northern English dialects include many words originally borrowed from Old Norse and a few borrowed from Gaelic.

Mapping English English

Outside the southeast there are other families of accents easily distinguished by natives, including:
West CountryWest Country (South West England)
East Anglian
West MidlandsWest Midlands (Black CountryWest Midlands (Black Country, Birmingham)
East Midlands
LiverpoolLiverpool (Scouse)
ManchesterManchester and other east Lancashire accents
Yorkshire
NewcastleNewcastle (Geordie) and other northeast England accents

Main Features of Northern English:
cut, much, love – [A] → [u]
vocalization of [r] in beer, here

Recommended Video for
Northern & Midlands English
Shirly Valentine
Full Monty
Billy Eliot
A Letter to Brezhnev

British English
Pronunciation Standard
RP – Received Pronunciation
1917 – Daniel Jones
first edition of Pronunciation Dictionary
“that most usually heard in everyday speech in the families of Southern English persons whose manfolk have been educated at the great public boarding-schools”

Socio-Linguistic aspect of RP
RP is associated with people who are:
competent, reliable, educated, confident
1987 – Howard Giles, British social psychologist
“RP is most aesthetically pleasing of all British English accents”
At the same time, RP scored lack on such features as:
friendliness, companionability, sincerity

Main features of RP
phonologically neutral variant;
non-rhotic variant;
pronunciation of [a:] instead of [æ] in words like bath, dance.
strong socio-linguistic marker.

Отличительные черты RP
отсутствие элемента региональности в фонологии;
отсутствие вокализации 'r';
произнесение [a:] вместо [æ] в таких словах как bath, dance;
яркий социолингвистический маркер языка выпускников частных школ и наиболее престижных университетов страны (Oxbridge) .

Periods of RP Evolution
I - 1900 –1940
II - 1940-1970
III - 1970- present time

Early Changes in RP
Качественное изменение долготы английских гласных: [L] → [P].
1) Cлова cloth, cross , lot перестали звучать
как thought;
2) Утрачена разница в произнесении пар слов
подобных flaw - floor;

Early Changes in RP
2) Изменение в произнесении дифтонга [OV].
В словах goat, home, know произнесение дифтонга стало более открытым , что было зафиксировано в словарях произношения [OV] → [qV];

Early Changes in RP
3) Изменился характер произнесения краткого [x], который получил более протяжную форму произнесения в словах man, back;

Early Changes in RP
4) Изменения в произнесении
звука [r].
Исчезла манера раскатистого (tapped) произнесения звука [r] в позиции между двумя гласными в словах подобных sorry, very.

Modern English:
Pronunciation Changes

Changes in RP - 1940-1970
звучание слов sure, poor, tour стало идентично произнесению слов shore, pour, tore;
более усеченное произнесение краткого гласного [I] в безударной позиции в словах visibility, carelessness;
появление скользящего сибиланта в словах типа prince → prints;

Changes in RP - 1940-1970
ассимилятивные изменения в звукосочетаниях [tju:], [dju:] → [Cju:], [Gju:], как в словах perpetual, graduate
замена традиционного звука [t] на 'glottal stop' в выражениях quite nice ,
it seems.

Latest Changes – 1980-1990
1) качественное изменение гласного [I], который в конце слов happy, coffee, valley получил более интенсивное звучание
→ ['hxpI], ['kPfI] ['vxlI] ;

Latest Changes – 1980-1990
2) потеря лабиолизации 'oo' в словах goose, foot → оба звука становятся более передними;
3) употребление 'glottal stop' в большем количестве словосочетаний : not only, but also;

Latest Changes – 1980-1990
4) подмена звука [l] звуком [w] в определенных позициях: milk, myself, middle;
5) большее распространение ассимилятивных процессов, такие слова как Tuesday, reduce звучат как chooseday, rejuice.

Changed Stress
1904
ab´domen
an´chovy
´hospitable
in´explicable
se´cretive
2004
´ abdomen
´ anchovy
ho´ spitable
inex´plicable
´secretive

American – influence on stress
Australian – influence on intonation
E.g.
intonation
[o] – [o-yoo] (Australian series ‘Neighbours’)

RP: Facts & Figures
12% of people in Britain use Standard English
9% out of 12% use Standard English with a local accent
3-5% of British population speak RP (Peter Trudgill, 1984)