English accents by region
Spoken
English
shows great variation across regions where it is the predominant language. The
United Kingdom
has a wide variety of accents, and no single "British accent" exists. This article provides an overview of the numerous identifiable variations in
pronunciation
. Such distinctions usually derive from the
phonetic
inventory of local
dialects
, as well as from broader differences in the
Standard English
of different primary-speaking populations.
Accent
is the part of dialect concerning local pronunciation.
Vocabulary
and
grammar
are described elsewhere; see the
list of dialects of the English language
. Secondary English speakers tend to carry over the
intonation
and
phonetics
of their
mother tongue
in English speech. For more details on this, see
non-native pronunciations of English
.
Primary English speakers show great variability in terms of regional accents. Examples such as
Pennsylvania Dutch English
are easily identified by key characteristics, but others are more obscure or easily confused. Broad regions can possess subforms. For instance, towns located less than 10 miles (16 km) from the city of
Manchester
, such as
Bolton
,
Oldham
,
Rochdale
, and
Salford
each have distinct accents, all of which are grouped together under the broader
Lancashire accent
. These sub-dialects are very similar to each other, but non-local listeners can identify firm differences. On the other side of the spectrum, Australia has a
General Australian
accent which remains almost unchanged over thousands of miles.
English accents can differ enough to create room for misunderstandings. For example, the pronunciation of "pearl" in some variants of
Scottish English
can sound like the entirely unrelated word "petal" to an American. For a summary of the differences between accents, see the
International Phonetic Alphabet chart for English dialects
.
Overview
[
edit
]
Varieties of Standard English and their features
[1]
Phonological
features
|
United
States
|
Canada
|
Republic
of Ireland
|
Northern
Ireland
|
Scotland
|
England
|
Wales
|
South
Africa
|
Australia
|
New
Zealand
|
/æ/
rather than
/?ː/
in
can't
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
|
|
|
|
father
?
bother
merger
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
consistent intervocalic
alveolar-flapping
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yes
|
|
unrounded
[?]
in
pot
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
syllabic
[?]
in
bird
|
Yes
[
verification needed
]
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
cot
-
caught
merger
|
Variable
|
Yes
|
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
|
|
|
|
FOOT
?
GOOSE
merger
|
|
|
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
|
|
|
|
trap
-
bath
split
|
|
|
Variable
|
|
|
Variable
[a]
|
Variable
|
Yes
|
Partial
[b]
|
Yes
|
rhotic or non-rhotic
|
Mostly rhotic
|
Rhotic
|
Rhotic
|
Rhotic
|
Rhotic
|
Mostly non-rhotic
|
Non-rhotic
|
Non-rhotic
|
Non-rhotic
|
Mostly non-rhotic
|
monophthongal
/a?,
a?/
,
close vowels for
/æ,
?/
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yes
|
Mostly
[c]
|
Yes
|
front
[aː]
for
/?ːr/
|
|
|
Yes
|
|
|
Variable
|
Variable
|
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
English dialects differ greatly in their pronunciation of open vowels. In
Received Pronunciation
, there are four open back vowels,
/æ
?ː
?
?ː/
, but in General American there are only three,
/æ
?
?/
, and in most dialects of Canadian English only two,
/æ
?/
. Which words have which vowel varies between dialects. Words like
bath
and
cloth
have the vowels
/?ː
?/
in Received Pronunciation, but
/æ
?/
in General American. The table above shows some of these dialectal differences.
Britain and Ireland
[
edit
]
Accents and dialects vary widely across Great Britain, Ireland and nearby smaller islands. The UK has the most local accents of any English speaking country
[
citation needed
]
. As such, a single "British accent" does not exist. Someone could be said to have an English, Scottish, Welsh or Irish accent, although these all have many different sub-types.
England
[
edit
]
Southern England
[
edit
]
There are considerable variations within the accents of English across England, one of the most obvious being the
trap?bath split
of the southern half of the country.
Two main sets of accents are spoken in the
West Country
, namely
Cornish
and
West Country
, spoken primarily in the counties of
Devon
,
Somerset
,
Gloucestershire
,
Bristol
,
Dorset
(not as common in Dorset), and
Wiltshire
(again, less common in eastern Wiltshire). A range of variations can be heard within different parts of the West Country: the
Bristolian dialect
is distinctive from the accent heard in
Gloucestershire
(especially south of
Cheltenham
), for example.
The
Cornish
accent has an east?west variation with the East of the county having influences from West country English and the West of the county having direct influences from the
Cornish language
.
There is great variation within Greater
London
, with various accents such as
Cockney
,
Estuary English
,
Multicultural London English
and
Received Pronunciation
being found all throughout the region and the
Home Counties
.
Other accents are those of
- the
East Midlands
(
Derby
,
Leicester
and
Rutland
,
Lincoln
,
Northampton
, and
Nottingham
),
- East Anglia
(
Norfolk
,
Suffolk
and
Cambridgeshire
)
- the
Home Counties
(typically
Buckinghamshire
,
Essex
,
Hertfordshire
,
Berkshire
,
Surrey
,
Sussex
,
Kent
,
Hampshire
). The
Essex
accent has an east?west variation with the county's west having Estuary English speech features and the county's east having the traditional
Essaxon
/
East Anglian
features.
- A range of accents are spoken in the
West Midlands
(in the major towns and conurbations (
The Black Country
,
Birmingham
,
Coventry
,
Stoke-on-Trent
(considered by many to have tones of
scouse
) and
Wolverhampton
) and in rural areas (such as in Herefordshire and south Worcestershire).
In February 2019,
The New York Times
published a quiz that maps the geographical differences between British and Irish dialects.
[2]
Northern England
[
edit
]
The accents of
Northern England
have a range of regional variations.
Cumbria
has regional variants in Western Cumbria (
Workington
), Southern Cumbria (
Barrow-in-Furness
) and
Carlisle
.
Modern Northumbrian
has local variants in Northern Northumberland (
Berwick-upon-Tweed
), Eastern Northumberland (
Ashington
) and
Newcastle
,
Sunderland
and Mid-
County Durham
and Southern
County Durham
. A specialist dialect called
Pitmatic
is within this group, found across the region. It includes terms specific to coal mining.
Yorkshire
is distinctive, having regional variants around
Leeds
,
Bradford
,
Hull
,
Middlesbrough
,
Sheffield
, and
York
. Although many Yorkshire accents sound similar, accents in areas around Hull and Middlesbrough are markedly different. Due to this, the Middlesbrough accent is sometimes grouped with Modern Northumbrian accents being a mid-way between the two regions.
The Hull accent's rhythm is more like that of northern Lincolnshire than that of the rural East Riding, perhaps due to migration from Lincolnshire to the city during its industrial growth. One feature that it shares with the surrounding rural area is that an /a?/ sound in the middle of a word often becomes an /?ː/: for example, "five" may sound like "fahve", "time" like "tahme".
Historic Lancashire
, with regional variants in
Bolton
,
Burnley
,
Blackburn
,
Manchester
,
Preston
,
Blackpool
,
Liverpool
and
Wigan
. Many of the Lancashire accents may sound similar to outsiders, with the exception of Manchester and Wigan, where an older dialect has been maintained.
[3]
The
Liverpool
accent, known as
Scouse
, is an exception to the Lancashire regional variant of English. It has spread to some of the surrounding towns. Before the 1840s, Liverpool's accent was similar to others in Lancashire, though with some distinct features due to the city's proximity to
Wales
. The city's population of around 60,000 was swelled in the 1840s by the arrival of around 300,000 Irish refugees escaping the
Great Famine
, as Liverpool was England's
main Atlantic port
and a popular departure point for people leaving for a new life in the
United States
. While many of the Irish refugees moved away, a vast number remained in Liverpool and permanently influenced the local accent.
[4]
Scotland
[
edit
]
The regional accents of
Scottish English
generally draw on the
phoneme inventory
of the dialects of
Modern Scots
, a language spoken by around 30% of the Scottish population
[5]
[6]
with characteristic vowel realisations due to the
Scottish vowel length rule
.
Highland English
accents are more strongly influenced by
Scottish Gaelic
than other forms of Scottish English.
Wales
[
edit
]
The accents of English in
Wales
are strongly influenced by the phonology of the
Welsh language
, which more than 20% of the population of Wales speak as their first or
second language
. The
North Wales
accent is distinct from
South Wales
. North East Wales is influenced by
Scouse
and
Cheshire
accents. South East Wales accents are influenced by
West Country
accents. The
Wenglish
of the
South Wales Valleys
shows a deep cross-fertilisation between the two.
[
clarification needed
]
[
Which two?
]
The
Cardiff dialect
and accent is quite distinctive from that of the
South Wales Valleys
, primarily:
- Rounding of the second element of
/??/
to
[jøː]
[7]
[8]
- here
/h??/
pronounced
[hjøː]
or
[jøː]
in broader accents
- A closer pronunciation of
as in
love
and
other
[8]
- /?ː/
is widely realised as
[
aː
]
, giving a pronunciation of
Cardiff
/?k?ːd?f/
as
[?kaːd?f]
Isle of Man
[
edit
]
Manx English
has its own distinctive accent, influenced to some extent by the Lancashire dialect and to a lesser extent by some variant of Irish English.
Ireland
[
edit
]
Ireland
has several main groups of accents, including (1) the accents of Ulster, with a strong influence from Scotland as well as the underlying Gaelic linguistic stratum, which in that province approaches the Gaelic of Scotland, (2) those of Dublin and surrounding areas on the east coast where English has been spoken since the earliest period of colonisation from Britain, and (3) the various accents of west, midlands and south.
Ulster
[
edit
]
The
Ulster
accent has two main sub accents, namely
Mid Ulster English
and
Ulster Scots
. The language is spoken throughout the nine counties of Ulster, and in some northern areas of bordering counties such as
Louth
and
Leitrim
. It bears many similarities to Scottish English through influence from the
Ulster varieties
of
Scots
.
Some characteristics of the Ulster accent include:
- As in Scotland, the vowels
/?/
and
/u/
are merged, so that
look
and
Luke
are homophonous. The vowel is a
high central rounded vowel
,
[?]
.
- The diphthong
/a?/
is pronounced approximately
[??]
, but wide variation exists, especially between
social classes
in
Belfast
- In Belfast,
/e?/
is a monophthong in open syllables (e.g.
day
[d?ː]
) but an ingliding diphthong in closed syllables (e.g.
daze
[de?z]
). But the monophthong remains when inflectional endings are added, thus
daze
contrasts with
days
[d?ːz]
.
- The
alveolar stops
/t,
d/
become
dental
before
/r,
?r/
, e.g.
t
ree
and
spi
d
er
- /t/
often undergoes
flapping
to
[?]
before an
unstressed
syllable, e.g.
eighty
[?e??i]
Connacht, Leinster, and Munster
[
edit
]
The accent of these three
provinces
fluctuates greatly from the flat tone of the midlands counties of Laois, Kildare, and Offaly, the perceived
sing-song
of Cork and Kerry, to the soft accents of Mayo and Galway.
Historically, the Dublin City and county area, parts of Wicklow and Louth, came under heavy exclusive influence from the first English settlements, known as
The Pale
. It remained until Independence from Britain as the biggest concentration of English influence in the whole island.
Some Cork accents have a unique lyrical intonation. Every sentence typically ends in the trademark elongated tail-off on the last word. In Cork heavier emphasis yet is put on the brrr sound to the letter R. This is usually the dialect in northern parts of Cork City.
Similar to the Cork accent but without the same intonation, Kerry puts even heavier emphasis on the brrr sound to the letter R. For example: the word Forty. Throughout the south this word is pronounced whereby the r exhibits the typified Irish brrr. In Kerry, especially in rural areas, the roll on the r is enforced with vibrations from the tongue, not unlike Scottish here.
"Are you?" becomes a co-joined "A-rrou?" single tongue flutter, esp. in rural areas. This extra emphasis on R is also seen in varying measures through parts of West Limerick and West Cork in closer proximity to Kerry.
Another feature in the Kerry accent is the S before the consonant. True to its Gaelic origins in a manner similar to parts of Connacht "s" maintains the shh sound as in shop or sheep. The word Start becomes "Shtart". Stop becomes Shtop.
Irish Travellers
[
edit
]
Irish Travellers
have a very distinct accent closely related to a rural
Hiberno-English
, particularly the English of south-eastern Ireland. Many Irish Travellers who were born in parts of Dublin or Britain have the accent in spite of it being strikingly different from the local accents in those regions. They have their own language,
Shelta
, which strongly links in with their dialect/accent of English.
North America
[
edit
]
North American English
is a collective term for the dialects of the United States and Canada. It does not include the varieties of
Caribbean English
spoken in the West Indies.
- Rhoticity: Most North American English accents differ from Received Pronunciation and some other British dialects by being
rhotic
. The rhotic consonant
/r/
is pronounced before consonants and at the end of syllables, and the
r-colored vowel
[?]
is used as a syllable nucleus. For example, while the words
hard
and
singer
would be pronounced
[h?ːd]
and
[?s?ŋ?]
in
Received Pronunciation
, they would be pronounced
[h??d]
and
[?s?ŋ?]
in
General American
. Exceptions are certain traditional accents found in
eastern New England
,
New York City
, and the
Southern United States
, plus
African-American English
.
- Mergers before
/r/
:
R
-coloring has led to some
vowel mergers before historic
/r/
that do not happen in most other native dialects. In many North American accents,
Mary
,
merry
and
marry
sound the same (
Mary
?
marry
?
merry
merger
), but they have the vowels
/??/
,
/æ/
,
/?/
, respectively, in RP. Similarly,
nearer
rhymes with
mirror
(
mirror
?
nearer
merger
), though the two have different vowels in RP:
/iː/
and
/?/
. Other mergers before
/r/
occur in various North American dialects.
- Mergers of the low back vowels: Other North American mergers that are absent in Received Pronunciation are the merger of the vowels of
caught
and
cot
(
[k?ːt]
and
[k?t]
in RP) in many accents, and the merger of
father
(RP
[?f?ːð?]
) and
bother
(RP
[?b?ð?]
) in almost all.
- Flat
a
: Most North American accents lack the so-called
trap?bath split
found in Southern England: Words like
ask
,
answer
,
grass
,
bath
,
staff
,
dance
are pronounced with the short-a
/æ/
of
trap
, not with the broad A
/?/
of
father
heard in Southern England as well as in most of the Southern hemisphere. In North America, the vowel of
father
has merged with that of
lot
and
bother
, see above. Related to the
trap?bath split
, North American dialects have a feature known as
/æ/ tensing
. This results in /æ/ in some environments, particularly nasals to be raised and even diphthongized, typically transcribed as
[e?]
. Thus,
answer
is typically pronounced as
[e?ns?]
rather than
[æns?]
.
- Flapping of
/t/
and
/d/
: In North American English,
/t/
and
/d/
both become the
alveolar flap
[?]
after a stressed syllable and between vowels or syllabic consonants, making the words
latter
and
ladder
homophones, either as
[?læd?]
or
[?læ??]
.
The United States does not have a concrete 'standard' accent in the same way that Britain has
Received Pronunciation
. A form of speech known to linguists as General American is perceived by many Americans to be "accent-less", meaning a person who speaks in such a manner does not appear to be
from
anywhere in particular. The region of the United States that most resembles this, is the central Midwest, specifically eastern Nebraska, including Omaha and Lincoln, southern and central Iowa, including Des Moines, parts of Missouri, Indiana, Ohio and western Illinois, including Peoria and the Quad Cities, but not the Chicago area.
[
original research?
]
Canada
[
edit
]
Three major dialect areas can be found in Canada: Western/Central Canada, the Maritimes, and
Newfoundland
.
The phonology of
West/Central Canadian English
, also called
General Canadian
, is broadly similar to that of the Western US, except for the following features:
- The diphthongs
/a?/
and
/a?/
are raised to approximately
[??]
and
[??]
[9]
before voiceless consonants. For example, the vowel sound of
out
[??t]
is different from that of
loud
[la?d]
. This feature is known as
Canadian raising
. The
/??/
is even more raised in Atlantic Canada, closer to
/??/
.
- The short
a
of
bat
is more open than almost everywhere else in North America
[æ?
~
a]
. The other front lax vowels
/?/
and
/?/
, too, can be lowered and/or retracted. This phenomenon has been labelled the
Canadian Shift
.
The pronunciation of certain words shows a British influence. For instance,
shone
is
/??n/
;
been
is often
/biːn/
;
lieutenant
is
/l?f?t?n?nt/
;
process
can be
/?pro?s?s/
; etc.
Words like
drama
,
pajamas/pyjamas
,
pasta
tend to have
/æ/
rather than
/?/
~
/?/
. Words like
sorrow
,
Florida
,
orange
have
/?r/
rather than
/?r/
; therefore,
sorry
rhymes with
story
rather than with
starry
.
United States
[
edit
]
West Indies and Bermuda
[
edit
]
For discussion, see:
Oceania
[
edit
]
Australia
[
edit
]
Australian English is relatively homogeneous when compared to
British
and
American
English. There is some regional variation between the
states
, particularly in regard to
South Australia
,
Victoria
,
Queensland
,
Northern Territory
and
Western Australia
.
Three main varieties of Australian English are spoken according to linguists:
Broad Australian
,
General Australian
and
Cultivated Australian
.
[10]
They are part of a continuum, reflecting variations in accent. They can, but do not always reflect the
social class
, education and urban or rural background of the speaker.
[11]
- Australian Aboriginal English
refers to the various varieties of the English language used by Indigenous Australians. These varieties, which developed differently in different parts of Australia, vary along a continuum, from forms close to General Australian to more nonstandard forms. There are distinctive features of accent, grammar, words and meanings, as well as language use.
- The furthest extent of the Aboriginal dialect is
Australian Kriol language
, which is not
mutually intelligible
with General Australian English.
- On the
Torres Strait Islands
, a distinctive dialect known as
Torres Strait English
is spoken.
- In Australian English, pronunciations vary regionally according to the type of vowel that occurs before the sounds
,
,
,
, and
. In words like "chance", "plant", "branch", "sample" and "demand", the vast majority of Australians use the short /æ/ vowel from the word "cat". In
South Australian English
there is a high proportion of people who use the broad /aː/ vowel from the word "cart" in these words.
- Centring
diphthongs
, which are the vowels that occur in words like
ear
,
beard
and
air
,
sheer
. In
Western Australian English
there is a tendency for centring diphthongs to be pronounced as full diphthongs. Those in the eastern states will tend to pronounce "fear" and "sheer" without any jaw movement, while the westerners would pronounce them like "fia" and "shia", respectively which slightly resembles
South African English
but in a dialect different from
New Zealand English
.
[12]
New Zealand
[
edit
]
The New Zealand accent is most similar to Australian accents, particularly those of Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales and South Australia, but is distinguished from these accents by the presence of three "clipped" vowels, slightly resembling
South African English
. Phonetically, these are centralised or raised versions of the short "i", "e" and "a" vowels, which in New Zealand are close to
[?]
,
[?]
and
[?]
respectively rather than
[?]
,
[?]
and
[æ]
. New Zealand pronunciations are often popularly represented outside New Zealand by writing "fish and chips" as "fush and chups", "yes" as "yiss", "sixty-six" as "suxty-sux".
Scottish English influence is most evident in the southern regions of New Zealand, notably in
Dunedin
. Another difference between New Zealand and Australian English is the length of the vowel in words such as "dog", and "job" which are longer than in Australian English, which shares the short and staccato pronunciation shared with British English. There is a tendency in New Zealand English, found in some but not all Australian English, to add a
schwa
between some grouped consonants in words, such that ? for example ? "shown" and "thrown" may be pronounced "showun" and "throwun".
Geographical variations appear slight, and mainly confined to individual special local words. One group of speakers hold a recognised place as "talking differently": the regions of
Otago
and especially
Southland
, both in the south of the South Island, harbour a "Celtic fringe" of people speaking with what is known as the "Southland burr" in which R is pronounced with a soft burr, particularly in words that rhyme with 'nurse'.
[13]
The area formed a traditional repository of immigration from Scotland.
Some sections of the main urban areas of Auckland and Wellington show a stronger influence of M?ori and Pacific island (e.g., Samoan) pronunciations and speech patterns than most of the country.
The trilled 'r' is used by some M?ori, who may pronounce 't' and 'k' sounds without aspiration, striking other English speakers as similar to 'd' and 'g'. This is also encountered in South African English, especially among
Afrikaans
speakers.
Norfolk Island and Pitcairn
[
edit
]
The English spoken in the isolated Pacific islands of Norfolk and Pitcairn shows evidence of the islands' long isolation from the world. In the case of Pitcairn, the local creole,
Pitkern
, shows strong evidence of its rural English 19th century origins, with an accent which has traces of both the English southwest and
Geordie
. The Norfolk Island equivalent,
Norfuk
, was greatly influenced in its development by Pitkern.
The accents heard in the islands when English is used are similarly influenced but in a much milder way. In the case of Norfolk Island, Australian English is the primary influence, producing an accent which is like a softened version of an Australian accent. The Pitcairn accent is for the most part largely indistinguishable from the New Zealand accent.
Africa and the Atlantic
[
edit
]
South Atlantic
[
edit
]
Falkland Islands
[
edit
]
The
Falkland Islands
have a large non-native born population, mainly from Britain, but also from
Saint Helena
. In rural areas, the Falkland accent tends to be stronger. The accent has resemblances to both Australia-NZ English, and that of
Norfolk
in England, and contains a number of Spanish loanwords.
Saint Helena
[
edit
]
"Saints", as Saint Helenan islanders are called, have a variety of different influences on their accent. To outsiders, the accent has resemblances to the accents of South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
"Saint" is not just a different pronunciation of English, it also has its own distinct words. So 'bite' means spicy, as in full of chillies; 'us' is used instead of 'we' ('us has been shopping'); and 'done' is used to generate a past tense, hence 'I done gorn fishing' ('I have been fishing').
[14]
Television is a reasonably recent arrival there, and is only just beginning to have an effect. American terms are becoming more common, e.g. 'chips' for crisps.
[14]
Southern Africa
[
edit
]
South Africa
[
edit
]
South Africa
has 11 official languages, one of which is English. Accents vary significantly between ethnic and language groups. Home-language English speakers, Black, White, Indian and
Coloured
, in South Africa have an accent that generally resembles British
Received Pronunciation
, modified with varying degrees of Germanic inflection due to Afrikaans.
[15]
The Coloured community is generally bilingual. English accents are strongly influenced by primary mother-tongue, Afrikaans or English. A range of accents can be seen, with the majority of Coloureds showing a strong Afrikaans inflection. Similarly,
Afrikaners
and Cape Coloureds, both descendant of mainly Dutch settlers, tend to pronounce English phonemes with a strong Afrikaans inflection. The English accents of both related groups are significantly different and easily distinguishable, primarily because of prevalent
code-switching
among the majority of Coloured English speakers, particularly in the
Western Cape
of South Africa. The range of accents found among English-speaking Coloureds, from the distinctive "Cape Flats or Coloured English"
[16]
to the standard "colloquial" South African English accent, are of special interest. Geography and education levels play major roles therein.
Black
Africans
generally speak English as a second language. Accent is strongly influenced by mother-tongue, particularly Bantu languages. Urban
middle-class
Black Africans have developed an English accent, with similar inflection as first-language English speakers. Within this ethnic group, variations exist: most
Nguni
(Xhosa, Zulu, Swazi and Ndebele) speakers have a distinct accent, with the pronunciation of words like 'the' and 'that' as would 'devil' and 'dust', respectively, and words like 'rice' as 'lice'.
This may be as a result of the inadequacy of 'r' in the languages.
Sotho
(Tswana, Northern Sotho and Southern Sotho) speakers have a similar accent, with slight variations. Tsonga and Venda speakers have very similar accents with far less intonation than Ngunis and Sothos. Some Black speakers have no distinction between the 'i' in determine and the one in decline, pronouncing it similarly to the one in 'mine'.
Black, Indian and Coloured students educated in former Model C schools or at formerly White tertiary institutions will generally adopt a similar accent to their White English-home-language speaking classmates.
[17]
Code-switching and the "Cape Flats" accent are becoming popular among White learners in public schools within Cape Town.
[
citation needed
]
South African accents vary between major cities, particularly Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg, and provinces (regions).
[18]
Accent variation is observed within respective cities?for instance, Johannesburg, where the northern suburbs (Parkview, Parkwood, Parktown North, Saxonwold, etc.) tend to be less strongly influenced by Afrikaans. These suburbs are more affluent and populated by individuals with tertiary education and higher incomes.
The accents of native English speakers from the southern suburbs (Rosettenville, Turffontein, etc.) tend to be more strongly influenced by Afrikaans. These suburbs are populated by tradesmen and factory workers, with lower incomes. The extent of Afrikaans influence is explained by the fact that Afrikaans urbanisation would historically have been from failed marginal farms or failing economies in rural towns, into the southern and western suburbs of Johannesburg.
The western suburbs of Johannesburg (Newlands, Triomf, which has now reverted to its old name
Sophiatown
, Westdene, etc.) are predominantly Afrikaans speaking. In a similar fashion, people from predominantly or traditionally Jewish areas in the Johannesburg area (such as Sandton, Linksfield or Victory Park) may have accents influenced by Yiddish or Hebrew ancestry.
South African English accent, across the spectrum, is
non-rhotic
.
Examples of South African accents
(obtained from
http://accent.gmu.edu
)
Additional samples of South African accents and dialects can be found at
http://web.ku.edu/~idea/africa/southafrica/southafrica.htm
Archived
16 April 2012 at the
Wayback Machine
Regardless of regional and ethnic differences (in accents), South African English accent is sometimes confused with Australian (or New Zealand) English by British and American English speakers.
[19]
[20]
Zimbabwe
[
edit
]
In
Zimbabwe
, formerly
Rhodesia
, native English speakers, mainly the White and Coloured minority, have a similar speech pattern to that of South Africa. Those with high degrees of Germanic inflection pronounce 'Zimbabwe' as
zim-
bah
-bwi
, as opposed to the African pronunciation
zeem-
bah
-bweh
.
Zimbwabwean accents vastly vary, with some Black Africans sounding British while others will have a much stronger accent influenced by their mother tongues. Usually this distinction is brought about by where speakers grew up and the school attended. For example, most people that grew up in and around Harare have a British sounding accent, while those in the rural areas have a more "pidgin-english" sort of accent.
Example of a Zimbabwean English accent
(obtained from
http://accent.gmu.edu
)
Namibia
[
edit
]
Namibian
English tends to be strongly influenced by
South African English
. Most Namibians who grew up in and around the capital city Windhoek have developed an English accent. Those in the rural areas have an accent strongly influenced by their mother tongue, particularly
Bantu languages
.
Nigeria
[
edit
]
Nigerian English
varies by constituent units. The accents are influenced by the various mother tongues of the Nigerian constituent units.
Asia
[
edit
]
India and South Asia
[
edit
]
A number of distinct dialects of English are spoken in South Asia. There are many languages spoken in South Asia like
Nepali
,
Hindi
,
Punjabi
,
Rajasthani
,
Sindhi
,
Balochi
,
Pashto
,
Assamese
,
Bengali
,
Bhojpuri
,
Gujarati
,
Kannada
,
Kashmiri
,
Marathi
,
Odia
,
Maithili
,
Malayalam
,
Sinhala
,
Tamil
,
Telugu
,
Tulu
,
Urdu
and many more, creating a variety of accents of English. Accents originating in this part of the world tend to display several distinctive features, including:
- syllable-timing
, in which a roughly equal time is allocated to each syllable. Akin to the English of Singapore and Malaysia. Elsewhere, English speech timing is based predominantly on stress;
- "sing-song" pitch, somewhat reminiscent of those of
Welsh English
.
- retroflexion of "t" and "d"
Philippines
[
edit
]
Philippine English employs a rhotic accent that originated from the time when it was first introduced by the Americans during the colonization period in an attempt to replace Spanish as the dominant political language. As there are no /f/ or /v/ sounds in most native languages in the Philippines, [p] is used as an alternative to /f/ as [b] is to /v/. The words "fifty" and "five" are often pronounced as "pipty" and "pibe" by many Filipinos. Similarly, /θ/ is often changed to [t] and /ð/ to [d].
[21]
"Three" becomes /tri/ while "that" becomes /dat/. This feature is consistent with many other Malayo-Polynesian languages. /z/ is often devoiced to [s], whereas [?] is often devoiced to [?] or affricated to [d?], so words like "zoo", "measure", and "beige" may be pronounced [su], [?m??o?], and [be?d?].
[22]
Apart from the frequent inability to pronounce certain fricatives (e.g., [f], [v], [θ], [ð], [z], [?]), in reality, there is no single Philippine English accent. This is because native languages influence spoken English in different ways throughout the archipelago. For instance, those from
Visayas
usually interchange the sounds /e/ and /i/ as well as /o/ and /u/ because the distinction between those phonemes is not very pronounced in Visayan languages.
People from the northern Philippines may pronounce /r/ as a strong trill instead of a tap, which is more commonly used in the rest of the Philippines, as the trill is a feature of the
Ilocano language
. Ilocano people generally pronounce the schwa sound /?/ better than other Filipinos, because they use a similar sound in their native language that is missing from many other Philippine languages.
Hong Kong
[
edit
]
The accent of English spoken in
Hong Kong
follows mainly British, with rather strong influence from
Cantonese
on the
pronunciations
of a few consonants and vowels, and sentence grammar and structure.
Malaysia
[
edit
]
Malay is the
lingua franca
of
Malaysia
, a federation of former British colonies and similar dependencies. English is a foreign language with no official status, but it is commonly learnt as a second or third language.
The Malaysian accent appears to be a melding of British, Chinese, Tamil and Malay influences.
Many Malaysians adopt different accents and usages depending on the situation. For example, an office worker may speak with less colloquialism and with a more British accent on the job than with friends or while out shopping.
- syllable-timing
, where speech is timed according to syllable, akin to the English of the Indian Subcontinent. Elsewhere, speech is usually timed to stress.
- A quick, staccato style, with "puncturing" syllables and well-defined, drawn out tones.
- Non-rhoticity
, like most varieties of
English language in England
. Hence
caught
and
court
are homophonous as
/k?ːt/
(in actuality,
[k?ː?]
or
[koː?]
);
can't
rhymes with
aren't
, etc.
- The "ay" and "ow" sounds in
raid
and
road
(
/e?/
and
/o?/
respectively) are pronounced as
monophthongs
, i.e. with no "glide":
[red]
and
[rod]
.
- /θ/
is pronounced as [t] and
/ð/
as [d]; hence,
thin
is
[t?n]
and
then
is
[d?n]
.
- Depending on how colloquial the situation is: many
discourse particles
, or words inserted at the end of sentences that indicate the role of the sentence in discourse and the mood it conveys, like "lah", "leh", "mah", "hor", etc.
Singapore
[
edit
]
Singapore is effectively a multilingual nation. The
Singapore government
recognises four
official languages
: English,
Malay
,
Mandarin Chinese
, and
Tamil
.
Students in primary and secondary schools learning English as the language of instruction also learn a second language called their "Mother Tongue" by the Ministry of Education, where they are taught Mandarin Chinese, Malay or Tamil. A main point to note is while "Mother Tongue" generally refers to the first language (L1) overseas, in Singapore, it is used by the Ministry of Education to denote the traditional language of one's
ethnic group
, which sometimes can be their second language (L2).
There are two main types of English spoken in Singapore ?
Standard Singapore English
and
Singlish
. Singlish is more widely spoken than standard English. It has a very distinctive
tone
and sentence structure which are both strongly influenced by Malay and the many
varieties of Chinese
spoken in the city.
A 2005 census showed that around 30% of Singaporeans speak English as their main language at home.
[23]
There are many foreigners working in Singapore. 36% of the population in Singapore are foreigners, and foreigners make up 50% of the service sector.
[24]
Therefore, it is very common to encounter service staff who are not fluent in English. Most of these staff speak Mandarin Chinese. Those who do not speak Mandarin Chinese tend to speak either broken English or Singlish, which they have learnt from the locals.
Antarctica
[
edit
]
Phonetic change in the English spoken at a
base
in
Antarctica
has been registered.
[25]
This has been referred to as the start of a new accent called
Antarctic English
.
[26]
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Yes in Southern England, No in Northern England and most of the Midlands.
- ^
Yes before fricatives: /-f/, /-s/, /-θ/; Variable before nasals: /-mp?l/, /-nd/, /-nt/, /-nt?/, /-ns/.
- ^
Many younger
Australian English
speakers have more open pronunciations.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Trudgill, Peter
; Hannah, Jean (2002).
International English: A Guide to the Varieties of Standard English
(4th ed.). London: Arnold. pp. 4?6.
- ^
Katz, Josh (15 February 2019).
"The British-Irish Dialect Quiz"
.
The New York Times
.
ISSN
0362-4331
. Retrieved
20 February
2019
.
- ^
Andersson, Jasmine (24 February 2020).
"Speyk Wiganese: How the town of Wigan preserved its language through mining, pies and Facebook weather forecasts"
.
inews.co.uk
.
- ^
Paul Coslett,
The origins of Scouse
, BBC Liverpool, 11 January 2005
. Retrieved 13 August 2018
- ^
Mairi Robinson, ed. (1985).
The Concise Scots Dictionary
. Aberdeen University Press. p. xxxi.
- ^
"Phonetic characteristics of dialect districts"
.
Dsl.ac.uk
.
Dictionary of the Scots Language
. Retrieved
8 October
2015
.
- ^
Coupland, Nikolas; Thomas, Alan Richard (1990).
Google Books | The phonetics of Cardiff English
. Multilingual Matters.
ISBN
9781853590313
. Retrieved
8 June
2012
.
- ^
a
b
"Accents and dialects of the UK: Cardiff"
. Bl.uk. 15 December 1935. Archived from
the original
on 5 August 2011
. Retrieved
8 June
2012
.
- ^
Wells, p. 494
- ^
Robert Mannell (14 August 2009).
"Robert Mannell, "Impressionistic Studies of Australian English Phonetics"
"
. Ling.mq.edu.au
. Retrieved
8 June
2012
.
- ^
"The Macquarie Globe ::"
. International.mq.edu.au. 23 August 2007. Archived from
the original
on 27 September 2009
. Retrieved
8 June
2012
.
- ^
"regional accents ? Australian Voices"
. Clas.mq.edu.au
. Retrieved
8 June
2012
.
- ^
Ballance, Alison (22 May 2019).
"The Southland accent - a rolling change"
.
Radio New Zealand
.
Archived
from the original on 16 February 2024.
- ^
a
b
"Speak Saint"
.
Saint Helena Island Info
.
Archived
from the original on 4 January 2024.
- ^
Census 2011: Census in brief
(PDF)
. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa. 2012.
ISBN
9780621413885
.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on 13 May 2015.
- ^
"nemisa_29"
. Archived from
the original
on 28 March 2022
. Retrieved
29 September
2009
.
[
dead link
]
- ^
"Varsity Newspaper Online"
. Varsitynewspaper.co.za. Archived from
the original
on 13 March 2012
. Retrieved
8 June
2012
.
- ^
Schneider,
E.W. Post-colonial English: Varieties around the world
, Cambridge Press.(2007)
- ^
Hopwood, D.
South African English pronunciation
, McGrath Pub. Co (1970)
- ^
"Dialects of English"
. Webspace.ship.edu
. Retrieved
8 June
2012
.
- ^
Tayao, Ma. Lourdes (2008). "A lectal description of the phonological features of Philippine English". In Bautista, Ma. Lourdes; Bolton, Kingsley (eds.).
Philippine English: Linguistic and Literary
. Hong Kong University Press. pp. 157?174.
- ^
Tayao, Ma. Lourdes (2008). "A lectal description of the phonological features of Philippine English". In Bautista, Ma. Lourdes; Bolton, Kingsley (eds.).
Philippine English: Linguistic and Literary
. Hong Kong University Press. pp. 157?174.
- ^
"Education and Language"
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 13 November 2010
. Retrieved
8 June
2012
.
- ^
"Population Trends 2009"
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 21 March 2012
. Retrieved
8 June
2012
.
- ^
Phonetic change in an Antarctic winter
Archived
2022-05-18 at the
Wayback Machine
.
- ^
Bard, Susanne (11 December 2019).
"Linguists hear an accent begin"
.
Scientific American
.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Wells, J C (1982).
Accents of English 3: Beyond the British Isles
. Cambridge University Press.
ISBN
0-521-28541-0
.
External links
[
edit
]
- The Speech Accent Archive
1254 audio samples of people with various accents reading the same paragraph.
- Sounds Familiar?
? Listen to examples of regional accents and dialects from across the UK on the British Library's 'Sounds Familiar' website
- 'Hover & Hear' Accents of English from Around the World
Archived
2011-04-29 at the
Wayback Machine
, listen and compare side by side instantaneously.
- International Dialects of English Archive
- English Accents and Dialects
Searchable free-access archive of 681 speech samples, England only, wma format with linguistic commentary
- Britain's crumbling ruling class is losing the accent of authority
An article on the connection of class and accent in the UK, its decline, and the spread of Estuary English
- The Telsur Project
Homepage of the telephone survey of North American English accents
- Pittsburgh Speech & Society
A site for non-linguists, by
Barbara Johnstone
of
Carnegie Mellon University
- Linguistic Geography of Pennsylvania
by Claudio Salvucci
- Phillyspeak
A newspaper article on Philadelphia speech
- J.C. Wells' English Accents course
Includes class handouts describing Cockney, Scottish, Australian, and Scouse, among other things.
- Evaluating English Accents Worldwide
- Do You Speak American?
A series of web pages by PBS that attempts to discuss the differences between dialects in the United States
- Language by Video
Short videos demonstrating differences in English accents around the world.
|
---|
Europe
| |
---|
Americas
| |
---|
Oceania
| |
---|
Africa
| |
---|
Asia
|
|
---|
Related
| |
---|