We can observe some differences in pronunciation in the past forms of such words as:
AmE learnt /l?nt/ - BrE learned /lз:nd/,
AmE spoilt - BrE spoiled,
AmE spellt - BrE spelled,
AmE dreamed - BrE dreamt,
AmE smelt - BrE smelled, spill,
In BrE, both irregular and regular forms are current, but for some words (such as smelt and leapt) there is a strong tendency towards the irregular forms, especially by users of Received Pronunciation. In AmE, the irregular forms are never or rarely used (except for burnt and leapt).
The t endings may be encountered frequently in older American texts [14].
There are some examples of differences between British and American pronunciation:
1. RP orange / `?r?nd?/ - AmE /'?r?nd?/.
2. RP origin /'?r?d??n/ - AmE /'?r?d??n/.
3. RP Florida /'fl?r?d?/ - AmE /'fl?r?d?/.
4. RP horrible /'h?r?bl/ - AmE /'h?r?bl/.
5. RP quarrel /'kw?r?l/ - AmE /'kw?r?l/.
6. RP warren /' w?r?n/ - AmE /' w?r?n/.
7. RP borrow /' b?r?? - AmE /' b?ro?/.
8. RP tomorrow /t?'m?r??/ - AmE /t?'m?ro?/.
9. RP sorry /'s?ri/ - AmE /'s?ri/.
10. RP sorrow/'s?r??/ - AmE /'s?ro?/[15].
Chapter 6. Estuary English as one of the dialects of British English
Maidment says that one of the British accents (or dialects) that has received a lot of publicity since mid 80s of the last century is Estuary English (EE) named so after the banks of the river Thames and its estuary. Some researches predict that EE is due to take over as the new standard of English, others are more cautious in their assessment of its status. They claim that EE is an accent which incorporates a mixture of south-eastern, RP and Cockney features and which has been gaining popularity with educated speakers not only in London and in the estuary of the Thames, but in other areas due to high mobility of the population. This situation is clearly reflected in the title of J. Maidment's paper "Estuary English: Hybrid or Hype?" [Maidment: 1994]. The term Estuary English was coined in 1984 by David Rosewarne, who at that time was a post-graduate student of Applied Linguistics. He defines EE as follows "Estuary English is a variety of modified regional speech. It is a mixture of non-regional and local south-eastern pronunciation and intonation. If one imagines a continuum Received Pronunciation and London speech (Cockney) at either end, EE speak are to be found grouped in the middle ground'' [Rosewarne: 1984]. Here we will summarize major phonetic characteristics of EE based on the findings of the above mentioned scholars. According to J.C. Wells, many of the features that distinguish EE from RP are features it shares with Cockney. Unlike Cockney, EE is associated with standard grammar and usage. But EE agrees with Cockney, and differs from RP, in having (perhaps variably):
1) happY-tensing- tense vowel `i' at the end of happy, coffee, valley etc.
2) T glottalling finally, e.g. take i?off, qui?e nice etc.
e.g. As the climate change summit starts that position of countries like India, Brazil, Russia and, of course, China will be crucial (BBC news). /
3) L vocalization - pronouncing the `1' sound in preconsonantal and final positions almost like/w/, e.g. milk, bottle, etc.;
4) Yod coalescence in stressed syllables, e.g. Tuesday, tune etc. that makes the first part of Tues- sound identical to choose or duke, reduce etc. making the second part of reduce identical to juice.
5) diphthong shift: the diphthongal vowels of face, price, goat in EE are those that would be used by Cockney speakers [Wells: 1997].
EE differs from Cockney in that it lacks:
1) H dropping/omitting (in content words), so that Cockney hand on heart becomes 'and on 'eart.
2) TH fronting, using labio-dental fricatives /f /and /f/ instead of /и/, / р/. This turns I think into /ai fi?k/, and mother into /mЛv?/.
e.g. Nadia's mother hasn't seen her daughter since 2007(BBC news). /
3) T glottalling within a word before a vowel, e.g. water, mattress, twenty. Cockney speakers use ? for /t/ in all environments where it is not syllable initial. Also sometimes they extend glottal replacement to affect /p/ and /k/ as well as /t/.
J. C. Wells claims that " ...EE is a new name but not a new phenomenon, being the continuation of a trend that has been going on for five hundred years or more - the tendency for features of popular London speech to spread out geographically (to other parts of the country) and socially (to higher classes). The erosion of the English class system and the greater social mobility in Britain today means that this trend is more noticeable today than was once the case ..." [Wells: 1997].
Chapter 7. Chief differences between RP and Regional accents of British English
V. Parashchuk summarizes the chief differences between regional accents of British English (BrE) as distinct from RP:
Within the vocalic systems:
1. No /Л/ - /х/ contrast. Typically /Л/ does not occur in the accents of the north e.g. but =/bЛt/ (South), and /bхt/(North); blood=/blЛd/ (South) and /blхd/ (North); one =/wЛn/ (South) and /won/(North).
2. Different distribution of /ж/ and /a:/: before the voiceless fricatives/f/, /и/, /s/ and certain consonant clusters containing initial /n/ or /m/, /ж/ is pronounced in the North instead of /a:/ in the South.
3. /i/ - tensing is one of the salient north-south differentiating features in England. Word final /i/ like in words city /'siti/, money /'mЛni/ is typical of the northern accents, while in the South they have /i:/ in similar positions. In RP happY vowel /i/ is used in such cases.
4. Vowel length contrast is absent in Scottish English and Northern Ireland [Parashchuk: 2005].
Within the consonantal systems:
1. Rhoticism, i.e. retaining post-vocalic /r/, is spread in Scotland, Ireland, and South-west in words like bar, farm etc. which have orthographic 'r'. Non-rhoticism, i.e. absens of post-vocalic /r/, is typical of RP and Welsh English. Thus, some British English accents are “rhotic” or “r-ful” and others are non-rhotic or 'r-less'.
2. /t/ glottaling .In most regional accents the glottal stop is widely used, especially in the north-east of England, East Anglia and Northern Ireland. It may also be pronounced simultaneously with the voiceless /p/, /t/, /k/ most strikingly between the vowels, e.g. pity =/`pit?i:/ .
3. /j/ (Yod) dropping: in most accents/ j/ is dropped after /t/ or /s/.
e.g. student = /'stu:dnt/, suit=/su:t/, in the North it has been lost after /и/, e.g. enthusiasm/?n'иu:zi?zm/; In eastern England /j/ is lost after every consonant, in London - after /n/, /t/, /d/, e.g. news = /nu:z/, tune =/tu:n/.
4. Many non-RP speakers use /n/ in the suffix -ing instead of /?/: speaking/'spi:kin/. In areas of western central England including Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool they pronounce /ng/: singer /`sing?/, wing /wing/ [Parashchuk: 2005].
Conclusions
According to Leither, in the 18th century there was a forceful normalization movement towards the establishment of Educated English. In teaching as well as in politics and commerce, it was obligatory to have an adequate description for English [Leither: 1982].
A lot of scientists, such as Professor D. Jones, J.C. Wells, J.Gimson, S. Johnson, S. Jefrries, D. Rosewarne and others considered this problem to be worthy to discuss. Having prepared this term paper we can make following conclusions:
1. Professor Sally Johnson divides English English into Southern English dialect, Midlands English dialect and Northern English dialect [11].
2. There existed different approaches to the problem of RP in Middle English and exists in Modern English. As the result of it RP/BBC English has become the British national standard of pronunciation [Parashchuk: 2005].
3. Professor J.C. Wells in his research discussed sound changes in RP. They are:
1. The decline of weak /l/;
2. Glottalling;
3. L-vocalization;
4. Intrusive /r/ ;
5. Yod-coalescence;
6. Assorted lexical changes [Wells: 1982].
4. Sound changes given above can be met in different accents and dialects in British English, Estuary English and Black British.
References
1. Паращук В.Ю. Теоретична фонетика англійської мови: Навчальний посібник для студентів факультетів іноземних мов. - Тема “Ukrainian Accent of English” написана В.Ю. Кочубей - Вінниця, НОВА КНИГА, 2005. - 240 с.
2. Gimson, A.C. Jones and Standards of English Pronunciation// English Studies. - Vol.58. - №2. - 1997. - P.152 - 157.
3. Gimson, A. C. Gimson's Pronunciation of English. Sixth Edition. / Revised by Alan Gruttenden. London, New York: Edward Arnold, 2001. - 339 p.
4. Coggle, Paul. Do you speak Estuary? - London: Bloomsbury, 1993.
5. Leitner G. The Consolidation of “Educated Southern English” as a Model in the Early 20th Century // IRAL. Vol.20. - 1982. - P. 94-95.
6. Maidment, J.A. Estuary English: Hybrid or Hype? //Paper Presented at the 4th New Zealand Conference on Language and Society. - Cristchurch: Linkoln University, 1994.
7. Rosewarne, David. Estuary English. //Times Educational Supplement, 19 October 1984.
8. Wells, John C.Accents of English. - Cambradge, London, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982. Books 1, 2,3. - 685p.
9. Wells, J.C. Whatever happened to Received Pronunciation //II Jornadas de Estudios Ingleses. - Univesidad de Jaen, 1997. - P. 19-28.
10. Wells, John C. Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. - Harlow: Pearson Education Limited, 2000. - 1827p.
11. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_English
12. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_British
13. http://lister.ultrakohl.com/homepage/Lkj/sonny.htm
14. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_differences
15. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_American
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