It is said that nowadays in colloquial fluent speech there is a strong tendency towards elision, reduction and assimilation. This tendency is reflected in the pronunciation of the young generation: tutor [tu:t?], second year [sek?ndia], perhaps you [p?'hpu:], gives you [givu:], as you know [?ju: 'n]; in the transcribed texts of British textbooks: him [im], he [i:], her [3], his [iz], can [kn], from [firm], than [n], them [m], some [sm], suppose [spz], have to [hafta], usually [ju:w?li], last time [la:staim], and there was no one [?n ?r wz'n wn]; even in the traditional spelling: C'm on, baby, Sorry 'bout that Oh, le'mme see. Oh, I dunno. Must've put'em all together. Why d'you ask? What d'ja think? Alright!

9. Combinative changes. Sound combinations [tj, dj, sj] are pronounced as [t, d,] respectively, e.g. actual [ktjual] - [ktjual], graduate ['grdjeit] - [grdeit], issue ['isju:] - [iu:].

In the clusters of two stops, where the loss of plosion is usually observed, each sound is pronounced with audible release, e.g. active [ktiv] - [ktiv], sit down [sitdan] - [sit 'dan].

Non-systematic Variations in RP Phonemes

Some free phonemes have appeared under the influence of the written image of words, their spelling.

Unstressed prefixes ex - and con - have gained orthographical pro-nunciation: excuse [iks'kju:z] - [eks'kju:z], exam [ig'zm] - [eg'zm], continue [k?ntinju:] - [kan tinju;], consent [k?n sent] - [kan'sent].

The days of the week: Sunday [sndi] - [sndei], Monday - [mndei].

Note also free variants in often: [af?n] - [aft(?) n].

Other cases: economics [ika'namiks] - [eka'namiks].

Now by way of conclusion we would like to state that not all the changes are recognized as a norm by most affected advanced RP speakers. Some of these changes are quite stable, some tend to disappear. The language is a living body and its oral aspect is most vitally changeable. But one should realize the importance of most recent developments, which, in opinion of many prominent phoneticians, may lead to radical changes in the whole inventory of vowel and consonant phonemes.

Regional Non-RP Accents of England

As was stated above, we grouped regional accents of England into southern and northern ones. This division is very approximate of course, because there are western and eastern accents but their main accent variations correspond either with southern or northern accentual characteristics. Thus we would like to point out here the main differences between southern and northern accents.

In vowels

One of the main differences between these groups of accents is in the phoneme inventory - the presence or absence of particular phonemes. Typically, the vowel [A] does not occur in the accents of the north; e.g.

We can also note that many northern speakers while they do not have [A] have [u;] rather than [u] in words such as hook, book, look. They therefore distinguish pairs like book and buck, which in the south sound [buk] and [DAK], in the North as

Another well-known feature which distinguishes northern and southern accents concerns the vowels and [a].

Before the voiceless fricatives [f, , s] and certain consonant clusters containing initial [n] or [m], is pronounced in the north instead of [a].

Note: Speakers with more strongly regional southern substandard accents may not have the contrast or, at most, have a contrast that is variable.

In the south, however, [K] is often pronounced as [a]:

A = in path

B - [a] in path

C = [a] contrast absent or in doubt

One more major north-south differentiating feature involves the final [i:] like in words city, money, etc. In the north of England they have [i]. In the south of England these words are pronounced with [i] e.g.

South North

city [siti:] ['siti]

money [mni:] [mani]

In consonants

It has been mentioned above that some English accents are «rhotic» or «r-ful» and other are non-rhotic or «r-less». Rhotic accents are those which actually pronounce [r], corresponding to orthographic «r» in words like bar and farm. This [r] sound is post-vocalic and is most often heard in Scotland, Ireland and in the southwest of England. The map on p. 222 shows the spread of post-vocalic [r] (A = post-vocalic [r] present, B = post-vocalic [r] absent).

In most regional accents the glottal stop is more widely used than in RP. In some areas, especially the north-east of England, East Anglia and Northern Ireland, the glottal stop may also be pronounced simultaneously with the voiceless [p, t, k], most strikingly between vowels: pity [pit? i:]

Many non-RP speakers use [n] in the suffix «- ing» instead of; sitting [sitin]. In an area of western central England which includes Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool they pronounce [g]: singer [sige], wing [wig].

Now about [j] - dropping. In most accents [j] is dropped after [t, s]: student [stjud?nt], suit [sat]. In parts of the north the change has progressed a good deal further, it has been lost after []: enthusiasm [an'u:zi?zm].

In large areas of eastern England [j] is lost after every consonant. In London [j] is lost after [n, t, d]: news [nu:z], tune [tu:n].

Southern English Accents

We now turn to an examination of regional non-RP accents of England and we shall first give a brief outline of the group of Southern accents.

As was stated above, educated Southern speech is very much near-RP accent whereas non-standard accents are very much near Cockney. Therefore we shall focus our attention on the rather detailed description of uneducated London accent - Cockney.

Cockney accent. It has been long established that Cockney is a social accent - the speech of working-class areas of the Greater London. Here are some pronunciation peculiarities of it.

In vowels

1. [] is realized as [i]: blood [bd] - [blid];

2. is realized as or [i]: bag [bg] - [bg], [big];

3. [i] in word-final position sounds as [ij: city [siti] - [siti:];

4. when [o:] is non-final, its realization is much closer, it sounds like [o:]: pause [po:z] - [po:z]; when it is final, it is pronounced as [o:?]: paw [po:] - [po:?];

5. the diphthong [ei] is realized as [i] or [ai]: lady [leidi] - [lidi:], [laidi:];

6. RP [3] sounds as []: soaked [skt] - [skt];

7. RP [a] may be [?]: now [na] - [n?],

In consonants

1. [h] in unstressed position is almost invariably absent;

2. [?] is widely spread in Cockney speech: paper [pi? pa], butterfly [b't?flai];

3. The contrast between [] and [f] is completely lost: thin [in], booth [bu:f];

4. The contrast between [] and [v] is occasionally lost: weather [weva];

5. when [] occurs initially it is either dropped or replaced by [d]: this [dis], them [(d)?m];

6. [1] is realized as a vowel when it precedes a consonant and follows a vowel, or when it is syllabic: milk [mivk], table [teibv]; when the preceding vowel is, [1] may disappear completely;

7. is replaced by [n] in word-final position: dancing [da:nsin] or it may be pronounced as [ik] in something, anything, nothing: [nfik];

8. [p, t, k] are heavily aspirated, more so than in RP;

9. [t] is affricated, [s] is heard before the vowel: top [trap].

Northern and Midland Accents

Midland accents, Yorkshire, for example, West Midland and North-West accents have very much in common with Northern ones. Therefore they are combined in this book into one group; peculiar realization of vowels and consonants will be marked, of course, when each subgroup is described separately.

The counties of northern England are not far from the Scottish border, so the influence of Scotch accent is noticeable, though there are of course many features of pronunciation characteristic only of northern English regions. The most typical representative of the speech of this area is Newcastle accent. It differs from RP in the following:

In vowels

1. RP [] is realized as [u]: love [lv] - [lv];

2. RP final [i] sounds like [i:]: city [siti] - [siti:];

3. words like dance, chance which in RP have [a] are pronounced with: [dns], [tns];

4. [ei], [] are either monophthongs, or much narrower diphthongs than the ones in the south of England, or they may even sound as opening diphthongs [le], [o]: bay [be:], [bie], plate [ple:t], [phet], boat [bo:t], [bo t];

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