(14) variations of english accent

ENGLISH

ACCENTS

Eka Andriyani, S.Pd., M.Hum

WHAT IS “ACCENT”?

“The way in which people in a

particular area, country or

social group pronounce

words.”

(-CALD-)

An accent depends mostly on pronunciation of specific words or phrases, a particular individual, location, or nation.

Accents usually differ in the quality of voice, pronunciation of vowels and consonants, and prosody (suprasegmental aspects).

Accents of English

• The accents of English show

great variation across the areas

where English is spoken as the

first or the second language.

• Great Britain– 1. England (Received Pronunciation)

– 2. Cockney

– 3. Northern England

– 4. Scotland (Scottish English)

– 5. Wales (Welsh English)

• Northern Ireland – 1. Ulster

– 2. Connacht, Leinster, and Munster

– 3. Irish Travellers (Irish English)

• North America

– 1. Canada

– 2. United States (American English)

– 3. West Indies (Carribbean English)

• Southern Hemisphere

– 1. Australia (Australian English)

– 2. New Zealand

– 3. South Atlantic

• Southern Africa

– 1. South Africa (South African English)

– 2. Zimbabwe

– 3. Namibia

• Asia

– 1. Philippines

– 2. Hong Kong

– 3. India and South Asia

– 4. Malaysia (Manglish)

– 5. Singapore (Singlish)

ENGLAND (RP)

• Non-rhoticity (the /r/ at the end of words is not pronounced).

• Certain “a” in the words “bath”, “can’t”, and “dance”, for examples, are pronounced with the /ɑ:/.

• This differs from most American accents, in which these words are pronounced with the /æ/.

COCKNEY• Cockney is probably the second most famous British

accent. It originated in the East of London, but shares many features with and influences other dialects in that region.

FEATURES:

• Non-rhoticity (the /r/ at the end of words is not pronounced).

• The vowel sounds are shifted around, so that the word “day” in Cockney accent is pronounced as [dæɪ] and the word “buy” is pronounced as [bɒɪ].

• Glottal Stopping:

The consonant [t] is pronounced with the glotal sound;

thus, the word “better” is pronounced as [beʔə] (sounds to

outsiders like “be’uh”).

• L-vocalization:

The consonant / l /at the end of words often slightly

becomes a semi-vowel sound /w/. So, the word “pall”

[pɔ:l] can seem to sound like [pow].

• Th-Fronting:

The “th” in words like “think” or “this” is pronounced with a

more forward consonant depending on the words: “think”

is pronounced as [fiŋk], “this” is pronounced as [dis], and

“mother” sounds like [mʊhvʌ].

NORTHERN ENGLAND

• These are the accents spoken in north of the midlands, in cities like Manchester, Leeds, and Liverpool.

FEATURE:

• The diphthong in words like “kite” is lengthened so that it can become something like /ka:ɪt/ (i.e. it sounds a bit like “kaaaait”)

SCOTTISH• This is the broad definition used to describe

English as it is spoken in the country of Scotland.

FEATURES:

• Glottal stopping of the phoneme /t/ when in between vowels (similar to Cockney accent).

• Monopthongal pronounciations of the /eɪ/ and /əʊ/ diphthongs, so that the word “face” is pronounced as [fe:s] and “goat” is pronounced as [go:t].

WELSH

• This refers to the accents and dialects spoken in the country of Wales.

FEATURES:

• Syllables tend to be very evenly (calmly) stressed, and the prosody of the accent is often very “musical”.

• The phoneme /r/ is often trilled or tapped.

AUSTRALIAN

• In Australian English, pronunciations vary regionally

according to the type of vowel that occurs before the

sounds: [ ns ], [ nt ], [ ntʃ ], [ mpl ], and the

pronunciation of [mɑ:nd].

• Thus, in words like "chance", "plant", "branch",

"sample" and "demand", the majority of Australians

use the vowel /æ/.

• However, in South Australian English, there is a high

proportion of people who use the /aː/ vowel in the

words above.

Word: British American Australian

hairy / heəri / / heri / / hɑ:eri /

near / nɪə(r) / / nɪr / / nɪa /

ask / ɑ:sk / / æsk / / æsk /

answer / ɑ:nsə(r) / / ænsər / / ænsa /

grass / grɑ:s / / græs / / grɑ:s /

dance / dɑ:ns / / dæns / / dɑ:ns /

process / prəʊses / / prɑ:ses / / prɑ:ses /

fear / fɪə / / fɪr / / fɪ / - / fɪa /

sheer / ʃɪə / / ʃɪr / / ʃɪ / - / ʃɪa /

buy / baɪ / / baɪ / / bae /

fate / feɪt / / feɪt / / fæɪt /

tour / tʊə(r) / / tʊr / / tʊa /

later / leɪtə(r) / / leɪdər / / leɪda /

• Centring diphthongs, which are the vowels

that occur in words like “ear” [ɪə(r)], “air”

[eə(r)], or “sheer” [ ʃɪə(r) ],.

• Those in the Eastern states will tend to

pronounce "fear" and "sheer “ without any

movement of the mandible, while the

westerners would pronounce them like

[ fɪa ] and [ ʃɪa ], respectively.

MANGLISH

• In Malaysia, English is a foreign language with no official status, but it is commonly learned as a second or third language.

• The Malaysian accent appears to be a combination between British, Chinese, and Malay influences.

• Many Malaysians adopt different accents 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.

FEATURES:

• Use a quick, staccato style.

• Non-rhoticity, like most varieties of English

language in England. Thus, the words “caught”

and “court” are homophonous as /kɔːt/ (in

actuality, /kɔːʔ/ or /koːʔ/.

• The "ay" and "ow" sounds in “raid” and “road”

(/eɪ/ and /oʊ/ 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 pronounced as [ tɪn ] and “then” is

pronounced as[ den ].

• 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 it conveys, like

"lah", "leh", "mah", "hor", etc.