English varieties

Standard and non-standard varieties of English

Standard language- is the norm, naturally spoken by the minority of speakers, usually by educated speakers. Can be formal, neutral, informal. Language standards- rules that the language speakers should follow. Linguistics and theorists make the norms, all members of society are required to follow these standards.

Standard English
Most widely accepted and understood among speakers Used in broadcasting news, in TV, news etc Spoken or written among educated speakers Learned as a second language or a foreign language It doesnt concern accent, but grammar and vocabulary (I aint got none- double negative) Includes formal and informal styles Pronounciation is accent (RP)

Standard English variety: EngEng, BrEnglish, NamEng, USEng, CanEng Other standards: AusEng, SafEng, NZEng Standard English is not a seperate language, just a variety, not an accent. It is not a style. Traditionally British English is taught at schools. RP- received pronounciation Standard English is associated with RP, eg. Queens English. 12-15% use and actually speak standard English, 3-5% of them use RP pronounciation.

Non-Standard varieties (often called dialect)

Are often stigmatised- marked as being bad, not good enough, regarded as socially lower, inferior. AusEng was being considered as non-standard and bad English, lack of acceptance. Preposition at the end of a sentence is not considered as norm (is informal). English should follow Latin tradition. Troughout the world lexical and grammatical differences are insignificant, pronounciation is significant.

Deviations from the standard

Working class speech is different from standard English Multiple negation (I didnt do nothing) can be used in jokes, emphasising Aint takes the role to be or to have (I aint got none) The word never is used to refer to a single occasion in the past Extension of 3rd person s to 1st and 2nd person verb forms (I wants) Regularisation of be (we was, you was, they was) Regularisation of some irregular verbs (I draw-drawed) Optional ly ending on adverbs (He writes real quick)

Unmarked plurality on amounts of measurement after numeral (10 pound, 20 year) Different forms of the relative pronoun (The man what lives here) Regularisation of reflexive pronouns (hisself, theirselves) A distinction between main and auxiliary verbs do (You done it, did you?)

The spread of English. The Inner Circle, the Outer Circle, the Expanding Circle
Expanding Circle: English is spoken as a foreign language (EFL). China, Egipt, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Korea, Nepal, Saudi-Arabia, Taiwan, Russia, Zimbabwe etc. Outer Circle: English is spoken as a second language, was used as a language of power (ESL). India, Pangladesh, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Singapur etc. Inner Circle: English is spoken as a native language (ENL). Canada, The UK, USA, Australia, NewZealand.

The Spread of English

The English language originates from Germanic languages. Before the British Isles Gaelic was spoken, invaders came from nowadays Germany and Denmark. The time of Elizabeth the First 1533-1605. At her time there were about 5 million people speaking English as their native tongue- 7mln would be the most. English was not popular at the time. 350380mln native speakers of English nowadays but its difficult to measure and estimate. As a native language its the 2nd largest in the world, after Chinese (Mandarin the most spoken variety ). At some point in history all languages had the potential to become wide-spread languages. THE SPREAD: People spread over large territories. Primitive explanation. When people migrated from the British Isles (Eng, Ireland) to N-A and Australia. Resulted in native varieties of English (first diaspora)

The spread of English started even before queen Elizabeth the first, but at this point it was spoken in England only. There was a territory the Pale- it is translated as the boundary- meant a colony. The English believed that outside the territory there was no civilization and it was established by the Normans and lasted until the 17th century. There were Norman settlements in Wales but in 1535 a law was made that required people in Wales to speak English. It prevented Welsh speakers to speak their mother tongue and the Welsh language just gave in this point. 1553 trade with West-Africa, present day Nigeria. A decade after the slave trade started, then 1580s the first English settlements in North-America. In 1603 when Queen Elizabeth the First died, James the 1st of Scotland came to English throne and was now called James the 1st of England. Scotland merged politically together and formed Great Britain. Politically they were now one. Effect of spreading English to Scotland. King James version of the Bible was published in 1611.

The year 1607 was a painful one and very important for the English language. The first lasting settlement in N-A was established in Jamestown, Virginia. The people who formed this settlement were largely from England, the west counties and the traces of their variety of Eng can be seen in this specific region. 1620 English ship Mayflower sailed to N-A. Settlement in Plymouth. 17th century- The English began to spread in the Southern parts of America, The Caribbean- slave trade. Slaves were exported from W-Africa and exchanged for rum and sugar. The new kind of English developed amongst the slaves and their captors- pidgin. 18th century immgiration from Ireland to N-A Canada. Captain James Cook went to Australia, reached the coastline of New-Zealand 1769, discovered Australia 1770. 1795- British arrived to South-Africa. Starting from 1820s British started to settle in large numbers. In 1822 English was declared the official language in South-Africa. 16-18th century the spread took place. By the beginning of the 19th century English had spread to virtually every part of the world. 19-20th century the number of speakers only grew. 2nd diaspera- world colonisation, Asia, Africa 3rd diaspera- exploration of Canada (The Cabot Family) 1763- France gave Canada to Britain 1766- Declaration of Independence 1783- Britain recognizes the independence

British English: Dialects spoken on the British Isles

Becoming a world language: Political growth Military Economy Democracy Christianity Literacy

English language nowadays: Language of EU, interent, education, advertising, business, tourism, research, music.

Varieties spoken on the British Isles

British English (BrEng): All varieties of English are spoken on British Isles . English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish Englishes are more different in accent rather than in grammar or vocabulary. Dialects: Northern English, Southern English, West Country, Midland.

Age difference: Younger English speakers change dipthtongs to monothongs while speaking. Non-RP accents: closely resembles to RP, spoken by non-native RP speakers. [i:] instead of [i] in the final syllable (very;many) [] instead of [a:] Rhotic instead of non-rhotic

Estuary English- accent common among young Londoners. Something between RP and Cockney. Non-rhotic Intensive r Use of [a:] Use of question tag [l] may disappear

Cockney, Cockney Rhyming Slang

Cockney English- working class English; aprx. 7mln speakers [O]-[f] Drop [h] Prolonging dipthtongs [e]-[w] Done/seen instead did/saw [ng]-[nk] Adding [h] [ei]-[ai] [au]-[a] Intensive r Double negation Tag questions

Cockney- very distinctive accent, intentionally made, cryptical, deliberate. Used in a sense of community also by traders or criminals to confuse the police. (Cryptolect- language within a group, secretive so that others cannot understand.) Eric Partridge wrote the dictionary of slang.Rhyming slang was used for amusement or as a secret language. A binary expression that rhymes with a single everyday word. Apples and pears- stairs Bowl of water- daughter Rabbit and pork- to talk Trouble and strife- wife You and me- tea Butchers hook- to look Scooby doo- clue

Welsh English
There are some distinctive lexical and grammatical differences, but its not much different from English English. Its a relatively young dialect.

Pecularities of Pronounciation
Welsh uses schwa, where RP uses [a] Consonants are lengthened (money, happy) In the North-Wales price and prize sound the same sing-song intonation Diphthongs are substituted by monothongs: o [ei]-[e:] bake o [eu]-[o:] bout o [ee]-[3:]

Grammar
Generalisation of word forms (I likes, they sees) Non-standard use of never (I never did it) Participles are often proceeded by a (I sat there a-watching) Universal tag isnt it is used disregarding the main person, tense or auxiliary (You are going now, isnt it?) In North-Wales Welsh use yes (You are studying Welsh, yes?) Fronting of a constituent (Singing they were; Coming tomorrow he is) Negative use of the word too (They cant do that too) Repetition of an adjective or an adverb for emphasis (It was a high high building) Use of do (I do go to chappel every Sunday) The use of there for exclamations (There strange it was! Meaning: How strange it was!)

Vocabulary
Not many borrowings from Welsh Del and Bach- words of indearment Welsh use delight in the meaning of interest Rise in the meaning of get or buy (Ill rise the drinks) Tidy in the meaning of nice or good (Its a tidy car) Words with double l

Scottish English
Pecularities of Pronounciation
Velar fricative [x] Nicht (night) is pronounced as [neht] Bright [breht] Dark l : fu (full), saut (salt), ca (call) Photic r : cheers, care Theres a rule that determines when vowels are pronounced short or long

Grammar:
Distinction between [ ] and [w] Have does not need do support Using will with first person in questions (Will I put out the light?) Certain stative verbs (want;need) use progressive form

Vocabulary
Cheerio just now! goodbye for now! To go to the messages- to go shopping How are you keeping?- How are you ? Thats me away- Im going now Aye yes Folk- people Pinkie- little finger Loch- lake Wee- small

Irish English
Pecularities of pronounciation:
A rhotic language Wide range of vowels preceding r Dental stops [d] and [t] are used to replace fricatives [th] (think- tink) [t] between vocals is pronounced [d] (water-wader) Words with ea pronounced *i:+ also merge and retain the historical *e:+; in informal speech [ei] (tea- tei) A little contrast between [] and [a:] many and any are pronounced with *+ price and choice are pronounced the same i and schwa have merged Epenthesis (sound, which is not there really, is inserted to the word) In the north [e] and [] have no distinction

Grammar:
Unmarked plurality concerning measure and time Three dimensional demonstrative system Distinction between singular and plural you / youse Hot news perfect tense is expressed by after + ing (we are after booking our holiday) Present tense instead of Pr.Perfect or Pr.Perf. Cont it- clefting constructures (its very ill that he looked) Continuous forms with stative verbs (Im seeing it very well) Past simple is used instead of Past perfect (If he saw him, he wouldnt have done it)

Distinction between habitual and non-habitual actions or states (I do bit drunk vs. I am drunk) Word let can be used in second person ( Let you stay here) yes and no are used less frequently

Vocabulary:
Comes from 3 sources: Eng, Scots, Irish Many eng metaphores come from Irish Creel- basket; bannock- home made breadcake Number of Eng words have a different meaning in Irish (backwards- shy; doubt- believe or expect) Im not at myself- Im not feeling well Thats me away It would take you to be early

US English
Pecularities in pronounciation:
South: West: [o:]-[a:] (caught) [];[i:]-*e:+*i+ before r (mirror, marry) *a+ and *e+ merge before r (hurry) [ju]-[u] (new) Falling vowels [i];[];[e]+ schwa [ai]- [a:] [e] and [i] sound identical in monosyllables (pen;pin) [z]-*d+ (isnt- idnt) [?] before n (in some accents before l too) Final t often unreleased Intervocalic t d Neutralization between t and d Reducing [lj] into [j] (million)

Northeast: Closer to EngEng Upper classes have fewer local accents Non-rhotic Intrusive r Fricatives- t/d

Grammar:
Some irregular verbs are regularized (learn-learned) Some regular verbs are irregularized (snuck; dove) Word formation with ify and ize are more productive (citify, uglify, burglarize) Changing words class (to host, to skyrocket)