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Lecture 4 pronunciation varieties/accents of english

PLAN

1. The notion of an accent. Pronunciation norm and its codification.

2. Major accents of English.

3. RP/BBC  English  as  the  British  national  standard  of  pronunciation.  Its phonological  and  phonetic  dimensions.

4. Social dimensions of an accent.

1. The notion of an accent. Pronunciation norm and its codification.

English is the mother tongue of several nations, thus it has the following national variants of pronunciation: British English, American English, Australian English, New Zealand English.

Every national variant of English falls into territorial or regional varieties (dialects).

A dialect

It is usual to distinguish between dialect and accent. Both terms are used to identify different varieties of a particular language, but the word “accent” is used

while “dialect”

In Britain every county has its own distinctive traditional dialect (or dialects), e. g., Lancashire, Yorkshire, Somerset, etc. Major cities also have their own popular dialects (such as Cockney in London, Scouse in Liverpool, Cornish in Cornwall, Geordie in Newcastle, and Glaswegian in Glasgow), which are normally used by people who do not belong to the higher social groups.

Thus, a dialect includes an accent, i.e. a way of pronouncing the language.

The  term  accent  is  used  to refer to (1) the way of pronouncing the language; (2) the emphasis given to words/syllables by means of pitch, loudness and length (наголошування, виділення слів/складів у мовленні/висловленні, фразовий наголос), e. g., accented sound, syllable, word, the accentual pattern of an utterance; (3) pronunciation features in a foreign language influenced by the mother tongue.

An accent

All English speaking nations have their own literary pronunciation (orthoepic pronunciation). This term is traditionally used by Ukrainian and Russian linguists. American and British scholars use the term (national) standard of pronunciation.

What is literary pronunciation?

Literary pronunciation (orthoepic pronunciation)

Thus, varieties of pronunciation within a country can include a national standard of pronunciation and territorial or area accents.

It is well-known, that there are countries with more than one national language. If two national languages exist on the same territory, such a linguistic situation is called as for example in Canada, where English and French function as two state languages.

The linguistic situation typical of a country with one national language is called as for example in the USA, the United Kingdom, France, Spain and other countries.

Literary pronunciation/standard of pronunciation is defined by its norm.

Pronunciation norm

Pronunciation norm is not constant and fixed for all centuries and generations. It is

Pronunciation norm undergoes constant changes due to various internal and external factors. It changes in relation to

Pronunciation, above all, is subject to all kinds of innovations. The English phonetic system is always in the process of evolution, it is the most fleeting (швидкоплинна) as compared with vocabulary and grammar.

The pronunciation norm is not isolated from non-standard pronunciations. The non-standard prosodic patterns and regional variants of pronunciation constantly influence the pronunciation norm. It is a well-known fact that most of the phonetic changes first occur among the less educated before they are recognized as acceptable.

The English pronunciation norm appears for EFL learners in the form of codification.

Codification

EFL learners mainly deal with the codified pronunciation norm as their major sources of reference are pronouncing dictionaries.