Pronounced Changes in British Speech

The article titled "Pronounced Changes in British Speech" by David Crystal explores how increased social mobility and regional influences have led to significant shifts in British accents and pronunciation norms over time.

He begins by examining the decline of clear-cut accents, referencing the days when dialect experts could pinpoint someone’s origin from their pronunciation alone. Now, due to increased mobility, particularly movement toward the south for jobs, accents are merging, and regional boundaries in speech are blurring. Crystal notes that even Received Pronunciation (RP) has evolved. Once the prestige accent and a model for teaching English worldwide, RP is now spoken by only about 3% of Britons. Instead, many people blend RP with regional accents, creating modified forms of RP.

One example Crystal highlights is the spread of the “glottal stop,” a feature associated with Cockney English, which has entered more educated speech, especially at the end of words. Similarly, as commuters settle in regions like the Thames Valley, local dialects subtly influence their speech. For instance, Crystal points to the West Country’s post-vowel “r,” which can be heard increasingly even among professionals in informal settings, making it part of an emerging informal standard.

Crystal also observes the influence of American English on British speech, especially among younger or trend-conscious speakers, such as disc jockeys who adopt a “mid-Atlantic” accent that sounds American to British listeners but still British to Americans.

Additionally, Crystal addresses pronunciation changes in stress patterns of certain words, like “research” and “controversy,” which irritate traditionalists. Yet, he contextualizes this by pointing out that stress shift has affected English for centuries. Language is constantly evolving, and what may feel jarring or incorrect to one generation often becomes standard in the next. Thus, Crystal suggests that speakers, including those learning English as a foreign language, should be open to these inevitable changes.

I found this article quite enlightening and informative as I am an English learner and I need to be aware of such intricacies in this foreign language.