Accent and Dialect
Dialect: Dialect is a range of English that is a contrast
from other varieties in three specific ways: lexis, grammar and phonology. English
dialects may differ from each other, but all speakers within English language.
One dialectical aspect that is apparent in a cockneys speech is rhyming slang.
For example "Army and navy" which means Gravy, as it was mostly gravy
that was used for meals during the War for soldiers, "Bees and honey"
which means money. Even though rhyming slang is not that present in today’s
society it is still apparent in some people’s dialect. Many people believe that
the proper way of speaking English is by speaking the English spoken by the
monarchy in Britain, however it can be said that American, British, Canadian, and
Australian English are all dialects of the English language, and that none of
them is has a better or more proper standard of English.
Accent: Accent is a distinctive way of pronouncing a
language, especially one associated with a particular country, area, or social
class. Some people may think they do not have an accent or that someone has
more of an accent than they have, but in theory everyone has an accent as it is
a way of pronouncing a language, so therefore everyone must have an accent. The
term ‘accentless’ is sometimes used (by non-linguists) about people who speak
one of the accents that are more referred to as the accents of the “upper
class” and the accent spoken by the monarchy. Places in East London are known
to have cockney accents and people who live up north are known to have Geordie
accents. Accents are just mostly determined by where a person lives and
integrates with other people which will influence their language. There are
many features to people who speak with a cockney accent. One of these features
is, Glottal stopping, this is when the letter t is pronounced with the back of
the throat. For e.g. “Water”, would be said as “Woha”. Another feature of the
Cockney accent is L-vocalisation, this is where the L at the end of words becomes
a vowel sound. For e.g. the word “Pal” is said as “Pow”.
Essex Accent
The Essex accent is a variant of non-standard English which
is made up of a lot of slang. This different version of English language
compared to Standard English is comprehensible, but in contrast to Standard
English, there are some differences between the Essex dialect and Standard
English, these features are:
·
The higher volume of elision.
·
The high use of fillers in sentences such as,
“like”.
·
The use of Glottal Stopping, “Woa” instead of
“Water”.
·
The use of monosyllabic words.
·
The introducing of words with new meaning,
“Reem” this means cool.
Aspects of Dialect
In a sentence, the words are elided in
order to keep a flow to the conversation and make it a faster conversation e.g.
water – woha.
Geordie Accent
The Geordie accent is dominant upon Tyne-side
in Newcastle. The Geordie accent has an aggressive tone and also consists of
high amounts of lower register language and these traits.
Aspects of Dialect
·
High use of taboo words
•
Words which have different meanings 'mortal' meaning drunk, 'aye'
meaning yes
• There are different phonetic sounds for
different words were > 'wuh'
London Cockney accent
The cockney accent is most commonly used in the region of
East London. This accent is mostly consisted of slang and lower register
language as well as some other traits which include:
•The sound of many vowels is said in a deeper tone.
•The vowels are drawn together, as opposed to said
separately. For example, mouth is pronounced “mauf.”
•The letter t often disappears from words. For example,
water becomes wa’er and city becomes ci’y
•The letter h is often dropped at the beginning of words. For
example, house becomes ‘ouse’
Another feature of the Cockney accent is Th-fronting, which
consists of certain words that have the 'th' sound changes to another consonant
sound such as; this > 'dis'> thing > ‘fing’
By Brandon Wilson
