LINGUISTIC VARIETY IN THE UK

Have you ever heard about RP ? Did you know the amount of linguistic variations there are in UK? If you didn’t know nothing about this, don’t worry I’m going to explain it.

Received Pronunciation (RP), is the ‘standard English’. It is described as ‘typically British’, and known as: ‘The Queen’s English’, ‘Oxford English’ or ‘BBC English’, but this can be a little misleading. Why? Nowadays, The Queen speaks an almost unique form of English, and the English that we hear at Oxford University or on the BBC radio or TV programs is not anymore that accent. And now maybe you’re thinking why refer to it as that, and the reason remained in the past because RP was the most prestigious accent in Britain, and people in the UK tried to have an RP accent.

However, the recent estimates suggest that only 2% of the UK population speak it. It has a  negligible presence in Scotland and Northern Ireland,and in Wales it’s arguably losing its prestige status. Actually, RP should be described as an accent rather than a dialect. RP doesn’t have a specific regional area, its language do not contain any clues about the speaker’s geographic background. But it does about their social or educational background. 

However, RP is not the only accent or linguistic variety in UK, there are at least 30 types of dialects and variations of English. As in other countries, there are different accents or dialects depending in which part of the country you are: in the north, in the midlands, in the south, etc. 

SOUTH--> the linguistic varieties in the south of UK are: South-East, Sussex, Kentish, Estuary, London, Cockney...  and I’m going to explain you two of them:

• COCKNEY

Cockney is an accent/dialect traditionally spoken spoken by working-class inhabitants of London especially in the East-End. By the 1980s and 1990s, many aspects of cockney English had become part of general South East English speech, producing a variant known as Estuary English. Cockney is speaking nowadays in Dagenham, Barking, Loughton, Harlow, Basildon, Cheshunt, Welling and Eltham among others. 

In the following picture, you can see some of the features in the Cockney phonetic:

 

The following pictures show a costume that is associated with cockneys is that of the pearly King or Queen, worn by London costermongers who sew thousands of pearl buttons onto their clothing in

 elaborate and creative  patterns.

• SUSSEX

The Sussex dialect is a dialect that was once widely spoken by those living in the historic county of Sussex in southern England. Much of the distinctive vocabulary of the Sussex dialect has now died out, although a few words remain in common usage and some individuals still speak with the traditional Sussex accent.

Historically, there were three main variants to the dialect: west Sussex (west of Shoreham and the river Adur), mid Sussex (between the Adur and Hastings) and east Sussex (from Hastings eastwards). 

The following picture shows the Sussex phonology:

EAST-ANGLIA -->Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk or Essex are some of the linguistic variety in this area:

• NORFOLK 

The Norfolk dialect, is spoken in the county of Norfolk in England. Even though a few people nowadays speak it, the dialect and vocabulary is still be heard across the county, but with some variations. It employs distinctively unique pronunciations, especially of vowels; and consistent grammatical forms that differ markedly from standard English. 

This picture shows the Norfolk phonology and important characteristics:

MIDLANDS --> Brummies, Potteries, East Midlands or West Midlands area some of the linguistic variety in this area:

• POTTERIES

It’s an English dialect of the North Midlands of England, almost exclusively in and around Stoke-on-Trent.

Here you can see the phonology of this dialect:

  

WEST-COUNTRY --> West-Country, Anglo-Cornish,Bristolian or Devonshire are some of the linguistic variety in this area:

• ANGLO-CORNISH

Anglo-Cornish is a dialect of English spoken in Cornwall by Cornish people. The Cornish language is a Celtic language of the Brythonic branch, as are the Welsh and Breton languages. In addition to the distinctive words and grammar, there are a variety of accents found within Cornwall from the north coast to that of the south coast and from east to west Cornwall. 

In this picture, you can see the phonolgy of this dialect:

 

WALES & ISLE OF MAN --> Manx, Welsh and Cardiff are some of the linguistic variations in this area:

• MANX

Manx English dialect of English spoken on the Isle of Man. Only a small minority of the Isle of Man's population is fluent in the language, but a larger minority has some knowledge of it and Manx is considered an important part of the island's culture and heritage.

 Vowels phonology in Manx:

Consonants phonology in Manx:

NORTH--> Geordie, Yorkshire and Scousse are some of the linguisic variations in this area:

• GEORDIE 

 

Geordie is the name given to English dialect spoken in North of UK by its inhabitants.This dialect is associated with the working-class background. In 2008 a newspaper survey found out that Geordie accent was the "most attractive in England". 

This picture shows the vowels and consonants phonology in Geordie:

What do you think of this huge variety of English ? 

In my opinion, it's beautiful to have a country with that linguistic variety because of this dialects and accents, you can learn more about UK society, life style, history and culture. But. also, this amount of varities can create difficulties and differencies between the speakers of a accent or dialect and the speakers of other linguistic variety. 

Do you think this linguistic variety can be a problem, or not? 

Entry by Irene Astete Becerra, student from EPD 11