Phonological features of Scouse accent

1. Scouse is noted for a fast, highly accented manner of speech, with a range of rising and falling tones not typical of most of northern England.

2. Irish influences include the pronunciation of the name of the letter 'h' as /heut/ and the 2nd person plural (you) as 'youse / yous'.

3. Scouse is a non-rhotic accent, pronouncing that sound only if it is followed by a vowel sound.

4. The use of the glottal stop as an allophone of /t/ can occur in various positions, including after a stressed syllable. This is called T-glottalisation and is particularly common amongst the younger speakers of the Scouse accent. /t/ may also be flapped intervocalically. /t/ and /d/ are often pronounced similarly to the fricatives /s/ and /z/.

5. The loss of interdental fricatives, /ð/ and /θ/, was commonly attributed as being present due to Irish English influence. They were realized as /d/ and /t/ respectively. However, in the younger generation, this feature is being outnumbered by those who realize them as a labiodental fricatives.

· /θ/ becomes /f/ in all environments: [θink] becomes [fink] for "think."

· /ð/ becomes /v/ in all environments except word-initially, in which case it becomes /d/. [diðə] becomes [divə] for "dither;" [ðəu] becomes [dəu] for "though."

6. The use of me instead of my was also attributed to Irish English influence: for example, "That's me book you got there" for "That's my book you got there". An exception occurs when "my" is emphasized: for example, "That's my book you got there" (and not his).

Phonological features of Geordie accent (spoken in Newcastle)

Vowels:

1. RP final [i] sounds like [i:]: city [siti] – [siti:].

2. Words that have «al» in spelling – talk, call, all, are pronounced with [a]: [ta:k], [ka:l], [a:l].

3. RP words with [з:] are pronounced with in a broad Tyneside accent: first [fɔ:st], shirt [©ɔ:t]; so first, forced; shirt, short are homonyms.

4. [ai] is [ei]: right [reit].

5. Words which in RP have [au] may have [it], e.g. about [abu:t].

Consonants:

1. [l] is clear in all environments;

2. [h] is usually present in all positions;

3. -ing is [in]: shilling [©ilin];

4. [p, t, k] between vowels are accompanied by glottal stop [?]: pity [pit?i:]

Unit 13. Scottish accent

Scottish English refers to the varieties of English spoken in Scotland. The main, formal variety is called Standard Scottish English. However, the status of Scottish English is still debated. Some linguists say that it is a national variant; others say that it is a dialect.

Many Scots speakers separate Scots and Scottish English as different registers depending on social circumstances. Scottish English is the result of language contact between Scots and the Standard English of England after the 17th century.

Phonology

The speech of the middle classes in Scotland tends to conform to the grammatical norms of the written standard, particularly in formal situations. Highland English is slightly different from the variety spoken in the Lowlands. It is more phonologically, grammatically, and lexically influenced by a Gaelic.

There are a number of phonological aspects characteristic of Scottish English:

v Scottish English is a rhotic accent, meaning /r/ is pronounced in the syllable. As with RP, /r/ may be an alveolar approximant [ɹ], although it is also common that a speaker will use an alveolar tap [ɾ]. Less common is use of the alveolar trill [r] (hereafter, <r> will be used to denote any rhotic consonant).

v Since Scottish English is rhotic, i.e. it preserves post-vocalic [r], vowels such as RP [iə], [3:], [uə] do not occur: [bir], [bird], [hurt]

v Length is not a distinctive feature of Scottish vowels. So pairs like pool - pull, cot - caught are not distinguished. Pull and pool are homophones. It should be noted, however, that vowels are longer in final stressed open syllables than elsewhere.

v The RP [əe – a:(a)] distinction doesn't exist. Words bath, trap and palm have the same vowels.

v In non-standard Sc. Eng. accent [u:] often occurs when RP has [au]: house [haus – hu:s]

v There is a distinction between /w/ and /hw/ in word pairs such as witch and which: [wit©] ≠ [it©].

v The phoneme /x/ is common in names and many Gaelic and Scots borrowings, ex. "ch" in loch. Some Scottish speakers use it in words of Greek origin as well, such as technical, patriarch, etc.

v /l/ is dark in all positions.

v Initial [p, t, k] are usually non-aspirated.

v – ing is [in].

Unit 14. Irish accent

Ireland has two official languages, Irish and English. Irish is compulsory in schools but it is only in a limited part of the country that it is the dominant language. It appears along with English in most official documentation.

The other big difference between British and Irish English is a religious one. Ireland was a profoundly catholic country until the 1970's. The Irish often use phrases such as ‘God Bless’ or ‘safe home’ when parting company.

The Irish version of English has two significant differences to the British version. The most significant is probably the influence of the Gaelic language. Very few words went from this language into international English.

Speaking about Northern Ireland, it is true to say that English here is not homogeneous. Areas of the far north are heavily Scots-influenced. Other parts are marked by less heavily Scots-influenced varieties of English.

Peculiarities of Northern Ireland English pronunciation

Vowels

The vowel system is similar to that of Scottish accents, post-vocalic sonorant [r] being used as in Scotland.

[i]: pit [pit], fir [fir], bird [bird], fern [firn], fur [fir];

[]: but [bt];

[a]: pat [pat], bard [bard], hat [hat], dance [dans], half [haf];

[ª]: put [pªt], boot [bªt], pull [pªl], pool [pªl], poor [pªr];

[o]: boat [bot], board [bord], pole [pol], knows [noz], nose [noz], pour [por], pore [por];

Consonants

1. [l] is mainly clear;

2. intervocalic [t] is iften a voiced flap [d]: city [sidi:];

3. [ð] may be lost between vowels: mother [mo:ər];