2020-09-26
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Cockney represents the broadest form of London local accent and it is considered to be a social accent – speech of working-class areas of Greater London. It traditionally refers only to specific regions and speakers within the city. It is generally agreed, that to be a true Cockney, a person has to be born within hearing distance of the bells of St. Mary le Bow, Cheapside, in the City of London.
Some of the more characteristic features of the Cockney accent include the following:
Ø Dropped ‘h’ at the beginning of words is certainly heard in Cockney accent, e.g.: house = ‘ouse; hammer = ‘ammer.
Ø th fronting which involves the replacement of the interdental dental fricatives [θ] and [ð] by labiodentals [f] and [v] respectively, e.g.: thin = fin, three = free, tooth = toof, bother = [bovə], weather = [wevə].
When [ð] occurs initially it is replaced by [d]: this = [dis], them = [dəm].
Ø Glottal stop is particularly characteristic of Cockney and can be manifested in different ways such as "t" glottalling in final position:
Waterloo = Wa’erloo; city = ci’y; a drink of water = a drin' a wa'er; a little bit of bread with a bit of butter on it = a li'le bi' of bread wiv a bi' of bu'er on i'.
Ø The diphthong [ei] is realized as [ai]: lady = [laidi:], rain = [rain].
Ø The diphthong [au] may be turned into [æə]: now = [næə].
Ø Vowel lowering in words ending in ‘r’ it turns into ‘ah’, e.g.: dinner = dinna, bother = bova, water = wata.
Cockney is also characterized by its own special vocabulary and usage, and traditionally by its own development of rhyming slang. The way it works is that you take a pair of associated words where the second word rhymes with the word you intend to say, then use the first word of the associated pair to indicate the word you originally intended to say.
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Examples: “apples and pears” = pears = stairs, plates of meat = meat = feet, dog and bone = bone = phone, baked potato = potato = later = see you later!
She’s got long bacons: bacon and eggs = eggs = legs.
Unit 11. East-Anglian English
East Anglian English is a dialect of English spoken in East Anglia. It has a long history, just like the dialects of the Northern area. In 575 the Anglian Kingdom was founded as a result of the uniting of the North and South Folk. Besides the Angles, the Saxons lived in these surroundings too, probably since the Romans have ruled Britain. Both peoples influenced speech a lot and some words still are used in the East Anglian region, for example:
· suffun = something
East Anglian English contains:
ü Norfolk dialect (Broad Norfolk)
ü Suffolk dialect
ü Essex dialect (Confined to Northern Essex)
ü Cambridgeshire dialect and borders the East Midlands.
VOWELS
1. Single-syllable words with the vowel spelt 'oo' such as 'roof' and 'hoof' have the vowel [ʊ] to give [rʊf] and [hʊf] respectively.
2. Single-syllable words with the vowel spelt 'ou' such as 'boat' or 'home' may be pronounced with the vowel [u]. So [əu] = [u]
3. The vowel /ɒ/ of LOT is usually realized as a long unrounded vowel [a:] as in many forms of American English.
4. The diphthong of [aɪ] in words such as right, buy, pie and sky sound more like [oi] giving "roight", "boi", "poi" and "skoi"
5. When the suffix '-ing' is preceded by a vowel or diphthong, that results in a single vowel. Thus 'go+ing' is usually pronounced as a single syllable [ɡɔ:n] and 'doing' is [dɜ:n] rather than /du:ɪŋ/.
6. The vowel [əu] is pronounced [a] such as the word bath in Northern and Midland accents, but with the vowel sound lengthened so church, work, heard, her and girl can be written as "chaach", "waak", "haad", "haa" and "gaal", though this pronunciation can also be written like "fust" (for first), "wust" (for worst), "bust" (for burst).
Consonants
1. Yod-dropping is common between consonants and [u], [u:], [uə] resulting in pronunciations such as /mu:zik/ for 'music' and /ku:/ for 'cue'.
2. Glottal stops [ʔ] are found widely in Norfolk speech. The consonant /t/ when following a stressed vowel is often realized as [ʔ] so that 'better' is pronounced as [beʔə].
3. The final [d] in a word is replaced with a [t] sound so wanted and hundred would be represented as "wantet" and "hundret".
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4. In contexts where RP pronounces /l/ as "dark L" some older Norfolk speakers have "clear L" so that the sound in 'hill' and 'milk' sounds similar to the clear L heard at the beginning of words such as 'lip'.
5. Any word beginning with [v] has the first letter changed to and pronounced like a [w] so you have "wicar" instead of vicar, "winegar" instead of vinegar, "willage" instead of village and so on.
6. The accent is generally non-rhotic, so «r» is only pronounced when a vowel follows it.
Grammar
In the third person present tense, the s at the end of verbs disappears so that 'he goes' becomes 'he go', she likes = she like.
Unit 12. North-West English
North West England is one of the official regions of England. North West England is bounded on the west by the Irish Sea and on the east by the Pennies mountain range. The region extends from the Scottish Borders in the north to the Welsh Mountains in the south. Thus the languages of these areas have had a greater impact on most northern dialects. Northern English is a group of dialects that contains:
· Geordie (spoken in the Newcastle upon Tyne/ Greater Tyneside area)
· Scouse (spoken in Liverpool with variations as far as North Wales)
