The Relation Between Regional
and Social Variation und Great
Britain
Two weeks ago…
Types of Variation
region
social class
interference from another (foreign) language
medium
attitude
Speech Communities in the UK
Social Variation in GB
They were 82 years old, my grandfathers,
but they did not have a car back in those days.
Dey were 82 years old, me grandfafers,
bu’ dey didn’t have a car back in dose days.
They am 82 year old, my grandfer,
but they hadn’t no car back in they days.
Regional Variation
They were 82 years old, my grandfathers,
but they did not have a car back in those days.
Dey were 82 years old, me grandfafers,
bu’ dey didn’t have a car back in dose days.
They am 82 year old, my grandfer,
but they hadn’t no car back in they days.
Relationship between social and
regional accents
highest
class: RP
social class
variation
lowest class: broad local
accents
regional
variation
•
•
•
•
social class variation: low to high class
regional variation: high to few to high
working class ↔ high regional variety
lawyers, doctors, teachers ↔ (hardly) no regional
variety
They were 82 years old, my grandfathers,
but they did not have a car back in those days.
Dey were 82 years old,
me grandfafers,
bu’ dey didn’t have a car
back in dose days.
They am
82 year
old, my
grandfer,
but they
hadn’t no
car back
in they
days.
They am 82 year old, my grandfer,
but they hadn’t no car back in they days.
• “common” or “working class” accent
• stigmatised: uncouth1 or vulgar by majority
• however:
– way to rebel
– not too “posh”: modern life in Britain
• no unique features
1 ordinär, flapsig
They am 82 year old, my grandfer,
but they hadn’t no car back in they days.
The example for this dialect I chose here
can be found on:
http://www.collectbritain.co.uk 
“Collections”  “The Way We Speak” 
“Browse whole Collection”  page 60
The title is: Exford, Somerset
1 ordinär, flapsig
Dey were 82 years old, me grandfafers,
bu’ dey didn’t have a car back in dose days.
• Cockney English
• features (selection):
– T-glottalisation: ca’, wa’er, bu’er, sta’emen’
– dropped H at beginning: ‘ouse, ‘ammer
– /θ/ becomes /f/: three – free, thank - fank
– /ð/ becomes /v/ (everywhere but front): brother – brover,
rather – raver
– /ð/ becomes /d/ (in front position): they – dey, those – dose
– /aʊ/ may be /æə/: town
– /æ/ may be /ɛi/: have
– /əʊ/ may be /æʉ/: coat
– “me” instead of “my”
– rhyming slang: stairs  apples and pears, feet  plates of
meat
Dey were 82 years old, me grandfafers,
bu’ dey didn’t have a car back in dose days.
• famous speakers of Cockney are:
– Stan Shunpike (bus driver in Harry Potter)
– Bert in Mary Poppins (sweep, street painter)
– Mr. Cruncher in Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities
– Mordor Orcs in The Lord of the Rings
– Pinky in The Pinky and the Brain
Feel free to listen to (and watch) them on
youtube.com!
They were 82 years old, my grandfathers,
but they did not have a car back in those days.
•
•
•
•
•
RP: Received Pronunciation
“This man/woman hasn’t got an accent.”
neutral, correct English
“BBC English”, “Public School English”, “Standard English”
features:
– intrusive R: I saw (r) happen, the idea (r) of
– r-lessness of Rs in final position: wate’ [‘wɔ:tə] , bake’
• 2% of England’s population speak RP
Feel free to listen to nice examples on http://www.bl.uk  “Learning”
 “Language & Literature”  “Sounds Familiar?”
The Queen
• the “Queen’s” or “King’s” English
• lexical and phonological differences to RP
– hice (house), orf (off), tar (tower), refained
(refined), rairly (really), yah (yes), miuk (milk)
– “Royal ONE”: one instead of I
“One says to oneself: ‘Oh God, there’s one’s
daughter.” (Father of the Duchess of York, 1986)
Resources
• Sneesby, Patricia. “British English”. Class Handout, FSU
Jena: 2002.
• Trudgill, Peter. Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to
Language and Society. 4th ed. London, Penguin: 2000.
31-33.
• Hughes, Trudgill. English Accents and Dialects: An
Introduction to Social and Regional Varities of British
English. University Park Press: 1979.
[via wikipedia.com]
• http://www.collectbritain.co.uk [audio examples]
• http://www.bl.uk [audio examples]
• http://www.youtube.com [audio examples]