Today, English accents may not be clear to everyone. There are countless numbers in the UK. The emergence of such a linguistic diversity is associated with the development of society. The accents and dialects of the English language depend on the social stratification of British society.
More recently, the place of birth of an Englishman could be determined by the way he speaks. Now 80% of young people use simplified English and do not use dialectic phrases.
Features
Despite the fact that English accents are not particularly popular among young people, nevertheless they have great cultural significance in Britain. For decades, dialects have changed under the influence of various factors, including the development of television.
There was a period when the British preferred a more melodic speech. Most likely, this is due to the fact that the phone began to use popularity, and therefore employers wanted to communicate only with those who had a pleasant accent.
A feature is that the English accents are painted emotionally. Some are sarcastic, some ironic, condescending or arrogant. How many accents of English are hard to determine. Here is a list of the most popular.
Cockney
The history of this dialect is very interesting. Cockney formed in the mid-19th century in the East End area. As a joke, it was believed that a real cockney is someone who can hear the bells of the church of St. Mary-le-Bow.
This dialect was used by the lower strata of society: workers, merchants, artisans, thieves and scammers. A feature of this language was its confusion. It was difficult for the visitor to understand cockneys, and those, in turn, could deceive tourists or whisper behind the police.
Cockney became a kind of culture that influenced not only pronunciation and lifestyle, but also attributes. To this day, representatives of this dialect on holidays wear hats with feathers, and their costumes are embroidered with mother-of-pearl buttons.
The famous Bernard Shaw wrote the play Pygmalion, which tells the story of a Cockney girl. In the dialect, in addition to the characteristic pronunciation and distorted grammar, there is the principle of rhymed phrases.
In turn, relatively recently appeared "child" in Cockney - Mokny. This artificial accent was born in order to deride Cockney's manner of speech. Today there are many such imitators. These include the famous chef Jamie Oliver and the popular Mick Jagger.
Estuary English
The dialect is quite young and originates from 1984. This speech was formed by the inhabitants of the South-East of England and those who live in the Thames estuary. A feature of this dialect was that researchers at the moment are struggling to find the boundaries of estuarine English with the famous Cockney.
Mostly young people use this dialect, but despite the fact that many consider estuarine speech to be characteristic of the working class, its speakers are not only related to hard workers. It is said that many people use an estuarine accent in order to merge with the masses or pretend to be a representative of the working class.
Yorkshire dialect
The location of this dialect is not difficult to determine - it is Yorkshire County in the north of England. The dialect itself is pleasant to the ear, but extremely difficult for native speakers to understand.
This emphasis appeared in the 19th century, and immediately became quite popular. Now the inhabitants of Yorkshire have not changed the dialect and continue to use it. Influence on Yorkshire speech was provided by television and education, which changes pronunciation to a traditional form.
Nevertheless, the Yorkshire dialect is still considered a conservative form of English. The peculiarities of his pronunciation is short, staccato. Vowels do not have the usual extension, they are short and clear.
North Irish
Northern Ireland is geographically separated from Britain, but is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. The dialect was formed due to the division of Ireland into two parts. North Irish received the features of Irish speech and classical English.
Over time, the language began to change, and the Ulster-Iranian and Ulster-Scottish dialects appeared. The Northern Irish speech began to differ in phonetics and spelling. In the original clear speech, only 13 consonants are used. The remaining letters are only in borrowed words.
At the same time, pronunciation played a huge role. Some sounds change under the influence of the nasal timbre and speech output simultaneously through the nose and mouth. Some vowels sound more open and longer.
From a grammatical point of view, there are questions to the irregular verb. If the British can still guess about some variations, then those who have learned English and ended up in Northern Ireland may well get confused.
Scottish
The Scottish dialect appeared due to the fact that Scotland was previously an independent kingdom, and despite the fact that it is now part of the UK, it still has its own autonomy. Here people use three dialects: traditional English, Anglo-Scottish and Scottish Gaelic.
The Anglo-Scottish dialect has become the most common in Scotland. There are more than one and a half million speakers of this language. Pure Scottish knows very little. This language belongs to the Celtic group, and now it is known to no more than 50 thousand people.
This is due to the fact that Gaelic is difficult for the British to understand. Here the nouns also change by gender, are present in the 4 case language, as well as the coordination of nouns with the adjective.
The Scottish dialect is distinguished by features in phonetics and intonation. In the pronunciation, some sounds are swallowed or reduced. Also here you can find a rolling "r", which is not in traditional English.
Geordie
The dialect of Jordi has already survived many dialects. Its location is Northeast England. Thanks to the Anglo-Saxon settlements, it was decided to use this particular dialect. This is due to the fact that a single traditional English language did not yet exist. The Saxons, Utes and Angles found a clear speech in the dialect of Jordi for all nationalities.
There is also an accurate indication of the deposits of this accent. The Tyneside Northumberland Territory has become the "base" for the speakers of this dialect. Researchers believe that geordie is the closest dialect to traditional English.
The features of the language were the substitution of sounds and the preservation of archaic forms of words. Jordy has long been considered the language of the working class. English society considered those who speak Jordi to be uneducated and unsociable. Over time, this view became radically different, and geordie became the historical and cultural pride of its bearers.
Brummi
This emphasis appeared in the county of West Midlands. It is not the only one in this territory, but sometimes it becomes a name for other languages. The accent expression is rather uneven. The myth that all residents of Birmingham use brummi can also be considered a myth.
It is worth noting that, despite all the features of this emphasis, they are not all used in the speech of one brummi. An interesting fact was that, according to a poll conducted in the UK, the owners of brummi were the most stupid, taking first place from the end. This was due to the classic stereotypes that haunt most of the dialects of the English language.
Liverpool
All the accents of the English language were formed under the influence of any factors. The popularity of this accent is associated with the group The Beatles, which in the 60s conquered the whole world with its songs. Like many other English accents, Liverpool immediately identified as low-grade. But the work of the musical group popularized their speech.
A feature of this emphasis is the nasal tones of hard pronunciation. Some call the dialect “cold”. Nevertheless, the language is not without dynamism and emotional color.
The various accents of the English language have survived many changes and criticisms. Some are used to this day, some are dying. The number of dialects in the UK is uncountable, and their diversity sometimes strikes even the English themselves.