Territorial and social varieties of English pronunciation Lecture 8

Pronunciation varieties. Notions and definitions. British types of pronunciation and their phonetic peculiarities. American standard and regional types of pronunciation. Social varieties of English pronunciation. The situational varieties. The modern tendencies of English pronunciation.

Pronunciation varieties. Notions and definitions Dialect The type of pronunciation or Accent Social limited number of people use it and only in certain localities Phonetic characteristics of the whole society or one person. E.g. American or French accent Pronunciation varieties. Notions and definitions

Pronunciation varieties. Notions and definitions Types of English pronunciation An inner circle An outer circle An expanding circle Pronunciation varieties. Notions and definitions

Pronunciation varieties. Notions and definitions Standard of pronunciation What is it? The orthoepic norm Literary pronunciation What is necessary to be accepted as a norm? Pronunciation varieties. Notions and definitions

National standard of pronunciation – in GB – RP (Received Pronunciation) or BBC English In USA – GA (General American) In Canada – Gen Can In Australia – Gen Aus Regional standard – In GB – Southern, Northern, Scottish, Irish In USA – Northern, Northern Midland, Southern Midland, Southern, Western Local accents Pronunciation varieties. Notions and definitions

British types of pronunciation and their phonetic peculiarities. A.Gimson -varieties of RP The Conservative RP The General RP The Advanced RP British types of pronunciation and their phonetic peculiarities.

The main changes of the sound system of the present day English. The diphthongization of RP [i:], [u:] see, who The monophthongization of [ai] and [au] Conservative RP General PR Advanced PR tower [tauə] [taə] [ta:] 3. The assimilation of [sj – s] [zj- z], [dj - ʤ] [tj - ʧ] 4. The final [b d g] partially devoiced. 5. The use of intrusive [r] Asia(r) and Africa 6. [t] – [betə] – [bedə] 7.Loss of [h] initially 8. Palatalized final [k]

Southern dialects (Cockney, Kent, Essex, Greater London) Eastern dialects Northern Scottish Dialects of Ireland The differences – in the phoneme inventory, rhythm and intonation Dialects of English

Cockney dialect Lady [laidi] [h] is absent Bag [beg] horse [o:s] City [siti:] have [ev] Blood [bleid] [h] is heard in Oh, no [eu, neu] atmosphere, honest The contrast between … is lost th – [t] th – [d] ing – [ŋ] th – [v] final [f] – [v] [p t k ] aspirated Cockney dialect

American standard and regional types of Pronunciation Varieties of American speech The Eastern type The Southern type The Western or General American= Standard How many people speak the standard? American standard and regional types of Pronunciation

American standard and regional types of Pronunciation Peculiarities of Vowels and Consonants No long and short vowels The number of diphthongs – from 3 to 12 RP GA Here [hiə] [hir] hair [hɛə] [her] 3. [r] in turn, bird, star 4.Nasalization – RP twenty [twenti] [tweni] American standard and regional types of Pronunciation

5. [l] – always dark. 6. Intervocalic [t] – voiced 7. [j] – omitted between CC – Tuesday [tu:zdei] 8. [o] – [a:], or –[o:] RP lock [lok] RP long [loŋ ] GA [la:k] GA [lo: ŋ]

Address, cigarette, magazine, research Weekend, ice-cream, new year Stress differences ballet, beret Address, cigarette, magazine, research Weekend, ice-cream, new year laboratory, testimony, dictionary Stress differences

Intonational differences Level Head instead of descending scale In emphatic sentences – Mid-Wavy-level heads. Rise-Fall instead of Low Fall In Fall-Rise – in nuclear the rise is higher than in RP Requests – Fall-Rise Leave-takings – Fall-Rise Intonational differences

Rhythm GA – smooth and slurred RP – clipped and pointed Stressed and unstressed syllables – 1:1 RP – every stressed syllable corresponds to two unstressed one. Rhythm

Regional features of American pronunciation The Eastern type = Southern English The Southern type - vowel drawl – that [ðɛaət] - monophthongisation of diphthong [ai] before the voiced CC – side [sa:d] - [e] – [i] before [n] men [min] The Northern type – Western American Regional features of American pronunciation

Social varieties of English pronunciation. The Situational varieties A.Gimson – classification of RP General RP Refined RP Regional RP Social varieties of English pronunciation. The Situational varieties