Variation in English

Some terms
British English= Standard English written and spoken by educated speakers in England (as far as grammar and vocabulary are concerned). Also used in Wales, Scotland, NIreland, SIreland, Australia, NZealand, SAfrica (minor dif-s) Pron: RP accent originates from SE of England, a social accent, associated only with England

THUS:
British Standard English grammar and vocabulary (used by many) together with the RP accent (used only in England) should be called English English. This variety often taught to students of EFL and ESL. Until recently it was required in many European universities and colleges.

 Other variety widely taught: North American E: English written and spoken by educated speakers in the USA and Canada. Now unis permit either EngEng or NAmEng- as long as they are consistent. However: nth reprehensible about the mixture of both varieties (problems in marking items in/correct).

Spoken and written lg

Besides different standard varieties of E one has to consider:
Lg change Social variation Stylistic variation Regional variation Speakers sex Speakers age

From the point of view of the spoken lg:

1. Language change: accents, like all components of living lgs, change with time. In RP, there is a tendency for certain triphthongs to become diphthongs which tend to become monophthongs. tyre>tar

Pron depends on age, educ, social class. This correlation not perfect. 2. Stylistic variation: In addition: the pron of individual speakers varies: either due to external factors or un/conscious changes according to their perception of the situation to more in/formal

 Formal: slow, careful articulation, full value of sounds Informal: quick speech, less careful, sounds omitted Vowel weakening: /are/ Assimilation: /that plate/ Elision: /expect so/

 A more casual style of pron should not be considered incorrect! It is a matter of appropriateness, not correctness. Compare: radio newsreader- at work vs with girlfriend Little danger of being misunderstood: situation disambiguates: /mints/ vs /mince/

3. Unconditioned variation: within RP speakers there are differences that cannot be explained in terms of a change nor a speech style. /economic/ 62% vs 38%- preference marked in dictionary

4. Regional variation: as we know, only a small percentage speak RP, others have regional accents. Even if we speak of Irish and Scottish etc accents they cannot be found within certain limits, there is a continuum, a gradual changing of pron.

The pyramid model

People at the bottom of the social scale speak with the most obvious , the broadest regional accents. RP speakers at the top, their speech gives no clue of their regional origin. Example: aitch-dropping in Yorkshire

 The pyramid model may be used in Wales but not in Ireland or Scotland, they have their own upper-class accents. In NAm, different upper/lower-class accents in each region: regional variation present in all social classes. Elsewhere, fails due to absence of local geographical variation within each country: in Aus/NZ/SAfr quite a high degree of social but little regional variation.

But remember:
People may travel socially and modify their accents: Ex: northern speakers introduce aitches; // versus //. This involves dividing words into 2 groups, some may be wrongly classified> hypercorrection eg cushion

From the written lg point of view:

Standard E is not restricted to the speech of a particular group like RP accent, most users of StE have regional accents. It is the dialect (vocab+gr) of educated people. Very little social variation, just a few lexical items: serviette vs napkin

1. Language change: the grammar of a dialect changes with time but very slowly. Different innovations spread at different rates, even different directions. Typically from cities to towns, from larger towns to smaller ones, smts leaping over countryside.

 Ex: And Roberts has played for us last season. Correct or wrong? Roberts has played for us. He played last season. Increasing use of Present Perfect with definite past time reference. Not accepted yet. The house is being built/will be built next year.

2. Lexical change: more rapid than gr change. Ex A: smts a new lexical item enters the lg and replaces the existing one. Grammophone>record player, with advancing technology new terms appear: (tape player), CD player/DVD player, mp3 player, IPod

 Ex B: an existing term begins to change meaning or takes a second meaning: To aggrevate meant make worse Now also means irritate Cant be mixed up: first aggrevate sth, second aggrevate sb. Educated people use first meaning only.

3. Stylistic variation: The choice of grammatical structure and vocab will vary with the situation in which people are speaking or writing. Ex: the person to whom I wrote vs the chap I wrote to Again: the matter of appropriateness! Even educated people speak differently in a relaxed atmosphere.

4. Regional variation: there are many regional dialects in Britain, StE is just one of them. These dialects have grammatical differences, eg East Anglia dialect lacks 3rd person sg present tense marker (e)s. He go, he eat
However, people of higher social status in that region may be less regionally marked as they modify their speech towards the more prestigious one and introduce s endings

 Problems in British schools: teachers consider regional features mistakes, their efforts to eradicate them are not very successful. Still, the longer children stay at school, the less regionally marked their speech will be. Smts have 2 dialects- one at school, one at home. 3 groups: adopt StE, use in parallel, return to regional dialect later.

Other factors
Urban vs rural accents: easier to say whether the person is from the city or the countryside. British attitudes: Urban: faster, more up-to-date, ugly, careless, unpleasant Rural: slower, pleasant, old-fashioned, amusing

Correctness
Three types of things are said to be incorrect:
New elements, usu resisted at first, but if proven useful, eventually accepted. Resistance weakest in pron, esp if introduced by the social elite. Features of informal speech Features of regional speech

Men vs women
Obvious differences in voice Recordings show that women speak closer to the norm, less vulgarisms Use more animation in their voices, more question tags Sexual minorities: can they be detected? Majority cant be, it is more their appearance or general behaviour that helps