Varieties of English
The abbreviation RP (Received Pronunciation) denotes
the speech
of
educated people living in London and the southeast of England and of other
people elsewhere who speak in this way.
If the qualifier educated be assumed, RP is then a
regional (geographical) dialect, as contrasted with London Cockney, which is a
class (social) dialect.
RP is not intrinsically superior to other varieties of English; it is
itself only one particular regional dialect that has, through the accidents of
history, achieved more extensive use than others.
In the Northern dialect RP /a:/ (the first vowel sound in
"father") is still pronounced /æ/ (a sound like the a in
"fat") in words such as laugh, fast, and path; this pronunciation has
been carried across the Atlantic into American English.
In the words run, rung, and tongue, the received-standard pronunciation
of the vowel is //, like the u in "but"; in the Northern dialect it
is /u/, like the oo in "book."
In the words bind, find, and grind, the
Received standard pronunciation
of the vowel sound is /ai/, like that in "bide"; in Northern, it is
/i/, like the sound in "feet."
The vowel sound in the words go, home, and know in the Northern dialect
is /:/, approximately the sound in "law" in some American English
dialects.
In parts of Northumberland, RP "it" is still pronounced
"hit," as in Old English.
In various Northern dialects the definite article "the" is
heard as t, th, or d.
In those dialects in which it becomes both t and th, t is used before
consonants and th before vowels. Thus, one hears "t''book" but
"th''apple."
When, however, the definite article is reduced to t and the following
word begins with t or d, as in "t''tail" or "t''dog," it is
replaced by a slight pause as in the RP articulation of the first t in
"hat trick." The RP /t/, the sound of the ch in "church,"
becomes k, as in "thack," ("thatch, roof") and
"kirk" ("church"). In many Northern dialects strong verbs
retain the old past-tense singular forms band, brak, fand, spak for RP forms
bound, broke, found, and spoke. Strong verbs also retain the past participle
inflection -en as in "comen," "shutten,"
"sitten," and "getten" or "gotten" for RP
"come," "shut," "sat," and "got."In
some Midland dialects the diphthongs in "throat" and
"stone" have been kept apart, whereas in RP they have fallen
together. In Cheshire, Derby, Stafford, and Warwick, RP "singing" is
pronounced with a g sounded after the velar nasal sound (as in RP
"finger"). In Norfolk one hears "skellington" and
"solintary" for "skeleton" and "solitary,"
showing an intrusive n just as does "messenger" in RP from French
messager, "passenger" from French passager, and
"nightingale" from Old English nihtegala. Other East Anglian words
show consonantal metathesis (switch position), as in "singify," and
substitution of one liquid or nasal for another, as in "chimbly" for
"chimney," and "synnable" for "syllable."
"Hantle" for "handful" shows syncope (disappearance) of an
unstressed vowel, partial assimilation of d to t before voiceless f, and subsequent
loss of f in a triple consonant group.In South Western dialects, initial f and
s are often voiced, becoming v and z. Two words with initial v have found their
way into RP: "vat" from "fat" and "vixen" from
"fixen" (female fox). Another South Western feature is the
development of a d between l or n and r, as in "parlder" for
"parlour" and "carnder" for "corner." The
bilabial semivowel w has developed before o in "wold" for
"old," and in "wom" for "home," illustrating a
similar development in RP by which Old English an has become "one,"
and Old English hal has come to be spelled "whole," as compared with
Northern hale. In South Western dialects "yat" comes from the old
singular geat, whereas RP "gate" comes from the plural gatu.
Likewise, "clee" comes from the old nominative clea, whereas RP
"claw" comesm the oblique cases. The verbs keel and kemb have
developed regularly from Old English celan "to make cool" and kemban
"to use a comb," whereas the corresponding RP verbs cool and comb
come from the adjective and the noun, respectively.In Wales, people often speak
a clear and measured form of English with a musical intonation inherited from
ancestral Celtic. They tend to aspirate both plosives (stops) and fricative
consonants very forcibly; thus, "true" is pronounced with an audible
puff of breath after the initial t.Lowland Scottish was once a part of Northern
English, but two dialects began to diverge in the 14th century. Today Lowland
Scots trill their r''s, shorten vowels, and simplify diphthongs. A few Scottish
words, such as bairn, brae, canny, dour, and pawky, have made their way into
RP. Lowland Scottish is not to be confused with Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic
language still spoken by about 90,700 people (almost all bilingual) mostly in
the Highlands and the Western Isles. Thanks to Robert Burns and Sir Walter
Scott, many Scottish Gaelic words have been preserved in English
literature.Northern Ireland has dialects related in part to Lowland Scottish
and in part to the southern Irish dialect of English. Irish pronunciation is
conservative and is clearer and more easily intelligible than many other
dialects. The influence of the Irish language on the speech of Dublin is most
evident in the syntax of drama and in the survival of such picturesque expressions
as "We are after finishing," "It''s sorry you will be," and
"James do be cutting corn every day."Copyright © 1994-2001
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc._
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