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Encyclopedia > Regional accents of English speakers

The regional accents of English speakers show great variation across the areas where English is spoken as a first language. This article provides an overview of the many identifiable variations in pronunciation, usually deriving from the phoneme inventory of the local dialect, of the local variety of Standard English between various populations of native English speakers This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... English pronunciation includes the usage of consonant and vowel sounds in the English language. ... Phonology (Greek phonē = voice/sound and logos = word/speech), is a subfield of linguistics which studies the sound system of a specific language (or languages). ... A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος, dialektos) is a variety of a language characteristic of a particular group of the languages speakers. ... Standard English is a controversial term used to denote a form of written and spoken English that is thought to be normative for educated users. ...

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Local accents are part of local dialects. Any dialect of English has unique features in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. The term "accent" describes only the first of these, namely, pronunciation. See also: List of dialects of the English language. Image File history File links Nuvola_apps_edu_languages. ... This article or section cites its sources but does not provide page references. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Generative linguistics is a school of thought within linguistics that makes use of the concept of a generative grammar. ... In linguistics and cognitive science, cognitive linguistics (CL) refers to the currently dominant school of linguistics that views the important essence of language as innately based in evolutionarily-developed and speciated faculties, and seeks explanations that advance or fit well into the current understandings of the human mind. ... Computational linguistics is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the statistical and logical modeling of natural language from a computational perspective. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... The ability to understand another speakers intended meaning is called pragmatic competence. ... Unsolved problems in : Note: Use the unsolved tag: {{unsolved|F|X}}, where F is any field in the sciences: and X is a concise explanation with or without links. ... Efforts to describe and explain the human language faculty have been undertaken throughout recorded history. ... Historical linguistics (also diachronic linguistics or comparative linguistics) is primarily the study of the ways in which languages change over time. ... It has been suggested that Modern linguists be merged into this article or section. ... A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος, dialektos) is a variety of a language characteristic of a particular group of the languages speakers. ... Look up pronunciation in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A vocabulary is a set of words known to a person or other entity, or that are part of a specific language. ... For the topic in theoretical computer science, see Formal grammar Grammar is the study of rules governing the use of language. ... This is a list of varieties of the English language. ...


Non-native speakers of English tend to carry over the intonation and phonemic inventory from their mother tongue into their English speech. For more details see Non-native pronunciations of English. Intonation, in linguistics, is the variation of pitch when speaking. ... In human language, a phoneme is the theoretical representation of a sound. ... First language (native language, mother tongue, or vernacular) is the language a person learns first. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...


Among native English speakers, many different accents exist. Some regional accents are easily identified by certain characteristics. It should be noted that further variations are to be found within the regions identified below; for example, towns located less than 10 miles (16 km) from the city of Manchester such as Bolton, Oldham and Salford, each have distinct accents, all of which form the Lancashire accent, yet in extreme cases are different enough to be noticed even by a non-local listener. There is also much room for misunderstanding between people from different regions, as the way one word is pronounced in one accent (for example, petal in American English) will sound like a different word in another accent (for example, pearl in Scottish English). A mile is a unit of length, usually used to measure distance, in a number of different systems, including Imperial units, United States customary units and Norwegian/Swedish mil. ... “km” redirects here. ... This article is about the City of Manchester in England. ... , Bolton is a large town in the traditional county of Lancashire more recently changed to be part of Greater Manchester, in North West England. ... For the larger local government district, see Metropolitan Borough of Oldham. ... For other uses, see Salford (disambiguation). ...

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Great Britain

Main article: British English

English accents and dialects vary widely in Great Britain. This may be related to the fact that the language has its origins there and has been evolving there for several hundred years. The varieties of English in use in Great Britain are also influenced by the fact that it is comprised of England, Scotland, and Wales. British English (BrE, BE, en-GB) is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere in the Anglophone world. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem No official anthem specific to England — the anthem of the United Kingdom is God Save the Queen. See also Proposed English National Anthems. ... Motto (Latin) No one provokes me with impunity Cha togar mfhearg gun dioladh (Scottish Gaelic) Wha daur meddle wi me?(Scots)1 Anthem (Multiple unofficial anthems) Scotlands location in Europe Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official languages English (de facto) Recognised regional languages Gaelic, Scots1 Demonym Scot, Scots... This article is about the country. ...


England

Main article: English English

The main accent groupings within England are between the north and the south; the dividing line runs roughly from Shrewsbury to south of Birmingham and then to The Wash. For many years, the British media and academic bodies have employed Received Pronunciation as a 'standard', although this has become far less common in recent years. Received Pronunciation is a deliberately-structured accent, designed for clarity, which has its roots in the speech patterns of south-eastern England (home of Oxford and Cambridge Universities). The London-derived Estuary English is now growing in importance as a widespread standard form in the south. English English is a term that has been applied to the English language as spoken in England. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem No official anthem specific to England — the anthem of the United Kingdom is God Save the Queen. See also Proposed English National Anthems. ... , Shrewsbury (pronounced either or [1]) is the county town of Shropshire, West Midlands, England. ... Birmingham (pron. ... The Wash, as seen looking west from Heacham, Norfolk The Wash is also the name of a 2001 film. ... Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... Estuary English is a name given to the form of English widely spoken in South East England, especially along the river Thames and its estuary. ...


There is considerable variation in the accents of the English. Notable geographical accents include West Country (the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire,Gloucestershire and Bristol), North East (Northumberland, Durham, Newcastle, Sunderland), Lancashire (with regional variants in Bolton, Manchester, Blackpool), Merseyside, Yorkshire (which has huge differences between the North, West and East Ridings), West Midlands (The Black Country, Dudley, Birmingham). The accents of the counties comprising the East Midlands & East Anglia (Nottingham, Derby, Lincoln, Leicester) and (Norfolk,Suffolk, Norwich) some less than 30 miles from the "west midlands" also have a distinct dialect and received pronunciation. Even within these broad categories there are considerable differences in inflection and pronunciation. The West Country is an informal term for the area of south-western England roughly corresponding to the modern South West England government region. ... Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea. ... Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. ... Look up Yorkshire in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Black Country is an area of conurbation to the north and west of Birmingham in the English West Midlands, around the South Staffordshire coal field. ... The East Midlands is one of the regions of England and consists of most of the eastern half of the traditional region of the Midlands. ... Norfolk and Suffolk, the core area of East Anglia. ...


The arrival of large scale immigration to England has produced another layer of regional accents that have merged with the accents of immigrants. Such examples include London-Caribbean, West Yorkshire mixed with Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi.


Scotland

Main article: Scottish English

Scottish English is usually taken to mean the standard form of the English language used in Scotland, often termed Scottish Standard English. ...

Wales

Main article: Welsh English

The accent of English in Wales is strongly influenced by the phonology of the Welsh language, which more than 20% of the population of Wales speak as their first or second language. North-east Wales sometimes tends to have a Northern English accent due to the large English population on the other side of the border. [citation needed] Welsh English, Anglo-Welsh, or Wenglish (see below) refers to the dialects of English spoken in Wales by Welsh people. ... This article is about the country. ... Welsh redirects here, and this article describes the Welsh language. ...


Ireland

Main article: Hiberno-English

The differences between accents in the province of Ulster and the remaining three provinces of Ireland are significant enough that it is best to treat them separately. There are, of course, differences within each group as well, but these are often noticeable only to locals. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Statistics Area: 24,481 km² Population (2006 estimate) 1,993,918 Ulster (Irish: , Ulster Scots: Ulstèr, IPA: ) is one of the four traditional provinces of Ireland, in addition to Connaught, Munster and Leinster. ...


Ulster

The Ulster accent has two main sub accents, namely (Mid Ulster English) and Ulster Scots. The language is spoken throughout the nine counties of Ulster, and in some northern areas of bordering counties such as Louth and Leitrim. It bears many similarities to Scottish English through influence from Ulster Scots, which is distinct and recognized as a variety of Scots. Statistics Area: 24,481 km² Population (2006 estimate) 1,993,918 Ulster (Irish: , Ulster Scots: Ulstèr, IPA: ) is one of the four traditional provinces of Ireland, in addition to Connaught, Munster and Leinster. ... Mid Ulster English (Ulster Anglo-Irish) is the dialect of most people in Ulster, including those in the two main cities. ... Scots refers to the Anglic varieties spoken in parts of Scotland. ... This article is about the town of Louth in England. ... Statistics Province: Connacht County Town: Carrick-on-Shannon Code: LM Area: 1,588 km² Population (2006) 28,837 Website: www. ... Ulster Scots, also known as Ullans, Hiberno-Scots, or Scots-Irish, refers to the variety of Scots (sometimes referred to as Lowland Scots) spoken in parts of the province of Ulster, which spans the six counties of Northern Ireland and three of the Republic of Ireland. ... Scots refers to the Anglic varieties spoken in parts of Scotland. ...


Some characteristics of the Ulster accent include:

  • As in Scotland, the vowels /ʊ/ and /u/ are merged, so that look and Luke are homophonous. The vowel is a high central rounded vowel, [ʉ].
  • The diphthong /aʊ/ is pronounced approximately [əʉ], but wide variation exists, especially between social classes in Belfast
  • The vowel /eɪ/ is a monophthong in open syllables (e.g. day [dɛː]) but a rising diphthong in closed syllables (e.g. daze [deəz]). But the monophthong remains when inflectional endings are added, thus daze contrasts with days [dɛːz].
  • The alveolar stops /t, d/ become dental before [r, ɚ], e.g. tree and spider
  • /t/ often undergoes flapping to [ɾ] before an unstressed syllable, e.g. eighty [ɛːɾi]

The close central rounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. ... Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions between individuals or groups in societies or cultures. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: , Statistics Province: Northern Ireland County: District: Belfast UK Parliament: Belfast North Belfast South Belfast East Belfast West European Parliament: Northern Ireland Dialling Code: 028, +44 28 posttown = Belfast Postal District(s): BT1-BT17, BT29 (part of), BT58 Area: 115 km² Population (2001) Website: www. ... Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets) of the superior teeth. ... Dentals are consonants such as t, d, n, and l articulated with either the lower or the upper teeth, or both, rather than with the gum ridge as in English. ... This page discusses a phonological phenomenon. ... In linguistics, stress is the emphasis given to some syllables (often no more than one in each word, but in many languages, long words have a secondary stress a few syllables away from the primary stress, as in the words cóunterfòil or còunterintélligence. ...

Connacht, Leinster and Munster

The accent of these three provinces is relatively similar throughout, and often distinguishable only by locals or those with experience. To people within the nine counties of Ulster it is more commonly a "southern accent".


Dublin is notable for having accents different to most of the rest of Ireland (although certain other accents are quite distinctive, for example Kerry, Cork, Wexford and Offaly). There is also stereotypically a difference between the accents of the Northside and Southside of Dublin. Statistics Province: Munster County Town: Tralee Code: KY Area: 4,746 km² Population (2006) 139,616 Website: www. ... Statistics Province: Munster County Town: Cork Code: C (CK proposed) Area: 7,457 km² Population (2006) 480,909 (including City of Cork); 361,766 (without Cork City) Website: www. ... Statistics Province: Leinster County Town: Wexford Code: WX Area: 2,352 km² Population (2006) 131,615 Website: www. ... County Offaly (Irish: Uíbh Fhailí) is a county in Leinster, Ireland, bordered by seven other counties: Galway, Roscommon, Westmeath, Meath, Kildare, Laois, and Tipperary. ... Traffic passing the Independent Bridge at Drumcondra The harbour at Howth The Northside (Taobh Ó Thuaidh in Irish) is the area in Dublin City, Ireland bounded to the south by the River Liffey, to the east by Dublin Bay and to the north and west by the M50 motorway. ... The Southside is not an official administrative area but a colloquial term. ...


Irish Travellers

Irish Travellers have a very distinct accent closely related to a rural Hiberno-English. Many Travellers who were born in parts of Britain have the accent, despite the fact that they do not live in Ireland. They also have their own language which strongly links in with their dialect/accent of English, see Shelta. Irish Travellers (sometimes known as Tinkers, pikeys, knackers) are a nomadic or itinerant people of Irish origin living in Ireland, Great Britain and the United States. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Shelta is a language spoken by parts of the Irish Traveller people. ...

North America

North American English is a collective term used for the varieties of the English language that are spoken in the United States and Canada. ...

Canada

Main article: Canadian English

Although there is no single linguistic definition that includes Canada as a whole, a fairly homogenous dialect exists in Western and Central Canada. William Labov identifies an inland region that concentrates all of the defining features of the dialect centred on the Prairies, with periphery areas with more variable patterns including the metropolitan areas of Vancouver and Toronto.[1] The Canadian Shift is found throughout Canada except for the Atlantic Provinces.[2] Canadian raising has a wider range, and includes some parts of Atlantic Canada, but many Canadians do not possess this feature, and defining the accent by this would exclude parts of Atlantic Canada and include some adjacent portions of the US. Except for the Canadian Shift of the short front vowels, the phonology of the English spoken in Western and Central Canada is identical to that of the English spoken in adjacent regions in the US. Except in some speakers scattered throughout the far West, the Canadian shift is absent from the US, although the California vowel shift contains similar features. The island of Newfoundland has its own distinctive dialect of English known as Newfoundland English (often referred to as ‘Newfie’) while many in the Maritime provinces – Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island – have an accent that sounds more like Scottish English and, in some places, Irish English than General American. There is also some French influence in pronunciation for some English-speaking Canadians who live near, and especially work with, French-Canadians. Labov considers Northern Canada to be a dialect region in formation.[3] Canadian English (CaE) is a variety of English used in Canada. ... Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... The West/Central Canadian English dialect is one of the largest and the most homogenous dialect areas in North America. ... A recently identified feature (1995) found among many Canadians is a chain shift known as the Canadian Shift. ... Canadian raising is a phonetic phenomenon that occurs in varieties of the English language, especially Canadian English, in which diphthongs are raised before voiceless consonants (e. ... This article, image, template or category should belong in one or more categories. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...


United States

Main article: American English

There is great variation among accents of English spoken in the United States. In terms of phonology, flapping might be the only process common to all accents of American English: not all American English accents are rhotic, not all use the "flat A" in words like half and can't, not all have lost the phonemic differentiation between the vowels of father and bother or the vowels of cot and caught or the consonants of wine and whine, and so forth. General American is the name given to the accent used by most TV network announcers; it is most similar to the local accents of Iowa and adjacent parts of Nebraska and Illinois, but it has no set definition beyond being rhotic. Because of this, "General American" speakers can be found throughout the United States, especially in the North, as well as in English-speaking Canada. General American makes a good reference accent, as well as a good goal for foreigners learning American English, because it is generally regarded as a "neutral" accent (when most Americans say someone "doesn't have an accent" they mean he or she has a General American accent). For other uses, see American English (disambiguation). ... This page discusses a phonological phenomenon. ... English pronunciation is divided into two main accent groups, the rhotic and non-rhotic, depending on when the phoneme (the letter r) is pronounced. ... // Trap-bath split The trap-bath split is a vowel split that occurs mainly in southern varieties of English English (including Received Pronunciation), in the Boston accent, and in the Southern Hemisphere accents (Australian English, New Zealand English, South African English), by which the Early Modern English phoneme was lengthened... Phonemic differentiation is the phenomenon of a phoneme in a language splitting into two phonemes over time, a process known as a phonemic split. ... Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... Official language(s) English Capital Des Moines Largest city Des Moines Area  Ranked 26th  - Total 56,272 sq mi (145,743 km²)  - Width 310 miles (500 km)  - Length 199 miles (320 km)  - % water 0. ... Official language(s) English Capital Lincoln Largest city Omaha Largest metro area Omaha Area  Ranked 16th  - Total 77,421 sq mi (200,520 km²)  - Width 210 miles (340 km)  - Length 430 miles (690 km)  - % water 0. ... Official language(s) English[1] Capital Springfield Largest city Chicago Largest metro area Chicago Area  Ranked 25th  - Total 57,918 sq mi (149,998 km²)  - Width 210 miles (340 km)  - Length 390 miles (629 km)  - % water 4. ... English pronunciation is divided into two main accent groups, the rhotic and non-rhotic, depending on when the phoneme (the letter r) is pronounced. ...


West Indies and Bermuda

For discussion, see:

Bajan or as called by the industrialised world Barbadian Creole is an English-based creole language spoken by persons on the West Indian island of Barbados. ... Bermudian English is the variety of English spoken in Bermuda, a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic. ... Caribbean English is a broad term for the dialects of the English language spoken in the Caribbean, most countries on the Caribbean coast of Central America, and Guyana. ... This does not cite its references or sources. ... Trinidadian English or Trinidad and Tobago Standard English is a dialect of English used in Trinidad and Tobago. ...

Southern Hemisphere

Australia

The greatest variation in Australian accents is along educational and occupational lines, expressed as three class-based accents: Broad Australian, General Australian and Cultivated Australian. However, some regional variation has been documented. Generally, accents are found to be broadest in the more remote and rural areas. It is sometimes claimed that regional variations in pronunciation and accent of Australian English exist, but if present at all they are very small compared to those of British, Irish and North American English – sufficiently so that linguists are divided on the question. ... Australian English is a non-rhotic variety of English spoken by most native-born Australians. ... Most linguists consider there to be three main varieties of Australian English. ... Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions between individuals or groups in societies or cultures. ... Most linguists consider there to be three main varieties of Australian English. ...


A 1995 survey by D. Crystal of the usage of /aː/ ("long a") and /æ/ in the same words ("graph", "chance", "demand", "dance", "castle", "grasp" and "contrast", across five cities, found that /aː/ was generally strongest in Adelaide, where it was used on average 88% of the time, and weakest in Hobart at 39% (Crystal, 1995, Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language). Adelaide is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of South Australia, and is the fifth largest city in Australia, with a population of over 1. ... Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. ...


Some people in Victoria have a tendency to pronounce the vowel in words like dress, bed and head as /æ/. As a result, the words "celery" and "salary" are pronounced alike (F. M. Cox & S. Palethorpe, 2003, "The border effect: Vowel differences across the NSW–Victorian Border"). Motto: Peace and Prosperity Other Australian states and territories Capital Melbourne Governor HE Mr John Landy Premier Steve Bracks (ALP) Area 237,629 km² (6th)  - Land 227,416 km²  - Water 10,213 km² (4. ... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ...


In Western Australia, a tendency to pronounce words such as "beer" with two syllables (/biː.ə/ or "be-ah"), in cases where other Australians use one syllable (/biə/), has been noted (Sydney Morning Herald, January 28, 2005). Slogan or Nickname: Wildflower State or the Golden State Other Australian states and territories Capital Perth Government Constitutional monarchy Governor Ken Michael Premier Alan Carpenter (ALP) Federal representation  - House seats 15  - Senate seats 12 Gross State Product (2004-05)  - Product ($m)  $100,900 (4th)  - Product per capita  $50,355/person...


According to anecdote and stereotype, Queenslanders tend to use Broad Australian more and to drawl, although this does not appear to have been verified by research, and General and Cultivated accents are also widespread in Queensland. Capital Brisbane Government Constitutional monarchy Governor Quentin Bryce Premier Peter Beattie (ALP) Federal representation  - House seats 28  - Senate seats 12 Gross State Product (2004-05)  - Product ($m)  $158,506 (3rd)  - Product per capita  $40,170/person (6th) Population (End of November 2006)  - Population  4,164,590 (3rd)  - Density  2. ... A drawl is a perceived feature of some varieties of spoken English, and generally infers longer vowel sounds and/or dipthongs. ...


New Zealand

Main article: New Zealand English

The New Zealand accent is distinguished from the Australian one by the presence of short or "clipped" vowels, also encountered in South African English. New Zealanders pronounce "fish and chips" as "fush and chups", "yes" as "yiss" and "sixty-six" as "suxty-sux". On the other hand, New Zealanders would pronounce 'bed' as 'bid'. To American ears, the New Zealand soft "s" sounds slushy, more like "sh", so that "consumer" sounds like "con-SHOO-mer". This is attributable to the influence of Scottish English speech patterns. The Scottish English influence is more evident in the southern regions of New Zealand, notably Dunedin. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... South African English is a dialect of English spoken in South Africa and in neighbouring countries with a large number of Anglo-Africans living in them, such as Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. ... Scottish English is usually taken to mean the standard form of the English language used in Scotland, often termed Scottish Standard English. ... Scottish English is usually taken to mean the standard form of the English language used in Scotland, often termed Scottish Standard English. ... Dunedin (ÅŒtepoti in Maori) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the region of Otago. ...


Geographical variations appear slight, and mainly confined to individual special local words. One group of speakers, however, hold a recognised place as "talking differently": the South of the South Island (Murihiku) harbours a "Celtic fringe" of people speaking with a "Southland burr" in which a back-trilled 'r' appears prominently. The area formed a traditional repository of immigration from Scotland.


The trilled 'r' is also used by some Māori, who may also pronounce 't' and 'k' sounds almost as 'd' and 'g'. This is also encountered in South African English, especially among Afrikaans speakers. Look up Wiktionary:Swadesh lists for Afrikaans and Dutch in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...


South Atlantic

Falkland Islands

The Falkland Islands have a large non-native born population, mainly from England, but also from Saint Helena. In rural areas, the Falkland accent tends to be stronger. The accent has resemblances to both Australia-NZ English, and that of Norfolk in England. Norfolk (IPA: //) is a low-lying county in East Anglia in the east of southern England. ...


Saint Helena

"Saints", as Saint Helenan islanders are called, have a variety of different influences on their accent. To outsiders, the accent has resemblances to the accents of South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.


Television is a reasonably recent arrival there, and is only just beginning to have an effect.


Southern Africa

South Africa

Main article: South African English

South Africa has 11 official languages, one of which is English. Afrikaners (Boers), descendants of mainly Dutch settlers, tend to pronounce English phonemes with a strong Afrikaans inflection, which is very similar to Dutch. South African English is a dialect of English spoken in South Africa and in neighbouring countries with a large number of Anglo-Africans living in them, such as Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. ... Afrikaners are an ethnic group of Northwestern European ancestry and associated with Southern Africa and the Afrikaans language. ... Afrikaners are white South Africans of predominantly Calvinist Dutch, German, French Huguenot, Friesian and Walloon descent who speak Afrikaans. ... Look up Wiktionary:Swadesh lists for Afrikaans and Dutch in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...


Native English speakers in South Africa have an accent that generally resembles British Received pronunciation modified with varying degrees of Germanic inflection (caused by the Afrikaner influence). Native English speakers in South Africa also insert varying numbers of Afrikaans and Zulu loanwords into their speech. Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ...


British people often confuse South African English with Australian English while Americans often confuse it with an Upper Class British accent.


The accents of native English speakers of Johannesburg differ. Those from the northern suburbs (Parkview, Parkwood, Parktown North, Saxonwold, etc) tend to be less strongly influenced by Afrikaans. These suburbs are populated by persons with tertiary education and higher incomes. The accents of native English speakers from the southern suburbs (Rosettenville, Turffontein, etc) tend to be more strongly influenced by Afrikaans. These suburbs are populated by tradesmen and factory workers, with lower incomes. The extent of Afrikaans influence is explained by the fact that Afrikaans urbanisation would historically have been from failed marginal farms or failing economies in rural towns, into the southern and western suburbs of Johannesburg. The western suburbs of Johannesburg (Newlands, Triomf, which has now reverted to its old name Sophiatown, Westdene, etc) are predominantly Afrikaans speaking. Sophiatown was a lively, mostly-black suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. ...


Zimbabwe

In Zimbabwe, native English speakers (mainly the white minority) have a similar speech pattern to that of South Africa. Hence those with high degrees of Germanic inflection would pronounce 'Zimbabwe' as zom-baw-bwi, as opposed to the African pronunciation zeem-bah-bwe.


Namibia

Namibian English tends to be strongly influenced by that of South Africa


Asia

Hong Kong

Main article: Hong Kong English

The accent of English spoken in Hong Kong follows mainly British, with rather strong influence from Cantonese on the pronunciations of a few consonants and vowels, and sentence grammar and structure. In recent years there are some Canadian and Australian influences, attributable to the return to Hong Kong of persons who had emigrated to these countries. American influence in vocabularies and spellings is also substantial through multinational conglomerates and Hollywood movies. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is on all of the Yue dialects. ... Look up pronunciation in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A vocabulary is a set of words known to a person or other entity, or that are part of a specific language. ... Proper spelling is the writing of a word or words with all necessary letters and diacritics present in an accepted standard order. ... The word multinational can refer to: A Multinational corporation A Multinational State This is a disambiguation page, a list of pages that otherwise might share the same title. ... Conglomerate is the term used to describe a large company which consists of divisions of often seemingly unrelated businesses. ... ...


South Asia

See also: Indian English

A number of distinct dialects of English are spoken in South Asia. Accents originating in this part of the world tend to display two distinctive features: Indian English refers to the dialects or varieties of English spoken primarily in India, and/or by first generation Indian diaspora elsewhere in the world. ... Map of South Asia (see note on Kashmir). ...

  • syllable-timing, in which a roughly equal time is allocated to each syllable. Akin to the English of Singapore and Malaysia. (Elsewhere, English speech timing is based predominantly on stress);
  • "sing-song" pitch (somewhat reminiscent of those of Welsh English).

In linguistics, the timing in a language comprises the rhythmic qualities of speech, in particular how syllables are distributed across time. ... Welsh English, Anglo-Welsh, or Wenglish (see below) refers to the dialects of English spoken in Wales by Welsh people. ...

Malaysia and Singapore

English is the lingua franca of Malaysia and Singapore, two former British colonies. It also is the most frequently used language in the homes of about 23% of Singaporeans (see http://www.singstat.gov.sg/papers/c2000/adr-literacy.pdf). Lingua franca, literally Frankish language in Italian, was originally a mixed language consisting largely of Italian plus a vocabulary drawn from Turkish, Persian, French, Greek and Arabic and used for communication throughout the Middle East. ...


The Singaporean and Malaysian accents are fairly similar and the distinctions between the two are analogous to that between the American and Canadian accents. The Singaporean/Malaysian accent is so distinctive that it is one of the ways Singaporeans and Malaysians recognize one another when they are overseas.


The Singaporean/Malaysian accent appears to be a melding of British, Chinese, and Malay influences.


Many Singaporeans and Malaysians adopt different accents and usages depending on the situation, for example an office worker may speak with less colloquialism and with a more British accent at the job than with friends or while out shopping.


See also British and Malaysian English differences, Malaysian English, and Singlish (Singapore Colloquial English). This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Malaysian English (MyE) or formally known as Malaysian Standard English (MySE) is a form of English used and can be considered spoken in Malaysia and can be considered the de facto lingua franca in Malaysia (although the national language is Malay). ... Singlish is an English-based creole language native to Singapore. ...

  • syllable-timing, where speech is timed according to syllable, akin to the English of the Indian Subcontinent. (Elsewhere, speech is usually timed to stress.)
  • A quick, staccato style, with "puncturing" syllables and well-defined, drawn out tones.
  • No rhotic vowels, like British English. Hence "caught" and "court" rhyme, both being pronounced /kɔːt/, "can't" rhymes with "aren't", etc.
  • Much dropping off of final consonants: "must" becomes "mus'", "cold" becomes "co'", etc.
  • The "ay" and "ow" sounds in "raid" and "road" (/eɪ/ and /oʊ/ respectively) are pronounced as monophthongs, i.e. with no "glide": /red/ and /rod/.
  • /θ/ is pronounced as /t/ and /ð/ as /d/; hence, "thin" is /tɪn/ and "then" is /dɛn/.
  • Depending on how colloquial the situation is: many discourse particles, or words inserted at the end of sentences that indicate the role of the sentence in discourse and the mood it conveys, like "lah", "leh", "mah", "hor", etc.
  • The main shiboleth for distinguishing a Singaporean and a Malaysian would be the pronunciation of the word "Malaysia." A Singaporean is more likely to say "Malay-zhuh", while a Malaysian would more likely say "Malayss-syuh."

In linguistics, the timing in a language comprises the rhythmic qualities of speech, in particular how syllables are distributed across time. ...   In phonetics, an r-colored vowel or rhotacized vowel is a vowel either with the tip or blade of the tongue turned up during at least part of the articulation of the vowel (a retroflex articulation) or with the tip of the tongue down and the back of the tongue... A monophthong (in Greek μονόφθογγος = single note) is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation; compare diphthong. ... Speech disfluencies are parts of speech which are not generally recognized as purposeful or containing formal meaning, usually expressed as pauses such as uh or er, but also extending to repairs (He was wearing bla—uh, blue pants), and articulation problems such as stuttering. ...

Philippines

Philippine English is heavily influenced by American English but it is also influenced by Tagalog and other Philippine languages. Philippine English is the variery of English used in the Republic of the Philippines by the media and the vast majority of educated Filipinos. ... Tagalog (pronunciation: ) is one of the major languages of the Republic of the Philippines. ... Languages in the Philippines number more than 170 and almost all of them belong to the Western Malayo-Polynesian languages. ...


Many vowels and consonant sounds such as [f] and [v] or [e] and [i] are interchanged frequently Philippine languages so they are realized differently by Filipinos. This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

  • Filipino: [pilipino]
  • Victor: [biktor]
  • Family: [pamili]
  • Varnish: [barnis]
  • Fun: [pan]
  • Vehicle: [bihikel]
  • Lover = [laber]
  • Find = [paInd]
  • Official: [opisyal]
  • Very = [beri]

Currently, Filipinos are more sensitive to pronunciation due to their large exposure to English movies and books. English is also the second language in the Philippines and it is used as the medium of around 80% of the schools' subjects. Also, due to the vast entry of business processes outsourcing (BPO) companies like call centers, English tutorial schools and medical transcription companies; it was an avenue to the improvement and utilization of the English language and its pronunciation.


See also

This is a list of varieties of the English language. ...

External links


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