Dialects of English Analysis

Objective: Explore and analyze different English dialects by identifying their unique linguistic features.

• Find a video showcasing different English dialects on YouTube, streaming services, or other platforms. You may use clips from the documentary American Tongues or interviews showcasing regional dialects.
• Choose two dialects of English to analyze.
• Identify features:
  • Provide at least two phonetic features that distinguish each dialect, specifying the phoneme(s) involved (e.g., coda [r]-deletion in New York English).
  • Mention any morphological, syntactic, or lexical variations observed.
• Include links to the videos or screenshots as evidence.

Received Pronunciation (England)

The following clip is from Downton Abbey, a period drama about early twientieth-century British aristocrats. The upper class in England spoke (and still largely speak) received pronunciation (RP), a somewhat standardized London-based accent. The term “received pronunciation” was first used in 1869 to refer to a national educated accent devoid of regionalisms. RP is still taught in public schools, and it and has been the standard of the British Broadcasting Corporation since 1922, though its association with the upper class has somewhat lessened since then.

In this clip, note the lack of rhoticity. Words like “Manchester” (0:19) and “here” (1:08). However, the [r] is sometimes pronounced, like when it is followed by a vowel as in “are about” (0:57).

The pronunciation of vowels is very different than Standard American English, too. For instance, in “law” (1:28), the vowel is rounded, so it sounds closer to “loar” than “lah”.

Note also that, unlike in many British accents, glottalization does not occur, so the [t] sound is retained in words like “hospital” (0:24).

Appalachian English (North Carolina)

The following clip is from a Mountain Talk, a documentary from The Language and Life Project at North Carolina State University. The subjects of the documentary speak variations of the Appalachian Dialect. This dialect is common in the rural mountainous areas of North and South Carolina and of neighboring states. It shares many of its features with Southern American English, including its distinctive vowel shifts. It also has some similarities with the Scottish and Irish dialects of English brought by immigrants in the 18th and 19th centuries. The dialect is often associated with negative stereotypes of laziness and lack of education.

The most noticable feature of Appalachian English is its vowel shifts. Diphthongs are often pronounced as monophthongs, called monophthongization. One example is “style” at 0:22, where the [aɪ] diphthong is made into an [a]. The opposite can also happen, though. In the word “singing” at 0:49, the first [ɪ] vowel not only moves but gains a drawl, lengthening and becoming the diphthong [eɪ].

Appalachian English has a long list of regional terms, too. Examples in this clip include “poke” (bag) at 4:50 and “jasper” (stranger) and “peckerwood” (disliked person) from 4:04–4:34.

Speakers also tend to add an “a-“ to the beginning of participles, known as “a-prefixing.” Examples include “a-sitting” (2:09) and “a-blowing” (5:30). Notice also that, like in many dialects, the [iŋ] in “-ing” is turned into a [ɪn] “-in”.