Реферат на тему Geographical, regional and dialectical varies of British English

Содержание:

Introduction 2
1. The definition and classification of English territorial dialects 3
2. Characteristic of some types of dialects in English 7
Conclusion 15
Bibliography 16

Введение:

English is very common language on the globe, and is not the native language of the English only. It is spoken by about two billion people, almost half a billion of whom consider English their native language, and about one and a half billion – their second language. Naturally, it is hard to imagine that English remains the same for all English-speaking people on any continent.
In the UK, there are many different regional dialects that are specific to individual cities. Some of them are melodic and pleasant to hear. Some of them sound strange, guttural, and some seem completely incomprehensible. Some of the British are finding it very difficult to understand Glaswegian (a very strong Scottish accent). Others find it hard to delve into the conversation of a native of Birmingham.
Dialect is a kind of national language, which is used by a relatively limited number of people associated with a community of territorial, social, professional. At the same time, the dialect functions along with the literary norm and cannot be separated into a separate independent language. On the other hand, a dialect can displace other dialects from a certain territory, and even become the basis of a literary language.
At present, the London dialect has become the basis of modern literary English. In modern Britain, however, regional dialects, rather than literary English, are the most popular.
Varieties of dialects of the English language devoted the works of O.M. Evteyeva, A.G. Kirillova, V. G. Subich, A. M.Kochergin, E. V. Konevsky, etc.
The purpose of this work is to consider the features of the British dialects. To achieve this goal, you need to solve the following tasks:
To give a definition of concept “dialect”.
To consider the classification of English dialects in Britain.
To characterize the dialectical varies of British English dialect and consider their features.
Now let’s consider the distinctive features of the dialects of the English language, in particular the geographical, regional and dialectical varies of British English.

Заключение:

English is the third largest language by the number of native speakers. Together with more than 400 million non-native speakers, it probably even outstrips Mandarin Chinese and Spanish and thus ranks as the number one world language (Crystal 68). With such a vast number of speakers, it is no surprise that an immense number of distinct regional and social varieties can be found in this particular language.
This paper concerns various dialects of modern English. Dialect differences are largely related with the way of life of the population with the social community, different local customs and traditions. Еhe Key points of this study are: 1) detailed analysis of linguistic characteristics of different dialects, not only phonetic-phonological, but also lexical-grammatical.
Dialect is not the same as accent. Dialect is the words people use. Accent is how they pronounce them. Variants of English are regional varieties possessing a literary norm. There are distinguished variants existing on the territory of the United Kingdom (British English, Scottish English, Irish English) and the variants existing outside the British Isles (American English, Canadian English, New Zealand English, South African English, Indian English). They are variants of the same language because they serve all spheres of verbal communication. Their structural peculiarities, especially morphology, syntax and word-formation, as well as their word-stock and phonetic system are essentially the same.
British English is often referred to the written Standard English and the pronunciation known as Received Pronunciation (RP).
Local dialects are varieties of English peculiar to some districts, used as means of oral communication in small localities, they possess no literary form.
One of the best known Southern dialects is Cockney, the regional dialect of London. This dialect exists on two levels. As spoken by the educated lower middle classes it is a regional dialect marked by some deviations in pronunciation but few in vocabulary and syntax. As spoken by the uneducated, Cockney differs from Standard English not only in pronunciation but also in vocabulary, morphology and syntax.
Estuary English is the variety of the English language common in the South-East of England, especially along the river Thames and its estuary. It is a hybrid of Received Pronunciation (RP) and a number of South-Eastern dialects, particularly from the London and Essex areas. Among the most notable lexical features of the Estuary English dialect is the use of Cockney words and phrases as well as words from American and Australian English.
Dialects are now chiefly preserved in rural communities, in the speech of elderly people. They are said to undergo rapid changes under the pressure of Standard English taught at schools and the speech habits cultivated by radio, television and other means of the mass media.

Фрагмент текста работы:

1.The definition and classification of English territorial dialects

Today, English can be called a global language. It is spoken by approximately 1,500 million people. A number of historical, geographical and socio-cultural factors contributed to such a wide spread of the English language, the most significant of which are the colonization of the British Empire and the influence of the United States in world political and business life. English is not only the language of international communication, but also the state language for five countries — in fact, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Canada.
The British reached as far as Canada, The United States of America, Australia, India and parts of Africa among others. Thus, English is spoken in all those parts of the world, which, with time and the effect of contact with other languages has resulted into the development of several varieties of English. Among these varieties we find Canadian English, American English, Indian English, Singapore English and Caribbean English.
English is speaking and using in state office-work, literature and science, about 200 million people. It is one of the five official and working languages adopted by the UN, UNESCO, the world health organization, the official and working language of many international meetings and conferences.
Like any other languages, English has its own dialects. In addition to many national options, scientists have calculated that the dialects of the UK exist within the country in an amount of thirteen to four dozen, but this statistics is very inaccurate. According to research, on the territory of six counties in the North of the country found seventeen variants of pronunciation of the word “house”, which is to say about the more original expressions.
In addition, English meets the objectively existing need for a common language of international communication caused by the needs of international trade, business, diplomacy, security, mass communication, cultural exchange and other areas of international cooperation. However, there is a downside to the spread of one language around the world, which is it has lost its unity, thus forming a large number of options and dialects, each of which is different, first of all, phonetically. Analyzing the peculiarities of the language used by several national and state communities, Schweitzer noted that it is the territorial variation of the language that underlies its division into national variants, dialects and sub dialects.
The number of dialects varies from 13 to 42, but this is not an exact understated number, in fact, they are much more. More precisely, we can say so – in Britain there are as many dialects as hills and valleys. In the six Northern counties, only 17 pronunciation variants of the word «home» have been recorded.
English philologist and phonetician Ellis A., identified the following language groups:
The northern dialect;
The Middle dialects;
The Eastern dialects;
The Western dialect;
the southern dialects;
the Scottish dialects;
Dialects of Ireland;
Generalizing the classification of A. Ellis, we can distinguish the dialects on which the majority of the UK population speaks :
cokney is a term for a number of historical dialects of London’s neighborhoods and craft shops.
Scouse is dialect of the inhabitants of Liverpool.
Geordie is a dialect of the inhabitants of Northumberland, in particular, of Newcastle upon Tyne.
Lowland Scottish (равнинная Шотландия) — is also considered a separate
language (Lowland Scots).
Edinburgh (Эдинбург) is also considered a dialect of the language of the
lowland Scots, Belfast (Belfast), South Wales (South Wales).
Yolo is a dead language, separated from medieval English .
Every year accents and dialects in the UK in English are changing. If you look at the 70 years, it is mainly dominated by dialects associated with the monotonous English BBC, in the 80 years there was another trend in accents and dialects, they have become much softer.
The American version is of the greatest interest in comparison with Canadian, Australian and new Zealand English, because, for various reasons, has undergone a large number of changes in all aspects of the language, including phonetic.
Regional dialects are still popular in the UK: Leeds, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Northern Ireland, Newcastle, Birmingham.
As for the dialects of the Northern regions (for example, Leeds), there is mainly an attractive consonance of words by shortening the vowels. In London and the surrounding areas there is an arrogant tone and constantly lengthening sounds. Therefore, you can often hear negative reviews about the people of London, many call them rude.
In Liverpool, you can hear a lot of accents that will be associated with the legendary group of the Beatles. Here there was a mix of dialects of the Northern part of England and Ireland. The Scots language is quite unique. Unlike Oxford pronunciation, you can distinguish a large number of words.
For example, words such as “when”, “wear”, “were” in the Oxford manner of speaking cannot be distinguished, so the context has to guess what it is. But in Edinburgh is it quite the opposite. These words can be distinguished from each other. In Edinburgh, people are used to speaking in the right English, so it is always clear what the interlocutor is talking about during the conversation.
Thus, in Northern Ireland, the emphasis and the branching of the dialect developed under the constant dismantling of Catholic and Protestant representatives of Church parties. Ireland is also known for its hot-tempered politicians, who are constantly at war with each other. As a result of such situations, the dialect is firmly established pronunciation with a vibrating «r».
In Newcastle, a long period of time continued the war with the Scottish wars; therefore, it is here grew harsh in their imaginations and nature of people. All these wars in some way affected the dialect of the region. For example, the familiar word “stone” is pronounced here as [stin] [stjen]. This dialect with emphasis is considered to be one of the obscure dialects that exist today in the UK.
In the present period of time the British try to parody two main dialects and accent. The first of them is the English language of TV screens, the so-called Estuary English. It is spoken of the policy of the leading TV programs, some athletes, the Prince Edward.
As for the second «Royal English», it is not common in the UK. In schools, educational processes take place in standard (grammatically and phonetically correct) English. The language of young people is most subject to change, especially in vocabulary. Changing the world, there are new processes that need to be given a name, and the old to come up with other names. So there are new dialects. Also, the British vocabulary is replenished by borrowing from other variants of English, mostly from American .