An analysis of variations in style in comparison to Standard English Essay

1. IntroductionAs in every row on that point argon many different dialect in British incline. It has perpetu solelyy been and continues to be a language of dialects. Wherever one goes in England there are very obvious differences between the ways in which great deal declaim in different places. This is often a big shock for stack who occupy been attainment standardised slope which is the variety of slope that is held to be congeal in the sense that it shows none of the characteral or former(a) variations that are considered by some to be ungrammatical, or non-standard English.Non-English trail-kids learn SE at school and expect to understand every English person once they enter the country. But the English they learn at school differs from the language which is being communicate in Britain. Of course, SE is used in the media and by public figures, and therefore it has prestige status and is regarded by many as the most desirable establish of the language.1But the Engl ish do not speak like that lingual reality is different. Not only the talking to which are being used sometimes differ from Standard English even the grammatical structures vary at times. This guide tries to present the differences between Standard English which is being taught at German schools and the dialects which are spoken in England. Altogether these factors might lead to confusing situations at times. German school-kids could hear ledgers in England which they were told not to deliver in that way when they were learning English at school.Hughes and Trudgill2 speak of two ways of dealing with the problem of immanent Britons not being able to speak their testify language correctly. They point out that for learners it is not relevant weather their hear correct English or not. The problem which their are confronted with is to understand what they hear from the native loudspeakers and which language- gets they can adapt into their hold speech. The second point they spea k of is if that the notion of correctness is not really useful or appropriate in describing the language of native speakers.3To find those differences I will analyse German English defends from a Orientierungsstufe4, literature about dialects in Britain as well as private sources. I will try to analyse the gap between German school English an find come-at-able solutions for that problem.11At the commencement exercise of my approach I will be presenting a selection of different emphasizes regarding their regional usage. In the following point I will analyse Standard English which is being taught in German schools and compare these results with the accents mentioned beforehand. After that I will summarize my approaches and try to find renderings as well as possible solutions.2. The main dialectsI take to start off with the presentation of the main dialects of the English language. For this I will adapt the Dialectology of Baugh5 who differentiates between Northern, West Midlands , East Midlands and Southern. In Old English they were divided into Northumbrian, Mercian, West Saxon and Kentish6.Of course there are far more than divisions of accents just this would exceed the length of this piece of work. Additionally, I will conclude cockney7 in my analysis.2.1. Northern EnglishThis dialect is too knows as Geordie8. The Northeast scope contains the urban centres of Newcastle, Sunderland, Middlesborough and neighboring res publicas. Trudgill9 defines some of the best-known characteristics of the neo Northeast orthoepy which include the following. According to him the accent, as we excite seen, does not gull the diphthongal pronunciations of the long a vowel in made, gate, face that are more typical of the south of England, and the same is true of long o as in boat, road, load.It can be defined as a certain bod of simplification. Instead of the Standard English Combination of two vowels in boat but only one vowel is being used oo The same phenomenon can be appoint within the pronunciation of words like made, which are not being enunciate mid but simplified mehd.Trudgill also points out that words that have al in the spelling are pronounced with a vowel of the type ah, so that all is ahl and walk is wahk.A Geordie-joke build ups this difference clear in a funny way A non-Geordie doctor who asks his patient if he is able to walk makes the patient interprets as a query about work ans replies Wawk I cannot even wahk yet11The second part of the Northern area, the Lower North and Central North, covers, according to Trudgill, a large area stretching down from Carlisle to Sheffield and covering Cumbria, most of Yorkshire and parts of Lancashire. He points out that this dialect differs from the Northeast by not having ee in very. 10 other remarkable factor he mentions is that he Central North also contains a sub-area in which an interesting type of consonantal convert takes place in certain conditions. What happens is that the voiced consonants b, d, g, v, z and j change to their voiceless counterpart p, t, k, f, s, and ch if they occur immediately before any of these same voiceless consonants.11 The examples E wood goh (He would go) and E woot coom (He would come). They would pronounce the expression I dont know like I doont noo.Another point is that this dialect is quite similar to the accent Indians or Pakistanis have when they talk English. Many of these dialectal features also appear in their accent. These shared features could be analysed in future for the Asian community in Britain is increasing steady is growing. Which words, expressions are being brought into English through them would be interesting to find out.2.2. West MidlandsThe central town for this accent is Liverpool. for the accent is very distinctive for this area called Merseyside. It has been mainly influenced by Irish immigrants during the nineteenth century. Hughes/Trudgill12 describe the Liverpool accent defining several features of which I will be mentioning a few.1. a) There is no dividing line between pairs of words like put and putt, both beingpronounced put.b) occurs in words like dance, daft etc. c) Words like book and cook have the vowel u2. Unlike in other northern urban accents (but in common with Newcastle), the final vowels of words like city and seedy is i3. A relative infrequency of glottal stop occurs.4. h is usually absent, but is sometimes present (him an her)5. The suffix -ing is in112.3. East MidlandsBased on own experience I can say that one of the clearest markers for the East Midland accent can be defined as a flesh of proportionateness to German which also appear in the Liverpool accent at times. The word bus, for instance, is not being pronounced bas but bus. Here, the vowel u is being pronounced the same way as in German. The same phenomenon can be ground in words like. Another marker for East Midland accent is the pronunciation of the vowel combination oe like in shoes, where it is bei ng changed to shz.Speakers in this area may even have short e at the end of words like coffeh13. Trudgill mentions a diagnostic sentence for this area Veri few cahs mayd it up the long ill.142.4. Southern English nearly of these dialectal features of Southern English are similar to the welsh accent. Trudgill states that the Bristol speech is noted for the presence in this accent of a phenomenon called the Bristol I. He explains that in the Bristol area, words such as America, India, Diana, Gloria are pronounced with a final I. Undoubtedly, foreigners would be quite confused hearing words like Americal, Indial and Dianal. This feature might be a result of hypercorrection, according to Trudgill.15In the South the glottal stop is very common as a pronunciation of t which can be found in words like better, water, bet and what. This feature can also be found in Cockney or Midland areas. Trudgill mentions the diagnostic feature of the South are the lack of y in few, which differentiate s it from all other English regions except the Northeast, although today h is rapidly being lost.16 He also notes that it a typical factor for East Anglia is the lack of property between the vowels of here and there, so that peer sounds like pair, here like hair and deer like dare.172.5. CockneyCockney can be counted as a very special dialect because it can only be found amongst people who live in and close to the capital of the United Kingdom area. Let alone the name for this accent is special because it does not refer directly to the region.11The condition Cockney originally stems from the middles ages where it was applied to an effeminate person, simpleton or a particularly weak man from a town as opposed to a countryman who was regarded as tougher. In the 17th century the term changed and came to mean specifically a Londoner.The six most striking features of Cockney are181. r is pronounced only when followed immediately by a vowel-sound. So, in the demonstration below, no r is pronounced in flowers. (Some New England accents and Southern U.S. accents have this same feature.)2. h is usually omitted (home in the demonstration words) in self-conscious speech its articulated very strongly.3. l is pronounced only when a vowel-sound follows (so no l is pronounced in hole, etc.).4. Voiceless th is often, but not always, pronounced as f (breath, etc.).5. Voiced th is likewise often but not always pronounced as v (breathe, etc.) This feature is also found in Southern U.S. lower social class speech.6. The long vowels are all diphthongs, as one can hear from the demonstration words. Notice especially the difference between force etc. (spelled with r followed by a consonant, though the r is not pronounced) and poor etc. (spelled with r not followed by a consonant, though again the r is not pronounced).More examples for this would be cost proimother mawalittle liou with a glottal stop in the middlenote no with a glottal stop at the endbowl baoCockney has other s peciality. It consists of a special vocabulary which is called Cockney rhyming slang. It has been evolving in the East End of London since the sixteenth century. It is thought to have originated from the seamen and soldiers who used the London docks, from the Gypsies who arrived in the fifteen hundreds, from the Irish residents and the Jewish faction and from all the other ethnic minorities which have made up the population of the city.1911It is said to have started as a way for costermongers20 to communicate without letting their customers know what they were saying. The slang usually consists of two words, e.g. butchers hook = account but sometimes only the first word is used in conversation.For example, someone might say I had a butchers at her barnet and her titfer meaning I had a look at her hair (barnet fair) and her hat (tit for tat). One has to know, though, when to use the whole phrase and when to abbreviate. Another example Would you Adam and Eve it? I was on me Jack Jone s when I saw me old china half inching a whistle from the foodstuff. Well, I aint no grass and hes borassic, so I kept me north and south shut.Translation Would you believe it? I was on my own when I saw my old mate (friend) pinching (stealing) a suit from the market. Well, Im not a nark (informer) and hes skint (got no money, hard up) so I kept my mouth shut.In the internet a whole dictionary can be found consisting of old and refreshed Rhyming-Slang. The freshest contribution was the expression Becks and Posh for food. Food is also called nosh which rhymes with the nicknames of the famous David and Victoria Beckham, nationwide known as Becks and Posh21.This last example makes it clear that the rhyming slang does not have and economical reasons behind. It is more or less result of playing with words which the English are very fond of (for example in newspaper headlines). Additionally it is of course, the sense of togetherness, a kind of linguistic fellowship by defining a secret language as a code of London residents whereas this point, regarding the high population rate, refers more to modest groups of people.3. Standard English English-teaching in lower-saxonyEnglish has the status of a global language nearly everybody applying for a good job needs to prove his or her English skills. The competition is getting harder and harder. This is one of the factors leading to the current discussion whether to introduce English to schoolchildren at an even earlier age then 10. Some primary schools offer this already. Another interesting fact is that more and more schools offer bilingual teaching. The Ricarda-Huch-Schule in Braunschweig, for instance, offers several subjects being taught in English to make the children learn both, biology and English, at once.11Like this English finds its way into our life in more and more ways. But coming back to procreation a problem arises. Of course, children cannot learn every single accent being spoken in England, so that is why there are set forms for the learning process. They are identical to the language understood by the term of Standard English.Different then in Germany there cannot be found any accent-free regions in England. In comparison to that you can find unofficial figures which tell us that Hanover is most likely to be accent-free. Standard English, on the other hand, is more of an indicator for an upper social status, it can be seen as a class-dialect, owing its origin in the main not to geographical but to socio-economic causes. At the end it is quite a thin border between the English which is being taught at foreign schools and the English which is meant to represent poshness.Wakelin22 marks that a distinction must be made between Standard English, which is a dialect in use by educated speakers of English throughout the world, and Received Pronunciation, which is the accent of English usually associated with a higher social or academic background, with the BBC and the professions, a nd that most commonly taught to students learning English as a foreign language.23 So one has to clearly differentiate between Received Pronunciation (RP) and Standard English (SE).So, why is Standard English so different from the other accents then? Wakelin defines that Standard English is the sort of language used when communicating beyond the family, close friends and acquaintances, whereas dialect is nowadays often kept for intimate circles.24 So it can be seen as the most relevant English accent which can be understood everywhere and is compatible to every region in England.This type of English as being called normal English by Randolph Quirk25 is being taught children and adults all around the world. The following graphic tries to illustrate the rapine which arises when both Standard English and regional accents clash.11People with different mother tongues learn English as their first or as another foreign language. They all refer to the same Vocabulary, use the same grammar and expressions which have been set by the Standard English-norm.3.1. Comparison to English accentsThe chapter of English Sounds prepares the learning schoolchildren with the explanation that English words are often being pronounced differently than they are written and defines some words by using the phonetical alphabet.26I want to show the differences of Standard English and English accents by directly comparing several words to each other. Referring to the pronunciation I want to compare the word but which is being pronounced with a short u in South England and with a long oo in Northern England27 whereas schoolchildren learn to pronounce the word but with an 28?There is one area of England where the y sound has been lost as a result of a historical process. This can be found in words like beauty booty, medication moosic and few foo29 and is probably going to spread more with the years.11Whereas in foreign schools it is still being taught that music should be pronounced mjuzik30 and beautiful bjut?f?l31.The pronunciation of milk also differs. Camden Market teaches the children to pronounce it mlk32 but the pronunciation according to the modern dialectology says that in a large area of southeastern England this consonant has aquired a short oo-like vowel in fron of it, or, especially in London itself, has disappeared altogether, leaving only the oo behind.33 So in this case the word milk is being pronounced mioolk which is being defined as a quite a recent change but spreading rapidly through the country.Now shifting over to the less problematical field of lexical variations it can be said that there are several words with the same meaning but regionally fixed.Words like the Standard English term gymshoe are known as the general term but in England they have more expressions for that. In the southern region they are called plimsolls, in middle English they are called pumps and people living in and around Newcastle talk about sandshoes.34The word ear has al so has different regional variations. In the North they talk about lugs and around Nottinghamshire one can also hear them talking about tabs. The Eastern part of England also might use lug. Standard English, of course, only teaches ear.4. SummaryOn the whole it there is a big gap to be found between the English which is being taught in schools and the English which is being spoken in England. My analysis makes it quite clear that several difficulties occur when a person who has been learning English for five years and thinks he is now prepared for the linguistic challenge in England.The reality is different, as my paper shows. There is nearly nobody who speaks accent-free English but on the other hand Standard English mixes into the accents more and more. The loss of pure dialects is being mourned about in the whole country. The dialects are no longer pure, if they ever were, but contain a large admixture of Standard English or pseudo-Standard forms, as Wakelin35 mentions. The main reason for this development might be the result of the following problem11In England is that people often get discriminated because of their language. The dialect is a clear social marker these days. Many countries have problem with racism, but in England people sometimes get discriminated against if they sound different.For exampleA Scouse accent refers to a very rough area and there are chances are that the speaker is a thiefA Posh accent If people talk like this then they are supposedly educated, and can be trusted. Others would think your a rich person, and that your stuck up and you went to a boarding school.A Brummie accent If a person speaks like this, then chances are that people think he is stupid.A Geordie accent For some reason, the geordie accent is more comforting to southerners in England out of all the northern accents. Even though a Geordie can live in just as much a rough area, than a scouser if not rougher.A Yorkshire accent There is a saying about this dialect cal led Yorkshire born, yorkshire bread, duncical in the arm and thick in the head?A Cornish accent If somebody talks like this most people think they are a farmer.The significance of accents and their cultural and social associations is well represented in films and on television in Britain. The critically acclaimed 1964 file My fair Lady establish on George Bernard Shaws 1912 play, Pygmalion is often referenced in linguistic discussions as a example of how social class and accent were, and are still, inextricably relate in Britain. Over the past years, numerous television series have also provided viewers with a glimpse of the lives and accents of the Cockney population of London. The Cockney English section talks more about the current, very popular long running television series EastEnders.This opposes my supposition that Standard English might not be the right form to teach people English or should only form the basis of the linguistic education. The fact that the dialects are sl owly death and Standard English is spreading all over the world questions this. Additionally, more and more immigrants from mainly the Asian region bring in a new Standard English which I have been mentioning in point 2.1.At the end, I would say that English language teaching should be more concerned about real life and the real speech avoiding throwing the young learners into a cold pool when they enter the country.11A possible solution for this could be to strengthen the bonds of international relations between schools. Pen-friendships and school-exchanges could provide the basis of a more reality-based teaching which would undoubtedly also have the effect of arousing the childrens exuberance of learning English.5. LiteratureBaugh, A.C. A History of the English Language, p. 235Davis, Lawrence M. English Dialectology. Alabama/USA 1983, p. 8Edelhoff, Christoph (Hrg.) Camden Market. Hannover 1998, p. 146Hughes, Arthur and Trudgill, Peter English Accents and Dialects, London 1996. p. 1Trudgill, Peter The dialects of England. Oxford 1990, p. 51Wakelin, Martyn F. English Dialects. An Introduction. London 1977, p. 5Quirk, Randolph The Use of English. London 1962, p. 95Internethttp//www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk/http//www.derek.co.uk/cockney.htmhttp//www.geordie.org.uk/http//www.phespirit.info/cockney/http//www.usingenglish.com/glossary/standard-english.html1http//www.usingenglish.com/glossary/standard-english.html2Hughes, Arthur and Trudgill, Peter English Accents and Dialects. London 1996, p. 13s. a.4Orientierungsstufe Westhagen/Wolfsburg5Baugh, A.C. A History of the English Language, p. 2356Davis, Lawrence M. English Dialectology. Alabama/USA 1983, p. 87Most common accent in and around London8http//www.geordie.org.uk/9Trudgill, Peter The dialects of England. Oxford 1990, p. 6710Trudgill, Peter The dialects of England. Oxford 1990, p. 6711see above12Hughes, Arthur and Trudgill, Peter English Accents and Dialects. New York (1996), p. 9213Trudgill, Peter The dial ects of England. Oxford 1990, p. 7114see above, p. 7215see above, p. 7316see above, p. 7217see above, p. 7418http//www.derek.co.uk/cockney.htm19http//www.phespirit.info/cockney/20= street and market sellers21http//www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk/22Wakelin, Martyn F. English Dialects. An Introduction. London 197723Wakelin, Martyn F. English Dialects. An Introduction. London 1977, p. 524Wakelin, Martyn F. English Dialects. An Introduction. London 1977, p. 525Quirk, Randolph The Use of English. London 1962, p. 9526Edelhoff, Christoph (Hrg.) Camden Market. Hannover 1998, p. 14627Trudgill, Peter The dialects of England. Oxford 1990, p. 5128Edelhoff, Christoph (Hrg.) Camden Market. Hannover 1998, p. 14629Trudgill, Peter The dialects of England. Oxford 1990, p. 5730Edelhoff, Christoph (Hrg.) Camden Market. Hannover 1998, p. 17931see above, p. 17332see above, p. 17833Trudgill, Peter The dialects of England. Oxford 1990, p. 6034see above, p. 10235Wakelin, Martyn F. English Dialects. An Introdu ction. London 1977, p. 5