Lecture 8. English –based Pronunciation Standards of English

Phonetics is interested in the way people’s pronunciation forms vary in different social situations. Sociophoneticsdeals with the way language and its variations function in the speech community, social environment.

A number of geographical-historical and socio-cultural factors caused English to become a global language spoken by approximately 1,500 million speakers. Among the factors are: the British colonization, the impact of American power in political life and in business, especially in computer software and entertainment industries. There is also a necessity for mutual intelligibility between nations, for a “lingua franca” to serve the needs of international trade, business, diplomacy, safety, media, cultural exchange and other domain of international communication. Thus English consists of many varieties, each distinctive in its pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary.

In geographical variation we have to distinguish two basic concepts:

1. Dialect (orvariety) is distinguished for its vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. In this sense, there are two major varieties of English spoken in the English –speaking world: British English and American English. Such local varieties as Lancashire or New York Brooklyn speech may be treated as “dialects”.

2. Accentis a type of pronunciation which can be found in the speech of any individual or the whole speech community. We can speak of an American accent, a French accent, a Russian accent in English, and by that we mean only the sounds of spoken language, i.e. vowels, consonants, stress, rhythm and intonation. Thus phonetics is mainly concerned with accents of English, as spoken on different territories, in diverse groups, by particular individuals.

Accents of English worldwide are grouped into:

· accents in the countries where English is the mother tongue of the majority of the population (“the inner circle”): The UK, The USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the white population of the Republic of South Africa;

· accents in the new developing states, former British colonies, where English is one of the official languages (“the outer circle”): India and Singapore, for instance;

· accents in the countries where English is the most widely used foreign language taught at schools (“the expanding circle”), like Russia and former Soviet Republics, Chine and others.

Within each country national standards, regional standards and local accents reflect both geographical and social diversity.

National standards are associated with radio and TV newsreaders, certain professional groups and public figures. Regional standards are spoken by most educated people and they regional deviation from the standard. Local accents are numerous; they can be urban and rural.

According to British dialectologists (P.Trudgill, J. Hannah and others) the following accents of English are referred to the British–based group: English English, Welsh English, Scottish English, Northern Ireland English, Irish English, Australian English, New Zealand English, South Africa English; to the American – based group: United States English, Canadian English.

BEPS (British English Pronunciation Standards and Accents) comprise English English, Welsh English, Scottish English and Northern Ireland English (the corresponding abbreviations are EE, WE, ScE, NIE).