Learn English – How there are so many dialects of English in England

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I was just wondering how there are so many variations of dialects in England, which isn't really a very large country, they have Brummie, Yorkie, Cockney, the one in Liverpool, I don't know what's the name for that and etc. etc. So how did these counties acquire their distinct accents? I'm looking for definitive answer and if possible with some compelling historical evidence.

Best Answer

  • The dialects of present-day English can be seen as the continuation of the dialect areas which established themselves in the Old English period.

The following extract can help:

HISTORICAL OUTLINE:

  • The dialectal division of the narrower region of England into:

  • 1) a northern, 2) a central and 3) a (subdivided) southern region has been retained to the present-day.

  • The linguistic study of the dialects of English goes back to the 19th century when, as an offspin of Indo-European studies, research into (rural) dialects of the major European languages was considerably developed. The first prominent figure in English dialectology is Alexander Ellis (mid-19th century), followed somewhat later by Joseph Wright (late 19th and early 20th century).

    • The former published a study of English dialects and the latter a still used grammar of English dialects at the beginning of the present century. It was not until the Survey of English Dialects, first under the auspices of Eugen Dieth and later of Harald Orton, that such intensive study of (rural) dialects was carried out (the results appeared in a series of publications in the 1950s and 1960s).

STANDARD FEATURES OF ENGLISH DIALECTS:

  • The main divide between north and south can be drawn by using the pronunciation of the word but. Either it has a /u/ sound (in the north) or the lowered and unrounded realisation typical of Received Pronunciation in the centre and south, /ʌ/. An additional isogloss is the use of a dark /ɫ/ in the south versus a clear /l/ in the north. The south can be divided by the use of syllable-final /r/ which is to be found in the south western dialects but not in those of the south east. The latter show ‘initial softening’ as in single, father, think with the voiced initial sounds /z-, v-, ð/ respectively.

( www.uni-due.de)

List of main English dialects in Europe:

  • British English (BrE)
  • North

  • Northern:

    • Northeast (including Mackem (spoken in Sunderland) and Geordie) Lower North
    • Central North (including Cumbrian dialect) Tyke (spoken in Yorkshire) Central Lancashire Humberside

  • Central

    • West Central Merseyside Northwest Midlands West Midlands (including Black Country English and Brummie)
    • East Central Central Midlands Northeast Midlands East Midlands

  • South

    • East South Midlands East Anglia Home Counties
    • Southwest Upper Southwest Central Southwest Lower Southwest

  • Corby English -Scotland

    • Northern Scots
    • Central Scots -South Scots
    • Insular Scots Ulster Scots

  • Wales

    • Welsh English

    • North East English a toned down Scouse/Manchester accent due to English population

    • Pembrokeshire dialect

  • Ireland
  • Republic of Ireland
    • Hiberno-English
    • Yola dialect

  • Northern Ireland

    • Mid Ulster English
    • Ulster Scots English

  • Isle of Man

    • Manx English

  • Channel Islands

    • Guernsey English
    • Jersey English

  • Gibiltar

    • Llanito

Wikipedia

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