2.2 Welsh english

As everyone probably knows Wales is a bilingual area. This speech situation in linguistics is known as exoglossic. In Wales English dominates over Welsh in urban areas, in the west and north-west of the country the balance being in favour of Welsh, where English is learnt at schools as a second language. At the moment nationalistic feelings are rather strong in Wales and we are witnessing a movement in favour of the revival of the Welsh language and its spread in all areas of Wales.

However, Welsh English, at the level of educated speech and writing is not much different from that of English English. Most differences are found at the level of more localized dialects.

The principal phonological differences between WE and RP are the following:

In vowels

1. The distribution of [æ] and [a:] is as in the north of England. Last, dance, chance, etc. tend to have [æ] rather than [a:].

2. unstressed orthographic "a" tends to be [æ] rather than [a:], e.g.: sofa ['so:fæ];

3. there is no contrast between [л] and [ә]: rubber ['rәbә];

4. [ı] at the end is a long vowel: city ['sıti];

5. in words like tune, few, used we find [iu] rather than [ju:]: tune [tiun];

6. [eı], [зu] may become monophthongs: bake [bε:k], boat [bo:t];

7. the vowel [з:] as in girl is produced with rounded lips approaching [o:];

8. the vowels [ıә], [uә] do not occur in many variants of Welsh English: fear is [fi:jә], poor is ['pu:wә].

In consonants

1. W. E. is non-rhotic, [r] is a tap, or it is also called a flapped [r]. Intrusive and linking [r] do occur.

2. Consonants in intervocalic position, particularly when the preceding vowel is short are doubled: city ['sitti:].

3. Voiceless plosives tend to be strongly aspirated: in word final position they are generally released and without glottalization, e.g. pit [phıth].

4. [1] is clear in all positions.

5. Intonation in Welsh English is very much influenced by the Welsh language./22/

2.3 Scottish english

We must first make clear that the status of Scottish English is still debated. Some linguists say that it is a national variant. Others say that it is a dialect.

English has been spoken in Scotland for as long as it has been spoken in England. In the Highlands and Islands of northern and western Scotland, however, Gaelic is still the native language of thousands of speakers from these regions. A standardized form of this language, known as Scots, was used at the court and in literature until the Reformation. Then it was gradually replaced by English. Incidentally a number of writers and poets of the likes of R. Bums retained their native language.

Nowadays educated Scottish people speak a form of Scottish Standard English which grammatically and lexically is not different from English used elsewhere, although with an obvious Scottish accent. We must admit, however, that non-standard dialects of Scotland still resemble Scots and in many respects are radically different from most other varieties of English. It is very difficult to understand them for students who learn RP.

At the moment there is currently a strong movement in Scotland for the revival of Scots. Nevertheless Scottish Standard English is still more prestigeous and we concentrate on Scottish English as used and spoken by educated urban Scots.

As for the status of Scottish English, in this book it will be treated as a dialect though it is fair to say that there is much in favour of calling it a national variant of English.

Vowels

1. Since Sc. Eng. is rhotic, i.e. it preserves post-vocalic [r], vowels such as RP [ıә], [з:], [εә], [uә] do not occur:

RP Sc. Eng.

beer [bıә] [bır]

bird [bз:d] [bırd]

hurt [hз:t] [hлrt]

bard [ba:d] [ba:rd]

moor [muә] [mur]

2. Length is not a distinctive feature of Scottish vowels. So pairs like pool — pull, cot —caught are not distinguished. It should be noted, however, that vowels are longer in final stressed open syllables than elsewhere.

3. Monophthongs are pure, there is no trace of diphthongization with the exceptions of [aı — εı], [au — εu] and [oı].

4. The RP [æ — a:(a)] distinction doesn't exist: hat [hat], dance [dans],

5. [ı], [u], [л], [ә] may be central.

6. In non-standard Sc. Eng. accent [u:] often occurs when RP has [au]: house [haus — hu:s]

7. It is interesting to mention that [o] and [зu] may be not contrasted:

socks [soks] not [not]

soaks [soks] note [not]

8. In very many regional accents do, to are pronounced as [dә], [tә].

9. In some accents words such as arm, after, grass may have [ε] rather than [a]: after ['εftә].

Consonants

1. Sc. Eng. consistently preserves a distinction between [м] and [w]: which [мıt∫] — witch [мıt∫].

2. Initial [p, t, k] are usually non-aspirated.

3. [r] is most usually a flap.

4. Non-initial [t] is often realized as glottal stop [?].

5. [ł] is dark in all positions.

6. The velar fricative [x] occurs in a number of words: loch [lox].

7. -ing is [ın].

8. [h] is present.

9. A specific Scottish feature is the pronunciation of [θr] as [∫]: through [∫ru:].

Non-systematic Differences

Some words have pronunciation distinctively different from RP

length

raspberry

realise

though

tortoise

RP

[leŋθ]

['ra:zbrı]

['rıәlaız]

[ðзu]

['to:tәs|

Sc. Eng.

[leŋθ]

['ra:sbεrı]

['rıлlaız)

[θo:]

['to:rtoız]