Cockney

Southern

British English

Picture 6

Southern English engages in r-dropping, that is, r's are not pronounced after vowels, unless followed by another vowel. Instead, vowels are lengthened or have an ['] off-glide, so fire becomes [fai'], far becomes [fa:], and so on.

· Regular use of "broad a" ([a:]), where GA (General American) would use [æ].

· "Long o" is pronounced ['u], where GA uses [ou].

· Final unstressed i is pronounced [i], where GA uses [i:].

· t between vowels retained as [t] (or a glottal stop, in its variants), where GA changes it to [d].

The English of well-bred Londoners, especially graduates of the public schools (e.g. Eton and Harrow) and "Oxbridge" universities, was the origin of "the Queen's English," also known as Received Pronunciation (RP), BBC, or "posh."

Originally the dialect of the working class of East End London. The typical features are:

· as with many accents of England, Cockney is non-rhotic. A final -er is pronounced [ə] or lowered [ɐ] in broad Cockney;

· initial h is dropped, so house becomes [aus] (or even [a:s]);

· Initial [p, t, k] are strongly aspirated/affricated; when final/medial, they are strongly glottalised, with replacement of [t] by [?], e.g. what a lot of bottles = [`wQ? @ `lQ? @ `bQ?uz];

· [T] and [D] become [f] and [v] respectively: think > [fingk], brother > [brVv'];

· t between vowels becomes a glottal stop: water > ['wo? I];

· diphthongs change, sometimes dramatically: time > [toIm], brave > [braIv], etc;

· Post-vocalic [l] is very dark, sounding like [u], [ʊ], [o] or [ɤ] e.g. milk = [mIuk];

· Consonant clusters ending in [j] often change: tune [tʃu:n] or reduce [rɪ‘dʒu:s];

· Cockney has been occasionally described as replacing [r] with [w]. For example, thwee (or fwee) instead of three, fwasty instead of frosty;

· An unstressed final -ow may be pronounced [ə]. In broad Cockney this can be lowered to [ɐ].

Besides the accent, it includes a large number of slang words, including the famous rhyming slang:

have a butchers – take a look [from butcher's hook = look]

north and south – mouth

skin and blister – sister, and so on.

Дата добавления: 2014-12-17