English Dialects

A dialect is a regional variation of a language distinguished by distinctive vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation. We can use English as an example.

With its global diffusion, English has many dialects that can be explored. Generally, speakers of one dialect can understand speakers of another dialect. A subdialect is a subdivision of a dialect. Two subdialects of the same dialect share relatively few differences, primarily in pronunciation and a small amount of vocabulary. Geographers are especially interested in differences in dialects and subdialects because they reflect distinctive features of the environments in which groups live.

American and British English

When speakers of a language migrate to other locations, various dialects of that language may develop. This was the case with the migration of English speakers to North America several hundred years ago. Because of its large number of speakers and widespread distribution, English has an especially large number of dialects and subdialects. North Americans are well aware that they speak English differently from the British, not to mention people living in India, Pakistan, Australia, and other English-speaking countries.

The English language was brought to the North American continent by colonists from England who settled along the Atlantic Coast beginning in the seventeenth century. The early colonists naturally spoke the language they had been using in England at the time. Later immigrants from other countries found English already implanted here. Although the immigrants made significant contributions to American English, they became acculturated into a society that already spoke English. Therefore, the earliest colonists were most responsible for the dominant language patterns that exist today in the English-speaking part of the Western Hemisphere.

U.S. English differs from the English of England in three significant ways—vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation. Why is the English language in the United States so different from that in England? The answer is lack of spatial interaction. Separated by the Atlantic Ocean, English in the United States and in England evolved independently during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with little influence on one another. Few residents of one country could visit the other, and the means to transmit the human voice over long distances would not become available until the twentieth century.

Vocabulary

The vocabulary of U.S. English differs from the English of England largely because settlers in America encountered many new objects and experiences. The new continent contained physical features, such as large forests and mountains, that had to be given new names. Indigenous Native Americans also enriched American English with names for objects such as canoe, moccasin, and squash, and animals such as moose, raccoon, and chipmunk. As new inventions appeared, they acquired different names on either side of the Atlantic. For example, the elevator is called a lift in England, and the flashlight is a torch. The British call the hood of a car the bonnet and the trunk the boot (Figure 5-29). Other former British colonies also have distinctive words for car parts. For example, the trunk of a car is a dickie in India, and the engine is a donk in Australia.

U.S. and U.K. Car Words

Many words related to cars and motoring differ, British words are in bold.

Pronunciation

From the time of their arrival in North America, colonists began to pronounce words differently from the British. Such divergence is normal, for interaction between the two groups was largely confined to exchange of letters and other printed matter rather than direct speech. Americans pronounce unaccented syllables with more clarity than do British English speakers. The words secretary and necessary have four syllables in American English but only three in British (secret’ry and necess’ry). Surprisingly, pronunciation has changed more in England than in the United States. A single dialect of southern English did not emerge as the British national standard until the late eighteenth century, after the American colonies had declared independence and were politically as well as physically isolated from England. Thus people in the United States do not speak “proper” English because when the colonists left England, “proper” English was not what it is today. Furthermore, few colonists were drawn from the English upper classes, whose accent became the model in England for correct pronunciation.

Spelling

American spelling diverged from the British standard because of a strong national feeling in the United States for an independent identity. Noah Webster, the creator of the first comprehensive American dictionary and grammar books, was not just a documenter of usage; he had an agenda. Webster was determined to develop a uniquely American dialect of English. He either ignored or was unaware of recently created rules of grammar and spelling developed in England. Webster argued that spelling and grammar reforms would help establish a national language, reduce cultural dependence on England, and inspire national pride. The spelling differences between British and American English, such as the elimination of the u from the British spelling of words such as honour and colour and the substitution of s for c in defence, are due primarily to the diffusion of Webster’s ideas inside the United States.

Dialects in the United Kingdom

English varies by regions within individual countries. In both the United States and England, northerners sound different from southerners.

As already discussed, English originated with three invading groups from Northern Europe who settled in different parts of Britain—the Angles in the north, the Jutes in the southeast, and the Saxons in the southwest. The language each spoke was the basis of distinct regional dialects of Old English

Dialect in the United Kingdom.

In a language with multiple dialects, one dialect may be recognized as the standard language, which is a dialect that is well established and widely recognized as the most acceptable for government, business, education, and mass communication. In the case of England, the standard language is known as Received Pronunciation (RP). It is well known around the world as the dialect commonly used by politicians, broadcasters, and actors.

RP was the dialect used by upper-class residents in the capital city of London and the two important university cities of Cambridge and Oxford. The diffusion of the upper-class London and university dialects was encouraged by the introduction of the printing press to England in 1476. Grammar books and dictionaries printed in the eighteenth century established rules for spelling and grammar that were based on the London dialect. These frequently arbitrary rules were then taught in schools throughout the country.

Despite the current dominance of RP, strong regional differences persist in English dialects spoken in the United Kingdom, especially in rural areas. They can be grouped into three main ones—Northern, Midland, and Southern (Figure 5-30b).

The boundaries between English dialects have been moving (Figure 5-30c). The changes reflect patterns of migration. The emergence of a subdialect in London reflects migration of people from other countries into the capital city, and the northern expansion of the southeastern subdialect reflects the outmigration of Londoners.

Pause & Reflect 5.3.2

How could you become familiar with differences between American and British English?