The English language is a global form of communication that has undergone numerous transformations for a very long period of time. It is spoken by close to a quarter of the world’s population. The UK being the mother of the English language has not been left behind in this transformation in accent and dialect of English. Even though the accent almost sounds the same in the United Kingdom, there are notable differences in various parts across the kingdom. W will be analyzing the kind of accent used in Middleborough and the surrounding areas. Our case study will be one BBC reporter by the name Steph McGovern and try to identify some words she uses which are somehow deviating from Standard English.
Orthographic form
SSBE
Middleborough
Thank
Shadow
Just
Discussion
From Steph’s pronunciation, the following words have shown a deviating sound; thank, shadow and just. Starting with thank, we can see that /a/ is prolonged and sounds more like /ae/. This is typical of Teesside English-and indication that it is borrowed. The /o/ in shadow is equally prolonged and so is /u/ in just.
Orthographic form
SSBE
Middleborough
Are
would
Nick
Photo
pouting
Discussion
The words in data to similarly have some consistent deviation from Standard English in some sounds. It is not about prolonged sounds as is in data 1, rather it is more of sound distortion. In the word are, the /a:/ is distorted to sound like /ae/. The word photo has /ph/ made to sound like /f:/ and so are the othe words.
Orthographic form
SSBE
Middleborough
More
Vlogger
Pictures
Discussion
In the last bit of the data collected from the clip, these words have shown consistent shortening when being pronounced by the reporter. The most affected bit is in the word pictures. Normally, the sound /a:/ is meant to be longer in this particular word but this was not the case here. This is a clear indication that the dialect and accent in this part of England has shortened many words that are usually long in Standard English.
CONCLUSION
Clearly, the kind of accent found in Steph’s speech is used in most parts of northern England and Teesside areas. This particular dialect has seriously impacted on the education system and if not curbed, it might as well distort or in a worst case scenario completely replace Standard English. I strongly suggest that the education system be restructured in a way that makes sure informal dialects and accents should not be incorporated into the education system. This does not only improve the learner’s ability to communicate effectively but also ensure survival of Standard English.
SOURCES
Oxford English dictionary
The clips provided by the professor
BBC website,www.bbc.com
