The North-South Divide is a topic that is frequently brought up in sociolinguistic discussions and the media in England. Socially speaking, the phrase describes the idea that the nation is divided into two regions based on social, economic, and political variables. It alludes to various accents and languages in linguistics. Although English is the official language of Great Britain, regional variations in accents, grammar, and speech can be found among the population. The purpose of this essay is to provide a theoretical understanding of the differences between Northern and Southern parts of the country in terms of linguistics, by focusing specifically on the variations in accents and dialects. Different theorists and researchers have examined them and have come up with completely opposite views. Some authors suggest that the languages vary in terms of phonological features while the others attribute the characteristics of the usage of vowels in BATH words. The views will be examined and will be analysed in depth in order to determine the key linguistic aspects that have caused the divide.
Background
The historical account of the divide can be traced back to the Roman rule in 200 AD when the Romans separated the country geographically into North and South to make it easier to govern. The Northern Province was called the Britannia Inferior while the Southern was named as Britannia Superior. The Danelaw boundary was also used to draw the geographic line between South and North from the Watling Street to River Trent. The river boundary created both perceptual and physical lines between the two regions. The division of North and South geographically using rivers and geological factors was suggested by Jewell (1994, p. 24). He argues that the North is defined in a way according to which the population can easily recognise rather than using arbitrary statistics.
Modern political representatives have also created a division along the ancient lines. Southern England is composed of the South-East, London- the South West and parts of the East; while the Northern England includes the North-East, the North-West, and Yorkshire (Trudgill 1999, p. 187). The two regions of England are separated according to various economic, social, political, and linguistic factors. The North and South differ in terms of accent and dialect.
The UK is also split due to socioeconomic factors. The northern sections have fewer opportunities than the southern ones. The South is also considered richer than the North. The divide was historically based on the farming and agricultural approaches. Before the era of industrialisation in the 18th century, the North experienced a decline and poverty while the South made progress and accumulation of wealth (Jewell 1994, p. 32). The economic power of London in the South grew as the northern cities did not have resources and finances. As military and political powers were exercised from the South, the North became isolated. The historic growth of London in the South led to the divide. Therefore, the industrial revolution created a perceptual split that demeaned the North as a deprived region compared to the South.
Despite the economic policies developed after World War II in the North, the perceptual line of socioeconomic differences between the parts is persisted until today. The perception has continued to hinder development in the North because it has experienced a decline in investment and industries since the 1970s, leading to further deacrease in economic growth (Joseph 2006, p. 4). As comedic, media, and scholarly interests increased in the 21st century, unemployment persisted in the less industrialised northern areas, and more people have migrated to cities in the South to look for employment.
The media, entertainment, and scholars have also shown interest in the North-South divide. The North is stereotypically represented in terms of black puddings, flat caps, and mushy peas. Most comedians also come from the North due to their accent. The language spoken there is stereotyped in the media as an informal and ordinary language. The differences in accents and dialect between the North and South are viewed in different perspectives depending on various sociolinguistic factors.
The dialect features identified by Trudgill include linguistic differences which are found in the phonology (1999, p. 182). For example, the phoneme /u/ is articulated in different ways by people from different regions. It might be pronounced as [ʊ] or [ʌ] depending on the region. The IPA symbol [ʊ] represents near-close, near-back vowel while the symbol [ʌ] represents open-mid vowel. The word hook is written as [hʊk] while plus is phonologically provided as [plʌs]. According to Trudgill (1999, p.186), the Northern pronunciation is based on the rounded vowel [ʊ] and the Southern pronunciation is the central vowel [ʌ].
Trudgill identified 16 modern dialect regions including North Yorkshire, Lancashire, Midlands and Northumberland (1999, p. 191). These differences are determined by phonological factors. Trudgill argues that the factors influencing the Northern accents include vowels in such words as: but and path (1999, p. 191). Northern speakers use the same vowels in some pairs of words such as could and cud; and puss and pus; but the Southerners use different vowels (1999, p. 191).
The two regions also have variations in the short and long vowels of words such as bath. They use the short vowel /æ/ in the word bath; while the Southerners prefer the long vowel /ɑː/. In this regard, the Northern speakers pronounce the word bath in the same manner as the word cat while the Southerners use it like the word art due to the differences in the use of short and long vowels. The other words that contain long vowels in the South and short vowel in the North include: path, grass, and dance. The Northern dwellers also dislike the long vowel in /grɑːs/.
The Northern and Southern dialects have also different ways of pronouncing sounds /r/ and /t/. In the North, /t/ is voiced /r/. The t r rule is common in the middle and far North of England, including the Derbyshire, Nottingham, Lincolnshire and Leicestershire (Trudgill 1990, p.194). It is also a salient feature of the North-South divide because the Northern parts use the rule, but it is not common in the South.
The North-South divide is also divided in terms of grammar rules and constructions. Traditional past tense of the verb catch in England is catched which is commonly widespread. However, it is formally understood that the past tense of catch is caught /kƆ:t/. The above-mentioned examples illustrate the different linguistic items from various regions which give rise to a diverse dialects and grammar rules. The two dissimilar areas also vary in terms of geographical constructions. For example, the phrase Give it to me is a standard grammatical construction in England. It has an imperative verb followed by a pronoun. However, traditional dialects in England do not have such constructions. It is famously found in South-West of England, including London and the other parts of the South-Eastern coast. The widest geographical distribution in England uses the phrases Give it me and give me it. Each of the phrases represents a different grammatical construction, but all of them are linguistic items.
Discussion
The linguistic North-South divide is a perceptual division due to the dissimilarities in dialect and accent between the two regions. The differences have been identified alongside the socioeconomic and historic factors that have influenced the North-South divide. According to Qureshi (2013), the Northern England is stuck on the medieval pronunciation style while the Southern England is using modern intonations. However, such variations could disappear as the the accent was slowly infiltrating into the Northern region.
The Northern region cannot be defined linguistically because the area has been stereotyped in many aspects. The ‘Northern English’ concept has created an imagined area in the North with a peculiar language that could not be considered part of the national English language spoken across the country. The Northern accents are often considered as humorous. They are used in comedy. Most comedians such as Peter Kay and Johnny Vegas have strong Northern accents. The divisions could also be interpreted as a part of a stereotypical delineation in which the Northern part is stereotyped as socially deprived and denied opportunities of growth and development. Most companies and media houses have historically tended to employ people from the South and leave Northerners because they are considered to be speaking ordinary language. However, some stations such as BBC and Radio IXtra have employed DJs from the North. These new dynamics may cause a uniform accent and dialect spoken across England. For the meantime, the division of the North and South linguistically continue to persist.
Most linguists agree that the variations in accents and dialects in the North and South of England are caused by phonological differences. Ihalainen (1994, p.248) suggests that phonological differences give the largest amount of variations in language. According to the study by Glauser (2000, p. 66), lexical and grammatical and phonological data indicate that the pitch, intonation and phonological features of the North differed from those of the South.
Linguists have identified different phonological isoglosses upon which language differences have occurred. Some of the phonological criteria that cause differences in dialect include: pronunciation of words such as some; pronunciation of r; definite articles; and the some words such as house. The use of some is based on the study of Trudgill who suggests that the phoneme /u/ can be said as [ʊ] or [ʌ] depending on the region. In modern dialects, the long and short vowel isogloss is the dividing marker between Northern and Southern England. The modern English is basically the type of English with dialects originating from the South East of England. The classification by vowel pronunciation is one of the modern criteria of distinguishing between the Northern and Southern English (Trudgill 1990, p. 194).
Some of the vowels that bring differences in dialect are found in the following words: but, arm, sun, singer, few, coffee, gate, and milk. The world but can be pronounced as /bʊt/ or /bʌt; arm is pronounced as /arm/ or /a:m/; singer as /sɪŋə/ or /sɪŋgə/; the sun as /sʊn or /sʌn/; and coffee is as /ɪ/ or /i:/. The Northern pronunciation deals with the short vowels /ʊ/, /æ/ and /ɪ/ while the Southern dialects are likely to take the long vowels such as /ʌ/, /a:/ and /i:/. According to Wales (2006, p.103), the Strut-foot and Trap-bath lines are the most significant markers of the North-South line. The Strut-foot and Trap-bath isoglosses create a North-South line from Lune to Humber. The Trap-bath isoglosses make up a line that separates the North which uses the short vowel /æ/ and the South which prefers to the long one /a:/. On the other hand, the Strut-foot isogloss separates the North in a similar long and short vowel.
The differences depict a great divergence between the North and the South phonologically. However, the variations are highly debatable. Some studies suggest that the Northern people detest the long vowels; others argue that the Northerners view the long vowel as incorrect. Joseph (2006, p. 2) argues that the pronunciation of the long and short vowels depends on social distributions. The southern pronunciations are typical standard one, while the northern is non-standard.
According to Glauser (2000, p. 73), the North-South divide is a result of perception rather than language differences. People from the North have a different way of perceiving their language. Some of them pay close attention to pitch and intonation while the others ignore it The variation are determined by the social, geological, and cultural environment of the speakers. People in various geographical areas often speak differently. Those who live close to each other geographically speak with the same dialect because they have more contact and interact every day (Wales 2000, p. 11). Linguists identify the concepts of closeness and distance to show how communities living close together speak with the same accent and dialect. The variation in social distances among members of a society is strongly related to language variations.
The supporters of social distinction suggest that language variation between the North and South of England was caused by social organisations which vary from one geographical region to another. Pennycook (2012, p. 78) informs that social organisation can be viewed from the perspectives of stratification and social network. Social stratification is caused by the way the society is structured hierarchically due to variations in wealth and power across individuals in society; while network deals with the level of solidarity among the members of the society
where an individual has strong or loose ties with other the members; hence affecting their interactions and social learning. A close or tight tie with other people in the society enables the individual to learn the language of that community as the dialect and accent that is commonly used there. Slangs and jargons emerge through such social networks. Social networks differ in strength. Milroy and Milroy (1997, p. 60) suggest that strong networks cause slow changes in language; and low-status and stigmatised languages are likely to emerge.
A good example of such communities is the northern rural areas of England where the language is considered a low-status and ordinary (Beal 1999, p.38). The language is so stigmatised that the Southerners and employers exclude the Northerners from employment and participation in public or social activities of national calibre. Youth from the South go to the North to study while the youth from the North move to the South. Such interactions enable the young people to develop new languages with fewer accents, and more of Southern dialect.
In terms of social stratification, the Northern England and the rural areas have been known to be relatively poorer than the South due to less commerce and industries. People have migrated to cities such as London in the South, leaving the North with less resources and capital. In this regard, the social structures in the North are less hierarchical as the individual goes up the social ladder and makes efforts to change his/her social status including their language in the direction of their perceived status. In this regard, as the Southerners go up the larder towards high social hierarchy of great wealth and prosperity, they avoid the dialects and accents associated with lower social classes found in the North. However, as the North continues to gain education and wealth in the current century, they start to improve their social condition. That is why Milroy suggests that the North is slowly adopting the Southern accent and dialect (1997, p.65).
In traditional Europe, societies used to be ranked, and each individual spoke the language of his or her home area. Each rank had very small variations, and a person could locate in specific geographical area based on his or her language. However, the 18th and 19th centuries ushered industrialisation and capitalism changed the social strata according to class. The working, middle, and the upper classes have different accents which Mugglestone referred as social symbols (1995, p. 97). Before the 18th century, England used a standard written language without a spoken language. However, modernisation, science, and education have brought a new standard social language which led to the change in sociolinguistic habits of the middle class.
The South also experiences the prestigious spoken language because it has a higher percentage of the population in the middle and upper social classes than their counterparts in the North (Beal 1999, p. 41). The Northerners have remained to speak the local dialect while the Southerners have changed their language to reflect the new dynamics as they rose socially through the ladder of social hierarchy. Network differences in the middle class and the Southern communities have also led to increased differences of accent between the North and the South. The middle class, urban and the Southern people have more opportunities of networking and interacting with people from different social groups. In this regard, the social networks and interactions lead to the development of a modern language with fewer accents and little local dialect.
Some critics argue that the division between the North and the South in terms of socioeconomic factors is stereotypical. For example, Wales suggests that the North is stereotypically categorised as a working class society while the South is categorised as a sophisticated society (2000, p. 12) They argue that linking southern cities to cultural prestige, aristocracy and power is a stereotypical social construction which has no scientific basis. In this regard, such critics suggest that geographic proximity explains the North-South divide.
Linguistically, proximity provides a basis in which speakers identify themselves as Northern or Southern speakers. People who identified themselves as Northerners maintain a close proximity and draw a line to separate them from the Southerners. This line is a perceived line which enables people in their respective physical locations to maintain their social and geographic identities (Kretzschmar 2015, p.10). The Northern speakers maintained their Northern identities while the Southern speakers used their Southern language to maintain their identities as Southerners. In this perspective, accent and dialect in England contributes to the identities of Northern and Southern speakers (Llamas 2000, p.145). This perspective concurs with the social networking perspective because people who live in close geographic proximities tend to identify themselves with a specific language; hence adopting similar linguistic items such as the pronunciation isogloss.
The social interactions also influence the accent of people in different social settings. In the South, people interact and cause a uniform language which identifies Southerners. In this case, a Southerner who goes to the North can be identified with their accent from the South. The pronunciation, dialect and grammar differences in the South and the North can be seen in day-to-day interactions of people in different aspects of life (Whitehouse, 2015). However, as people continue to interact, the accent may disappear because people learn languages through social interactions. The social environment determines the accent that one adopts. If a young person moves from the South to the North and spends several years studying and interacting with peers in the North, he will learn lexical and phonological styles used in the North; hence adopting the accent and dialects of the local people in the North. For example, the accent used in Newcastle is called Geordie. It is significantly different from the Southern English which is the standard language that most people speak in school.
There are also some words used in the South that may not be used in the North and vice versa (Whitehouse, 2015). For example, the Cokney rhyming language is a slang commonly used in East London, and it is difficult to understand by people who are not from East London. Furthermore, people call each other different names such as pet, flower, sugar, honey, etc depending on their geographical locations. There is no way to tell which of the two regions uses English words appropriately, but in both cases the local communities understand each other because their linguistic items are similar. Therefore, the choice of words depends on the geographical proximate. Common words spread within close social and physical proximities.
Conclusion
To conclude, the North-South divide is an issue of distance and space. The distance between people can be social or physical. The Northern English speakers live close together and use the same language to interact and communicate. Linguistically, the North-South divide is influenced by the Strut-Foot and Trap-Bath pronunciation isoglosses. The Northern part of the country use short vowels such as /ʊ/, /æ/ and /ɪ/; and Southerners use long vowels such as /ʌ/, /a:/ and /i:/ when pronouncing words such as but, gate, and coffee. The Northern and Southern parts of England also have different words and grammar constructions which influence their dialects and accents.
The differences are caused by the social and geographic distances between the two regions. The arguments of social stratification as determinants of North-South divide are stereotypical because the poor and rich can use the same language if they can interact within the same proximity. Social networks and physical closeness allow people to use the same linguistic items such as lexical and phonological elements. Therefore, the linguistic divide between the North and the South of England is caused by social and geographic distance rather than stereotypical perceptions.
References
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