Accents are part of the human language, and in common parlance, it is the way we pronounce a word. Language undergoes variations in its dialect register and intonation depending on the geographical location and sphere of human activity. The English language is spoken by people in many countries, and therefore it has led to multiple ways in which it is pronounced. Accents owe their existence to how people pronounce a language, and Accent is also a major contributor in the imparting varieties in a language. The causes of variation in accents are many like systemic, realizational, phoneme splits, phoneme mergers, and lexical differences. The Systemic differences make use of sometimes different numbers of phonemes, and sometimes they may be absent altogether.
The phoneme /r/ is almost absent except in the case of linkage /r/ in the elite English pronunciation of the educated south–east Londoner.
The variations in accents cannot be categorized as good or bad because the relation between the spelling and the pronunciation is purely arbitrary. The speaker will face the same difficulty n spelling the word zebra whether he pronounces zebra as [zebrə] with a short vowel or as [zi brə] with a long vowel.
The realization of the phoneme means that there is a difference in which the phonemes are pronounced. Unlike the systemic variation where there is the complete absence of phonemes like /th/ in thin is replaced by /f/ in fin. There is the presence of the phoneme but with a differing pronunciation. This difference is due to the different regions rather than the fact there is a positional difference, as is the case of allophones. Different accents select different articulations of phonemes for a particular word. Since English is a global language and it is natural that English is rubbing shoulders with other languages, and it undergoes changes in its pronunciation as there is maximum interaction in this aspect of language. In certain accents, two different phonemes unite and form one phoneme the word cot and caught are pronounced in the same ways, thereby merging the phonemes/o/ with /au/in the Pennsylvanian accent.
Language is spoken by people; therefore, it has a sociological aspect to it. Sometimes the bias of class creeps up even in the way people perceive certain accents of human languages. This holds good for the English language as well. George Bernard Shaw has piquantly said.
“It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman despise him.” (Shaw, 1910)
It was the Accent that ascertained the kind of company that a person is keeping. Therefore the social standing of a person is reflected in the way he pronounces the language. The industrial revolution in England had led to the development of the working class, which was devoid of education and was coarse as far as manners were concerned. There was a conscious distancing of the individuals in the English society from the language and manners of this class. The Received Pronunciation was given preference by those who were against any kind of pollution in language. Britain, anyways was a very traditional society. Anything new was often received with a lot of consternation. ( Graddol et al 2007,n.p). What is interesting to note is that this style of seeking English is fairly new. The term Received pronunciation was coined by the linguist A. J Ellis in 1924.
Certain accents are conceived to be more prestigious, like the Received Pronunciation and the General American. Good and bad accents are not dependent on the quality of language that is being used. Rather, it’s dependent on the notion of pride that determines the importance of an accent. The R.P. pronunciation in the English language is the way English is spoken by the educated or the public school educated and the sophisticated south –east Londoner. It is commonly referred to as the BBC English. This kind of Accent is prominent in the speech of lawyers, diplomats’ civil servants, and the royal family. The status of the high and mighty has lent status to the Accent that they use. It is the voice that is regarded as possessing authority, honesty credibility, whereas the other dialects like Cockney are considered humble, humorous, and generous. It is a misconception that it is spoken only in London. In fact, in most of the places where English is taught as a second language. R.P. is the standard pronunciation that is used.
Even in Scotland, which not only has its own accent and dialect, the educated class makes use of the Received Pronunciation. Ideally, what should be of prime most is what the person is saying, not how or which Accent is utilized to render the matter of the speech. There are negative reactions attached to the way we speak the language Prejudice leaves no human endeavor untouched. It is the Accent used by the elite of England. It is looked up with pride despite the fact that only 3% of those speaking English all over the world are making use of this Accent. Those who are unable to speak in that Accent are derogatorily rejected as having no accent. The R, P pronunciation is defined more by the class than by geographical location. The Royal family, BBC newscasters, the civil servants, and the public school-educated people make use of these accents.
The affiliation of the accents with the educated upper and middle class is reflected in what Mr. Burrell says in his A handbook for teachers in public elementary schools. “It is the business of educated people to speak so that no-one may be able to tell in what county their childhood was passed.” (Burrell, 1891) The general characteristics of the Received Pronunciation are R.P. is non-rhotic, which means that unlike the other varieties of English, it doesn’t pronounce the phoneme /r /until, and unless it is followed by a vowel-like, the /r/in ram is pronounced whereas the phoneme /r/is not pronounced in words like a bard. Sometimes the phoneme /r/ is pronounced when the next word is beginning with a vowel as in the phrase car in. This phenomenon of pronouncing /r/ is a very prominent feature of Received pronunciation. Many linguists see this linking /r/as a result of the absence of pronunciation in the speech of the educated Londoner. The advantage of the general American pronunciation is that that the difference in spelling and perception of the difference in a word is easier as the phoneme /r/ is pronounced. The difference between the word and spelling is evident in the pronunciation of the words like lava and larva.
There are other differences among the various accents of spoken English. The phoneme /a/ is pronounces as a short vowel sound in words like pass bath in the northern accents of English in Great Britain and in General American accents. “R.P. and the southern dialect have along with the realization of the vowel which is termed broad A accent, so words like math and chance appear with /ɑ/ and not /æ/. The Accent of the BBC broadcaster faces a phoneme split as the vowel /a/ simultaneously stands for the short an in bath and the sound /a/ in cancel.
- The /t/ phoneme in words like butter is usually not flapped (as in most forms of American English) or realized as a glottal stop (as in some other forms of English, including Cockney)”.
- The Variation in the accents in the English language is often referred to as having a difference in the system. It would be wrong to say that certain accents are superior and other is inferior depending on the social class of the users. But certain pronunciations pose less difficulty for the speaker to distinguish between the spelling and meaning of words like edge and hedge. The working class of England does not pronounce the phoneme /h/.In words like head hell etc., the h-dropped. Similarly, the short vowel system in the accents of the industrial workers have five terms hut hit hot hat hen.therefore; they have difficulty in learning the spelling of husk and hoop as they pronounce /u/ and /oo/ in the same manner.
- “RP does not have yod dropping after /n/, /t/ and /d/. Hence, for example, new, tune and dune are pronounced /njuː/, /tjuːn/ and /djuːn/ rather than /nuː/, /tuːn/ and /duːn/. This contrasts with many East Anglian and East Midland varieties of English English and with most forms of American English”.
We have seen that sometimes the difficulties in the co-relation of the spelling and the pronunciation are difficult in received pronunciation, and sometimes it is difficult in the general American and another dialect, so it is not feasible to brand one Accent as better than the other. We know that the analysis is always full of exceptions. It doesn’t follow a regular pattern.Just as the relationship between the words and meaning is arbitrary, so is the case at times with the pronunciation and the spellings of words. Languages are based on arbitrary presumptions.( Carney, E., 1994 ,n.p)
The recent progress and the change in the thinking of the modern world has led to recognition of other accents. Just as Margret Thatcher had used Received pronunciation to please the electorate similarly, Tony Blair has made use of the Estuary style of pronunciation to establish himself as having amass appeal. It cannot be expected of nonnative speakers of English cannot be expected to fully emulate any kind of pronunciation in totality. Anyway, for good communication, it is required that the pronunciation is not incorrigible.
References
Burrell, Recitation. A Handbook for Teachers in Public Elementary School, 1891.
Changing English’ edited by David Graddol, Dick Leith, Joan Swann, Martin Rhys, and Julia Gillen, Routledge Open University 2007.
Carney, E., 1994. A survey of English spelling. London: Edward Arnold.
McMahon. 2002. An Introduction to English Phonology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Shaw, George Bernard Preface to Pygmalion, 1910.