Search results for 'tag:Dialects tag:British English' matching tags 'Dialects' and 'British English'

Re: How to change my accent?

Kooyeen — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:04:20 GMT

sanycool4
Am really struggling with my accent...English people can't really understand some words what am saying...So any body advice me how to change my accent?

You might need an accent reduction course. Learn the sounds, learn how to connect words, learn to use a decent intonation, etc. It depends on the variety you want to learn though. For American English, I once read "American Accent Training" by Ann Cook. I found it vital for my English, learned a lot of things and I improved a lot. I can't say anything about British English or other dialects though. Good luck. :)

Re: dreamed and dreamt

Grammar Geek — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 19:00:22 GMT

Hello anon,

I'm not sure why you chose to stand on your soapbox about the declining state of English on a post that was almost two years old, but you are mistaken.

Regarding dive:http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dive - usage Dive, which was originally a weak verb, developed a past tense dove, probably by analogy with verbs like drive, drove. Dove exists in some British dialects and has become the standard past tense especially in speech in some parts of Canada. In the United States dived and dove are both widespread in speech as past tense and past participle, with dove less common than dived in the south Midland area, and dived less common than dove in the Northern and north Midland areas. In writing, the past tense dived is usual in British English and somewhat more common in American English. Dove seems relatively rare as a past participle in writing.

Regarding sneak: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sneak - usage From its earliest appearance in print in the late 19th century as a dialectal and probably uneducated form, the past and past participle snuck has risen to the status of standard and to approximate equality with sneaked. It is most common in the United States and Canada but has also been spotted in British and Australian English.

Regarding fun: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fun - note the adjective function, making "so fun" perfectaly acceptable.

Regarding hang: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hang usage For both transitive and intransitive senses 1b the past and past participle hung, as well as hanged, is standard. Hanged is most appropriate for official executions <he was to be hanged, cut down whilst still aliveâ¦and his bowels torn out â Louis Allen> but hung is also used <gave orders that she should be hungâ Peter Quennell>. Hung is more appropriate for less formal hangings <by morning I'll be hung in effigy â Ronald Reagan>.

Next time, try consulting a dictionary instead of your own sense of indignation.

Re: 3 questions

Kooyeen — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:00:32 GMT

Anonymous
Are we only talking about spoken form? BTW, Mr P says there's such a thing as "standard spoken British English". Do you disagree with him?

Nope... but for many languages, it seems the "standard" is not that common compared to local dialects, variations, or varieties that are not 100% standard. You might hear the standard form on some TV channels, or on newspapers, but other than that the real language is not 100% standard.

Anonymous

<If for some people it's standard, it's just a coincidence.>

It's just that I think people don't usually speak the way they are taught, or following any rule or standard. We just speak a variety we picked up, with some features that develop for some reason that is not clear... that's why we don't all talk the same way even in the same community. If you don't say "y'all", it's not because you were taught it's wrong, but it's because you don't live in Texas. If you cringe when you hear "between Pam and I", it's not because you were taught it's grammatically wrong, it's just because you've never used it and never picked it up. Young people who grew up hearing "between you and I" now use it interchangeably with "between you and me", and don't cringe. And teaching them that form is wrong won't stop them from keeping on using it on a daily basis.

Re: Standard spoken English

Anonymous — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 23:28:24 GMT

Getting into the guts of so called "standard spoken British English dialect" would these examples fit the bill?

I'm going to have a glass of Merlot 82, me.
I'm having pie and chips, I am.
He complains all the time, he does.
It's not actually very good is it this play?
We're always getting it wrong, us?
She must be quite a good writer, you know.

Re: If I'm used only to Standard English, might I have trouble understanding dialects?

Mr Wordy — Thu, 29 May 2008 14:26:35 GMT

There are some differences in vocabulary and idiom across the British Isles, and you might encounter some regional words and expressions that you're not familiar with. But the core vocabulary and grammar are not hugely different, and you might find that a bigger problem is pronunciation. If you're only familiar with the sort of English spoken by middle class people from the south of England, and you go into a pub in a rough part of Glasgow, say, then you might not even realise that the people there are speaking English at all.

The native speakers I (as a native speaker myself) have most difficulty with are young urban working class people. In this case, vocabulary (lots of "yoof slang" I've never heard of) and pronunciation both cause problems. I might overhear, say, a group of youths chatting in a London suburb and only catch about 50% of it.

There's no need to try to speak regional dialects of British English yourself (unless you're particularly interested in doing so, of course). If you speak something approximating to "standard" British English then you should be able to make yourself understood anywhere in the British Isles.

Re: excited of /with

Anonymous — Tue, 27 May 2008 11:53:28 GMT

I think that there might be regional/dialect variations in usage here. According to the version of British English that I speak:

"excited about" is the usual expression.

"excited with" sounds somewhat unnatural.

"excited of" is wrong.

Another possibility is "excited by", but this has slightly different connotations, including a greater sense of immediacy/intimacy, and does not seem so appropriate when talking about a project.

Re: fair-haired

Kooyeen — Sun, 18 May 2008 20:19:00 GMT

Ah, I didn't know you used British English... Since you mentioned Merriam-Webster, I thought you wanted to use American English.

Pter
My only conclusion is that, they are indeed different in British English and warrant the use of different symbols, but they are much closer in American English and are considered only as variants.

No, I don't think so, and it's what I've tried to explain so far. Just because a certain symbol is used, doesn't mean it has to sound exactly the same in every case or every dialect. Generally speaking, if there's an intervocalic T in an unstressed syllable, you turn it into a tapped T in American English, but dictionaries use the same symbol anyway, T. So I don't see what's wrong with doing the same thing with vowels, for example. An /e/ before an /r/ changes a little, or a lot, or not at all, depending on the speaker. There are a lot of similar considerations. Another one I can think of is the COT-CAUGHT merger: Merriam-Webster makes a distinction between those two vowels, but I don't, and neither do a lot of native speakers... so whenever I see the symbol they use for the vowel in CAUGHT, I replace it with the vowel in COT. As you see, it doesn't really matter what symbols they use, because I also take account of the features of the variety I want to use as the default one. And an /e/ before an /r/ is something you can consider as a variable feature.

Re: Is English the Next Latin?

Kooyeen — Sat, 17 May 2008 15:56:58 GMT

Cool article Barb!

Ruslana
By the way, Tanit, I knew a Chinese once, and he told me Chinese was not so difficult as it might seem at first sight.

Yeah right, Lana, LOL! A Chinese said so! Did you ever find an American who started learning Chinese after high school and said... "Oh, yeah, it's so simple!" Pretty much impossible!
Seriously, my opinion is that English is already an international language and the most important one for global communication, and I don't think anything is going to change soon. Because I know tons of Chinese people who are learning English, are improving, use it for work, study it in school because it's mandatory... How many Americans do the same, learning Chinese? And Europeans? And if you want to be a famous singer or band, are you going to sing in English or... another language? Chinese? Nope, everyone is singing in English, even if it's not their native language.
Chinese seems the only language that is likely to become very important, as of now, but there are so many difficulties in learning it that it seems almost impossible that all the world will try to learn Chinese well, and become fluent, and making it the most important and used global language for international communications.
What I think is likely to happen is that English will be spoken throughout the world, also as a second language, and there will be lots of dialects: Chinglish, Arabenglish, Spanish-English... And not all of them will be mutually intelligible. But hopefully there will be a couple of dialects that will be the mainstream ones, used in international communications, etc. Now the most important dialects are American English and British English... One day maybe Chinese-English will be the most influential and important one, who knows?

Re: /ae/ in BrE and AmE

Kooyeen — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 22:25:21 GMT

Belly
I heard them being pronounced differently, a bare /e/ for AmE

Hi,
it's not /e/ in American English. It's around /Ã¦/. Then there are diffrences, because for example, a lot of poeple change it before N, M, or NG, so "pan" is usually either /peÉn/ or /pÉÉn/.
As for British English, I don't know, but there are a lot of different accents.
Dictionaries only give you a transcription so that you know what kind of syllable you have to use when pronouncing a word, but they never tell you the exact sounds for every dialect.

Re: Canadians and their English

Jazzylinguist — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 18:45:51 GMT

Dear friends

I am a russian student of foreign languages department and this year is my final one , I have a dissertation to write which is called :

"Modern linguistic problems in historical context: an investigation of some new trends in Canadian english ."

I am a little bit confused what shall I start with. Whether it is the history of Canadian english and follow up the varieties of canadian dialects or to write about periodization of Canadian english how it was forming throw the years that British english was influencing and American english and French which helped building up Canadian english which is spoken right now and then talk about innovations? I would gladly appreciate your help as in Moscow it is so hard to find any books about Canadian english , I 've been to the library and found a book by Mark Orkin but it is not enough for my work , maybe someone can send me some useful links.

Thank you so much in advance