Discussion Groups / British English / March 2005

At 19:22:12 on Fri, 4 Mar 2005, HB <hb@fakemail.net> wrote in
<Ez2Wd.2708$Mo4.130@blueberry.telenet-ops.be>:

Remembering that English is spoken not just in England but throughout
the British Isles:  there are indeed some very distinct dialects, such
as Geordie (Newcastle) and Lallans (Lowland Scots) which are as
different from each other as, perhaps, Spanish is from Portuguese, and
rather more different than Flemish is from German*.  Speakers of two
such dialects can just about communicate, but with great difficulty and
a lot of repetition.

Geordie is heavily influenced by Danish, from the days of the Viking
invasions, and Lallans evolved separately from "English English" many
centuries ago, and was for a long time considered the purer version of
the language.  I seem to remember (it's too late to Google) that Lallans
Scots was used in official documents in Scotland for a couple of
centuries before England recorded any such documents in a language other
than (earlier) French or (later) Latin.

There is a tremendous range of accents throughout Britain.  In most
areas which have a specific accent, you will also find a fair number of
dialect words and phrases in common usage, although not enough to make
it too difficult for somebody speaking Standard English** to understand
the main thrust of what is being said.  Of course, because of the
prevalence of radio and TV, dialect speakers have no difficulty
whatsoever in understanding Standard English.

As a Received Pronunciation Standard English speaker myself, born and
raised in Scotland, (albeit now with extra added _free_
Sussex-sloppiness+), I have in my time found myself literally
translating between (1) Sussex English and Southern Irish English and
(2) Northern Scots and Standard English.

In addition to accents and dialects, there exists a number of different
languages spoken in Britain, including (but not limited to) Gaelic,
Welsh and Cornish.  The first two are the first language of a
considerable number of people, English being their second language.  (I
am disregarding for the purposes of this post languages spoken as a
first language by large numbers of first, second or even
third-generation immigrants, such as Chinese, Gujarati etc.) (So, if I'm
supposed to be disregarding it, why did I mention it?  Because somebody
would jump on me if I didn't, that's why.)

* Which gives me the opportunity to show off my only Flemish by knowing
how different dank u wel is from vielen Dank.

** "Standard English" is also known as "BBC English" or "The Queen's
English".  It is considered by those who speak it to be accent-neutral.
It is often considered by those who hear it to be posh and poncy.
Basically, it seems to have evolved from what was once the very local
accent of Middlesex.

+This means that I drop certain consonants in a way which I never did in
the days when I talked proper++.

++Since you are not a native English speaker, I'd better explain that
"talked proper" is humorously incorrect English for "spoke correctly".