Accents: Varieties of English

Accents: Varieties of English

Group:104A

Gulchehra Sobirova

Brief information about accent

• Accent is a distinctive way of pronouncing a language, especially one associated with a particular country, area, or social class.

Accents are an important part of our identity. An accent gives clues about who we are, and the community we belong to or wish to belong to. They’re also important for those getting to grips with a new language. “Having information about accents empowers a language learner,” explains Luke Nicholson, as it allows learners to make informed decisions about the kind of accent they would like to adopt and why. “For example, if you’re moving a to a certain part of a country, you might want to integrate better with your new community by learning the specific accent of that region.”

Difference between accent and pronunciation

Accent

• Accents are about different speech sounds and localised ways of speaking a language. They are part of the culture of a language and – while they may make it harder to understand sometimes – contribute to its richness and diversity. This is true even in the way that non-natives might speak a language. A French person may speak English flawlessly, just with a French accent. That’s fine because there is no wrong or right with an accent.

Pronunciation

• Pronunciation, on the other hand, is more about making sure you’re understood properly and is something that – as a learner – you can get ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. If your pronunciation is correct, and you understand how to use different phonetic sounds in different contexts, you can communicate effectively with others whatever your accent.

History of British accent

Spreading through media
Spreading by British Empire
The Great vowels shift and dialect occurs
French words begin to enter
North Sea Germanic language
Romano-Britons and Celtic language of British

Difference between dialects and accent

• Accent refers to pronunciation
• If you and I have different accents in English, we very probably have other differences too, like the ones mentioned above, but if we're specifically mentioning our accents, we mean only the pronunciation differences.

• Dialect refers to a whole group of language features, including pronunciation, but also differences in vocabulary, grammar, and how the language gets used (like the rules of what counts as polite)

British and American accent

• Intonation
• Vowels
• The pronunciation of the letter ‘R’
• The pronunciation of the letter “T”
• The words are shortened

Interesting facts about accent

No accent is inherently easier to pronounce or understand than any other
Standard accents and dialects are kind of myth
Your accent is always changing, even just a little bit
Accents can work differently in different languages

Most attractive accents

British accent
Irish
Australian
French
German
Scottish
New Zealand

Most common accents

• Cockney accent
• Brummie accent
• Geordie accent
• Scouse accent
• West country accent
• Yorkshire accent

How to improve pronunciation?

• Focus on phonemes 
• Try some tongue twisters 
• Read aloud and record yourself
• Listen to some podcasts
•  Speak slowly
• Spend more time talking to native speakers 

Questions related to the presentation

• What’s accent? Tell the differences of accent and dialect.
• Where does British accent come from?
• What’s the most common accent in the world?
• What kind of attractive accents do you know?
• What’s the difference between British and American accent?
• What kind of accent do you like most?

Thanks for your attention