User:PK2/Accents and dialects of English

Spoken English shows great variation across regions where it is the predominant language. This article provides an overview of the numerous identifiable variations in pronunciation; such distinctions usually derive from the phonetic inventory of local dialects, as well as from broader differences in the Standard English of different primary-speaking populations.

Dialects are linguistic varieties that may differ in pronunciation, vocabulary, spelling and grammar, while accent is the part of dialect only concerning local pronunciation.

Secondary English speakers tend to carry over the intonation and phonetics of their mother tongue in English speech. For more details, see non-native pronunciations of English.

Primary English-speakers show great variability in terms of regional accents. Some, such as Pennsylvania Dutch English, are easily identified by key characteristics, bur others are more obscure or easily confused. Broad regions can possess sub-forms as identified below; for instance, towns located less than 10 mi from the city of Manchester, such as Bolton, Rochdale, Oldham and Salford, each have distinct accents, all of which together comprise the broader accent of Lancashire. Those sub-dialects are very similar to one another, but non-local listeners can identify firm differences. On the other side of the spectrum, Australia has a "General accent" that is virtually consistent over thousands of kilometers.

English accents can differ enough to create room for misunderstandings. For example, the pronunciation of pearl in some variants of Scottish English can sound like the entirely unrelated word petal to an American ear.

For a summary of the differences between accents, see International Phonetic Alphabet chart for English dialects.

Overview
Dialects can be defined as "sub-forms of languages which are, in general, mutually comprehensible." English speakers from different countries and regions use a variety of different accents (systems of pronunciation) as well as various localized words and grammatical constructions; many different dialects can be identified based on these factors. Dialects can be classified at broader or narrower levels: within a broad national or regional dialect, various more localised sub-dialects can be identified, and so on. The combination of differences in pronunciation and use of local words may make some English dialects almost unintelligible to speakers from other regions without any prior exposure.

The major native dialects of English are often divided by linguists into three general categories: the British Isles dialects, those of North America, and those of Australasia. Dialects can be associated not only with place but also with particular social groups. Within a given English-speaking country, there is a form of the language considered to be Standard English: the Standard Englishes of different countries differ and can themselves be considered dialects. Standard English is often associated with the more educated layers of society as well as more formal registers.

British and American English are the reference norms for English as spoken, written, and taught in the rest of the world, excluding countries in which English is spoken natively such as Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand. In many former British Empire countries in which English is not spoken natively, British English forms are closely followed, alongside numerous American English usages that have become widespread throughout the English-speaking world. Conversely, in many countries historically influenced by the United States in which English is not spoken natively, American English forms are closely followed. Many of these countries, while retaining strong British English or American English influences, have developed their own unique dialects, which include Indian English and Philippine English.

Chief among other native English dialects are Canadian English and Australian English, which rank third and fourth in the number of native speakers. For the most part, Canadian English, while featuring numerous British forms, alongside indigenous Canadianisms, shares vocabulary, phonology and syntax with American English, which leads many to recognise North American English as an organic grouping of dialects. Australian English, likewise, shares many American and British English usages, alongside plentiful features unique to Australia and retains a significantly higher degree of distinctiveness from both larger varieties than does Canadian English. South African English, New Zealand English and Irish English are also distinctive and rank fifth, sixth, and seventh in the number of native speakers.

English dialects differ greatly in their pronunciation of open vowels. In Received Pronunciation, there are four open back vowels,, but in General American there are only three, , and in most dialects of Canadian English only two,. In addition, which words have which vowel varies between dialects. Words like bath and cloth have the vowels in Received Pronunciation, but  in General American. The table above shows some of these dialectal differences.

Europe

 * English language in Europe

Great Britain

 * British English

England

 * English language in England (Anglo-English)
 * Received Pronunciation (sometimes called "the Queen's English" or Standard English in British English)
 * Northern
 * Cheshire
 * Cumbrian (Cumbria including Barrovian in Barrow-in-Furness)
 * Geordie (Tyneside)
 * Hartlepudlian (Hartlepool)
 * Lancastrian (Lancashire)
 * Mackem (Sunderland)
 * Mancunian (Greater Manchester)
 * Northumbrian (Northumberland and northern County Durham)
 * Pitmatic (former mining communities of Northumberland and County Durham)
 * Scouse (Merseyside)
 * Smoggie (Teesside)
 * Yorkshire
 * East Midlands
 * Lincolnshire
 * East Lincolnshire
 * West Midlands
 * Black Country
 * Brummie (Birmingham)
 * Potteries (north Staffordshire)
 * Coventry
 * East Angle
 * Norfolk
 * Suffolk
 * Southern
 * Cockney (working-class London and surrounding areas)
 * Essaxon (Essex)
 * Estuary (middle-class London, Home Counties and Hampshire)
 * Pompey dialect (Portsmouth)
 * Kentish (Kent)
 * Multicultural London (London)
 * Sussex
 * West Country
 * Anglo-Cornish
 * Bristolian
 * Janner (Plymouth)
 * Dorset

Elsewhere

 * Scottish English comprising varieties based on the Standard English of England.
 * Highland English
 * Welsh English
 * Abercraf
 * Anglesey
 * Cardiff
 * Gower
 * Gwynedd
 * Port Talbot
 * Wrexham

Ireland

 * Hiberno-English (Irish English)
 * Ulster
 * Belfast
 * Derry
 * South Ulster
 * Ulster Scots dialects
 * West Donegal
 * Leinster
 * Dublin
 * Dublin 4 (D4)
 * Inner city
 * Suburban Dublin
 * Dundalk
 * Wexford town
 * Connacht
 * Galway city
 * Mayo
 * Sligo town
 * Munster
 * Cork city
 * Waterford
 * Kerry
 * Tipperary
 * Limerick city

Extinct

 * Forth and Bargy dialect (also known as Yola), thought to have been a descendant of Middle English, spoken in County Wexford
 * Fingallian, another presumed descendant of Middle English, spoken in Fingal

Elsewhere

 * Channel Island English
 * Danish English
 * Greenlandic English
 * Dutch English
 * Euro English
 * Finnish English
 * German English
 * Gibraltarian English
 * Manx English
 * Norwegian English
 * Swedish English

North America
[[File:North American English dialect regions.jpg|400px|thumb|Dialects of English spoken in Canada and the United States.

1. Standard Canadian English 2. Western American English 3. North-Central American ("Upper Midwest") English 4. Inland Northern American ("Great Lakes") English 5. Midland American English 6. Southern American English 6a. Texan English 6b. Inland Southern American ("Appalachian") English 7. Western Pennsylvania ("Pittsburgh") English 8. Mid-Atlantic American ("Baltimore" and "Philadelphia") English 9. New York City English 10. Southwestern New England English 11. Southeastern New England ("Rhode Island") English 12. Northwestern New England ("Vermont") English 13. Northeastern New England ("Boston" and "Maine") English 14. Atlantic Canadian English ]] North American English

United States
American English:
 * Cultural and ethnic American English
 * African American English ("Ebonics")
 * African-American Vernacular English
 * Boontling
 * Cajun Vernacular English
 * Hawai‘i English
 * Latino (Hispanic) Vernacular Englishes
 * Chicano English (Mexican-American English)
 * Miami English
 * New York Latino English
 * Pennsylvania Dutch English
 * Yeshiva English
 * American Everyday English
 * General American: the "standard" or "mainstream" spectrum of American English.
 * American English
 * Regional and local American English
 * Appalachian English
 * New England English
 * Eastern New England
 * Boston and Maine: Greater Boston, including most of eastern Massachusetts
 * Rhode Island
 * Tangier
 * Southeast super-region
 * Mid-Atlantic (Delaware Valley)
 * Baltimore
 * Philadelphia
 * Midland
 * North Midland: Iowa City, Omaha, Lincoln, Columbia, Springfield, Muncie, Columbus, etc.
 * South Midland: Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Topeka, Wichita, Kansas City, St. Louis (in transition), Decatur, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Dayton, etc.
 * "Hoi Toider"
 * New Orleans
 * Southern
 * Southern Appalachian: Linden, Birmingham, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Asheville, and Greenville
 * Texas Southern: Lubbock, Odessa, and Dallas
 * Upper Dixie: Smyrna, Nashville, Murfreesboro, and Munster Ireland
 * New York City
 * Northern
 * Inland Northern: Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, Western New York, the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, and most of the U.S. Great Lakes region
 * Western New England: Connecticut, Hudson Valley, western Massachusetts, and Vermont
 * North Central (Upper Midwestern): Brockway, Minot, Bismarck, Bemidji, Chisholm, Duluth, Marquette, etc.
 * Upper Peninsula of Michigan ("Yooper")
 * Western
 * Californian
 * New Mexican
 * Utahan
 * Northwestern
 * Wyomese
 * Western Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh)
 * Extinct or near-extinct American English
 * Older Southern American English
 * Transatlantic accent

Canada
Canadian English:
 * Atlantic Canadian English
 * Cape Breton English
 * Lunenburg English
 * Newfoundland English
 * Standard Canadian English
 * Quebec English
 * Ottawa Valley English
 * Pacific Northwest English

Caribbean

 * Caribbean English

The Bahamas

 * Bahamian English

Barbados

 * Bajan English

Belize

 * Belizean English

Bermuda

 * Bermudian English

Cayman Islands

 * Cayman Islands English

Falkland Islands

 * Falkland Islands English

Guyana

 * Guyanese English

Honduras

 * Bay Islands English

Jamaica

 * Jamaican English

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

 * Vincentian English

Trinidad and Tobago

 * Trinidadian English

Bangladesh

 * Bangladeshi English (Benglish or Banglish)

Brunei

 * Brunei English

Burma

 * Burmese English

Hong Kong

 * Hong Kong English

China

 * Chinese Pidgin English (Extinct)

India
Indian English:
 * Standard Indian English
 * Indian English: the "standard" English used by administration and educated people, it derives from the British Raj.
 * Regional and local Indian English
 * East Region
 * Oriya English
 * Assamese/Bengali English
 * North-East Indian English
 * West Region
 * Gujarati English
 * Maharashtrian English
 * North Region
 * Hindustani English or Hinglish
 * Delhi/Punjabi English
 * U.P./Bihari English
 * Rajasthani English
 * South Region
 * Telugu English
 * Kannada English
 * Tamil English
 * Malayali English

Japan

 * English in Japan
 * Engrish

Malaysia

 * Malaysian English

Middle East

 * Middle Eastern English (or Arablish)

Nepal

 * Nepali English

Pakistan

 * Pakistani English

Philippines

 * Philippine English (similar to American English)

Singapore

 * Singapore English, (similar to British English)

Sri Lanka

 * Sri Lankan English (SLE)

Cameroon

 * Cameroonian English

The Gambia

 * Gambian English

Ghana

 * Ghanaian English

Kenya

 * Kenyan English

Liberia

 * Liberian English
 * Merico language

Malawi

 * Malawian English

Namibia

 * Namlish

Nigeria

 * Nigerian English (similar to American English and British English)

Sierra Leone

 * Sierra Leonean English

South Africa

 * South African English (similar to Australian English, British English and Zimbabwean English)
 * Black South African English
 * Acrolect
 * Mesolect
 * Cape Flats English
 * Indian South African English
 * White South African English
 * Broad accent
 * General accent
 * Cultivated accent

South Atlantic

 * South Atlantic English spoken on Tristan da Cunha and Saint Helena

South Sudan

 * South Sudanese English

Uganda

 * Ugandan English

Zambia

 * Zambian English

Zimbabwe

 * Zimbabwean English (Shares similarities with British English and other Southern Hemisphere Englishes especially South African English)

Australia
Australian English (AusE, AusEng):
 * Cultural
 * General Australian
 * Broad Australian
 * Cultivated Australian
 * Australian Aboriginal English
 * Regional
 * South Australian English
 * Western Australian English
 * Torres Strait English
 * Australian Chinese Vernacular English
 * Victorian English
 * Queensland English
 * Tasmanian English. Rough terrain and long history of habitation promotes a diverse phonological situation. The Trap-Bath split has a consistent yet different distribution than mainland Australia.

Fiji

 * Fiji English (FijEng, en-FJ)

New Zealand
New Zealand English (NZE, en-NZ)
 * Maori English
 * Southland accent
 * Taranaki accent

Antarctica

 * Antarctic English

Tristan da Cunha

 * Tristan da Cunha English see: South Atlantic English

World Global English
These dialects are used in everyday conversation almost all over the world, and are used as lingua francas and to determine grammar rules and guidelines.
 * Standard English
 * International English
 * English as a lingua franca