Do you call a ‘bread roll’ a cob, batch, bread cake, barm cake or scuffler? How do you pronounce the words cup and plant? And are you sitting or sat while reading this?
The UK is a rich landscape of regional accents and dialects, each evidence of our society’s continuity and change, our local history and our day-to-day lives. British Accents and Dialects captures and celebrates the diversity of spoken English in the second half of the 20th century.
Auf den Seiten der British Library finden Sie thematische Dossiers, Artikel zu einzelnen Aspekten sowie kommentierte Aufnahmen und Lehrmaterial:
British Accents and Dialects celebrates and explores regional and social variation and aspects of continuity and change in the varieties of English spoken in the UK. The content focuses above all on features of spoken English that can be illustrated and supported by actual examples taken from the Library’s extensive collection of sound recordings of authentic speech. The audio content draws on two internationally acclaimed linguistic surveys: the Survey of English Dialects and the Survey of Anglo-Welsh Dialects; and one of Europe’s largest oral history archives, the Millennium Memory Bank. These iconic sound recordings from the latter half of the 20th century are complemented by recordings made by British school students between 2007 and 2011.
British Accents and Dialects features recordings of vernacular speech in 70 locations across the UK and over 600 audio clips chosen to illustrate how accents and dialects vary according to place and how spoken English has changed over time. Articles and interpretation notes written by the Library’s Curator for Spoken English, Jonnie Robinson, examine noteworthy features of vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation and reflect on aspects of British English that prompt academic research and popular debate. In addition, four varieties of contemporary English are explored in detail: Received Pronunciation, Geordie dialect and English as it is spoken in the UK’s Asian and Caribbean communities. Designed to enhance the study and enjoyment of English language, the site contains a dedicated Teachers’ Area supporting the curriculum for GCSE and A Level students and is relevant to undergraduate syllabuses in English Language and linguistics and to advanced learners of English as a Foreign Language.
This content is supplemented by recordings made by visitors to the Library’s Evolving English exhibition in 2010/11, which includes speakers of all ages from all over the UK and beyond, enabling users to explore well-known British accents, discover familiar and emerging varieties of English around the world and listen to non-native speakers from across the globe.