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An accent is the way a person pronounces a language — the set of phonological features (consonant and vowel realisations, prosodic patterns, and connected speech processes) that characterise a particular speaker or group of speakers. Accents are shaped by geographical region, social class, age, gender, and individual identity. For AQA A-Level English Language, you need to be able to identify, describe, and analyse specific accent features using phonological terminology.
It is essential to distinguish between accent (pronunciation features only) and dialect (which includes grammar and vocabulary as well as pronunciation). Two speakers might use the same dialect (Standard English) but have very different accents (RP vs Geordie vs Glaswegian).
Received Pronunciation (RP) is the accent traditionally associated with educated speakers of Southern British English. It is the accent used in most English pronunciation dictionaries and is often used as the reference accent for describing other British accents.
Key features of RP:
It is important to note that RP is spoken by only a small minority of the British population (estimated at 2-3%). It is not inherently "better" or "more correct" than any other accent — it is simply the most widely documented and the conventional reference point for comparison.
Key Definition: Received Pronunciation (RP) — the standard reference accent of British English, traditionally associated with educated speakers of Southern England. RP is non-rhotic and serves as the basis for most pronunciation dictionaries.
Rhoticity refers to whether /r/ is pronounced in postvocalic positions — that is, after a vowel and before a consonant or at the end of a word.
| Type | Description | Example | Accents |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rhotic | Post-vocalic /r/ is pronounced | "car" = /kɑːr/; "bird" = /bɜːrd/ | General American, Scottish, Irish, West Country, Lancashire |
| Non-rhotic | Post-vocalic /r/ is NOT pronounced | "car" = /kɑː/; "bird" = /bɜːd/ | RP, most of England, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa |
In non-rhotic accents, /r/ is only pronounced before a vowel sound ("red," "carry"). This is the environment that produces linking /r/ and intrusive /r/ (discussed in Lesson 4).
This is one of the most socially salient features of English accents in England:
| Feature | Pronunciation | Region |
|---|---|---|
| BATH = /ɑː/ | "bath" = /bɑːθ/, "grass" = /grɑːs/, "dance" = /dɑːns/ | RP, Southern England, most of the Midlands |
| BATH = /æ/ | "bath" = /bæθ/, "grass" = /græs/, "dance" = /dæns/ | Northern England (north of the isogloss), most of North America |
The words affected include: bath, grass, dance, chance, plant, can't, half, laugh, path, past, after, ask, castle. This is called a split because the BATH words historically had the same vowel as TRAP words, but in Southern England the vowel lengthened and backed to /ɑː/ during the 17th-18th centuries.
| Feature | Pronunciation | Region |
|---|---|---|
| FOOT ≠ STRUT | "put" = /pʊt/; "putt" = /pʌt/ — different vowels | RP, Southern England |
| FOOT = STRUT | "put" = /pʊt/; "putt" = /pʊt/ — same vowel | Northern England |
In Northern English accents that lack this split, words like "cup," "luck," "blood," and "flood" are pronounced with /ʊ/ rather than /ʌ/. This is historically the older pronunciation — the STRUT vowel /ʌ/ developed in the South during the 17th century.
H-dropping is the deletion of the phoneme /h/ at the beginning of stressed words:
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