Peculiarities of British Dialects

Grammar.

Study reveals that Cornish dialect not only has a sound system far removed from Modern English, but also has its own grammar. Flexible word order gives a range of meaning and subtleties that can be difficult to comprehend. Dialect eez sum maezd and sum maezd ee ez both translate as ‘he is very perplexed’ (он очень растерян) but the first emphasises the person while the latter emphasises his state. A preposition combines with a personal pronoun to give a separate word form. For example, gans (with, by) + my (me) -> genef; gans + ef (him) -> ganso.

In Cornish there is no indefinite article: Cath means "a cat" (there is, however a definite article: an gath means "the cat").

Phonetics.

Cornish Dialect has a vowel system similar to Old English:

aa - this sound does not exist in English, as in Cornish tan ‘fire’, e.g. aant ‘aunt’.

a - as in English pan, e.g. pezak ‘rotten’ (гнилой) and stank ‘stamp’.

ae - this sound does not exist in English, as in Cornish men ‘stone’, e.g. aeven ‘throwing’

e - as in English pen, e.g. fesh ‘fish’ and glaazen ‘staring’ (пристальный).

i - as in English pin, e.g. dipa ‘small pit’ (маленькая яма) and pindee ‘gone off’.

ee - as in English preen, e.g. morgee ‘dogfish’ (акула) and geek ‘a peek’ (взгляд украткой).

oa - this sound does not exist in English, as in Cornish mos ‘to go’, e.g. troaz ‘noise’ and noa ‘no’.

o - as in English upon, e.g. porvan ‘wick’ (фитиль).

u - as in English pun, e.g. durns ‘door frame’ and un ‘him, it’.

oo - as in English poo, e.g. gook ‘bonnet’ (шляпка) and fooch ‘a pretence’ (хвастовство). 

2. SCOTTISH ENGLISH

Scots dialect is the speech of those who live in the northern part of the island of Britain, more-or-less defined as north of Hadrian's Wall. The Scottish has a special linguistic status as compared with dialects because of the literature composed in it. The name of Robert Burns, the great national poet of Scotland, is known all over the world. A few line from R.Burns’s poem dedicated to his friend James Smith will illustrate the general character of Scottish:

To James Smith

Dear Smith, the slee'st, pawkie thief,

That e'er attempted stealth or rief !

Ye surely hae some warlock-brief

Owre human hearts;

For ne'er a bosom yet was prief

Against your arts.  

For me, I swear by sun an' moon,

An' ev'ry star that blinks aboon ,

Ye've cost me twenty pair o' shoon ,

Just gaun to see you;

An' ev'ry ither pair that's done,

Mair taen I'm wi' you…

Here slee'st means ‘slyest’ – лукавый; pawkie – cunning, sly - ловкий; e'er – ever – когда-либо; or – ere, before – прежде; rief – robbery, plunder – кража, воровство; hae – have - иметь; warlock-brief – wizard’s contract (with the devil) – дьявольский договор; owre – over - над; prief – proof - недоступный; an' – and - и; blinks – looks smiling – выглядит улыбающимся; aboon – above – на небе, в небесах; o' – of ; shoon – shoes – обувь; gaun – going - собираться; ither – other - другой; mair – more - больше; taen – taken - взятый; wi' – with - с.

Vocabulary.

Aye - yes да

Bonnie - good, nice, beautiful – хороший, красивый

Dee – do

Down South – England - Англия

Mannie - a man – человек, мужчина

Messages - the shoppings (usually food) – покупки (еды)

Mind  - remember – помнить, вспоминать

Pinkie - little finger - мизинец

Poppy – money - деньги

Wee – small - маленький

Wind-ee/wind-ay – window - окно 
 

Grammar.

• Scots tend to say "nae" for "not." So, instead of the word "cannot" the Scots would say "cannae". Similarly, "do not" becomes "dinnae" and so forth.
• Instead of the word "understand" Scots use the word "ken". This word is also occasionally used to substitute for "know" as in "I dinnae ken where the fellow be".
• Where an Englishman might say "lad" or "lass" a Scot will use the diminutive "laddie" or "lassie". A Scot might use these terms for adults, as well.
• Scots will also use "ye" instead of "you".
• Scots will use the word "wee" for "little" or "small".

 

Phonetics.

• The realisation [x] for "ch" in loch, patriarch, technical, etc.
• In ‘length’ and 'strength’ [n] not [ŋ].
• Wednesday is pronounced /wɛdnzde/.

    The following may occur in colloquial speech, usually among the young, especially males.

• The use of glottal stops for [t] between vowels or word final after a vowel, as in butter /bʌ?əɹ/ and cat /ka?/.
• The realisation of the nasal velar in "-ing" as a nasal alveolar "in'", as in talking /tɑ:kin/.
• They usually distinguishes between [ʌur] and [ʌuər], in flour and flower.
• The 'r' is normally rolled at the front of the mouth so 'car' is pronounced as carrrr.
• Some words are shortened, losing bits that slow their roll off the tongue, so 'awfully' becomes offy and 'cannot' becomes canny.

 
 

3.WENGLISH

Welsh English or Wenglish is the dialect of English spoken in Wales by Welsh people. The dialect is significantly modified by Welsh grammar and contains a number of unique words.

Vocabulary.

Aim – to throw - бросать

‘Ambarg – handbag - сумочка

Aye – eye - глаз

Bar – except – кроме, за исключением

Belfago – loudly - громко

Blacklead – pencil - карандаш

Carn – can’t

Credit – to believe - верить

Easy – certainly – конечно, естественно

Feeling – sympathetic - симпатичный

Flag – an unreliable person – ненадёжный человек

Glad and Sorry - on the "never-never" (glad to have it, sorry to have to pay for it) – в кредит

Grizzle - to complain - жаловаться

In a (like a) winky – very quickly – очень быстро

Losins/loshins – sweets - конфеты

Mamgu/myngu – (usually pronounced /mungee/) grandmother - бабушка

On the trot – consecutively – постоянно, последовательно

Pat – cockroach - таракан

Rainin(g) nasty - raining very heavily – лить как из ведра

Salty – expensive - дорогой

Suck-in – disappointment - разачарование

Taffy – toffee - ириска

Yarn - a good joke – хорошая (удачная) шутка 

Phonetics.

Some of the features of Welsh English are

• Use of /x/  in loch, Bach, technology etc.
• Dropping of h in some varieties, ‘house’ sound like ouse.
• Distinction of /w/ and /W/ in ‘wine’ and ‘whine’.
• Distinction of ck and k, i.e. /x/ vs. /k/ in ‘yack’ and ‘yak’.
• Use of the Welsh ll sound /K/ (a voiceless 'l') in Llwyd, llaw etc.
• There is no contrast between [Ù] and [ə]: rubber [rəbə].
• In words like ‘tune’, ’few’, ’used’ we find [iu] rather than [ju:]: tune [tiun].
• When the preceding vowel is short – consonants are doubled:city [sitti:].

 

4. HIBERNO-ENGLISH

Hiberno-English is the dialect of the English language used in Ireland. It is also called Anglo-Irish or Irish English. The basis for the type of English spoken in Ireland is said to be a mixture of the language of Shakespeare and the Irish of the Gaelic earls. The standard spelling and grammar are the same as British English, but especially in the spoken language, there are some unique characteristics, due to the influence of Irish on pronunciation.

Vocabulary.

The vocabulary of Hiberno-English to this day includes many words that are no longer in general use in British English. Delph is still used for ‘crockery’ (глиняная посуда), shore for ‘a sewer’ (труба), mitch for ‘playing truant’ (прогуливающий), bring for ‘take’ (брать), galluses for ‘braces’ (фигурные скобки), and so forth. Interestingly though, some words which were last in general use in British English centuries ago are still current in Ireland, even among the younger generation. A good example of this is the noun bowsie meaning ‘a disreputable drunkard, a lout, a quarrelsome alcoholic’ (пьяница, невоспитанный человек, драчливый алкоголик), which is still in use by all ages. In addition to words classified as ‘obsolete’ or ‘dialectal’ Hiberno-English includes many words taken from Irish, for example, ‘a fool’ is called ‘an ommadhawn’ (Irish ‘amadán’), or ‘a left-handed person’ is called ‘a kithouge’ (Irish ciatóg). Often the Irish diminutive suffix -een is attached to a word, for instance, ‘girleen’ (a little girl). 

Grammar derived from Irish.

• People in rural Ireland have a tendency to avoid the use use of "yes" or "no" when speaking English, e.g:

"Are you finished debugging that software?" "I am"

 "Ты закончил настройку той программы? " "Да я закончил".

 "Is your mobile charged?" "It is"

"Твой мобильный заряжен?""Да, заряжен".

• Irish verbs have two present tenses, one indicating what is occurring at this instant and another used for continuous actions. Rural Irish speakers of English use a "does be/do be" (or "bes", although less frequently) construction to indicate the continuous present:

"They do be talking on their mobiles a lot" – Они много разговаривают по мобильным

• Mirroring the Irish language and almost every other European language, the plural 'you' is distinguished from the singular, normally by using the otherwise archaic English word 'ye':

"Did ye all go to see it?" – Вы все идёте смотреть его?

• They like to use "'Tis" rather than the more standard contraction "It's".
• It is also common to end sentences with 'no?' or 'yeah?':

"He's not coming today, no?"

Он сегодня не придёт, да?

"The bank's closed now, yeah?"

 Банк уже закрыт, да?

• Irish English also always uses the "light l" sound, and the pronunciation of the letter 'h' as 'haitch' is standard.
• Somebody who can speak a language, 'has' a language - a very rural construction:

"She doesn't have Irish" - Она не говорит на ирландском.

Turns of phrase.

• "Am not" is abbreviated amn't by analogy with "isn't" and "aren't" ("Aren't I" would be considered ungrammatical in Ireland). This can be used as a tag question: "I'm making a mistake, amn't I?" – Я делаю ошибку? or as an alternative to "I'm not": "I amn't joking" – Я не шучу.
• Reduplication is not an especially common feature of Irish; nevertheless, in rendering Irish phrases into English it is occasionally used: ar bith corresponds to English ‘at all’, so the stronger ar chor ar bith gives rise to the form ‘at all at all’

"I've no money at all at all" – У меня совсем-совсем нет денег.

• Yoke is typically used in place of the word "thing", for instance, "gimme that yoke there" – дай мне ту вещь.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

CONCLUSION

The most widespread language in the world is English, which is considered to be the international language. During many centuries English was exposed to the influence of different cultures and underwent many changes. That’s why this is not surprising that British English has so many dialects. Dialect is a complete system of verbal communication (oral or signed but not necessarily written) with its own vocabulary and/or grammar. It is used by people from a particular geographical area the size of which can be arbitrary. It follows that a dialect for a larger area can contain plenty of (sub-) dialects, which in turn can contain dialects of yet smaller areas, etc.