Dialect Vocabulary (lexis)
There is still a great deal of lexical diversity within the UK, as demonstrated, for instance, by the variety of words used for bread roll in different parts of the country. If you live in Lancashire you might buy a barm cake, whilst people from Leeds would ask for a bread cake. At a baker’s in Derby you might be offered a cob and on a visit to Coventry you might eat a batch, although each of these words refers pretty much to the same item.
Accent (phonology)
The way individuals pronounce certain words is often a good clue to their background. Speakers who do not pronounce the initial “h” in the word house, for instance, immediately reveal something about themselves. Perhaps the most salient feature of pronunciation in Great Britain is the distinction between speakers in the north who generally pronounce words such as bath, grass and dance with a short vowel – rather like the vowel in the word cat – and those in the south, who use a long vowel for these words – rather like the sound you are asked to produce when a doctor examines your throat. Thus one can immediately deduce something about a person who pronounces baths to rhyme with maths or pass to rhyme with mass.
Dialect Grammar
Grammar refers to the structure of a language or dialect. A grammar describes the way individual words change their appearance, such as when the word play becomes played to indicate an event in past time and also the way in which words are combined together to form phrases or sentences. In Yorkshire dialect, for instance, a speaker might mark the past tense of to be by saying I were, you were, he, she and it were, we were, they were whereas speakers of other dialects might differentiate by using I was and he, she and it was. You should avoid the temptation to draw misguided conclusions about what is “correct” and “incorrect” grammar, however: the Yorkshire pattern is in fact more regular and indeed mirrors the model for every other verb in English – consider I played, you played, I went, you went and so on. Instead you should make a distinction between “standard” and “non-standard” grammar, where “standard” grammar refers to a variety that has become widely acknowledged as a prestigious form, mainly due to its use by people in positions of authority and because of its universal acceptance as the written norm. Just as speakers with a broad accent do not reflect their pronunciation in writing, most people whose speech is characterised by features of non-standard grammar, consciously switch to more standard forms in writing. However, there is a great deal of difference between written and spoken language, both in terms of purpose and audience and this is reflected in their different grammars.
Attitudes to language variety
Unfortunately, some dialects of English have historically been viewed more positively than others and individuals often suffer as a result of irrational prejudice against the way they speak. It is important to stress that, from a purely linguistic point of view, no particular dialect is better at communicating meaning than another. The fact that prestigious or highly regarded forms exist is more a reflection of value judgements based on social, rather than linguistic, criteria. In an increasingly homogeneous society, the vocabulary, structure and sounds that define the speech of a particular region, should be and indeed are for many speakers, a source of great pride and an important expression of cultural identity.
