British English

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British English ( British English )

Spoken in

United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
speaker > 65 million
Linguistic
classification
Official status
Official language in United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom

British English ( British English ; short BE or BrE ) is the name given to the variety of the English language as the British Isles spoken and under the name British Standard English as a written language is used.

The term British English is ambiguous and is used and understood differently depending on the context. So it can refer to the language of England, the language of Great Britain or the language of the British Isles. Finally, British English is sometimes referred to only as the spellings of English words, as defined in British as opposed to American dictionaries. Often, British English means the English language in Great Britain, occasionally just the English language, since Irish English and Scottish English have now established themselves as independent variants of English.

British English differs from other variants of the English language, such as American English, in that it has its own pronunciation, as well as its own vocabulary and grammar. In particular, the UK's prestigious standard pronunciation, Received Pronunciation (RP), is used in the media and education in many countries. In the UK, however, RP is only used by a few speakers, as most Britons have a regional accent. The vocabulary is also characteristic of British English. B. British chips vs. French frieze in American English.

classification

Together with other national variants of English, such as American English , Irish English, or New Zealand English , British English is referred to as a variety of the English language. British English is one of the varieties of English that is usually the mother tongue of its speakers. Other varieties, such as Indian English , are official languages ​​of their country and are used in administration and education, but are often the second languages of most speakers.

British English, along with American English, is a major variety of English. Either British or American English is used in many countries, e.g. B. in the Caribbean, Africa or Hong Kong, regarded as the norm.

history

The origins of English in Britain date back to the 7th century when the Germanic tribes of the fishing , Saxony and Jutes translated from mainland Europe to England and conquered parts of England. The language of the Germanic conquerors replaced the language of the originally Celtic- speaking natives. The language at the time is known as Old English , but in fact it is a number of dialects. The Germanic language of Old English changed with the conquest of England in 1066 by the French Normans , because with the influence of the French-speaking upper class, many words from French found their way into the English vocabulary, which is why one speaks of the Middle English language period from around 1100 . In the Middle English period, English was the language of the lower social classes and was characterized by many regional variants without a national standard. The first tendencies towards standardization can only be observed around 1500, when English increasingly displaced French and Latin from the areas of jurisdiction, government, administration and education. In the early New English period from 1500 onwards, a standard was increasingly established, the pronunciation and spelling of which originated mainly in the southern English region around London . With the establishment of a state school system in the 19th century, a supra-regional standard pronunciation also prevailed, the Received Pronunciation .

Modern English spread around the world through emigration and colonization . In countries such as the United States of America , Canada and Australia , English became the national language and is spoken by the majority of the population. These national languages ​​are considered to be separate varieties of the English language. In contrast to z. B. of the variety of American English, the English spoken in Great Britain is referred to as British English. The term British English has been used since the 19th century; a first document is dated from the Oxford English Dictionary from 1869.

Geographical distribution

With a history spanning more than 1500 years, British English is characterized by a particularly large regional and social variation, which distinguishes it from more recent variants of English such as Australian English, which is much more homogeneous due to its shorter history. A distinction can be made between traditional dialects, which today are mainly spoken by older people in rural areas, and today's modern dialects, which are spoken by most speakers in the British Isles. Among the traditional dialects there are also some urban dialects; The Geordie in Newcastle and the Cockney in London have achieved particular fame outside of England .

Dialects and sociolects

British Regiolects of English

Geographical breakdown of the Regiolects in England

Today's English regiolects can be roughly divided into a northern and a south-eastern major variant. The north encompasses the northern regions of England from the border with Scotland to the West and East Midlands . The South Midlands, East Anglia and the south-east of England including the region around London are dominated by the southern large variant. Furthermore, one can speak of a western variant, which includes Lancashire and the south west as far as Cornwall .

Characteristic of the northern regiolects (Midlands, North) is the realization of the common in southern England Loud / ⁠ ʌ ⁠ / such as in but , cut as / ⁠ ʊ ⁠ / and [⁠ æ ⁠] such as in back, sad as [⁠ a ⁠] . The West is largely characterized by the fact that the r is spoken in all positions (so-called rhotic accents ).

A distinction from these regional dialects in England is the Scots and Scottish English , which is spoken in Scotland and is often classified as a separate national variant of English. The Irish English which is divided into a Northern Ireland and southern Irish main variant, not part of the British English, but is its own variety of English.

Traditional dialect regions in England
  • Northumberland , also areas in Scotland
  • Lower North , also areas in Scotland
  • Lancashire
  • South Yorkshire
  • Staffordshire , also areas in Wales
  • Leicestershire
  • Lincolnshire
  • Northern Southwest , also areas in Wales
  • Eastern Southwest
  • Western Southwest
  • Central East
  • Southeast
  • Eastern Counties

Sociolects

In addition to regional dialects, one can also observe great social variation in British English. Regional and social variants often overlap: dialect use is more likely to be associated with low social status. An example of a sociolect that is restricted to one region is the Cockney, the English of the London working class.

Although a large majority of Britons have a regional accent, dialectal speech is often seen as a flaw. The dialect betrayed “ignorance” and was considered an obstacle to social advancement. Experiments have shown that Received Pronunciation (RP) speakers are rated more intelligently, more diligently and more confidently than non-RP speakers, even by non-RP speakers themselves. The pronunciation of a student also has a significant influence on the assessment by teachers and thus his school success. There is some evidence that attitudes towards regional accents have changed since the early 20th century, but prejudices still remain.

slang

Slang is a term for a "careless colloquial language", especially in the Anglo-American area. The French argot corresponds to it . The term slang is not clearly defined, and slang is often associated with vulgar language , crook or cant, jargon and sub-standard language. Depending on the context, slang is not only used for a very informal colloquial language, but also as a term for group or special language or sociolect .

Vulgar language can be found in all languages, evidence of this can already be found in Latin in Roman times, but compared to today's slang, vulgar language is limited to a few expressions. The term slang first established itself for the English language, from the 20th century it was also related to forms of colloquial language in other languages.

Slang can be specific to a regional variant of English, e.g. B. the British slang word bollocks 'nonsense' . British slang words can differ from American slang, which can lead to misunderstandings: If an English woman asks the American receptionist of the American hotel to be woken up the next morning and knock up the words that are harmless to her. If used, the American will be upset because for him (to) knock up is a slang expression for 'impregnate (a woman)' and he consequently associates it with completely different things.

Other examples of British slang include the following words used by working-class gangs in Glasgow in the 1960s: crap-bag 'coward' , square-going 'unarmed fight', or peter 'police' or 'detention cell'. The Cockney Rhyming Slang , a secret language of the London crooks of the 19th century that is still used today, is particularly well known :

Slang word meaning
bird lime time 'time'
bees and honey money 'money'
Hampstead Heath teeth 'teeth'

Received Pronunciation

With the term Received Pronunciation (RP) , generally accepted pronunciation ' pronunciation of British English is known that more educated than the neutral, non-regional accent speaker is perceived. RP is often associated with speakers from the south-east of England who have been trained at one of the English public schools. RP is an accent that is sometimes referred to as Queen's English, King's English, or Oxford English . Another term is BBC English , because for a long time the BBC took care in its recruitment policy to give preference to speakers with RP accents.

In fact, RP is the pronunciation of a small minority in Britain. At the beginning of the 21st century it was estimated that RP was only spoken by 3–5 percent of speakers in England, the rest having a more or less pronounced regional accent. While RP was still the unrestricted standard at the beginning of the 20th century, moderate regional accents are now acceptable and are perceived as more likeable than the upper class RP. Even the BBC has relaxed its speaker recruitment policy to this end.

RP is different from the regional standards spoken in Scotland , Wales and Ireland . Strictly speaking, RP is a standard in southern England. B. Standard Scottish English is the accepted norm, now also in the media.

Despite these developments, RP is still the reference system for the dialects in the British Isles, but also for the other varieties of the English language. In large parts of Germany and in most other European countries, RP forms the basis of English foreign language teaching .

A distinction is made between different RP pronunciation varieties: Conservative RP , General RP and Advanced RP .

General Received Pronunciation

RP is mainly characterized by the following distinctive pronunciation features:

Vowel square with indication of the tongue positions of the monophthongs in the General RP
  • RP distinguishes between (closed) tense and (open) untensioned vowels , the length of which depends on the consonant that follows them. Before voiced consonants and sonorants they are longer, before voiceless consonants they are pronounced briefly without changing their sound quality. The front vowels are generally not rounded, the back vowels are rounded and the central vowels are spoken with a neutral lip position.
  • Pronunciation of / r / only in pre-vocal and inter-vocal positions.
  • intrusive, r /: insertion of a / r / at syllable boundaries where two vowels meet. Example: law and order , where between law and and a / r / is spoken.
  • Differentiation between palatal / l / and velar / l /.
  • No distinction between behauchtem and unbehauchtem / w / (No difference in the pronunciation of the / w / between whales and Wales ).

Few - mostly elderly - people in the British Isles still speak Conservative RP , an accent that is characterized by an extremely distinguished articulation. A distinction is made between exhaled and non-exhaled / w /; the diphthong in home and the vowel in lord are pronounced more closed than in the general RP .

Advanced RP and Estuary English

Already Alfred C. Gimson , a student of Daniel Jones, established a "modern" RP pronunciation in the 1960s, which he called Advanced RP . RP has always been an accent based on the southeastern dialects. Advanced RP , which was mostly adopted by young people from the upper classes, was now characterized by the fact that the entire vocal system of the Conservative RP described by Daniel Jones became more open, in that the entire articulation basis became more open and ultimately only represented a centralization of the entire vocal system. Advanced RP was still RP, however, and by the 1960s this modern speech was increasingly heard in the media. Above all, the fact that the RP of the "old people" and the "rich" was perceived more and more as being overly distinguished (elegant) and elitist contributed to this.

Since the south-eastern dialects of England were generally characterized by a more open and lax pronunciation, an Advanced RP accent tended to match dialects such as B. to become similar to the Cockney and Essex dialect . The vowel in good has been rounded off and the vowels in see and mood have now been diphthonged slightly, while the diphthongs themselves have been lengthened a little. The intonation of the "RP", which was undoubtedly "Southeast English", tended more and more towards the Southeast dialects.

In 1984 David Rosewarne, an English teacher who taught foreigners, coined the term Estuary English , which he described as a language variant that can be described as a mixture of typical Southeastern pronunciation features with RP, a kind of middle thing between the London accent ( Cockney ) and RP. It is more precisely a further development of the Advanced RP and an accent that avoids the snobbery associated with RP and is increasingly used by younger speakers.

The characteristics of Estuary English are:

  • Glottal ( glottal stop ) as a substitute for / t / and between vocal word syllable boundary.
  • Replacement of the dark / l / by / o /, L-Vocalization
  • Replace / tj / and / dj / with [ tʃ ] and [ dʒ ] ( tune and dune are pronounced like [ tʃuːn ] and [ dʒuːn ]).

grammar

As with vocabulary, there is little difference between Standard British English and other English national varieties such as American English. However, there are some grammatical constructions that are more typical of British English.

These include:

  • Use of have as a main verb: In British English, the verb have in the meaning of 'haben', 'haben' allows you to distinguish between the auxiliary verb and the main verb, so that the example sentence Has he (got) any children? (Auxiliary verb + participle = 'Does he have children?'), Which is about a permanent possession, with the example sentence Do you have a letter from her? (Main verb = 'Did you have a letter from her?') Contrasts. In American English, a paraphrase (to) do is preferred in both cases .
  • Irregular verb forms: American English has some regular verb forms compared to British English such as burned , smelled , learned , while in England burnt, smelt and learned are preferred. In contrast, the irregular verb form dove (from (to) dive ) , which is often used in the USA, is not used in British.
  • Different use of shall : In British English, the modal verb shall is also used for ' shall ', i.e. Where shall I put my bag?
  • Article: The article tends to be left out before names of institutions, e.g. B. he goes to university or she is in hospital .
  • Differing use of prepositions: In some cases, British Standard English uses different prepositions than American English, e.g. B. different to or different from in contrast to AmE different than .

vocabulary

Most of the vocabulary in British Standard English belongs to the common vocabulary core , i.e. H. one can find great similarities in vocabulary in all varieties of English. Differences between British English and other varieties of English such as American English are e.g. B. came about because other variants of English either obsolete or retained dialect forms that no longer exist in British English, such as B. fall in American English and autumn in British English. In addition, many non-British variants of English have borrowed words from other languages ​​to add words to their vocabulary that do not exist in British English.

However, a small part of the vocabulary is typical of British English because it describes specific conditions for the United Kingdom, such as the comprehensive school 'Gesamtschule' , for which it is e.g. For example, in American English there is only high school , which is not an exact equivalent. Other examples include barrister 'lawyer who has the right to speak in higher courts' , don 'university professors, especially at Cambridge and Oxford', or downs 'low, grassy hills, especially chalk hills, as in the south of England' .

The spread of mass media such as For example, in American films in Great Britain and other English-speaking countries, American English is gaining increasing influence over British English, which is also reflected in the vocabulary. There are some American vocabulary that have since supplanted the British equivalents; B. radio (AE) instead of the original BE wireless , AE sweater instead of the original BE jumper or AE soft drinks instead of BE minerals .

example

The following audio sample is an example of a British English speaker (Received Pronunciation):

British English audio sample

See also

literature

British English as an English variety

  • Alexander Bergs , Laurel J. Brinton (Eds.): The History of English: Varieties of English . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2017, ISBN 978-3-11-052279-2 .
  • Klaus Hansen, Uwe Carls, Peter Lucko: The differentiation of English into national variants. An introduction. Erich Schmidt, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-503-03746-2 .
  • Bernd Kortmann, Clive Upton (Ed.): Varieties of English 1: The British Isles. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2008, ISBN 978-3-11-019635-1 .
  • Peter Trudgill, Jean Hannah: International English. A guide to the varieties of Standard English. 5th edition. Routledge, London / New York 2008, ISBN 978-0-340-97161-1 .

pronunciation

Regional and social variants

  • Arthur Hughes, Peter Trudgill, Dominic Watt: English Accents and Dialects. 5th edition. Hodder Education, London 2012, ISBN 978-1-4441-2138-4 .
  • Peter Trudgill: The Dialects of England. Basil Blackwell, Oxford 1990, ISBN 0-631-13917-6 .
  • Peter Trudgill: Language in the British Isles. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1984, ISBN 0-521-24057-3 .

slang

  • Julie Coleman (Ed.): Global English Slang. Methodologies and Perspectives. Routledge, London / New York 2014, ISBN 978-0-415-84268-6 .
  • Jonathon Green: Language! 500 Years of the Vulgar Tongue. Atlantic Books, London 2014, ISBN 978-1-84887-898-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Pam Peters: Standard British English. In: Alexander Bergs , Laurel J. Brinton (Eds.): The History of English: Varieties of English . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2017, ISBN 978-3-11-052279-2 , pp. 96–97.
  2. ↑ Peter Trudgill: Standard English in England. In: Peter Trudgill (Ed.): Language in the British Isles. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1984, ISBN 0-521-24057-3 , p. 32.
  3. ↑ Klaus Hansen, Uwe Carls, Peter Lucko: The differentiation of English into national variants: an introduction. Erich Schmidt, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-503-03746-2 , pp. 30-34.
  4. ↑ Peter Trudgill: The Dialects of England. Basil Blackwell, Oxford 1990, ISBN 0-631-13917-6 , p. 9.
  5. ↑ Peter Trudgill: The Dialects of England. Basil Blackwell, Oxford 1990, ISBN 0-631-13917-6 , p. 51.
  6. ↑ Peter Trudgill: The Dialects of England. Basil Blackwell, Oxford 1990, ISBN 0-631-13917-6 , pp. 51-55.
  7. ↑ Jenny Cheshire: Indigenous nonstandard English varieties and education. In: Peter Trudgill (Ed.): Language in the British Isles. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1984, ISBN 0-521-24057-3 , pp. 546-547, 556.
  8. ^ Hadumod Bußmann: Lexicon of Linguistics . Kröner, Stuttgart 1983, ISBN 3-520-45201-4 , p. 465.
  9. ^ Jonathon Green: Language! 500 Years of the Vulgar Tongue. Atlantic Books, London 2014, ISBN 978-1-84887-898-3 , pp. 11-16.
  10. ^ Jonathon Green: Language! 500 Years of the Vulgar Tongue. Atlantic Books, London 2014, ISBN 978-1-84887-898-3 , p. 22.
  11. ↑ Julie Coleman (Ed.): Global English Slang. Methodologies and Perspectives. Routledge, London / New York 2014, ISBN 978-0-415-84268-6 .
  12. ↑ Julie Coleman (Ed.): Global English Slang. Methodologies and Perspectives. Routledge, London / New York 2014, ISBN 978-0-415-84268-6 , p. 6.
  13. ^ Collins German Dictionary. English-German Dictionary / English-German. 2nd Edition. HarperCollins, Glasgow 1992, p. 70.
  14. ↑ Collins German Dictionary: English-German Dictionary / English-German. 2nd Edition. HarperCollins, Glasgow 1992, p. 369.
  15. ^ William O'Grady, Michael Dobrovolsky, Francis Katamba: Contemporary Linguistics. An Introduction. 3. Edition. Longman, London / New York 1996, ISBN 0-582-24691-1 , p. 556.
  16. ^ William O'Grady, Michael Dobrovolsky, Francis Katamba: Contemporary Linguistics. An Introduction. 3. Edition. Longman, London / New York 1996, ISBN 0-582-24691-1 , p. 558.
  17. ^ A b A. C. Gimson: The RP Accent. In: Peter Trudgill: Language in the British Isles. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1984, ISBN 0-521-24057-3 , pp. 45-46.
  18. ↑ Arthur Hughes, Peter Trudgill, Dominic Watt: English Accents and Dialects. 5th edition. Hodder Education, London 2012, ISBN 978-1-4441-2138-4 , p. 4.
  19. ^ Lynda Mugglestone: Received Pronunciation. In: Alexander Bergs, Laurel J. Brinton (Eds.): The History of English. Varieties of English. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2017, ISBN 978-3-11-052279-2 , pp. 160–161.
  20. ↑ Arthur Hughes, Peter Trudgill, Dominic Watt: English Accents and Dialects. 5th edition. Hodder Education, London 2012, ISBN 978-1-4441-2138-4 , pp. 42-51.
  21. ↑ Arthur Hughes, Peter Trudgill, Dominic Watt: English Accents and Dialects. 5th edition. Hodder Education, London 2012, ISBN 978-1-4441-2138-4 , pp. 5-6.
  22. ↑ Ulrike Altendorf: Estuary English. In: Alexander Bergs, Laurel J. Brinton (Eds.): The History of English. Varieties of English. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2017, ISBN 978-3-11-052279-2 , p. 173.
  23. ↑ Klaus Hansen, Uwe Carls, Peter Lucko: The differentiation of English into national variants. An introduction. Erich Schmidt, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-503-03746-2 , pp. 51-52.
  24. ↑ Klaus Hansen, Uwe Carls, Peter Lucko: The differentiation of English into national variants. An introduction. Erich Schmidt, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-503-03746-2 , pp. 52-53.
  25. ↑ Klaus Hansen, Uwe Carls, Peter Lucko: The differentiation of English into national variants. Erich Schmidt Verlag, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-503-03746-2 , p. 124.
  26. ↑ Klaus Hansen, Uwe Carls, Peter Lucko: The differentiation of English into national variants. An introduction. Erich Schmidt, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-503-03746-2 , p. 50.
  27. ↑ Peter Trudgill, Jean Hannah: International English. A guide to the varieties of Standard English. 5th edition. Routledge, London / New York 2008, ISBN 978-0-340-97161-1 , p. 92.