What are the 3 main dialects of English in the United Kingdom?
The three largest recognisable dialect groups in England are Southern English dialects, Midlands English dialects and Northern English dialects. The most prominent isogloss is the foot–strut split, which runs roughly from mid-Shropshire (on the Welsh border) to south of Birmingham and then to the Wash.
What are the five main dialects in England?
So the five principal dialects of ME were: Southern, Kentish (the SE of England), East Midlands, West Midlands and Northern (see Map 4).
What is the dialect in UK?
British English (BrE) or UK English is the standard dialect of the English language as spoken and written in the United Kingdom.
Why do the British say me instead of my?
‘ This is common enough in UK and Australian speech; but where the word is emphasized, the full form ‘my’ [mai] is used. It is, I think, not really the accusative ‘me’ here, but a development of ‘my’, which in Middle English was [mi:] with a long vowel. When unstressed, this was shortened to [mi].
Why do British say free instead of three?
If you drop the “th” and say something like “FREE,” you’re probably from London or the South East. The result is surprising because data from 60 years ago shows there was broad agreement in England in favour of “THREE.” Only North Londoners said “FREE.” (The historic data was collected only from England.)
How many dialects are there in Middle English?
Five major dialects of Middle English have been identified (Northern, East Midlands, West Midlands, Southern, and Kentish), but the “research of Angus McIntosh and others…
Does English have dialects?
The major native dialects of English are often divided by linguists into three general categories: the British Isles dialects, those of North America, and those of Australasia. Dialects can be associated not only with place but also with particular social groups.
Why do Brits say go to hospital instead of go to the hospital?
Originally Answered: Why do the British say “in hospital” instead of “in the hospital?” The short answer is that “in hospital” and “to hospital” are a natural lexical collocation of British speech. In other words, it’s a combination of words that are commonly used together in British speech.
Why don t British use the word the?
It is not necessary to say “go to the hospital” or “go on the holiday”, when talking in a general sense. Use of the word ‘the’, means that the sentence is in a particular sense. A reference to one, particular example. “go to the hospital” will mean going to one, particular hospital.
Why do Brits pronounce TH as f?
Why do some English speakers pronounce TH-sounds as F- or V-sounds? Welcome to TH-fronting. This results in words like “thing” becoming “fing,” or “brother” becoming “bruvver” — and it can also make “three” and “free” sound identical.
What is Chaucer’s English is called?
The best known writer of Middle English, Geoffrey Chaucer, wrote in the second half of the 14th century in the emerging London dialect, although he also portrays some of his characters as speaking in northern dialects, as in the “Reeve’s Tale”.
What languages are spoken in London England?
Language of london. The official language of London is English and it is also the most widely spoken language. As the city is home to people from various countries, around 300 languages are spoken in Greater London.
What are the different languages spoken in Europe?
Bulgarian
How many different accents are there in England?
There are about 56 main “accent types” in the British Isles (or less controversially the “Anglo-Celtic Isles”), but within each of those accent types there are scores or even hundreds of distinctive variations. An example would be the Yorkshire accents which are officially given only 1 entry.
What English dialect do you speak?
The language you speak is English; the dialect is American English (or rather, American English is a group of dialects, one of which you speak). Similarly, British English is also a dialect of English, even though it can be thought of as the “original” dialect.