HENA03637U Engelsk - Frit emne: Accents of English: The British Isles

The pronunciation of English varies immensely across the British Isles, but how exactly does a Geordie or Yorkshire accent differ from a London / Cockney accent. How can word pairs like pane–pain, daze–days be homophones in most accents of English but not in some parts of Wales? And is H Dropping only characteristic of a working-class London accent (Cockney), like that of Eliza and Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady? And why did Professor Higgins find it so important for Eliza to change her accent? In this survey course we will examine a range of English accents found across the British Isles. Our primary activity will be to listen to, analyse and discuss accent samples from Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, supported by various readings on accent variation and change. We will cover not only the regional variation, but also social variation, that is, how accents vary across socio-economic classes, gender etc. This will also include an introduction to language attitudes, especially to pronunciation variation in the UK. The course will serve as an introduction to studying language variation, including a range of different theories and methods, and our sessions will include demonstrations of and practical exercises in analysing accents/pronunciation using specialised software.