English in the Southwest of England

Presentation of a Regional Variation of English

Term Paper (Advanced seminar) , 2008 , 17 Pages , Grade: 1,7

English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics

Since English is one of the most widespread languages in the world, a vast number of varieties can be found all over the world. These varieties all differ from each other and are marked by regional and social aspects. Investigating these aspects helps to prevent misunderstandings (e.g. the same words meaning different things in different varieties) and offers a lot of information on historical topics. Very often research is done on geographically far away territories as it is the case between Britain and America. This is a pity since there are a lot of varieties within British border which are worth being discussed. That is why this paper deals with a regional variety situated in England: The south-western variety. This essay will give an overview on the English spoken in the Southwest of England.
But before the essay is focused on this regional variety chapter two will present dialectology to the reader. What is dialectology? Which are its aims? Where is the difference between Dialect and Accent? Why is observing regional variation so important? To what extend influences social status the occurrence of a social variation? All these questions will be dealt with in chapter two in order to make the reader aware of the importance of language study and especially dialectology.
Chapter 3 then will deal with ‘English in the Southwest’. After a short presentation of the difficulties of locating exactly ‘south-western’, the boundaries of the regional variation are defined. Next will be a presentation of characteristics of the region in order to make the in the next chapter presented features of south-western language easier to understand.
The presentation of linguistic features will include phonetics, grammar and lexis. It will be based on Martyn F. Wakelin’s The Southwest of England, since not much research has been done on that topic and the work of Wakelin seems to be the most adequate for this paper. Furthermore, this essay will not present every feature which can be found when talking about the dialect. Mentioning all would not be capable for an essay of this size, hence shall the reader keep in mind that the features and examples are only a subjective selection by the author and could be extended endlessly. The last part of this essay will be a conclusion, summing up what was said in the term paper.

Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Dialectology
  • 2.1 What is Dialectology? Dialect vs. Accent
  • 2.2 Regional Variation
  • 2.3 Traditional vs. Mainstream Dialects
• 3. English in the Southwest of England
  • 3.1 Boundaries of South-western England
  • 3.2 Characteristics of the area
  • 3.3 Features of Southwest English
    • 3.3.1 Phonetic Features
    • 3.3.2 Grammatical Features
    • 3.3.3 Lexical Features
• 4. Conclusion

Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)

This essay aims to provide an overview of the English spoken in the Southwest of England. It begins by introducing the field of dialectology, defining key terms, and explaining the importance of studying regional variation. The essay then focuses on the specific features of Southwest English, including its phonetic, grammatical, and lexical characteristics.

• The importance of studying regional variation in language
• The distinction between dialect and accent
• The linguistic features of Southwest English
• The role of social status in language variation
• The historical development of regional dialects

Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)

Chapter 1 introduces the topic of regional variation in English and highlights the importance of studying the Southwest English dialect. Chapter 2 provides an overview of dialectology, defining terms like dialect and accent and exploring the relationship between language variation and social status. Chapter 3 examines the specific features of Southwest English, including its phonetic, grammatical, and lexical characteristics, drawing on the work of Martyn F. Wakelin.

Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)

The primary keywords and focus topics of this essay include dialectology, regional variation, dialect, accent, Southwest English, phonetic features, grammatical features, lexical features, and social status.

• College: University of Duisburg-Essen (Department of Anglophone Studies )
• Course: Language, Variation and Change
• Grade: 1,7
• Author: Jens Strohmeyer (Author)
• Publication Year: 2008
• Pages: 17
• Catalog Number: V118299
• ISBN (eBook): 9783640214822
• ISBN (Book): 9783640320226
• Language: English
• Tags: English, Southwest, England, Language, Variation, Change, Variety, Dialectology, Dialectologie, Regional, Regional Variation