English Accents & Dialects, Fifth Edition Answers to in-text exercises

Chapter 5
Note: questions relate to the accent & dialect of the city or area referred to in the section title.

London Cockney
1. Fill in the gaps in the following:

(a) The consonant in the middle of the word water may be realized as [ʔ], rather than as [t].
(b) The initial sound in thin and the final sound in breath may be / f /, rather than / θ /.
(c) The second consonant in bother and the final consonant in breathe may be / v /, rather than / ð /.
(d) Initial /p t k/ are heavily aspirated.

2. Describe the difference between the pronunciations of paws and pause.

The vowel of paws is an ingliding (or centring) diphthong, [ɔə]. The vowel is diphthongal because the
phonology of this variety treats the vowel as occurring syllable-finally, in spite of the plural –s
morpheme that follows it. Non-final /ɔː/, as in pause, is pronounced with the monophthong [ɔː].

3. In what phonological environments is /l/ realized as a vowel? What effect does this
vocalization have on preceding vowels?

/l/ is vocalized where it occurs finally post-vocalically (e.g. Paul, well); pre-consonantally within the
same syllable (e.g. milk); or where it occurs as a syllabic consonant (e.g. table). Where it follows /ɔː/,
/l/ may be elided altogether.

Where /l/ is vocalized the vowels representing /l/, which are typically fairly close, back and often
rounded – e.g. [ʊ ɤ o] – can affect the qualities of preceding vowels such that the phonetic
distinctions between pairs of words like pool and pull, doll and dole, and peal and pill, are neutralized.

London West Indian

1. Describe the articulation of /k/ where it follows a back vowel in this variety.

/k/ may be retracted to a uvular [q] following a back vowel, as in e.g. card.

2. What is the name given to the habit of realizing /θ/ as [t] (or [ʔ]) and /ð/ as [d] in
words like nothing and those?

This phenomenon is known as (th)-stopping.

3. How is the ‘velar nasal plus’ typically realized in London English pronunciations of
e.g. something?

[ŋk]

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Norwich
1. What is noteworthy about the pronunciation of the word few in Norwich?

Yod-dropping is a characteristic feature of East Anglian English. That is, the yod (the /j/ following
the initial consonant in words like few, tune, cute, etc.) may be omitted. Few would therefore be
pronounced /fuː/.

2. Give examples of words which are homophones in RP but which are distinct in
Norwich English.

Moan and mown; sole and soul; nose and knows.

3. Give an example of homophones in Norwich speech which are distinct in RP.

Moan and moon; boat and boot.

4. How is <-ing> (in, for example, walking) pronounced?

[ən]

Bristol
1. What is the ‘Bristol /l/’?

The Bristol /l/ is an epenthetic or ‘excrescent’ consonant that may appear after word-final /ə/, e.g. in
America, pasta, Eva, etc. The name ‘Bristol’ itself is an example of this phenomenon: the city was
previously called Bridgestow or Bristow.

2. In what obvious ways does the Bristol pronunciation of the word bard differ from
that in RP?

The vowel is [a] rather than /ɑː/, and there is an audible post-vocalic /ɹ/ because Bristol English is
rhotic.

3. Fill in the gaps in the following:

(a) There is no / a / ~ / ɑː / contrast in Bristol speech. The pronunciation of daft and hat illustrates
this.
(b) The vowel in the word cup is / ə /. In Bristol there seems not to be a / ə / ~ / ʌ / contrast.

Southampton
1. On what major consonantal feature does the traditional classification of
Southampton English with the south-western accent group depend?

Rhoticity (overtly realized post-vocalic /ɹ/) as in car or farm.

2. What vowel pronunciation feature can be used to justify Southampton English’s

inclusion in the south-western group?

The pronunciation of /aɪ/ with a back and rounded nucleus, i.e. [ɒɪ].

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English Accents & Dialects, Fifth Edition Answers to in-text exercises

3. Fill in the gap in the following:

Where phonetic contrast between vowels preceding /l/ is lost, the vowels are said to be neutralized.

4. Comment on /h/-dropping in this variety.

Traditionally, Southampton English is an /h/-dropping variety, though the two speakers represented
in the speech samples provided do not exhibit this feature. It is possible that /h/ is re-emerging
among younger speakers, as is the case in working-class London speech.

South Wales
1. In what way does /l/ differ from RP in South Wales’ accents?

/l/ is ‘clear’ (palatalized) in all environments.

2. Fill in the gaps in the following:

(a) The vowels in words like bird exhibits lip rounding.

(b) Between vowels, when the first vowel is stressed, consonants may be doubled [or geminated].
(c) /a/ and /ɑː/ are distributed largely as in the north of England, but are normally distinguished by
length [or duration].

3. In what ways is Welsh English influenced by Welsh?

The intonation of Welsh English is heavily influenced by Welsh. Some native speakers of Welsh may
produce rhotic pronunciations of English words like car or farm.

West Midlands
1. In which ways can the accent be classified as northern, and in which ways does it
resemble a southern accent?

West Midlands speech is northern in that /a/ is found in words such as dance, daft, glass, bath, etc.,
and because there is no /ʌ/~/ʊ/ distinction (words like bus and cup take /ʊ/, and put and putt are
homophones).

It follows the southern pattern in that the final vowel of city, seedy, etc., is /i/ rather than the typical
northern /ɪ/, although the vowel is generally realized as a closing diphthong, which may be as wide as
[ɜi].

2. What is the vowel in the word one?

It is /ɒ/, rather than /ʊ/ (the latter being the vowel in won).

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3. Indicate the West Midlands pronunciations of the following vowels on a vowel

quadrilateral chart: /ɪ iː uː aɪ eɪ əʊ/.

Leicester
1. What are the key differences between East Midlands accents and West Midlands
ones?

East Midlands English has:

• /ɪ/ in words like city (West Midlands accents have /i/, often realized as a closing diphthong)
• no ‘velar nasal plus’, i.e. /ŋɡ/, in words like sing or singer (this feature is present in the West
Midlands)
• (in traditional rural varieties), yod-dropping, i.e. no /j/ in words like few. This does not occur
in West Midlands English.

2. Give an example of homophones in a Leicester accent which are distinct in RP.

Put and putt

3. Fill in the gaps in the following:

/l/ is clear [or palatalized] in syllable-initial position in this accent, as in leaf, but is usually dark or
can even be vocalized in syllable-final position, as in feel.

Bradford
1. Fill in the gaps in the following:

(a) The words gas and grass have the same vowel, which is / a /.
(b) The words rush and push have the same vowel, which is / ʊ /.
(c) The final vowel in words like city is / ɪ /.

2. Describe the realizations of /eɪ/ and /əʊ/.

These vowels are generally the open-mid monophthongs [ɛː] and [ɔː], respectively, but may be
narrow diphthongs ([eɪ] or [oʊ]). In a small set of words spelled with <–eigh> (eight, weight, etc.),
the vowel can be /ɛɪ/. Thus, wait and weight are not homophonous. Similarly, words with <ow> and

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<ou> (knows, soul) may have [ɔu], meaning that nose and knows are not homophones. /əʊ/ may be a
centralized monophthong [əː] or [ɵː], such that joke and jerk may be barely distinguishable.

3. In what way can a Yorkshire accent generally be distinguished from a Lancashire

accent?

The quality of the /aʊ/ diphthong may be quite dissimilar in the two accents, with Yorkshire English
having [aʊ] and some speakers of Lancashire English having a fronter quality in the region of [ɛʉ].
Some varieties of Lancashire English, e.g. the variety spoken in Accrington, are still rhotic. Rhoticity
is absent in Yorkshire English, although it persisted as a common feature of the speech of some rural
areas of the East Riding until recent times.

4. Give a phonemic transcription of Bradford as pronounced by someone with a West

Yorkshire accent.

/ˈbɹatfəd/

Hull
1. What phonetic and phonological features distinguish this (East Yorkshire) variety
from Bradford (West Yorkshire)? Cite three features.

• The vowel of city and seedy is /i/ rather than the West Yorkshire form /ɪ/. The
pronunciation of this vowel in Hull may be a wide diphthong, at [əi].
• In East Yorkshire, the vowel of fir, fur, etc. may be markedly fronted to [ɛː], as in
Liverpool and Middlesbrough English.
• /p t k/ may be pre-aspirated in final positions in Hull English, but this feature is not
attested in Bradford.

2. What phonological feature is used to contrast pairs like bad and bard, or pack and
park, in Hull speech?

Vowel length/duration.

3. Fill in the gaps in the following:

(a) The process which might have operated in Hull English to keep the vowel of words like jerk and
turn separate from that of joke and tone is called homophonic clash avoidance.
(b) The short voiceless glottal fricative that often occurs before the stop closure in the plosives /p t k/
in words such as cup, cut, and luck is known as pre-aspiration.

4. What conditions the monophthongization of /aɪ/ in this variety?

A following voiced consonant, as in e.g. surprise or time.

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English Accents & Dialects, Fifth Edition Answers to in-text exercises

Liverpool
1. In what ways is the Liverpool accent northern? In which way does it resemble
southern English accents?

Northern features include: /a/ rather than /ɑː/ in path, glass, etc.; no /ʌ/~/ʊ/ distinction (put and
putt are homophones, with both taking /ʊ/).
Southern features include: /i/ rather than /ɪ/ in city, seedy, etc.; the vowels /eɪ/ and /əʊ/ are
closing diphthongs rather than monophthongs.

2. In a description of Liverpool speech, what is the significance of pairs of words like

fare and fur?

They may be merged, either at /ɛː/ or /ɜː/.

3. Fill in the gaps in the following:

(a) /p t k/ are heavily aspirated [or affricated] and in final position may even be realized as
fricatives.
(b) /ɹ/ is usually a tap.
(c) The word thing can be transcribed [θɪŋɡ].
(d) Velarization is present throughout Liverpool speech, giving it a distinctive quality.

Manchester
1. List three respects in which Manchester English differs phonologically/phonetically
from Liverpool English.

• The final vowel of city and seedy in Manchester is /ɪ/ rather than /i/, as in Liverpool.
• In Manchester English, pairs like fair and fur are distinct.
• Glottalling of /t/ is common in Manchester English, but not in Liverpool English.

2. The final /ə/ in words such as better or father may be [ ɒ ].

3. Comment on the realization of /l/ in Manchester English.

/l/ is dark (velarized) [ɫ] in all environments, and may be vocalized in coda position.

Middlesbrough
1. In what way does the pronunciation of the words master and plaster differ in
Middlesbrough English from its pronunciation in other varieties in northern England?

The stressed vowel in these words is /ɑː/ (as in RP and southern English varieties) rather than
/a/ (as in other northern English varieties).

2. Give three phrases in which ‘T-to-r’ would be likely to occur in this variety, on the
assumption that the set of affected words is the same as that in other northern English
varieties.

get off; shut up; not ours

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3. With respect to the occurrence of variants of the lateral approximant, how does
Middlesbrough English differ from Tyneside English?

In Middlesbrough English, /l/ is typically quite dark in all positions, whereas in Tyneside English it is
clear throughout.

4. Fill in the gaps in the following:

Where /t/ is realized as [ts] it is said to be affricated; where /t/ is realized with an [s]-like quality it is
said to have been spirantized.

5. What does the fact that eight and ate form a minimal pair in Middlesbrough English
tell you about the vowel system of this accent?

That this variety possesses an extra vowel phoneme relative to other varieties in which the words
eight and ate are homophones, i.e. that there is a systemic difference between the phonologies of
Middlesbrough English and other varieties.

Carlisle
1. Post-vocalic /ɹ/ does not occur consistently among older Carlisle speakers. We
therefore say that Carlisle English is variably rhotic [variably non-rhotic is also
acceptable].

2. In what phonological context is the alveolar tap [ɾ] favoured in this variety?

Intervocalic context, e.g. in very or far away.

3. Manchester and Carlisle are grouped together (geographically, rather than

linguistically) as being in the north-west of England. What distinguishes the accents of
these cities in terms of the realization of /l/?

/l/is clearer in Carlisle than in Manchester. In the latter variety it is generally dark in all contexts,
while in Carlisle clear /l/ may be found in coda position.

4. Identify a vowel feature of Carlisle speech in respect of which it resembles traditional

Scottish and north-eastern English accents.

/əʊ/ is often realized as [oː]; /aʊ/ can be [uː].

Edinburgh
1. List the vowels of Scottish English as they are described in this book.

/i ʉ e ɪ o ɛ ʌ ɔ a ae ʌʉ ɔe/

2. Assign each of the words in the word list to one of the vowels you have listed.

/i/ bee, beer, seedy, meet, meat

/ʉ/ put, boot, pull, pool, poor

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/e/ bay, city, seedy, fair, plate, weight, mate

/ɪ/ pit, bird, city, fir
/o/ boat, board, pole, nose, knows, pour
/ɛ/ pet, bear, fern
/ʌ/ putt, fur
/ɔ/ pot, Paul, doll, cot, caught, pore, paw, pause, paws
/a/ pat, bard, hat, dance, daft, half, father, farther
/ae/ buy, tide, tied
/ʌʉ/ bout
/ɔe/ boy

3. Comment on the following pairs of words: witch~which, pull~pool, tide~tied.

witch~which: these words are not homophonous, owing to the distinction between the voiced labial-
velar approximant /w/ and the voiceless labial-velar fricative /ʍ/ that is preserved in Scottish
English.

pull~pool: there is no RP-like distinction between /ʊ/ and /uː/ in Scottish English, so pull and pool
are homophones. Both are /pʉl/.

tied~tide: the vowel quality used in these two words is different, as a consequence of the operation of
the so-called Scottish Vowel Length Rule (formerly known as ‘Aitken’s Law’). The rule is sensitive
to the manner of articulation and the voicing of a following consonant within a syllable, if there is
one. Vowels – most particularly /i ʉ ae/ – are long where they precede voiced fricatives and /ɹ/, and
in open (vowel-final) syllables. Elsewhere they are short. The presence of a morpheme boundary is
also relevant: vowels in polysyllabic words like brewed are still treated as syllable-final by the rule,
and therefore the vowel of brewed is long but that of brood is short. There is also a qualitative
difference in /ae/ as a function of the Scottish Vowel Length Rule, whereby [ʌi] is the short variant,
and [ae] the long one. In tide, the following consonant is a voiced stop, so the vowel is short ([tʌid]),
while in tied ([taed]) the vowel is long, because of the presence of the morpheme boundary.

Aberdeen
1. What is special about the way in which the first consonant is traditionally
pronounced in words like where, what and when?

In Aberdeen English, /ʍ/ is traditionally realized as [f] or [ɸ]. It may also be [ʍ].

2. Fill in the gaps in the following:

(a) /p t k/ in word-initial position are only very lightly aspirated. Their voiced counterparts, / b /,
/ d / and / ɡ /, may be pre-voiced, meaning that voicing starts before the stop closure is released.
(b) As in other Scottish accents there is no RP-like / a / ~ / ɑː / distinction in the open vowels, but
the vowel of words like chap or that is much further back [or retracted] than is typical for, say,
Edinburgh speech.
(c) The vowels of the words fir, fern and fur have not undergone merger, a historical change that is
evident in RP, but retain their original qualities / ɪ /, / ɛ / and / ʌ /, respectively.

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Belfast
1. In what ways is the Belfast vowel system different from that of Edinburgh?

• There is a phonemic contrast between /ɔː/ (e.g. caught) and /ɒ/ (e.g. cot) before the voiceless
plosives /p t k/.
• The quality of /a/ varies with context (a retracted variant is used before /f/ and /s/, e.g. laugh,
pass, while a raised and fronted variant [ɛ] can be heard in words in which it precedes the velars
/ɡ ŋ/, as in bag and bang).
• In open syllables such as day or say, a monophthong [ɛː] is used rather than the more regular
ingliding (centring) diphthongs [ɛə] or [iə]. Days and daze, which are homophones in Edinburgh
English, therefore contrast in Belfast English.

2. What determines the length of vowels?

Vowels are short before /p t k tʃ/ and long before other consonants, or when final. This set of
conditioning factors resembles the Scottish Vowel Length Rule.

3. What consonant may be lost between vowels? Give an example of a word in which
this may happen.

/ð/ may be elided in intervocalic environments. Examples are mother [ˈmɔ̈ːəɻ] and another [əˈnɔ̈ːəɻ].

4. As in Scottish English, which consonant is present, although it is variably absent in

most urban accents of England and Wales?

/h/ is present.

Dublin
1. Fill in the gaps in the following:

(a) As in Wales and in Belfast, /l/ is generally clear [or palatalized] in all syllabic positions.
(b) As in Liverpool English, /p t k/ tend to be strongly aspirated.
(c) The fricatives / θ / and / ð / are often pronounced as dental stops.
(d) As in Scotland, Belfast and south-west England, post-vocalic /ɹ/ [or rhoticity] occurs.

2. Comment on /a/ and /ɑː/ in Dublin English.

/a/ is pronounced [a], while /ɑː/ is pronounced [aː]. The vowels are distinguished principally by
length, rather than by quality and length together, and are distributed across the lexicon much as they
are in RP.

Galway
1. What is the Hiberno-English slit /t/?

This is the name given to the [s]-like, sometimes ‘whistled’ pronunciation of word-final /t/ that can
be heard in Irish English. It is similar to /s/ but the two fricatives are auditorily and acoustically
distinct.

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2. Fill in the gaps in the following:

(a) In Galway English, /d/ and /ð/ tend not to be distinct, and words like brother have /d /. [/ʊ/, /ʌ/,
and /ʊ/ might also be acceptable answers here.]
(b) The vowel /a/ in words like mad, happy, etc. is [æ̝ ], and is therefore close to the extent that it
can often sound like /ɛ/, as in bed.
(c) As in the north of England, /ʊ/ and /ʌ/ are not distinct, such that cud and could are homophones.

Devon
1. Which voiceless RP consonants may be voiced in Devon speech? In what linguistic
environment?

/f θ s ʃ/ may be voiced in word-initial position.

2. In which way do the vowels in lace and soak differ from their RP equivalents?

The vowels may be the long close-mid monophthongs [eː] and [oː], respectively.

3. Fill in the gaps in the following:

(a) Isn’t and wasn’t are pronounced [ˈɪdən ] and [ˈwɒdən].

(b) The present tense of the verb to be for all persons is be.
(c) Tis [tɪz] is the equivalent of Standard English it’s (= it is).

Lancashire
1. Fill in the gaps in the following:

(a) The traditional accents of towns like Accrington and Rochdale in central Lancashire are unusual
for varieties spoken in England in that they are strongly rhotic.
(b) Today, they share this property only with the accents of the south-west [or West Country] region
of England.
(c) The place of articulation of a variant [ɻ] that appears in strongly stressed syllables is retroflex.

2. Give four examples of words (besides those shown in Section 21) that you might
expect to contain hyperdialectal /ɹ/ in this variety.

Plausible examples are spa, Bali, gauze, or awning.

3. Fill in the gap in the following:

Rather than / ɪ /, the vowel in the suffixes –es and –ed is / ə /.

4. ‘Yorkshire devoicing’ occurs in the English of other counties too. Give a brief
description of what this term refers to.

Yorkshire devoicing is the devoicing of voiced consonants before voiceless consonants, as in e.g.
Tadcaster [ˈtaʔkastə], job centre [ˈdʒɒpsɛntə], or big car [ˈbɪˈkːaː].

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Northumberland
1. Fill in the gaps in the following:

The accent is northern in that the vowel [ʊ] occurs in both put and putt, and [a] occurs in both daft
and dance, but resembles southern accents in that the second vowel of city and seedy is [i] rather than
[ɪ].

2. Older forms of the traditional accent of Tyneside lack one vowel, by comparison with
RP. What is it?

/ɜː/

3. What is significant about the pronunciation of /l/?

It is clear (palatalized) in all positions. /l/-vocalization does not occur in this variety.

Lowland Scots
1. Transcribe the following words as they would be pronounced in a broad Lowland
Scots accent:

round [ ɾʉn(d)] harm [ heɾm ] wrong [ ɾaŋ ]

land [ lɔn(d) ] do [ de ] stone [ sten ]

Shetland Islands
1. What is distinctive about the pronunciation of /θ/ and /ð/ in Shetland speech?

These fricatives may be realized as the plosives [t] and [d] respectively, through a process known as
(th)-stopping.

2. Identify another variety discussed in this book in which the phenomenon asked about
in the preceding question also occurs.

London West Indian.

3. Fill in the gaps in the following:

(a) /p t k/ are generally unaspirated, while /b d ɡ/ may be pre-voiced.

(b) Words spelled with <wh-> have the initial phoneme / ʍ /, which in the northern Shetland
Islands may be pronounced with the plosive + approximant sequence [xw]. [Another
possible second answer is [kw].]
(c) Preceding /k/, the vowel /i/ may be [ɪ].
(d) Tied and tide are not homophones, owing to the operation of the Scottish Vowel Length
Rule.

4. What vowel occurs in <wa->-initial words in the Shetland accent?

[a], rather than [ɔ].

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