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List of dialects of the English language
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This is a list of dialects of the English language. Dialects are linguistic varieties which differ in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar from each other and from Standard English (which is itself a dialect).
Dialects can be usefully defined as "sub-forms of languages which are, in general, mutually comprehensible".[1] British linguists distinguish dialect from accent, which refers only to pronunciation. Thus, any educated English speaker can use the vocabulary and grammar of Standard English. However, different speakers use their own local words for everyday objects or actions, regional accent, or Received Pronunciation, which within the U.K. is considered an accent distinguished by class rather than by region. American linguists, however, include pronunciation differences as part of the definition of regional or social dialects. The combination of differences in pronunciation and use of local words may make some English dialects almost unintelligible to speakers from other regions. The major native dialects of English are often divided by linguists into the three general categories of the British Isles dialects, those of North America and those of Australasia.[2]
Contents
By continent
Europe
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United Kingdom
England
- Northern (In the northeast, local speech is akin to Scots)[3]
- Cheshire
- Cumbrian (Cumbria including Barrovian in Barrow-in-Furness)
- Geordie (Tyneside)
- Lancastrian (Lancashire)
- Mackem (Sunderland)
- Mancunian (Manchester)
- Northumbrian (rural Northumberland)
- Pitmatic (Durham and Northumberland)
- Scouse (Liverpool)
- Smoggie (Teesside)
- Yorkshire (also known as Broad Yorkshire)
- East Midlands
- West Midlands
- Black Country
- Brummie (Birmingham)
- Potteries (north Staffordshire)
- Telford (east Shropshire)
- East Anglian
- Southern
- Received Pronunciation
- Cockney (working-class London and surrounding areas)
- Essaxon (Essex)
- London
- Estuary (Thames Estuary)
- Kentish (Kent)
- Multicultural London (Inner London)
- Sussex
- West Country
Scotland
Wales
Northern Ireland
Isle of Man
Channel Islands
Republic of Ireland
- Cork
- Dublin
- Dublin 4 (D4)
- Inner city
- Donegal
- Kerry
- Limerick city
- Midlands
- North East
- Sligo town
- Waterford city
- West
- Wexford town
Extinct
- Yola, thought to have been a descendant of Middle English, spoken in County Wexford[4][5]
- Fingallian, another presumed descendant of Middle English, spoken in Fingal[4]
Malta
North America
United States
- General American, a very commonly used dialect
- Cultural
- Regional
- New England English
- Northeastern: Boston accent
- Southeastern (Rhode Island)
- Northwestern (Vermont)
- Southwestern (Connecticut)
- Boston Brahmin accent
- Hudson Valley English
- Mid-Atlantic dialects
- Inland Northern American English (Lower Peninsula of Michigan, northern Ohio and Indiana, Chicago, part of eastern Wisconsin and upstate New York)
- Upper Midwest American English (Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and parts of Iowa)
- Yooper dialect (Upper Peninsula of Michigan and some neighboring areas)
- Midland American English (central United States)
- North Midland (Kansas City, Omaha, Columbus, Ohio, and Indianapolis)
- South Midland (Kentucky, Southern Indiana, Southern Illinois, southern Missouri, Arkansas, southern Kansas, and Oklahoma)
- Miami accent
- Southern American English
- Southwestern dialects
- Western American English
- New England English
Canada
Bermuda
Native/American indigenous peoples
Native American English dialects:
- Mojave English
- Isletan English
- Tsimshian English
- Lumbee English
- Tohono O'odham English
- Inupiaq English
Central and South America
Belize
Honduras
Falkland Islands
Caribbean
Anguilla
Antigua
The Bahamas
Barbados
Jamaica
Trinidad and Tobago
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Asia
Brunei
Burma
Hong Kong
Pakistan
Thailand
India
Nepal
Malaysia
- Malaysian English (Manglish)
Philippines
- Philippine English (PhE)
- Taglish
Singapore
- Singapore English (SE)
Sri Lanka
- Sri Lankan English (SLE)
Africa
Cameroon
Kenya
Liberia
Malawi
Namibia
Nigeria
South Africa
South Atlantic
- South Atlantic English spoken on Tristan da Cunha and Saint Helena[8]
Uganda
Oceania
Australia
Australian English (AusE, AusEng):
- Cultural
- Regional
New Zealand
New Zealand English (NZE, NZEng):
Other
Constructed
Manual encodings
These encoding systems should not be confused with sign languages such as British Sign Language and American Sign Language, which, while they are informed by English, have their own grammar and vocabulary.
Pidgins and creoles
The following are portmanteaus devised to describe certain local creoles of English. Although similarly named, they are actually quite different in nature, with some being genuine mixed languages, some being instances of heavy code-switching between English and another language, some being genuine local dialects of English used by first-language English speakers, and some being non-native pronunciations of English. A few portmanteaus (such as Greeklish and Fingilish) are transliteration methods rather than any kind of spoken variant of English.
- Anglish (English stressing words of Germanic origin)
- Arabish (Arabic English, mostly chat romanization)
- Army creole (military dialect of acronyms and profanity)
- Bajan Creole (Barbadian English)
- Benglish (Bengali English)
- Bislish (Bisaya English)
- Corsish (Corsican English)
- Chinglish (Chinese English)
- Czenglish (Czech English)
- Danglish (Danish English)
- Dunglish (Dutch English)
- Engrish/Japlish (Japanese English) - most popularly refers to broken English used by Japanese in attempts at foreign branding.
- Finglish (Finnish English)
- Franglais (French English)
- Denglisch/Germlish/Genglish/Ginglish/Germish/Pseudo-Anglicism (German English)
- Greeklish (Greek English)
- Guyanese English
- Hebrish (Hebrew English, chat romanization) – also sometimes used to refer to English written with Hebrew characters
- Hinglish (Hindi English)
- Hunglish (Hungarian English)
- İngilazca (English with Karadeniz-Turkish accent)
- Italgish (Italian English)
- Konglish (South Korean English)
- Manglish (Malaysian English)
- Malglish (Maltese English)
- Nigerian Pidgin 30-75 million speakers, including L2.
- Norwenglish (Norwegian English)
- Poglish/Ponglish (Polish English)
- Porglish (Portuguese English)
- Punglish (Punjabi English)
- Rominglish/Romglish (Romanian English)
- Runglish (Russian English)
- Serblish (Serbian English) and Cronglish/Croglish/Croenglish
- Sardish (Sardinian English)
- Sheng (a Swahili-English cant; originated among urban youths Nairobi, Kenya)
- Siculish (Sicilian English)
- Singlish (Singapore English, multiple pidgins)
- Spanglish (Spanish English)
- Swanglish/Kiswanglish (Swahili English)
- Swenglish (Swedish English)
- Taglish (Tagalog English)
- Tanglish (Tamil and English)
- Tenglish (Telugu and English)
- Tinglish/Thailish (Thai English)
- Ukrainglish (Ukrainian English)
- Vinish (Vietnamese English)
- Wenglish (Welsh English)
- Yeshivish (Yeshiva English)
See also
- Survey of English Dialects
- Regional accents of English
- History of the English language
- Anglish
- Macaronic language
- European English
- English-based creole languages
- List of Chinese dialects
- World Englishes
References
- ^ Wakelin, Martyn Francis (2008. First published 1978). Discovering English Dialects. Oxford: Shire Publications. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-7478-0176-4. Check date values in:
|date=(help) - ^ Crystal, David. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, Cambridge University Press, 2003
- ^ JC Wells, Accents of English, Cambridge University Press, 1983, page 351
- ^ a b Hickey, Raymond (2005). Dublin English: Evolution and Change. John Benjamins Publishing. pp. 196–198. ISBN 90-272-4895-8.
- ^ Hickey, Raymond (2002). A Source Book for Irish English (PDF). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing. pp. 28–29. ISBN 90-272-3753-0.
ISBN 1-58811-209-8 (US)
- ^ http://www.hawaii.edu/satocenter/langnet/definitions/hce.html
- ^ "Virginia's Many Voices". Baconsrebellion.com. Retrieved 2010-11-29.
- ^ Daniel Schreier, Peter Trudgill. The Lesser-Known Varieties of English: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press, Mar 4, 2010 pg. 10
External links
| This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. (August 2010) |
- Sounds Familiar? Listen to examples of regional accents and dialects from across the UK on the British Library's 'Sounds Familiar?' website
- English accents and dialects A browsable collection of recordings by the British Library
- Sound Comparisons – accents of English from around the world Hear and compare how the same 110 words are pronounced in 50 English accents from around the world – instantaneous playback online
- A national map of the regional dialects of American English
- Voices in your area--BBC (sound archive of local speech in the UK, Isle of Man and Channel Islands)
- whoohoo.co.uk British Dialect Translator Translate text into regional dialects from the British Isles
- IDEA – International Dialects of English Archive
- Runglish
- Speech accent archive
- Dialect poetry from the English regions
- American Languages: Our Nation's Many Voices - An online audio resource presenting interviews with speakers of German-American and American English dialects from across the United States
- The Dialect Dictionary Compilation of dialects from around the globe
- http://web.ku.edu/~idea/ The International Dialects of English Archive