CONTEMPORARY VARIETIES OF ENGLISH (Prendergast 2002,
Crystal 2009)
Present
distribution of English.
The different language ecologies. Classification of varieties of
English by social functions. Concepts of variation and variety;
dialect and accent.
Dimensions of variation. Standard/nonstandard
varieties: norms, canons, controls. Methods of study.
English
in the British Isles.
Lancashire
(Northern/Lower North),
Liverpool,
Birmingham
(West Midlands),
Black Country (West Central),
Leicestershire (East Midlands),
Norwich and Norfolk (East Anglia),
Cotswolds (Upper Southwest),
London
(South-east/Home Counties),
Hampshire (Central Southwest),
Devon (Lower Southwest), Wales (North Wales and
South
Wales),
Newcastle (Tyneside / North-east:
Geordie),
Durham (Northeast),
Ayrshire (Lowlands), Scotland (Edinburg,
Glasgow
and
Inverness Scottish), Ireland (Ulster
and Dublin
Irish).
English
in England.
Historical background; rural/urban evolution of varieties.
Progressive (standard and non-standard) features vs. recessive
features. Maps, isoglosses and transition zones Patterns of
communication. Diagnostic features.
English
in Scotland.
Historical background. Varieties and profiles.
English
in Ireland. Historical background. Language shift. Varieties of
input and output in Ireland. Linguistic profiles.
English
in North America.
A historical survey. Origins of the varieties. Differences between
the standards.
Canadian, Northern, Western, Midlander and
Southern USA English.
Northern cities vowel shift. Non-standard varieties:
Southern White, Hispanic,
Black. Rural – urban – general.
English in New
Zealand.
Historical background. Phonology. Lexis.
Bibliographical references
Burchfield, Robert, ed. (1994),
The Cambridge History of English,
Cambridge, CUP.
Ferguson, Charles A. and Heath, Shirley B., eds.
(1981), Language in the USA, Cambridge, CUP.
Milroy, James and Lesley Milroy (1993), Real
English: The Grammar of English Dialects in the British Isles,
Harlow, Longman.
Prendergast, David (2002), Variation, varieties and other
concepts, Ms., UAB.
Trudgill, Peter (1990, 1999), The Dialects of
England, 2nd edition,
