The past, present, and future of English dialects: Quantifying convergence, divergence, and dynamic equilibrium

Abstract

A B S T R A C TThis article reports on research which seeks to compare and measure the similarities between phonetic transcriptions in the analysis of relationships between varieties of English. It addresses the question of whether these varieties have been converging, diverging, or maintaining equilibrium as a result of endogenous and exogenous phonetic and phonological changes. We argue that it is only possible to identify such patterns of change by the simultaneous comparison of a wide range of varieties of a language across a data set that has not been specifically selected to highlight those changes that are believed to be important. Our analysis suggests that although there has been an obvious reduction in regional variation with the loss of traditional dialects of English and Scots, there has not been any significant convergence (or divergence) of regional accents of English in recent decades, despite the rapid spread of a number of features such as TH-fronting. T H E P A S T , P R E S E N T A N D F U T U R E O F E N G L I S H D I A L E C T STrudgill (1990) made a distinction between Traditional and Mainstream dialects of English. Of the Traditional dialects, he stated (p. 5) that:They are most easily found, as far as England is concerned, in the more remote and peripheral rural areas of the country, although some urban areas of northern and western England still have many Traditional Dialect speakers. These dialects differ very considerably from Standard English, and from each other.We gratefully acknowledge funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council for the project Sound Comparisons, 2005Comparisons, -2007. Dan Dediu also thanks the Economic and Social Research Council for a postdoctoral fellowship award held during the preparation of this paper. We would also like to thank the reviewers of this paper for their very helpful (and extensive) comments. 69Language Variation and Change, 22 (2010), 69-104. © Cambridge University Press, 2010 0954-3945/10 $16.00 doi:10.1017 Concerning the Mainstream dialects, he noted that they are primarily associated, in Britain, with the southeast of England, with urban areas, with areas were English has been introduced relatively recently (e.g., the Scottish Highlands), with younger speakers and "with middle-and upper-class speakers everywhere" (p. 6). Compared with the Traditional dialects of English, he suggested (p. 6) that "the Mainstream Modern Nonstandard Dialects differ much less from Standard English and from each other." Trudgill (1990) defined the differences between dialects of English, Traditional and Mainstream, using carefully chosen, example phonetic and phonological features, and summarized the results of these analyses in two maps (pp. 34, 65), as well as in two trees (pp. 35, 67). Given the introductory nature of Trudgill's account of English dialect differences, this approach is perfectly understandable, but it does raise important questions about how we determine the relationships between varieties of a language. Thus we might question why ...

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