Authors
Kevin Watson
Publication date
2007
Journal
Grant & Grey (2007)
Pages
215-241
Description
In language, one thing is certain. Change is inevitable. Every aspect of language words, grammar and pronunciation-changes over time. English, French, German, Chinese, or any other language will be very different in a hundred years from how it is today. The same can be said of varieties within a language. The varieties of English spoken in Newcastle, London, Liverpool, and elsewhere, are all different today from how they used to be. Change has occurred for a variety of different reasons. For example, as transport and communication improved, people came into contact with others from outside their own region much more frequently. When speakers of different varieties come into close contact with each other, their accents begin to change. Linguistic features from each of the different varieties begin to merge together, and new features are innovated. Indeed, as we can see in Patrick Honeybone's chapter in this book, this is exactly how certain features of Liverpool English were'born'in the nineteenth century. But change does not stop once a dialect has been born. Just as languages and dialects have been changing forever, they will continue to change. This chapter examines phonological change in Scouse. Questions that are considered include:(i) have the phonological features that were introduced into Liverpool English from varieties of Irish been maintained by young Liverpudlians?(ii) Are there new aspects of pronunciation in Scouse that have been innovated more recently? And if so,(iii) are these features likely to have been introduced into Scouse because of close contact between the English spoken in Liverpool and that of nearby …
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