Why did dialects develop in england

There will be places that reflect more of a Liverpudlian sound and others that lean more towards Mancunian. Nevertheless, there are no boundaries, and accents and dialects will continue to merge into and out of each other gradually, over both space and time.

When we're meeting someone for the first time, we generally want to make a positive lasting impression. We may want to look and smell our best to present ourselves in the most positive way. But have you ever pondered whether you're also being judged once you open your mouth? Your subconscious does, which is why our diction and timbre may change when we go to a job interview or meet our partners' parents.

What you have to remember is that all of this is completely socially constructed. No accent is better or worse from a linguistic point of view.

Over time, society has given accents and dialects their relative prestige and this has developed into a self-fulfilling ideology. Sign In Create Account. A deep dive into why your voice sounds the way it does. The same can be said about the United States, where the language has been used for years. However, it is not the time scale alone that explains this wealth of dialects.

We also have to understand what happened to the language during those years. So, let's take a leap back in British history Invasions and migration have to a great extent been a driving force in the development of dialects and accents in Britain.

In the fifth century, Germanic tribes from the northwest of the European continent began settling on the island. The settlers consisted of three different peoples: the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes. Since the first two groups were the largest, the settlers came to be known collectively as Anglo-Saxons. They all brought with them distinct dialects of their native Germanic language, the language we today call Anglo-Saxon or Old English.

The Anglo-Saxons would settle in different parts of England: the Angles mostly settled in the Midlands and eastern parts of England, the Saxons in the areas west and south of the Thames River, and the Jutes primarily in Kent and along the South Coast. Over time, these different settlement patterns resulted in the emergence of different Old English dialects, which again gave rise to the different accents of the British English we know today. Around AD, the first Vikings arrived on British soil.

Some of them were indeed the pirates and looters of popular legend. However, most were farmers and traders who lived very similar lives to the Anglo-Saxons.

Within a short period of time, you could find permanent Viking settlements in Scotland and England. In the areas where the Vikings settled, Old English would adopt linguistic features from Old Norse, which was the language of the Vikings, and again new dialects would emerge. We still see traces of Old Norse in English, particularly in the dialects of Northern England, which is where many of the Vikings settled. For example, if you go to York or Jorvik, as the Vikings called the town , you will see that many of the streets in the city centre have strangely recognisable names such as Swinegate, Davygate, and Stonegate.

In , the French speaking Normans invaded England. The French language, which was very different from Old English, became a language for the elite and for the ruling class.

It was a language of prestige and status, and for English speakers with ambitions in life, it was necessary to learn French. English had low status among the ruling classes, and before long, the distinction between those who spoke French and those who spoke English was not ethnic but social. It was not until the 15th century that English again had become the most prestigious language variety in England, perhaps with the exception of Latin.

The English language went through drastic changes during the Norman period. French words started seeping into the language, especially words associated with such things as government, law, art, and religion. Ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality and age can all affect language usage. And there are also personal reasons for using dialects and accents to identify yourself. I have lived in England for 16 years, but you can still hear my Scottish accent and that is unlikely to change.

And as the modern world becomes increasingly connected, linguists have wondered whether dialects and accents in general are bound to disappear. But while there is much discussion about the disappearance of dialects and accents, public interest in the subject is growing. A consensus has not yet been reached. But differences persist , and speakers in Liverpool still sound very different to speakers in Plymouth.

In my opinion, dialects and accents are here to stay. Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox. Explore SBS. Why does the UK have so many accents? Read More. How multiculturalism is changing the way we speak. Who am I? Why hasn't Australia developed more diverse regional accents?

Published 17 January at pm , updated 17 January at pm. Language Europe. Topics that may interest you National.