Editing British English (section)

== Dialects ==
{{see also|English language in England|Scottish English|Welsh English|Northern Irish English|Irish English|Anguillan Creole|Montserrat Creole|Bermudian English|Falkland Islands English|Cayman Islands English|Gibraltarian English|Manx English|Channel Island English}}
{{IPA notice}}[[List of dialects of the English language#Europe|Dialects]] and [[Regional accents of English|accents]] vary amongst the four [[countries of the United Kingdom]], as well as within the countries themselves.

The major divisions are normally classified as [[English language in England|English English]] (or English as spoken in England (which is itself broadly grouped into [[English language in Southern England|Southern English]], [[West Country English|West Country]], [[East Midlands English|East]] and [[West Midlands English]] and [[English language in Northern England|Northern English]]), [[Northern Irish English]] (in Northern Ireland), [[Welsh English]] (not to be confused with the [[Welsh language]]), and [[Scottish English]] (not to be confused with the [[Scots language]] or [[Scottish Gaelic]]). Each group includes a range of dialects, some markedly different from others. The various British dialects also differ in the words that they have borrowed from other languages.

Around the middle of the 15th century, there were points where within the 5 major dialects there were almost 500 ways to spell the word ''though''.<ref name="thehistoryofenglish.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.thehistoryofenglish.com/history_early_modern.html|title= Early Modern English (c. 1500 – c. 1800)|website=The History of English |access-date=28 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141209013306/http://www.thehistoryofenglish.com/history_early_modern.html|archive-date=9 December 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Research ===
Following its last major [[survey of English Dialects]] (1949–1950), the [[University of Leeds]] has started work on a new project. In May 2007 the [[Arts and Humanities Research Council]] awarded a grant to Leeds to study British regional dialects.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20050313183453/http://www.personal.leeds.ac.uk/~smlsaj/ Professor Sally Johnson] biography on the [[Leeds University]] website</ref><ref name=MEO>[https://web.archive.org/web/20061003092355/http://reporter.leeds.ac.uk/press_releases/current/voices.htm Mapping the English language—from cockney to Orkney], [[Leeds University]] website, 25 May 2007.</ref>

The team are{{efn|name=note}} sifting through a large collection of examples of regional slang words and phrases turned up by the "Voices project" run by the [[BBC]], in which they invited the public to send in examples of English still spoken throughout the country. The BBC Voices project also collected hundreds of news articles about how the British speak English from swearing through to items on language schools. This information will also be collated and analysed by Johnson's team both for content and for where it was reported. "Perhaps the most remarkable finding in the Voices study is that the English language is as diverse as ever, despite our increased mobility and constant exposure to other accents and dialects through TV and radio".<ref name=MEO/> When discussing the award of the grant in 2007, [[University of Leeds|Leeds University]] stated:
{{blockquote|that they were "very pleased"—and indeed, "well chuffed"—at receiving their generous grant. He could, of course, have been "bostin" if he had come from the [[Black Country]], or if he was a [[Scouser]] he would have been well "made up" over so many spondoolicks, because as a [[Geordie]] might say, £460,000 is a "canny load of chink".<ref name=Indi-20070601>McSmith, Andy. ''Dialect researchers given a "canny load of chink" to sort "pikeys" from "chavs" in regional accents'', [[The Independent]], 1 June 2007. Page 20</ref>}}

=== English regional ===
{{Expand section|with=details about other different regional accents and dialects|talk=Shortcomings|small=no|date=April 2024}}
Most people in Britain speak with a regional accent or dialect. However, about 2% of Britons speak with an accent called [[Received Pronunciation]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/case-studies/received-pronunciation/|title=Received Pronunciation|access-date=20 March 2017|archive-date=22 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190722181432/http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/case-studies/received-pronunciation/|url-status=dead}}</ref> (also called "the King's English", "Oxford English" and "[[BBC]] English"<ref>BBC English because this was originally the form of English used on radio and television, although a wider variety of accents can be heard these days.</ref>), that is essentially region-less.<ref name=sweet>{{cite book |last=Sweet |first=Henry |title=The Sounds of English |page=[https://archive.org/details/soundsenglishan00sweegoog/page/n11 7] |url=https://archive.org/details/soundsenglishan00sweegoog  |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1908 }}</ref><ref name=fowler>{{cite news |last=Fowler |first=H.W. |editor=R.W. Birchfield |title=Fowler's Modern English Usage |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1996 }}</ref> It derives from a mixture of the Midlands and Southern dialects spoken in London in the early modern period.<ref name=fowler/> It is frequently used as a model for teaching English to foreign learners.<ref name=fowler/>

In the South East, there are significantly different accents; the [[Cockney]] accent spoken by some East Londoners is strikingly different from Received Pronunciation (RP). Cockney [[rhyming slang]] can be (and was initially intended to be) difficult for outsiders to understand,<ref name="Franklyn1975">{{cite book|last=Franklyn|first=Julian|title=A dictionary of rhyming slang|year=1975|publisher=Routledge and Kegan Paul|location=London|isbn=0-415-04602-5|page=9}}</ref> although the extent of its use is often somewhat exaggerated.

[[London]]ers speak with a mixture of accents, depending on ethnicity, neighbourhood, class, age, upbringing, and sundry other factors. [[Estuary English]] has been gaining prominence in recent decades: it has some features of RP and some of Cockney.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Crystal |first1=David |title=BBC - Voices - Your Voice |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/yourvoice/feature2_4.shtml}}</ref> Immigrants to the UK in recent decades have brought many more languages to the country and particularly to London. Surveys started in 1979 by the [[Inner London Education Authority]] discovered over 125 languages being spoken domestically by the families of the inner city's schoolchildren.<ref>{{cite report |author=Department of Education and Science |date=Summer 1980 |title=Report by HM Inspectors on Educational Provision by the Inner London Educational Authority |url=http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/hmi/1980-ilea.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171119045234/http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/hmi/1980-ilea.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 November 2017 |publisher=H.M. Stationery Office |page=4 |access-date=17 January 2023 |quote=A survey of all school pupils conducted by ILEA's Research and Statistics Division has established that one in ten children in inner London speak English as a second language; ILEA pupils have over 125 different mother tongues, far more than any other LEA in England and more than in New York.}}</ref> Notably [[Multicultural London English]], a [[sociolect]] that emerged in the late 20th century spoken mainly by young, [[Working class|working-class]] people in [[Multiculturalism|multicultural]] parts of [[London]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.urben-id.org/|title=UrBEn-ID Urban British English project|access-date=23 May 2016|archive-date=19 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210319181015/https://www.urben-id.org/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=2 November 2013|title=Argot bargy|newspaper=The Economist|url=https://www.economist.com/britain/2013/11/02/argot-bargy|access-date=15 April 2021|issn=0013-0613}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=How Is Immigration Changing Language In the UK?|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-is-immigration-changing-language-in-the-uk/|access-date=16 April 2021|website=Vice |date=24 February 2016 }}</ref>

Since the mass [[internal migration]] to [[Northamptonshire]] in the 1940s and given its position between several major accent regions, it has become a source of various accent developments. In Northampton the older accent has been influenced by overspill Londoners. There is an accent known locally as the [[Kettering]] accent, which is a transitional accent between the [[East Midlands]] and [[East Anglia]]n. It is the last southern Midlands accent to use the broad "a" in words like ''bath'' or ''grass'' (i.e. {{respell|barth}} or {{respell|grarss}}). Conversely ''crass'' or ''plastic'' use a slender "a". A few miles northwest in [[Leicestershire]] the slender "a" becomes more widespread generally. In the town of [[Corby]], {{convert|5|mi|km|0|spell=in}} north, one can find Corbyite which, unlike the Kettering accent, is largely influenced by the West Scottish accent.