6. Головні варіанти вимови англійської мови (Major accents of English)

English is a nationally heterogeneous language – the entity of related national variants and dialects (different morphological, syntactic, lexical and semantic inventories and patterns) and their associated accents/pronunciation patterns. It is common knowledge that between 375 and 400 million people speak English as their first language/mother tongue (Ll/MT). British dialectologists P.Trudgill, J.Hannah, A.Hughes divide all variants of English into two major groups:

1) the English-based group comprising English-English, Welsh English, Scottish English, Northern Ireland English, Australian English, New Zealand English;

2) the American-based group with American English and Canadian English.

English English comprises two major accents: Southern English and Northern English. Thus there are five major accents (literary/cultivated) on the British Isles: 1. Southern English or Received Pronunciation (RP)/BBC English. 2. Northern English. 3. Welsh English. 4. Scottish English. 5. Northern Ireland English.

RP/BBC English implicitly enjoys the status of the national standard of pronunciation in the United Kingdom. In American English, three main types of literary/cultivated pronunciation are distinguished:

1. General American (GenAm, GA)/Network English; 2. Eastern American; 3. Southern American.

General American is the national standard of pronunciation in the USA.

In New Zealand, RP is used as pronunciation model for educated speakers.

In Australia, three groups of accents are distinguished: 1) Cultivated Australian; 2) Broad Australian; 3) General Australian, which is treated as Australian pronunciation standard.

The type of educated English pronunciation used in Canada has many similar features with GenAm alongside with specific Canadian traits.

New varieties of English or New Englishes have emerged as the result of the colonial experience: Indian English, Hong Kong English, Singaporean English, West African English, etc.

The following two accents of English have been under extensive investigation due to their importance, prestige and social advantage in certain geographical areas: 1) Southern English or RP/BBC English; 2) General American/GenAm or Network English.

7. Класифікація голосних в англійській мові за артикуляцією (The articulatory classification of the English vowels)

The system of the English vowels was thoroughly investigated by well-known British, Russian and Ukrainian phoneticians: Henry Sweet, Daniel Jones, V. A Vassilyev, V.Shcherba and others.

The articulatory classification of the English vowels can be described according to the following criteria:

1) Stability of articulation; 2) Tongue position; 3) Lip position; 4) Character of the vowel end; 5) Length; 6) Tenseness.

1. According to the stability of articulation we distinguish: monophthongs and thriphthongs.

2. According to the length of articulation we distinguish: long vowels and short vowels.

3. According to the degree of muscular tension we distinguish: tense vowels and lax vowels.

4. According to the lip participation we distinguish: rounded (labialized) vowels and unrounded (non-labialized) vowels.

5. According to the vertical movement of the tongue we distinguish: high, mid and low vowels of narrow or broad variety.

6. According to the horizontal movement of the tongue we distinguish: fully front; front retracted; central; back advanced; fully back vowels.