Approximants as Identifiers of English Accents

Abstract

Abstract

Approximants as Identifiers of English Accents

Ryu, Jinho Department of English Language and Literature The Graduate School Seoul National University

English has many dialects and accents with distinct characteristics. They differ by the region they are spoken and the socioeconomic class of their speakers. Studying the characteristics of each variety of English may help understand the language in more depth. The present study investigates the phonological and phonetic properties of five varieties of English: Received Pronunciation, Cockney, Scottish English, General American, and American Southern Accent. The five varieties of English are examined in terms of their different ways of handling four approximants: palatal /j/, velar /w/, lateral /l/ and rhotic /ɹ/. Cross-examining the possible variation of the approximants and the characteristics of the accents of English proposes that these sounds are capable of identifying the accents. Each approximant has distinguished different number of accents, and thus they are stratified according to their capability to identify the accents. The palatal and rhotic approximants could identify all five accents tested in the present study. The lateral approximant could recognize three due to a difficulty in clear and dark l. The velar approximant showed very little change and identified only one accent. From these findings, this study proposes a hierarchy built according to the number of the accents each approximant is capable of identifying. It is revealed that consonantal change is the most effective marker that can pinpoint an accent due to its resistibility against change. The next is the change in vowels which are more vulnerable to change than consonants. The least effective is the conditional changes that only occur in certain conditions.