Dialects and variants of the english language

There are two tendencies in the development of dialects and variants – integration and differentiation. Now the English language is a unity of all variants of this language. The national variants influence each other and interact.

Whatever period of the English language history we explore, we are to find a number of variants, overlapping each other, mixing and merging with each other.

In OE there were a number of Germanic tribal dialects, then there were local dialects, then the national language developed and it was opposed to dialects. It was followed by the division into written and oral standards within the literary norm, while dialects were mostly used in oral communication undergoing their own integration and differentiation processes. Later styles developed and at last national variants enriched this variety.

Now we can speak of a hierarchy of English variants: Global English, National variants, local and social dialects.

The English language began to develop as a number of tribal dialects which gradually became regional in the OE period.

The Anglian dialect gave origin to the Northumbrian dialect spoken to the North of the river Humber and Mercian (South Anglian) spoken between the Thames and the Humber.

The Saxon dialects developed into West Saxon spoken south of the Thames, East Saxon and London dialects.

The Jutish (Frisian) dialect was spoken in Kent and is known as the Kentish dialect.

In the me period the dialects became provincial.

Northern (Northumbrian) dialects were spoken in Northern Yorkshire, Northern Lancashire, Cumberland and in Scotland.

Mercian dialects became Midland dialects which were further subdivided into Central, West Midland, North-West Midland, South-West Midland, East Midland, South-East Midland and North-East Midland. They were spoken in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Worchestershire, Lancashire, Cambridge, Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. The dialects of Norfolk and Suffolk together with dialects that had originated from the Saxon dialects served the basis for the London dialect.

Saxon dialects developed into the dialects of Wessex, Essex, Glouster and London.

Together with the Kentish dialect they form the group of Southern dialects spoken in Cornwall, Devonshire, Somerset, Sussex, Glouster, Oxford shire and Kent.

In ne the principal dialects are the following:

Northern: the Scottish dialect, dialects of Cumberland, Lancashire and Yorkshire;

Southern: the dialects of Lincolnshire, Cambridge shire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Sussex, Glouster shire, Oxford.

Old English dialects were first tribal dialects. Anglo-Saxon dialects were very close while the Kentish (Jutish) dialect differed as it belonged to the Frisian group. The OE period is the period of their transition into regional dialects.

ME dialects are regional and greatly separated as it was the period of feudalism when the contacts among different regions were limited. Besides, the dialects were influenced by different extra linguistic factors. Economic and political development of the society could draw dialects together or move them apart. The Northern dialects were greatly influenced by the Scandinavian languages, while the Southern dialects were more influenced by the Norman (French) language. The English language never rejected foreign influence. On the contrary it freely borrowed from other languages and successfully assimilated these borrowings.

Dialects mainly differed in phonetics and morphology, but there were some differences in the vocabulary too. These differences were determined by original peculiarities of the Anglian, Saxon and Jutish dialects in OE and by the Scandinavian and French influence in the ME period.

In NE some dialectal peculiarities disappeared but others developed. Intensive migration of population caused by the industrial development of England and the developing literary language influenced the development of the dialects. To some extent this influence neutralized the differences among the dialects.

The London dialect which comprised the features of the Kentish, South-Western, North-Eastern and Central dialects, replaced local ones to the South and South-East of London.

The Essex dialect became the rural dialect of the agricultural areas in the East.

Local dialects survived in industrial Central and Northern England, though in some places they merged as in Birmingham.

Local dialects may retain some of their peculiarities. In general, dialects are less subjected to changes than the literary speech. The following process is more common – speakers use literary language but add some local dialectal elements, preferably lexical. Grammatical deviations from the norm make the speech sound illiterate.

Yorkshire speech has survived from Anglo-Saxon times and Scandinavian occupation. Cornwall preserves much of its Celtic heritage. Lincolnshire was influenced by Scandinavian languages and retains these features together with original peculiarities.

There were dialects used on a very limited territory (islands) which did not change a lot. The dialect of the Orkney Islands is one of them. It keeps much of the Norwegian dialect once spoken there. The Norwegian dialect died out in the 17^th century and now they speak the Scottish dialect of Lowlands with local peculiarities.