In Britain, every part of the country has its own way of speaking English. The main accent groupings within

England are between Northern England and Southern England; the dividing line runs roughly from Shrewsbury

to south of Birmingham and then to The Wash. However there are also distinctions between the east and

west. People in Yorkshire sound very different to people in Surrey; a Somerset accent is very different from

any Scottish accent and it's hard to believe that people from Birmingham are speaking the same language as

those from Cornwall. Most people in Britain can guess where someone comes from by the way they speak,

either by their accent or by the words they use. Identification of an accent can place the speaker in a general

area of Britain. Geordie, Scouse, and Cockney are well known dialects from Tyneside, Liverpool and London

respectively.

Today the 'home counties' accent is usually accepted as Standard English. The home counties are the counties

nearest to London

8. What people are called Cockney? What do you know about them and their language?

A cockney traditionally is a person born within hearing distance of the sound of Bow bells, meaning within the

sound of the bells of the Church of St Mary Le Bow in Cheapside, London, EC2 and refers to an East London

accent, however to most people living outside London the term Cockney means a Londoner.

Cockney Rhyming slang is a coded language invented in the nineteenth century by Cockneys so they could

speak in front of the police without being understood. It uses a phrase that rhymes with a word, instead

of the word itself – thus ‘stairs’ becomes ‘apples and pears’, ‘phone’ becomes ‘dog and bone' and ‘word’

becomes ‘dicky bird’. It can become confusing when sometimes the rhyming part of the word is dropped:

thus ‘daisies’ are ‘boots’ (from ‘daisy roots’).

The cockney language can be traced back to the early part of the 19th Century, when Sir Robert Peel formed

the first Police force stationed at Bow Street, London. They were known as the Bow Street Runners, Peelers

and even Bobbies (Robert - Bob). This was in 1824, and the slang, as mentioned above, was to hide the true

meaning of discussions from both the Police and the nonces (informers for the Police).

9. What Celtic languages are used in Great Britain? Which Celtic language in the British Isles has the largest number of native speakers?

languages derived from Gaelic language

– Irish Gaelic (the oldest of the Gaelic group of Celtic languages, it has about 100000 speakers chiefly in the

western and south-western parts of the Republic of Ireland, where it’s the first official language. It is also

spoken in Northern Ireland)

- Scottish Gaelic (It was brought to Scotland by Irish invaders in the 5th century. Now it is spoken by

60000 people in the hills and islands of the west of Scotland, but it has no official status)

- Manx (spoken in the Isle of Man, it is the dialect of Scottish Gaelic. It died with the death of its last

native speaker in 1974 but was revived later and now there are about 100 competent speakers)

Languages derived from Brythonic language

- Cornish (language of Cornwall, is being revived since 1904 with 2000 fluent speakers)

- Breton (it is spoken in Brittany, France and most Breton speakers also speak French)

-Welsh (it has the largest number of speakers out of all Celtic languages, 600000 ( 20% of Welsh

population). It is the native language of Wales. Welsh and English are both official languages there)

Nearly all Welsh and Gaelic speakers are bilingual. All the Celtic languages are now officially encouraged

and taught in schools. Welsh, Scottish and Irish people speak language too, but they have their own special

accents and dialects.

10. What do you know about the major Commonwealth activities and Britain’s par¬ticipation

in them? What are the leading countries of the British Commonwealth?

major activities:

- a conference of Commonwealth heads of government which is held every two years. There is no formal

agenda, or list of subjects to be discussed at the meetings, and they are held in private so that there can be

frank speaking.

- There are over 250 voluntary Commonwealth organizations for Commonwealth citizens who share

common interests. These include the Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind, the St. John Ambulance

Brigade, the Scouts and Girl Guides, organizations concerned with research and applied science, with

commerce, industry and banking, with professional people such as teachers, lawyers, engineers, architects and

doctors. The Commonwealth helps Commonwealth men and women in the professions to study overseas, and

thus encourages high standards within the professions.

- The Commonwealth Games are held every four years, each time in a different country. They bring

together men and women from every corner of the Commonwealth to compete in various sports.

As all members in CW are equals, Britain has no special powers and constitutional positions. However, in many

ways, it is the most influential member and it contributes about 305 of its budget. Although, there is no policy

which all members are compelled to follow the Governments of member countries consult each other on many

matters. CW governments keep in touch their representatives who are called HIGH COMMISSIONERS.

The Queen is recognized as Head of the Commonwealth by all member countries. She is also head of state in

16 of them, including Australia, Barbados, Canada, Jamaica and New Zealand. This means that she is Queen

of each of these countries, as well as of the UK. In these countries she is represented by a Governor-General

appointed on the recommendation of the government of the country. He acts on the advice of the ministers

in that country and is independent of the British government. Other Commonwealth countries have their own

heads of state.

All in all there are 53 states, the leading countries are the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand.

11. What do you know about the state religion in Britain? other religions in the country?

Of the religions practiced in modern Britain, Christianity is the most long-established and widely observed.

It was first brought to Britain during the days of the Roman Empire. In 597, Pope Gregory sent the monk

Augustine to England to evangelize the island. Augustine visited the king of Kent who agreed it would be

politically valuable to have continental support, and so became Christian. In 601, Gregory sent the monk

Mellitus to assist. They were instructed to smash all pagan idols and expropriate pagan temples for Christian

use.

The eastern half of England, from the Thames to the Tyne, was repaganised in the 860s, following Viking

conquests. Finally, in the eleventh century, King Canute, the Danish conqueror of Wessex and its English

dependencies, became a Christian. All in all, it took 5 centuries to establish Christianity.

Religious independence was secured when the Church of England was separated from the authority of the Pope