List of Maps xi
List of Figures xiii
List of Tables xv
List of Abbreviations xviii
Preface xix
How to Use this Book xxi
Part I Language and Variation 1
1 Studying Variation in Sound 3
1.1 Introduction 3
1.2 The View from the Sound System 10
1.3 Standards, Supraregional Varieties, and Vernaculars 19
1.4 Research Trends in Variety Studies 26
1.5 Data Sources and Analysis 32
1.5.1 Fieldwork Methods 32
1.5.2 Corpora for Varieties of English 33
1.5.3 Historical Sources 35
1.5.4 Use of Bad Data 36
1.5.5 Acoustic Analysis 37
2 The Sound System of English 39
2.1 Phonetics and Phonology 39
2.1.1 Syllable Structure 40
2.2 Vowels 43
2.2.1 The Principle of Lexical Sets 48
2.2.2 Standard Lexical Sets for English Vowels 49
2.2.3 Vocalic Distinctions/Splits 53
2.2.4 Extensions for Vocalic Lexical Sets 57
2.2.5 Mergers 59
2.2.6 Pre- sonorant Mergers 61
2.2.6.1 Pre- rhotic Mergers 62
2.2.6.2 Pre- lateral Mergers 67
2.2.7 Other Mergers 68
2.2.8 Chain Shifts 69
2.3 Consonants 72
2.3.1 The Consonants of English 72
2.3.2 Lexical Sets for Consonants in English 76
2.3.3 Consonantal Processes 78
2.3.4 Consonantal Developments 85
2.3.4.1 Dental Fricatives 85
2.3.4.2 Analyzing Lenition 86
2.3.4.3 The Story of R 91
2.3.4.4 The Story of l 94
2.3.4.5 The Glottal Fricative H 97
2.4 Prosody 98
2.4.1 Word Stress and Vowel Length Patterns 99
2.4.2 Sentence Intonation Patterns 100
2.5 Connected Speech 102
3 Sound Change in English 105
3.1 Analyzing Change 105
3.1.1 Movements in Sound Systems 107
3.1.2 The Course of Language Change 109
3.1.3 Motivation for Change: Internal and External 112
3.1.4 Change by External Adoption 113
3.1.5 Diffusion and Patterning 115
3.1.6 Shared Innovations or Common Developments? 115
3.1.7 Embryonic and Focused Varieties 115
3.1.8 Scrutinizing Further Factors 116
3.2 Trends in Present- Day Varieties 118
3.2.1 Fronting of the GOOSE Vowel 119
3.2.2 Short Front Vowel Lowering 121
Part II The Spread of English 127
1 The Colonial Period 129
1.1 The British Empire 129
1.2 Settlement of Colonies 130
1.3 The Slave Trade 132
1.4 Migration between Colonies 132
1.5 Internal Migration 135
2 Transported Dialect Features 137
2.1 Early Stages and Their Effects 138
2.1.1 Ship English 139
2.1.2 The Founder Principle 139
2.1.3 Colonial Lag 140
2.2 Language Contact 141
2.2.1 The Effects of Contact 141
2.3 Language Shift 143
2.4 Relic Areas and Endangered Varieties 144
2.5 Loss of Transported Features 145
3 English in the World Today 147
3.1 The Two Hemispheres 147
3.2 Major Anglophone Areas 148
3.3 Dialects and Standards 152
3.4 Regional Epicenters 154
Part III Regions and Countries 155
1 England 157
1.1 Standard Southern British English 160
1.2 London and the Home Counties 160
1.2.1 Cockney 162
1.2.2 Estuary English 163
1.2.3 Multicultural London English 165
1.2.4 British Black English 165
1.3 The South and South- West 166
1.4 East Anglia 167
1.5 The Midlands - East and West 168
1.6 The North - Lower, Central, and Far North 169
1.6.1 The Lower North 172
1.6.2 The Central North 173
1.6.3 The Far North 174
2 The Celtic Regions 176
2.1 Scotland 176
2.1.1 English in Scotland 176
2.1.2 Scots 179
2.1.3 Orkney and Shetland English 180
2.2 Wales 180
2.3 Ireland 182
2.3.1 Southern Irish English 184
2.3.2 Northern Irish English 187
2.4 Isle of Man 188
3 Europe 190
3.1 Channel Islands 190
3.2 Gibraltar 190
3.3 Malta 192
4 North America 193
4.1 United States 195
4.1.1 Supraregional American English 196
4.1.2 Dialect Regions of the USA 198
4.1.3 Selected Urban Varieties 200
4.1.4 Selected Regional Varieties 203
4.1.5 Relic Dialect Areas 206
4.1.6 Ethnic Varieties 209
4.1.7 American Versus British Pronunciation 216
4.2 Canada 217
4.2.1 Supraregional Canadian English 218
4.2.2 Regional Forms of Canadian English 220
5 The Caribbean 224
5.1 Caribbean Creoles 224
5.2 Eastern Caribbean 226
5.3 Western Caribbean 227
5.4 Caribbean Rim 228
6 Africa 231
6.1 West Africa 233
6.1.1 Cameroon 234
6.1.2 Nigeria 235
6.1.3 Ghana 235
6.1.4 Liberia 236
6.1.5 Sierra Leone 236
6.1.6 The Gambia 236
6.2 East Africa 237
6.2.1 Kenya 237
6.2.2 Tanzania 237
6.2.3 Uganda 238
6.3 Southern Africa 238
6.3.1 South Africa 238
6.3.2 Zimbabwe 245
7 The South Atlantic 246
7.1 St. Helena 246
7.2 Tristan da Cunha 246
7.3 The Falkland Islands 248
8 Asia 251
8.1 South Asia 251
8.1.1 India 252
8.1.2 Pakistan 255
8.1.3 Sri Lanka 255
8.2 South- East Asia 257
8.2.1 Malaysia 257
8.2.2 Brunei 257
8.2.3 Singapore 257
8.2.4 The Philippines 260
8.3 East Asia 260
8.3.1 China 260
8.3.2 Korea 264
8.3.3 Japan 264
9 Australasia 266
9.1 Australia 266
9.2 New Zealand 269
10 The Pacific Region 273
10.1 Background to English in the Pacific 273
10.2 Melanesian Pidgin English 274
10.3 Micronesia 280
10.4 Ogasawara Islands 281
11 Pidgins and Creoles 283
11.1 English- Lexifier Pidgins and Creoles 287
11.2 Creoles: Theories of Origin 289
11.3 The Sound Systems of Pidgins and Creoles 290
12 World Englishes and Second- Language Varieties 291
12.1 Foreign Language Pronunciations 295
Outlook 299
Appendix A Timeline for Varieties of English 301
I. Within Britain 301
II. Northern Hemisphere 301
III. Southern Hemisphere 303
IV. Movements within the Anglophone World 304
Appendix B The History of English 307
B. 1 Old English (450-1066) 307
B.1.1 The Dialects of Old English 308
B.1.2 The Transition to Middle English 308
B. 2 Middle English (1066-1500) 310
B.2.1 The Dialects of Middle English 310
B. 3 Early Modern English (1500-1700) 312
B.3.1 The Great Vowel Shift 313
B.3.2 Shortening of /u / and Relative Chronology 314
B.3.3 Lowering and Unrounding of / / 315
B.3.4 The Loss of /w/ 316
B.3.5 The Loss and Shift of /x/ 317
B.3.6 The Loss of Syllable- Final R 317
B.3.7 The Standardization of English 318
B. 4 Late Modern English (1700-1900) 319
B. 5 Recommended Reading 320
Appendix C Transcription Conventions 322
Appendix D Lexical Sets and Extensions 326
End Notes 330
Glossary 336
Overviews 352
References 354
Linguistic Journals 398
Index 399
