English language in England

General features

• Most versions of this dialect have non-rhotic pronunciation, meaning that /r/ is not pronounced in syllable coda position. Non-rhoticity is also found elsewhere in the English-speaking world, including in Australian English, New Zealand English, South African English, New York City English, African American English and a few dialects of Southern American English, as well as in most non-native varieties spoken throughout the Commonwealth of Nations. Rhoticity currently exists in the West Country, parts of Lancashire, the far north of England and the town of Corby; its presence in the last two can be attributed to Scottish influence on local speech. Additionally, people who are children of at least one American, Canadian, Irish or Scottish parent but grew up, or were educated, in England generally speak with non-rhotic accents.
• As noted above, Northern versions of the dialect lack the foot–strut split, so that there is no distinction between and, making put and putt homophones as.
• In the Southern varieties, words like bath, cast, dance, fast, after, castle, grass, etc. are pronounced with the long vowel found in calm, while in the Midlands and Northern varieties, they are pronounced with the same vowel as trap or cat, usually. For more details see Trap–bath split. Some areas of the West Country use in both the TRAP and BATH sets. The Bristol area, although in the south of England, uses the short in BATH.
• Many varieties undergo h-dropping, making harm and arm homophones. This is a feature of working-class accents across most of England but was traditionally stigmatised but less so now. This was geographically widespread, but the linguist A. C. Gimson stated that it did not extend to the far north, nor to East Anglia, Essex, Wiltshire or Somerset. In the past, working-class people were often unsure where an h ought to be pronounced, and, when attempting to speak "properly", would often preface any word that began with a vowel with an h ; this was referred to as the "hypercorrect h" in the Survey of English Dialects, and is also referenced in literature.
• A glottal stop for intervocalic is now common amongst younger speakers across the country; it was originally confined to some areas of the south-east and East Anglia.
• The distinction between and in wine and whine is lost, "wh" being pronounced consistently as.
• Most varieties have the horse–hoarse merger. However, some northern accents retain the distinction, pronouncing pairs of words like for/''four, horse/hoarse and morning/mourning differently.
• The consonant clusters,, and in suit, Zeus, and lute are preserved by some.
• Many Southern varieties have the bad–lad split, so that bad and lad do not rhyme.
• In most of the eastern half of England, plurals and past participle endings which are pronounced and in RP may be pronounced with a schwa. This can be found as far north as Wakefield and as far south as Essex. This is unusual in being an east–west division in pronunciation when English dialects generally divide between north and south. Another east–west division involves the rhotic ; it can be heard in the speech of country folk, more or less west of the course of the Roman era road known as Watling Street, which at one time divided King Alfred's Wessex and English Mercia from the Danish kingdoms in the east. The rhotic is rarely found in the east.
• Sporadically, miscellaneous items of generally obsolete vocabulary survive: come in the past tense rather than came; the use of thou and/or ye for you''.

  Change over time

Overview of regional accents