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* Accent and Dialect
page 1
 

It can be easy to confuse Accent with Dialect.

Accent:

this is how we pronounce words - how we make them sound. We all have an accent of some kind.

[If several people with different accents all read the same story aloud, each one sounds different although the story looks the same on the page. ]

Received Pronunciation: this is a phrase meaning the most widely accepted accent.

Dialects:

these are ways of speaking that involve different words, in sentences constructed differently and with different expressions.

[If several people each write a story in a different dialect, each version looks different on the page.]

Standard English: this is the most widely accepted dialect. It is not a better or worse dialect than any other, but it is the one that is used formally and the one you have to write in school most of the time. You can use it with any accent.

Many people can use more than one accent.

Bullet How many accents can you think of?
Bullet Which accents do you like?
Bullet Which do you dislike?
Bullet Do our likes and dislikes make any sense?

 

  Dialects
Bullet

Can you match the following Lancastrian words to their Standard English meanings? If you come from Lancashire and the words are too easy, see if you can find ten more to add to the list.

aye  
backs or backsies  
butty  
chuddy  
flummoxed  
gab  
gawp  
gormless  
happen  
mardarse or nesh  
narked  
nowty  
oven bottoms  
mither  
wapped  

Check your answers by clicking here.

Now look at the other exercises on the next page.


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