Editing English language (section)

=== Britain and Ireland ===
{{See also|English language in England|Northern England English|Scots language|Scottish English|Welsh English|Estuary English|Ulster English|Hiberno-English}}

[[File:Dialects of English in UK and Ireland.svg|thumb|left|Map showing the main dialect regions in the UK and Ireland]]

{{listen|filename=Gyles Brandreth BBC Radio4 Desert Island Discs 14 January 2011 b00x8f2l.flac|title=Speech example|description=An example of a man with a '[[Received Pronunciation]]' accent ([[Gyles Brandreth]]).}}
{{Listen|filename=Danny Baker BBC Radio4 Desert Island Discs 31 Jul 2007 b012wcl4.flac|title=Speech example|description=An example of a man with a [[Cockney accent]] ([[Danny Baker]])}}
Since the English language first evolved in Britain and Ireland, the archipelago is home to the most diverse dialects, particularly in England. Within the United Kingdom, the [[Received Pronunciation]] (RP), an educated dialect of [[South East England]], is traditionally used as the broadcast standard and is considered the most prestigious of the British dialects. The spread of RP (also known as BBC English) through the media has caused many traditional dialects of rural England to recede, as youths adopt the traits of the prestige variety instead of traits from local dialects. At the time of the [[Survey of English Dialects]], grammar and vocabulary differed across the country, but a process of lexical attrition has led most of this variation to disappear.{{sfn|Trudgill|1999|p=125}}{{listen|filename=Russell brand bbc radio4 desert island discs 21 07 2013.flac|title=Speech example|description=An example of an [[Essex]] male with a working-class [[Estuary English|Estuary accent]] of the region around London ([[Russell Brand]]).}}
{{listen|filename=Lord Prescott BBC Radio4 Desert Island Discs 19 Feb 2012 b01c6trm.flac||title=Speech example|description=An example of a man with a (West) [[Yorkshire]] accent (Lord [[John Prescott]]).}}Nonetheless, this attrition has mostly affected dialectal variation in grammar and vocabulary, and in fact, only 3 percent of the English population actually speak RP, the remainder speaking in regional accents and dialects with varying degrees of RP influence.{{sfn|Hughes|Trudgill|1996|page=3}} There is also variability within RP, particularly along class lines between Upper and Middle-class RP speakers and between native RP speakers and speakers who adopt RP later in life.{{sfn|Hughes|Trudgill|1996|page=37}} Within Britain, there is also considerable variation along lines of social class, and some traits though exceedingly common are considered "non-standard" and are associated with lower class speakers and identities. An example of this is [[H-dropping]], which was historically a feature of lower-class London English, particularly Cockney, and can now be heard in the local accents of most parts of England—yet it remains largely absent in broadcasting and among the upper crust of British society.{{sfn|Hughes|Trudgill|1996|page=40}}{{listen|filename=John bishop bbc radio4 desert island discs 24 06 2012.flac|title=Speech example|description=An example of a man with a contemporary [[Liverpool]] accent ([[John Bishop]]).}}
{{listen|filename=Alex Salmond BBC Radio4 Desert Island Discs 16 January 2011 b00xgs41.flac|title=Speech example|description=An example of a man with one of many [[Scottish English|Scottish]] accents spoken across Scotland ([[Alex Salmond]]).}}
{{listen|filename=Terry Wogan BBC Radio4 Desert Island Discs 01 Jan 2012 b018w7rj.flac|title=Speech example|description=An example of a man with one of many [[Irish accent]]s spoken across Ireland ([[Terry Wogan]]).}}

[[English language in England|English in England]] can be divided into four major dialect regions, [[West Country dialects|Southwest English]], South East English, Midlands English, and [[Northern England English|Northern English]]. Within each of these regions several local subdialects exist: Within the Northern region, there is a division between the Yorkshire dialects and the [[Geordie]] dialect spoken in Northumbria around Newcastle, and the Lancashire dialects with local urban dialects in [[Liverpool]] ([[Scouse]]) and [[Manchester]] ([[Manchester dialect|Mancunian]]). Having been the centre of Danish occupation during the Viking Invasions, Northern English dialects, particularly the Yorkshire dialect, retain Norse features not found in other English varieties.{{sfn|Hughes|Trudgill|1996|p=31}}

Since the 15th century, southeastern England varieties have centred on London, which has been the centre from which dialectal innovations have spread to other dialects. In London, the [[Cockney]] dialect was traditionally used by the lower classes, and it was long a socially stigmatised variety. The spread of Cockney features across the south-east led the media to talk of Estuary English as a new dialect, but the notion was criticised by many linguists on the grounds that London had been influencing neighbouring regions throughout history.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/ee-faqs-jcw.htm |title=Estuary English Q and A – JCW |publisher=Phon.ucl.ac.uk |access-date=16 August 2010 |archive-date=11 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100111062912/http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/ee-faqs-jcw.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Roach|2009|p=4}}{{sfn|Trudgill|1999|p=80}} Traits that have spread from London in recent decades include the use of [[Linking and intrusive R|intrusive R]] (''drawing'' is pronounced ''drawring'' {{IPA|/ˈdrɔːrɪŋ/}}), [[t-glottalization|''t''-glottalisation]] (''Potter'' is pronounced with a glottal stop as ''Po'er'' {{IPA|/poʔʌ/}}), and the pronunciation of ''th-'' as {{IPA|/f/}} (''thanks'' pronounced ''fanks'') or {{IPA|/v/}} (''bother'' pronounced ''bover'').{{sfn|Trudgill|1999|pages=80–81}}

[[Scots language|Scots]] is today considered a separate language from English, but it has [[History of the Scots language|its origins]] in early Northern Middle English{{sfn|Aitken|McArthur|1979|page=81}} and developed and changed during its history with influence from other sources, particularly [[Scottish Gaelic|Scots Gaelic]] and Old Norse. Scots itself has a number of regional dialects. And in addition to Scots, [[Scottish English]] comprises the varieties of Standard English spoken in Scotland; most varieties are Northern English accents, with some influence from Scots.{{sfn|Romaine|1982}}

In [[Ireland]], various forms of English have been spoken since the [[Norman invasion of Ireland|Norman invasions]] of the 11th century. In [[County Wexford]], in the area surrounding [[Dublin]], two extinct dialects known as [[Forth and Bargy dialect|Forth and Bargy]] and [[Fingallian]] developed as offshoots from Early Middle English, and were spoken until the 19th century. Modern [[Hiberno-English|Irish English]], however, has its roots in English colonisation in the 17th century. Today Irish English is divided into [[Ulster English]], the Northern Ireland dialect with strong influence from Scots, and various dialects of the Republic of Ireland. Like Scottish and most North American accents, almost all Irish accents preserve the [[Rhoticity in English|rhoticity]] which has been lost in the dialects influenced by RP.{{sfn|Barry|1982|pp=86–87}}{{sfn|Hickey|2007}}