Regional Standards

• Southern, Northern, Scottish and Northern Irish on the British Isles,

• Northern, Northern Midland, Southern Midland, Southern, Western in the U.S.A.

Regional, or territorial, linguistic divi­sion reflects the history of early settlement. Ask ss to give examples.

In the U.S.A., for instance, the history of migration developed in three main routes which is reflected in the division into the North, the South and the Midland (further subdivided into North Midland and South Midland); the three strands merged in the West, with the northern one dominating.

Regional standards, as spoken by most educated people in the coun­try, show a certain degree of regional deviation from the standard, often referred to as regionally "modified RP".

In Britain, speakers from the North and the West of England (Celtic areas) are often identified as having a northern regional accent. Among these areas the Scottish accent is more easily identified, next to it comes the Irish accent, while the Welsh educated accent is confused either with the Scot­tish or the Southern type.

In the United States, geographically, the situation is quite the reverse: it is the South and South Midland which stand out for their marked dif­ference from the standard pronunciation. Southern accent features are negatively assessed social markers. Ask ss why? Another area which is identified by Americans for its accent is the East, with a prejudice against New York accent and a certain respect for Boston.

The true American accent is to be found in Western and Mid-Western parts of the country. Actually, this is the area where you cannot hear either a northern or a southern accent.