Seminar: British English Accents and Dialects

The British Isles are home to many regional dialects and accents of English. Only a small percentage of the population in Great Britain speak the standard, Received Pronunciation. The vast majority speak some local form of English, which usually differs from the standard in terms of vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. This diversity has emerged as a result of settlement history, influences from various languages over time, and a sense of local identity.

In this seminar, we will learn more about the regional dialects of English spoken on the British Isles, including England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, as well as the surrounding islands (Manx, Channel Islands, Shetland and Orkney islands). Among other things, we will learn more about the following:

 - What are the major dialect areas on the British isles?
 - How did the different dialects emerge?
 - How do the dialects differ with regard to lexis, grammar and pronunciation?
 - Which processes shape and change dialects today?
 - How do people think about different dialects?
 - What role do dialects play in the English classroom in Germany?

Each participant will become a 'class expert' on one particular regional dialect of English spoken in the British Isles, which will be assigned at the beginning of the term. They will collect information on their dialect over the semester, familiarize themselves with it more closely, and present a project related to their dialect at the end of the semester (= Prüfungsleistung).

• Beal, Joan C. 2010. An introduction to regional Englishes: Dialect variation in England (Edinburgh Textbooks on the English Language). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780748629374

• Hughes, Arthur, Peter Trudgill & Dominic Watt. 2012. English accents and dialects: An introduction to social and regional varieties of English in the British Isles. 5. ed. London: Hodder Education. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203784440. (main textbook of the course)