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English in Southern England (also, rarely, Southern English English; Southern England English; or in the UK, simply, Southern English) is the collective set of different dialects and accents of
Modern English Modern English, sometimes called New English (NE) or present-day English (PDE) as opposed to Middle and Old English, is the form of the English language that has been spoken since the Great Vowel Shift in England England is a Count ...
spoken in
Southern England Southern England, also known as the South of England or the South, is a sub-national part of England. Officially, it is made up of the southern, south-western and part of the eastern parts of England, consisting of the statistical regions of ...
. As of the 21st century, a wide class of dialects labelled "
Estuary English Estuary English is an English accent, continuum of accents, or continuum of accent features associated with the area along the River Thames and its estuary, including London, since the late 20th century. In 2000, the phonetician John C. We ...
" is on the rise in
South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England that are in the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, top level category for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the nine counties of england, ...
and the Home Counties (the counties bordering London), which was the traditional interface between the London urban region and more local and rural accents. Commentators report widespread homogenisation in South East England in the 20th century (Kerswill & Williams 2000; Britain 2002). This involved a process of
levelling Levelling or leveling (American English; see spelling differences) is a branch of surveying, the object of which is to establish or verify or measure the height of specified points relative to a datum. It is widely used in geodesy and cartogra ...
between the extremes of working-class
Cockney Cockney is a dialect of the English language, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by Londoners with working-class and lower middle class roots. The term ''Cockney'' is also used as a demonym for a person from the East End, ...
in inner-city London and the careful upper-class standard accent of Southern England,
Received Pronunciation Received Pronunciation (RP) is the Accent (sociolinguistics), accent of British English regarded as the Standard language, standard one, carrying the highest Prestige (sociolinguistics), social prestige, since as late as the beginning of the 2 ...
(RP), popular in the 20th century with upper-middle- and
upper-class Upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status. Usually, these are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper cla ...
residents. Now spread throughout the South East region, Estuary English is the resulting mainstream accent that combines features of both Cockney and a more middle-class RP. Less affluent areas have variants of Estuary English that grade into southern rural England outside urban areas. Outside of South East England, West Country English (of
South West England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England in the United Kingdom. Additionally, it is one of four regions that altogether make up Southern England. South West England con ...
) and
East Anglian English East Anglian English is a dialect of English spoken in East Anglia, primarily in or before the mid-20th century. East Anglian English has had a very considerable input into modern Estuary English. However, it has received little attention from ...
survive as traditional broad dialects in Southern England today, though they too are subject to Estuary English influence in recent decades and are consequently weakening.


London and Estuary English

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
and greater
Thames Estuary The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain. Limits An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salinit ...
accents are
non-rhotic The distinction between rhoticity and non-rhoticity is one of the most prominent ways in which varieties of the English language are classified. In rhotic accents, the sound of the historical English rhotic consonant, , is preserved in all p ...
: that is, the consonant (phonetically ) occurs only before vowels. General characteristics of all major London accents include: * diphthongal realisation of and , for example ''beat'' , ''boot'' (this can also be a monophthong: ) * diphthongal realisation of in open syllables, for example ''bore'' , ''paw'' versus a monophthongal realisation in closed syllables, for example ''board'' , ''pause'' . But the diphthong is retained before inflectional endings, so that ''board'' and ''pause'' often contrast with ''bored'' and ''paws'' . * lengthening of in words such as ''man'', ''sad'', ''bag'', ''hand'' (cf. ''can'', ''had'', ''lad''): split of into two phonemes and . See bad–lad split. * an
allophone In phonology, an allophone (; from the Greek , , 'other' and , , 'voice, sound') is one of multiple possible spoken soundsor '' phones''used to pronounce a single phoneme in a particular language. For example, in English, the voiceless plos ...
of before "dark L" , namely , for example ''whole'' versus ''holy'' . But the is retained when the addition of a suffix turns the "dark L" clear, so that ''wholly'' can contrast with ''holy''. Features of working- or middle-class Estuary English, spoken in the counties all around London in the 21st century, include: * Not as much ''h''-dropping as Cockney, but still more than RP * Increased amount of ''th''-fronting, like Cockney * fronting to * can take the more RP variant of * has a low-back onset, , or the lowered/unrounded from , or or * can have an onset lower than RP but higher than Cockney: * fronted to * fronted * lowers and backs, different from both RP and Cockney It retains some aspects of Cockney, such as the vocalisation of ( dark L) to , and ''yod''-coalescence in stressed
syllable A syllable is a basic unit of organization within a sequence of speech sounds, such as within a word, typically defined by linguists as a ''nucleus'' (most often a vowel) with optional sounds before or after that nucleus (''margins'', which are ...
s (for example, ''duty'' ) and replacement of with (the
glottal stop The glottal stop or glottal plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many Speech communication, spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic ...
) in weak positions, or occasionally with d). Wells notes traditional aspects of rural South East speech as lengthened in ''trap'' words and use of or in ''mouth'' words.


Cockney

Cockney is the traditional accent of the working classes of the areas immediately surrounding the
City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...
itself (most famously including the East End). It is characterised by many phonological differences from RP: * The dental
fricatives A fricative is a consonant produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate in t ...
are replaced with
labiodental In phonetics, labiodentals are consonants articulated with the lower lip and the upper teeth, such as and . In English, labiodentalized /s/, /z/ and /r/ are characteristic of some individuals; these may be written . Labiodental consonants in ...
, for example ''think'' * The
diphthong A diphthong ( ), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of ...
is monophthongized to , for example ''south'' * ''H''-dropping, for example ''house'' * Replacement of in the middle or end of a word with a glottal stop; for example ''hit'' *
Diphthong A diphthong ( ), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of ...
shift of to (for example ''beet'' ), to (for example ''bait'' ), to (for example ''bite'' ), and to (for example, ''boy'' . * Vocalisation of (dark L) to , for example, ''people''


Multicultural London English

Multicultural London English (abbreviated MLE), colloquially called Blockney, is a
dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...
(and/or
sociolect In sociolinguistics, a sociolect is a form of language ( non-standard dialect, restricted register) or a set of lexical items used by a socioeconomic class, profession, age group, or other social group. Sociolects involve both passive acquisit ...
) of English that emerged in the late 20th century. It is spoken mainly by youths in
multicultural Multiculturalism is the coexistence of multiple cultures. The word is used in sociology, in political philosophy, and colloquially. In sociology and everyday usage, it is usually a synonym for ''ethnic'' or cultural pluralism in which various e ...
parts of working-class London. The speech of
Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
ns, or children of Jamaican parents, in London shows interesting combinations of the Jamaican accent with the London accent. For example, in
Jamaican English Jamaican English, including Jamaican Standard English, is the variety of English native to Jamaica and is the official language of the country. A distinction exists between Jamaican English and Jamaican Patois (a creole language), though ...
, is replaced by , for example ''both'' . In London, word-final is realised as , as mentioned above. In Jamaican-London speech, glottalization of applies also to from , for example ''both of them'' .
Hypercorrection In sociolinguistics, hypercorrection is the nonstandard use of language that results from the overapplication of a perceived rule of language-usage prescription. A speaker or writer who produces a hypercorrection generally believes through a ...
s like for ''foot'' are also heard from Jamaicans.
John C. Wells John Christopher Wells (born 11 March 1939) is a British phonetician and Esperantist. Wells is a professor emeritus at University College London, where until his retirement in 2006 he held the departmental chair in phonetics. He is known for ...
's dissertation, ''Jamaican pronunciation in London'', was published by the Philological Society in 1973.


Berkshire and Hampshire English

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...
and
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
are on the modern-day border between Estuary English and West Country English. Berkshire is predominantly non-rhotic today, but traditional accents may still be found across the county. Parts of
West Berkshire West Berkshire is a unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Berkshire, England. It is administered from Newbury by West Berkshire Council. History The district of Newbury was formed on 1 April 1974, as a merger of the borough of Newbur ...
may still be rhotic or variably rhotic today, though this feature is quickly becoming ever less frequent. In country areas and Southampton, the older rhotic accent can still be heard amongst some speakers, for example in the speech of John Arlott,
Lord Denning Alfred Thompson Denning, Baron Denning, (23 January 1899 – 5 March 1999), was an English barrister and judge. He was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1923 and became a King's Counsel in 1938. Denning became a judge in 1944 when he w ...
and
Reg Presley Reginald Maurice Ball (12 June 1941 – 4 February 2013), known professionally as Reg Presley, was an English singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer with the 1960s rock and roll band the Troggs, whose hits included "Wild Thing (The Troggs ...
. Since the 1960s, particularly in Andover and Basingstoke, the local accent has changed reflecting the arrival of East Londoners relocated by London County Council. It can be argued that Hampshire is a borderline county moving East, linguistically. "Estuary-isms" can be found in
Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...
or "Pompey" English, some of which may actually originate from Portsmouth rather than London.


West Country English

South West England or "West Country" English is a family of similar strongly rhotic accents, now perceived as rural. It originally extended an even larger region, across much of South East England, including an area south of the " broad A"
isogloss An isogloss, also called a heterogloss, is the geographic boundary of a certain linguistics, linguistic feature, such as the pronunciation of a vowel, the meaning of a word, or the use of some morphological or syntactic feature. Isoglosses are a ...
, but the modern West Country dialects are now most often classified west of a line roughly from
Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...
via
Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...
. Their shared characteristics have been caricatured as Mummerset. They persist most strongly in areas that remain largely rural with a largely indigenous population, particularly the
West Country The West Country is a loosely defined area within southwest England, usually taken to include the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Bristol, with some considering it to extend to all or parts of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and ...
. In many other areas they are declining because of RP and Estuary accents moving to the area; for instance, strong Isle of Wight accents tend to be more prevalent in older speakers. As well as rhoticity, here are common features of West Country accents: * The diphthong (as in ''price'') realised as or , sounding more like the diphthong in
Received Pronunciation Received Pronunciation (RP) is the Accent (sociolinguistics), accent of British English regarded as the Standard language, standard one, carrying the highest Prestige (sociolinguistics), social prestige, since as late as the beginning of the 2 ...
''choice''. * The diphthong (as in ''mouth'') realised as , with a starting point close to the vowel in
Received Pronunciation Received Pronunciation (RP) is the Accent (sociolinguistics), accent of British English regarded as the Standard language, standard one, carrying the highest Prestige (sociolinguistics), social prestige, since as late as the beginning of the 2 ...
''dress''. * The vowel (as in ''lot'') realised as an unrounded vowel , as in many forms of
American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...
. * In traditional West Country accents, the voiceless
fricative A fricative is a consonant produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate in ...
s (as in ''sat, farm, think, shed'' respectively) are often voiced to , giving pronunciations like "Zummerzet" for ''Somerset'', "varm" for ''farm'', "zhure" for ''sure'', etc. * In the
Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
area a vowel at the end of a word is often followed by an intrusive dark l, . Hence the old joke about the three Bristolian sisters Evil, Idle, and Normal (written Eva, Ida, and Norma). ''L'' is pronounced darkly where it is present, too, which means that in Bristolian rendering, 'idea' and 'ideal' are homophones. * ''H''-dropping in
South Devon South Devon is the southern part of Devon, England. Because Devon has its major population centres on its two coasts, the county is divided informally into North Devon and South Devon.For exampleNorth DevonanSouth Devonnews sites. In a narrower s ...
and
Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
, "''Berry 'Aid''" for Berry Head (in
Brixham Brixham is a coastal town and civil parish in the borough of Torbay in the county of Devon, in the south-west of England. As of the 2021 census, Brixham had a population of 16,825. It is one of the main three centres of the borough, along with ...
, South Devon) In traditional Southern rural accents, the voiceless
fricative A fricative is a consonant produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate in ...
s always remain voiceless, which is the main difference from West Country accents.


East Anglian English

Features which can be found in
East Anglia East Anglia is an area of the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with parts of Essex sometimes also included. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, ...
n English (especially in
Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...
) include: * ''Yod''-dropping after all consonants: ''beautiful'' may be pronounced , often represented as "bootiful" or "bewtiful", ''huge'' as , and so on. * Absence of the long mid merger between
Early Modern English Early Modern English (sometimes abbreviated EModEFor example, or EMnE) or Early New English (ENE) is the stage of the English language from the beginning of the Tudor period to the English Interregnum and Restoration, or from the transit ...
(as in ''toe, moan, road, boat'') and (as in ''tow, mown, rowed''). The vowel of ''toe, moan, road, boat'' may be realised as , so that ''boat'' may sound to outsiders like ''boot''. *
Glottal stop The glottal stop or glottal plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many Speech communication, spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic ...
frequent for . * The diphthong (as in ''price'') realised as , sounding very much like the diphthong in
Received Pronunciation Received Pronunciation (RP) is the Accent (sociolinguistics), accent of British English regarded as the Standard language, standard one, carrying the highest Prestige (sociolinguistics), social prestige, since as late as the beginning of the 2 ...
''choice''. * The vowel (as in ''lot'') realised as an unrounded vowel , as in many forms of
American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...
. * Merger of the vowels of ''near'' and ''square'' ( RP and ), making ''chair'' and ''cheer'' homophones. * East Anglian accents are generally
non-rhotic The distinction between rhoticity and non-rhoticity is one of the most prominent ways in which varieties of the English language are classified. In rhotic accents, the sound of the historical English rhotic consonant, , is preserved in all p ...
. There are differences between and even within areas of East Anglia: the Norwich accent has distinguishing aspects from the Norfolk dialect that surrounds itchiefly in the vowel sounds. The accent of
Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...
is different from the Norfolk accent, whilst
Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...
has greater similarities to that of Norfolk.


Essex

The East Anglian feature of ''yod''-dropping was common in Essex. In addition, Mersea Island (though not the rest of Essex) showed some rhoticity in speakers born as late as the early 20th century,A Sociophonological Analysis of Mersea Island English: An investigation of the diphthongs (aʊ), (aɪ) and (ɔɪ)
page 44
a feature that characterised other rural dialects of South East England in the 19th century. Th-fronting, a feature now widespread in England, was found throughout Essex in the 1950s
Survey of English Dialects The Survey of English Dialects was undertaken between 1950 and 1961 under the direction of Harold Orton of the English department of the University of Leeds. It aimed to collect the full range of speech in England and Wales before local differe ...
, which studied speakers born in the late 1800s. Many words are unique to 19th-century Essex dialect, some examples including ''bonx'' meaning "to beat up batter for pudding" and ''hodmedod'' or ''hodmadod'' meaning "snail". Several nonstandard grammatical features exist, such as irregular plural forms like ''housen'' for "houses". Modern Essex English is usually associated with non-rhotic Estuary English, mainly in urban areas receiving an influx of East London migrants since World War II. The Essex accent has an east–west variation with the county's west having Estuary English speech features and the county's east having the traditional Essaxon and East Anglian features.


19th-century Kent, Sussex, and Surrey English

The region largely south of London, including Surrey, Sussex, and once even Kent, used to speak with what today would be lumped under a South West England or "West Country" dialect. In all these counties, front , front , and high (or even
round Round or rounds may refer to: Mathematics and science * Having no sharp corners, as an ellipse, circle, or sphere * Rounding, reducing the number of significant figures in a number * Round number, ending with one or more zeroes * Round (crypt ...
) vowels predominated in the 19th century, all of which are also shared with rural traditional
East Anglian English East Anglian English is a dialect of English spoken in East Anglia, primarily in or before the mid-20th century. East Anglian English has had a very considerable input into modern Estuary English. However, it has received little attention from ...
. Modern Kent and Sussex English is usually associated with non-rhotic Estuary English, mainly in urban areas receiving an influx of East London migrants since World War II. However, rhoticity used to characterize the traditional rural accents in Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, though it has long been a recessive feature.Wells, 1982, p. 335. Still, it is possible that some Sussex and Kentish rhoticity lasted until as recently as the early 21st century in certain pockets. The vowel (as in ) is very occasionally used for the vowel, normally ; it has been reported as a minority variant in Kent and Essex. In the 18th and 19th centuries, in Essex, Kent, and east Sussex, plus several other South East areas including London, Suffolk, and Norfolk, was pronounced as in pre-vocalic position: thus, ''village'' sounded like ''willage'' and ''venom'' like ''wenom''. In the 19th century, across all of Southern England, ''arter'' without an ''f'' (non-rhotically, ) was a common pronunciation of ''after''. The pattern of speech in some of
Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...
' books pertains to Kentish dialect, as the author lived at Higham, was familiar with the mudflats near Rochester and created a comic character Sam Weller who spoke the local accent, principally Kentish but with strong London influences. Modern Estuary dialect features were also reported in some traditional varieties, including ''L''-vocalization e.g. ''old'' as ''owd'', as well as yod-coalescence in Kent.


Surrey

A unique dialect existed as recently as the late 19th century in the historic county of
Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
, in western
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
, and in parts of northern
Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...
,Davis, Graeme, ''Dictionary of Surrey English'' (2007), p.30 though it has now almost entirely died out. It was first documented by Granville W. G. Leveson Gower (1838–1895), of Titsey Place, during the 1870s and first published by him in ''A Glossary of Surrey Words'' in 1893. Gower was first made aware of the dialect after reading a letter in a local newspaper. Following that, and after his own enquiries, he expressed a fear that improved transport and the spread of education would cause such local dialects to disappear and be forgotten despite the fact that, in his words, "Old customs, old beliefs, old prejudices die hard in the soil of England".Gower, Granville, ''A Glossary of Surrey Words'', (1893), Oxford University Press Gower described certain standard English words with nonstandard pronunciations in the Surrey dialect: Gowers mentions:
''Acrost for across; agoo for ago; batcheldor for bachelor; brownchitis (or sometime brown titus) for bronchitis; chimley or chimbley for chimney; crowner for coroner; crowner's quest for coroner's inquest; curosity and curous for curiosity and curious; death for deaf; disgest for digest, and indisgestion for indigestion; gownd for gown; scholard for scholar; nevvy for nephew; non-plush'd for non-plussed; refuge for refuse; quid for cud, " chewing the quid; "sarment for sermon; varmint for vermin; sloop for slope; spartacles for spectacles; spavin for spasms. I knew an old woman who was constantly suffering from "the windy spavin;" taters for potatoes; wunst for once; wuts for oats, etc., etc."''
Syntax of the Surrey dialect included: * The Old and Middle English prefix of "a-" is used generally before substantives, before participles and with adjectives placed after nouns, e.g., a-coming, a-going, a-plenty, a-many. * Double negatives in a sentence are common, "You don't know nothing", "The gent ain't going to give us nothing" * "be" is common for "are", e.g., "How be you?" is noted, to which "I be pretty middlin', thank ye" was the usual answer. * Superlatives (+est) were used in place of the word "most", e.g., "the impudentest man I ever see" * "You've no ought" was the equivalent of "you should not" * "See" was used for saw (the
preterite The preterite or preterit ( ; abbreviated or ) is a grammatical tense or verb form serving to denote events that took place or were completed in the past; in some languages, such as Spanish, French, and English, it is equivalent to the simple p ...
usually past simple) of see * "Grow'd," "know'd," "see'd," "throw'd," and similar were however also used both for the perfect and participle passive of the verbs, e.g., "I've know'd a litter of seven whelps reared in that hole" * Past participle takes more complex forms after common consonants "-ded," "-ted," e.g., attackted, drownded, "Such a country as this, where everything is either scorched up with the sun or drownded with the rain." * The pleonastic use of "-like" denoting "vaguely", e.g. comfortable-like, timid-like, dazed-like, "I have felt lonesome-like ever since." * "all along of" meaning "because of" Phonological features included long-standing yod-coalescence, now typical of dialects throughout England, as well as the increasingly disappearing feature of rhoticity. * bait – an afternoon meal about 4 pm * bannick – a verb meaning to beat or thrash * baulky – is said of a person who tries to avoid you * beazled – tired * beatle – a mallet * befront – in front of * beleft – the participle of "believe" * bettermost – upper-class people * bly – a likeness, "he has a bly of his father" * burden – a quantity * comb – the moss that grows on church bells * clung – moist or damp grass * dryth – drought * fail – a verb meaning to fall ill * fly-golding – a ladybird * foundrous – boggy or marshy * gratten – stubble left in a field after harvest * hem – a lot or much * hot – a verb meaning to heat something up, "hot it over the fire" * innardly – to talk innardly is to mumble * leastways – otherwise * lief – rather, "I'd lief not" * lippy – rude * market fresh – drunk * messengers – small clouds (also called "water dogs") * middlin – reasonable or average * mixen – a heap of dung or soil * mothery – mouldy * notation – making a fuss * nurt – a verb meaning to entice * ornary – being unwell (the word means "ordinary") * peart – brisk or lively * picksome – pretty or dainty * platty – uneven * quirk – a faint noise indicating fear * runagate – good for nothing * sauce – vegetables, e.g. "green sauce", pronounced "soss" * scrow – a verb to scowl * shatter – sprinkling * shifty – untidy * shuckish – unsettled, showery weather * snob – shoemaker * spoon meat – soup * statesman – landowner * stood – stuck * swimy – giddy * the big smoke – London * tidy – adjective meaning good or well * timmersome – timid * uppards – towards London or in the north * venturesome – brave * welt – scorched * wift – quic


Sussex

In addition to the above features, namely rhoticity, the traditional Sussex accent showed certain other features, like an extremely narrow vowel and th-stopping. Reduplicated plural forms were a grammatical feature of the Sussex dialect, particularly in words ending ''-st'', such as ''ghostesses'' in place of the standard English ''ghosts''. Many old Sussex words once existed, thought to have derived from Sussex's fishermen and their links with fishermen from the coasts of France and the Netherlands. A universal feminine gender pronoun was typical, reflected in a joking saying in Sussex that "Everything in Sussex is a she except a tomcat and she's a he."


See also

*
South African English South African English (SAfE, SAfEn, SAE, en-ZA) is the List of dialects of English, set of English language dialects native to South Africans. History British Empire, British settlers first arrived in the South African region in 1795, ...
*
Australian English Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language and ''de facto'' national language. While Australia has no of ...
* Zimbabwean English *
New Zealand English New Zealand English (NZE) is the variant of the English language spoken and written by most English-speaking New Zealanders. Its language code in ISO and Internet standards is en-NZ. It is the first language of the majority of the populati ...
*
Falkland Islands English Falkland Islands English is the dialect of the English language spoken in the Falkland Islands. Though it is mainly British in character, as a result of the remoteness of the islands, the small population has developed and retains its own acce ...
* Regional accents of English


References

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External links


English (Southern England) DoReCo corpus
compiled by Nils Norman Schiborr. Audio recordings of narrative texts with transcriptions time-aligned at the phone level, translations, and time-aligned morphological annotations. {{English dialects by continent
Southern England Southern England, also known as the South of England or the South, is a sub-national part of England. Officially, it is made up of the southern, south-western and part of the eastern parts of England, consisting of the statistical regions of ...
.