Accent and Dialect

Dialect
Dialect is the actual lexis that is used within speech, it differs from other varieties of language in three specific ways, these are; lexis, grammar, and phonology. English dialects may be different from each other, but all speakers within the English-speaking language can still generally understand them. An example of this would be a speaker from Newcastle who might use localised language such as, “gan” instead of “to go”. Another example may be if the individual uses regional grammatical constructions, such as the past tense sentences like “i’ve went” or “i’ve drank”. Finally they may also use a range of local vocabulary which leads to someone referring to them as a Geordie dialect speaker.




Accents
Accents however refers to the differences in the sound patterns of specific dialect. It comes under dialect aswell as many other linguistic features. An example of this is someone from Newcastle who generally uses vocabulary and grammar of a high frequency but their pronunciation is distinctively different from someone who lives in East London for example because they obtain a hint of Tyneside to their voice when pronouncing words. This would be described as a Geordie accent, despite the popular debate, everyone speaks with an accent.




Essex
There are many different ways in which the Essex accent is different to other regions, Ellison is used as they put together 2 different words and miss out letters between them. An example of this would be 'you sure you wanna go'. They've used wanna instead of want to, and 'you' has been missed out at the beginning of the sentence. This is a much more conversational tone and Essex accent in general is seen as 'common' and 'chavy'. Stress is put on the last syllable of th word even if they are monosyllabic. Abreviations are used a lot for example 'OMG' instead of oh my God. This is standard English for thse people in Essex as its used in every day language just in a conversation. Words meanings have changed over time, for example the pragmatic of the word 'sick' is that someone is ill, unwell etc however people in essex have changed these words to mean different things (semantics) they use the word sick for saying something is good or amazing. Essex uis the neighboutring county to London therefore the Essex accent has been influenced by this. The Essex accent implies and has been used for stereotypes to imply that somoene is uneducated.




Geordie
The Geordie accent is one that is dominant upon Tyne-side in Newcastle and is very similar to that of the Welsh accent however it is more aggressive in nature and this accent also consists of high amounts of lower register language. The language is quite aggressive and if you listen closely they usually slur their words. This causes mispronunciation of words and confusion into what the individual is saying.