An overview of historical and contemporary variation in British English with observations on Standard English, dialect, accent, slang and vernacular, including audio examples from the British Library’s Sound Archive. The session will draw heavily on Jonnie Robinson’s recent research, especially for A Thesaurus of English Dialect and Slang (https://bit.ly/3w0EJKu).
Course aim
To explore variation in British English vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar and attitudes towards such variation
Do I need any particular skills or experience?
- This course is for beginners and improvers
By the end of the course I should be able to:
- Understand the relationship between Standard English, dialect, accent and slang
- Understand prescriptive and descriptive approaches to language variation
- Reflect on our attitudes towards linguistic variation
What else do I need to know?
Pen and paper
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