Scouse

Scouse (/skaʊs/ SKOWSS), officially known as Liverpool English[2] or Merseyside English,[3][4][5] is an accent and dialect of English associated with the city of Liverpool and the surrounding Liverpool City Region. The Scouse accent is highly distinctive as it was influenced heavily by Irish and Welsh immigrants who arrived via the Liverpool docks, as well as Scandinavian sailors who also used the docks,[6] and thus has very little in common with the accents found throughout the rest of England.[7] Natives of Liverpool (and occasionally residents from elsewhere) are officially known as Liverpudlians, but are usually called Scousers; the name comes from scouse, a stew originating from Scandinavian lobscouse eaten by sailors and locals.[8][9][10][11]

This article is about the accent and dialect. For the dish, see Scouse (food).

Scouse
Liverpool English / Merseyside English
Native toEngland
RegionLiverpool City Region
Early forms
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
GlottologNone
IETFen-scouse

The development of Liverpool since the 1950s has spread the accent into nearby areas such as the towns of Runcorn and Skelmersdale.[12] Variations within Scouse have been noted: the accent of Liverpool's city centre and northern neighbourhoods is usually described as fast, harsh, and nasal,[13] while the "Beatles-like" accent found in the southern suburbs of Liverpool is typically referred to as slow, soft, and dark.[14] Popular colloquialisms have shown a growing deviation from the historical Lancashire dialect that was previously found in Liverpool,[12] as well as a growth in the influence of the accent in the wider area.[7][15][16][17][18] Scouse is often considered by other Britons to be one of the country's least popular accents due to its difficulty, but it conversely also performs very well in polls of British accents that people perceive as happy and friendly.[19]

Etymology

The word scouse is a shortened form of lobscouse, the origin of which is uncertain.[20] It is related to the Norwegian lapskaus, Swedish lapskojs, and Danish labskovs (skipperlabskovs), as well as the Low German labskaus and refers to a stew of the same name commonly eaten by sailors. In the 19th century, poorer people in Liverpool, Birkenhead, Bootle and Wallasey commonly ate scouse as it was a cheap dish and familiar to the families of seafarers. Outsiders tended to call these people "scousers".[21] In The Lancashire Dictionary of Dialect, Tradition and Folklore, Alan Crosby suggested that the word only became known nationwide with the popularity of the BBC sitcom Till Death Us Do Part (1965–1975), which featured a Liverpudlian socialist and a Cockney conservative in a regular argument.[10]

Origins

Originally a small fishing village, Liverpool developed as a port, trading particularly with Ireland. After the 1700s, it developed into a major international trading and industrial centre. The city consequently became a melting pot of several accents and dialects as sailors and traders from different areas (specifically Wales and Ireland) established themselves in the area. Until the mid-19th century, the dominant local accent was similar to that of neighbouring areas of Lancashire. For instance, the comedian and actor Robb Wilton (1881–1957), despite coming from the Everton district of Liverpool, spoke with a dry Lancashire accent rather than a Scouse accent.[22]

The influence of immigrants from Ireland (especially Dublin) and Northern Wales, as well as visiting Scandinavian sailors, contributed to a distinctive local Liverpool accent.[23][24] The first reference to a distinctive Liverpool accent was in 1890. Linguist Gerald Knowles suggested that the accent's nasal quality may have derived from poor public health in the 19th century, by which the prevalence of colds among many people over a long time resulted in a nasal accent coming to be regarded as the norm and copied by newer incomers learning the dialect of the local area.[25] Scousers tend to speak at a higher pitch than most other English speakers, sometimes approaching falsetto.

Academic research

The early researcher Alexander John Ellis said that Liverpool and Birkenhead "had no dialect proper", as he conceived of dialects as speech that had been passed down through generations from the earliest English speakers. Ellis did research some locations on the Wirral, but these respondents spoke in the traditional Cheshire dialect at the time and not in Scouse.[26] The 1950s Survey of English Dialects recorded traditional Lancastrian dialect from the town of Halewood, finding no trace of Scouse influence. The phonetician John C. Wells wrote that "the Scouse accent might as well not exist" in The Linguistic Atlas of England, which was the Survey's principal output.[27]

An academic study of Scouse was undertaken by Gerald Knowles at the University of Leeds in 1973. He identified a key problem: that traditional dialect research had focused on developments from a single proto-language, but Scouse (and many other urban dialects) had resulted from interactions between an unknown number of languages.[28]

Phonology

The phonemic notation used in this article is based on the set of symbols used by Watson (2007).

Vowels
Monophthongs of Scouse (from Watson (2007:357)). /eː/ and /ɑː/ show considerable allophonic variation.[29]
Diphthongs of Scouse (part 1, from Watson (2007:357))
Diphthongs of Scouse (part 2, from Watson (2007:357)). /ɛʉ/ shows considerable allophonic variation.[29]
Vowels of Scouse[30]
Front Central Back
Short Long Short Long Short Long
Close ɪ iː ʉː ʊ
Mid ɛ eː ə ɔː
Open a ɒ ɑː
Diphthongs eɪ   aɪ   ɔɪ   aʊ   ɛʉ   iɛ
  • The square–nurse merger in Scouse renders minimal pairs such as fair-fur, stare-stir and pair-purr homophonous as /feː/, /steː/ and /peː/. The actual realization is variable, but the current mainstream pronunciation is close to [eː], as shown on the vowel chart. Other allophones include [ɛː], [ɪː], [ɘː], [əː] and [ɜː] as well as the rounded [œː] and [ɵː], with all but [ɪː] being more conservative than [eː]. In addition to those, there also exist the diphthongal variants [ɛə] and [əɛ]. Middle class speakers may differentiate SQUARE from NURSE by using the front [ɛː] for the former (so that fair, stare and pair are rendered [fɛː, stɛː, pɛː]) and the central [ɜː] for the latter (so that fur, stir and purr are rendered [fɜː, stɜː, pɜː]), much like in RP.[29][31][32][33][34]
  • As other Northern English varieties, Scouse lacks the foot–strut split, so that words like cut /kʊt/, luck /lʊk/ and up /ʊp/ have the same /ʊ/ phoneme as bull /bʊl/, foot /fʊt/ and put /pʊt/. Speakers attempting to distinguish between the two typically use a stressed /ə/ for the former set: /kət, lək, əp/, resulting in a Welsh English-like strut–schwa merger. However, this often leads to hypercorrection, so that good luck may be pronounced [ˌɡəd ˈɫʊk].[35][36]
  • Words such as grass, path and sample have a short /a/, rather than the long /ɑː/ due to the lack of the trap–bath split: /ɡɹas, pat̪, ˈsampəl/. As with the foot–strut split, an attempt to use /ɑː/ in an RP-like way may lead to hypercorrections such as [ˌbɫɑːk ˈkʰasɫ] (RP [ˌblak ˈkʰɑːsɫ]).[35][36]
  • The words book, cook and look are typically pronounced with the vowel of GOOSE rather than that of FOOT, which is true within other parts of Northern England and the Midlands. This causes minimal pairs such as book and buck, cook and cuck, and look and luck. The use of a long /ʉː/ in such words is more often used in working-class accents; recently, however, this feature has been becoming more recessive, being found less often among younger people.[29]
  • The weak vowel merger is in transition, making some instances of unstressed /ɪ/ merge with /ə/, so that eleven /ɪˈlɛvən/ and orange /ˈɒrɪndʒ/ are pronounced [əˈɫɛvən] and [ˈɒɾəndʒ].[37] The typical g-dropped variant of ing is [ən], which is subject to syllabic consonant formation (as in disputing [dɪsˈpjʉːʔn̩]). As in Geordie, [ɪ] for standard [ə] may also occur, as in maggot [ˈmaɡɪθ̠].[38]
  • /ʉː/ is typically central [ʉː], and it may be even fronted to [yː] so that it becomes the rounded counterpart of /iː/.[29]
  • In final position, /iː, ʉː/ tend to be fronting/backing diphthongs with central onsets [ɨ̞i, ɨ̞u]. Sometimes this also happens before /l/ in words such as school [skɨ̞uɫ].[39]
  • The HAPPY vowel is tense [i] and is best analysed as belonging to the /iː/ phoneme.[37][40]
  • There is not a full agreement on the phonetic realisation of /ɑː/:
  • The NEAR vowel /iɛ/ typically has a front second element [ɛ].[30]
  • The FACE vowel /eɪ/ is typically diphthongal [eɪ], rather than being a monophthong [eː] that is commonly found in other Northern English accents.[42]
  • The GOAT vowel /ɛʉ/ has a considerable allophonic variation. Its starting point can be open-mid front [ɛ], close-mid front [e] or mid central [ə] (similarly to the NURSE vowel), whereas its ending point varies between fairly close central [ʉ̞] and a more back [ʊ]. The most typical realisation is [ɛʉ̞], but [ɛʊ, eʉ̞, eʊ, əʉ̞] and an RP-like [əʊ] are also possible.[29] John Wells also lists [oʊ] and [ɔʊ], which are more common in Midland English and younger Northern English. To him, variants with central or front onsets sound 'incongruously "posh"' in combination with other broad Scouse vowels.[39]
  • The PRICE vowel /aɪ/ can be monophthongised to [äː] in certain environments.[29] According to Wells (1982) and Watson (2007), the diphthongal realisation is quite close to the conservative RP norm ([aɪ]),[30][43] but according to Collins & Mees (2013) it has a rather back starting point ([ɑɪ]).[36]
  • The MOUTH vowel /aʊ/ is [aʊ], close to the RP norm.[30][43]

Consonants
  • H-dropping, as in many other varieties of Northern England English. This renders hear /hiɛ/, high /haɪ/ and hold /hɛʉld/ variably homophonous with ear /iɛ/, eye /aɪ/ and old /ɛʉld/.[44]
  • NG-coalescence is not present as with other Northern English accents, for instance realising along as [əˈlɒŋɡ].[44]
  • Like many other accents around the world, G-dropping also occurs, with [ən] being the most common realization of the sequence.[44]
  • /t/ has several allophones depending on environment:
    • Intervocalically (including at word boundaries), it is typically pronounced [ɹ] or [ɾ], which is found in several other Northern English varieties.[45]
    • Pre-pausally, it may be debuccalised to [h], with older speakers only doing this in function words with short vowels: it, lot, not, that, what pronounced [ɪh, lɒh, nɒh, d̪ah, wɒh] respectively. On the other hand, younger speakers may further debuccalise in polysyllabic words in unstressed syllables, hence aggregate [ˈaɡɾɪɡɪh].[45] This is not differentiated from [θ̠] in this article.
    • T-glottalisation is rarer than in the rest of England, with [ʔ] occurring before /l/ and syllabic consonants.[45]
    • Affrication of /t/ as [ts] word-initially and lenition to [θ̠] intervocalically and word-finally. The latter type of allophony does not lead to a loss of contrast with /s/ as the articulation is different; in addition, /s/ is also longer. For female speakers, the fricative allophone of /t/ is not necessarily [θ̠] but rather a complex sequence [hsh], so that out is pronounced [aʊhsh], rather than [aʊθ̠].[46] In this article, the difference is not transcribed and ⟨θ̠⟩ is used for the latter two allophones.
  • /k/ can turn into an affricate or a fricative, determined mostly by the quality of the preceding vowel.[45] If fricative, a palatal, velar or uvular articulation ([ç, x, χ] respectively) is realised. This is seen distinctively with words like book and clock.[45][43]
  • /p/ can be fricatised to [ɸ], albeit rarely.[45]
  • As with other varieties of English, the voiceless plosives /p, t, k/ are aspirated word-initially, except when /s/ precedes in the same syllable. It can also occur word- and utterance-finally, with potential preaspirated pronunciations [ʰp, ʰt, ʰk] (which is often perceived as glottal noise or as oral friction produced in the same environment as the stop) for utterance-final environments, primarily found in female speakers.[44]
  • The voiced plosives /b, d, ɡ/ are also fricatised, with /d/ particularly being lenited to the same extent as /t/, although the fricative allophone is frequently devoiced.[30]
  • Under Irish influence, the dental stops [t̪, d̪] are often used instead of the standard dental fricatives [θ, ð], leading to a phonemic distinction between dental and alveolar stops. The fricative forms are also found, whereas th-fronting is not as common.[44]
  • The accent is non-rhotic, meaning /r/ is not pronounced unless followed by a vowel. When it is pronounced, it is typically realised as a tap [ɾ] between vowels (as in mirror [ˈmɪɾə]) and sometimes in initial clusters as well (as in breath [bɾɛt̪]) and as an approximant [ɹ] otherwise, a variant sometimes also used in lieu of the tap.[44]

International recognition

Scouse is highly distinguishable from other English dialects. Because of this international recognition, Keith Szlamp made a request to IANA on 16 September 1996 to make it a recognised Internet dialect.[47] After citing a number of references,[48][49][50][51][11] the application was accepted on 25 May 2000 and now allows Internet documents that use the dialect to be categorised as Scouse by using the language tag "en-Scouse".

Scouse has also become well-known as the accent of The Beatles, an international cultural phenomenon.[52] While the members of the band are famously from Liverpool,[53] their accents have more in common with the older Lancashire-like Liverpool dialect found in the southern suburbs; the accent has evolved into Scouse since the 1960s, mostly in the centre and northern areas of the city, with some identifying the improvement of air quality as a potential factor.[52]

See also

Other northern English dialects include:

References
  1. "John Bishop". Desert Island Discs. 24 June 2012. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  2. Watson (2007:351–360)
  3. Collins & Mees 2013, pp. 193–194.
  4. Coupland, Nikolas; Thomas, Alan R., eds. (1990), English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change, Multilingual Matters Ltd., ISBN 1-85359-032-0
  5. Howard, Jackson; Stockwell, Peter (2011), An Introduction to the Nature and Functions of Language (2nd ed.), Continuum International Publishing Group, p. 172, ISBN 978-1-4411-4373-0
  6. "The origins of Scouse". www.bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 18 May 2023.
  7. Dominic Tobin and Jonathan Leake (3 January 2010). "Regional accents thrive against the odds in Britain". The Sunday Times. Times Newspapers. Archived from the original on 9 September 2011.
  8. Chris Roberts, Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind Rhyme, Thorndike Press, 2006 (ISBN 0-7862-8517-6)
  9. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Harry Enfield - The Scousers Visit The Beach" – via www.youtube.com.
  10. Alan Crosby, The Lancashire Dictionary of Dialect, Tradition and Folklore, 2000, entry for word Scouser
  11. Szlamp, K.: The definition of the word 'Scouser' Archived 14 July 2005 at the Wayback Machine, Oxford English Dictionary
  12. Patrick Honeybone. "New-dialect formation in nineteenth century Liverpool: a brief history of Scouse" (PDF). Open House Press.
  13. Bona, Emilia (29 September 2019). "11 funny differences between north and south Liverpool". Liverpool Echo.
  14. "BBC News - London 2012: A 12-part guide to the UK in 212 words each". Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
  15. Julie Henry (30 March 2008). "Scouse twang spreads beyond Merseyside". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022.
  16. Nick Coligan (29 March 2008). "Scouse accent defying experts and 'evolving'". Liverpool Echo. Archived from the original on 13 October 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2011.
  17. Chris Osuh (31 March 2008). "Scouse accent on the move". Manchester Evening News. Archived from the original on 11 January 2013. Retrieved 20 April 2011.
  18. Richard Savill (3 January 2010). "British regional accents 'still thriving'". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022.
  19. Bona, Emilia (17 August 2015). "Scouse ranked second-least attractive accent in the country". Liverpool Echo.
  20. "lobscouse" at Oxford English Dictionary; retrieved 13 May 2017
  21. "Scouse" at Oxford English Dictionary; retrieved 13 May 2017
  22. Robb Wilton, character comedian born Robert Wilton Smith in Liverpool 1881. Spoke in Lancashire dialect & delivered monologues. Died 1957 Postcard. 1881–1957.
  23. Paul Coslett, The origins of Scouse, BBC Liverpool, 11 January 2005. Retrieved 6 February 2015
  24. The Vauxhall and other dockland areas of the city, in particular, retained a strong Irish character that set them apart culturally from other areas. Peter Grant, The Scouse accent: Dey talk like dat, don’t dey?, Liverpool Daily Post, 9 August 2008. Archived from the original on 26 May 2013. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
  25. Scouse: the accent that defined an era, Times Higher Education, 29 June 2007. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  26. Knowles, Gerald (1973). "2.2". Scouse: the urban dialect of Liverpool (PhD). University of Leeds. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
  27. Review of the Linguistic Atlas of England, John C. Wells, The Times Higher Education Supplement, 1 December 1978
  28. Knowles, Gerald (1973). "3.2". Scouse: the urban dialect of Liverpool (PhD). University of Leeds. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
  29. Watson (2007), p. 358.
  30. Watson (2007), p. 357.
  31. Wells (1982), pp. 361, 372.
  32. Roca & Johnson (1999), p. 188.
  33. Beal (2004), p. 125.
  34. Cruttenden (2014), pp. 118, 138.
  35. Watson (2007), pp. 357–358.
  36. Collins & Mees (2013), p. 185.
  37. Wells (1982), p. 373.
  38. Watson (2007), pp. 352–353.
  39. Wells (1982), p. 372.
  40. Cruttenden (2014), pp. 92, 115.
  41. Cruttenden (2014), p. 125.
  42. Beal (2004), p. 123.
  43. Wells (1982), pp. 372–373.
  44. Watson (2007), p. 352.
  45. Watson (2007), p. 353.
  46. Watson (2007), pp. 353, 355.
  47. "LANGUAGE TAG REGISTRATION FORM". IANA.org. 25 May 2000. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  48. Shaw, Frank; Spiegl, Fritz; Kelly, Stan (September 1966). Lern Yerself Scouse. Vol. 1: How to Talk Proper in Liverpool. Scouse Press. ISBN 978-0901367013.
  49. Lane, Linacre; Spiegl, Fritz (June 1966). Lern Yerself Scouse. Vol. 2: The ABZ of Scouse. Scouse Press. ISBN 978-0901367037.
  50. Minard, Brian (July 1972). Lern Yerself Scouse. Vol. 3: Wersia Sensa Yuma?. Scouse Press. ISBN 978-0901367044.
  51. Spiegl, Fritz; Allen, Ken (December 1989). Lern Yerself Scouse. Vol. 4: The Language of Laura Norder. Scouse Press. ISBN 978-0901367310.
  52. "CLEAN AIR CLEANING UP OLD BEATLES ACCENT". abcnews.go.com. 23 February 2002. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  53. Unterberger, Richie. Scouse at AllMusic. Retrieved 5 July 2013.

Bibliography
  • Beal, Joan (2004), "English dialects in the North of England: phonology", in Schneider, Edgar W.; Burridge, Kate; Kortmann, Bernd; Mesthrie, Rajend; Upton, Clive (eds.), A handbook of varieties of English, vol. 1: Phonology, Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 113–133, ISBN 3-11-017532-0
  • Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M. (2013) [First published 2003], Practical Phonetics and Phonology: A Resource Book for Students (3rd ed.), Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-50650-2
  • Cruttenden, Alan (2014), Gimson's Pronunciation of English (8th ed.), Routledge, ISBN 9781444183092
  • Roca, Iggy; Johnson, Wyn (1999), A Course in Phonology, Blackwell Publishing
  • Watson, Kevin (2007), "Liverpool English" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 37 (3): 351–360, doi:10.1017/s0025100307003180, S2CID 232345844
  • Wells, John C. (1982), Accents of English, Vol. 2: The British Isles (pp. i–xx, 279–466), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-52128540-2

Further reading
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