Evolution of English as She is Spoke





Regional variety in how the language is spoken gets increasing acceptance

Thanks to the pukka accents of the British Raj, many Indians imagine the cut-glass enunciation of Received Pronunciation to be the default tone in Britain, too, with Eliza Doolittle's charming Cockney cadence providing a counterpoint.That, of course, is not true, with even Queen Elizabeth II's regal diction having changed perceptibly during nine decades of speaking Her English. Indeed, her grandchildren's accents -noticeably less posh than their older relative's -reflect how spoken English is changing even in its homeland. So, the news that the Estuary Accent -spoken in London and the South East -is swamping regional variations and colloquialisms is not surprising at all. Given that linguistic dissimilitudes are what traditionally perpetuated class and regional hierarchies in Britain, a single overweening accent may be just what the hour demands.Britons are at least opting for a form of English spoken on its side of the Atlantic and not the other -or even from populous anglophone lands east of the Suez. In India, luckily , the various accents of English mostly denote nothing more divergent than region. But trans-Atlantic rhoticity has crept in and even the once-hallowed tones of All India Radio newsreaders have evolved into a more indigenous patois, signalling a new era of Angrezi here too.

Source: Economic Times, 30-05-2016