Abercraf English

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Abercraf English (also known as Abercrave English) is a dialect of Welsh English, primarily spoken in the village of Abercraf, located in the far south of the traditional county of Brecknockshire, currently administered as part of the unitary authority of Powys.

Contents

Abercraf English
Native to United Kingdom
Region Abercraf
Latin (English alphabet)
Language codes
ISO 639-3 –
Glottolog None
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Accent

Abercraf English is distinct from most other accents in its county due to separation by the Brecon Beacons, creating a substantial communication barrier between the localities. It is more appropriate to associate it with neighbouring Swansea Valley, particularly the speech in northern areas (esp. Ystalyfera) since they are more similar to Abercraf than ones in most of its county, excepting Ystradgynlais. This could be seen from a survey where speakers could not discern the origins of the speech of Ystradgynlais and their hometown, but were able to discern Cwmtwrch with other villages in the valley. [1]

History

Abercraf was entirely Welsh-speaking until World War II, when English-speaking evacuees settled in the village. [1] It is a relatively young acquired dialect. This can be seen from generally less assimilation and elision and clear articulation unlike other accents in Brecknockshire or Glamorgan. [2] Being a more modern accent causes it to be restricted to the last two to three generations, with younger people being much more likely to speak it; although a lot of their daily lives is conducted in Welsh, thus causing English to be taught as a second language. [3]

Phonology

Consonants

Like many other accents in Britain, Abercraf's consonants generally follow that of Received Pronunciation, although it does have some unique innovations common for South Wales dialects: [4]

Vowels

Abercraf English is non-rhotic; /r/ is only pronounced before a vowel. Like RP, linking and intrusive R is present in the system. [4] On the other hand, the vowel system varies greatly from RP, unlike its consonants, which is stable in many English accents around the world. [8]

Monophthongs

Monophthongs of Abercraf English, according to Tench (1990:135-136). Abercrave English monophthongs chart.svg
Monophthongs of Abercraf English, according to Tench (1990 :135–136).
Monophthongs [9] [10]
Front Central Back
shortlongshortlongshortlong
Close ɪ iː ʊ uː
Close-mid eː ɜː oː
Open-mid ɛ ɛː ʌ
Open a aː ɒ ɒː
  • FLEECE and GOOSE are close to cardinal [ iː ] and [ uː ]. [11]
    • The HAPPY vowel is always tense, being analysed as the FLEECE vowel, where conservative RP has the lax [ɪ]. [12]
  • NURSE is unrounded and mid [ ɜ̝ː ]. Unlike accents in West Glamorgan which have a rounded [ øː ], Abercraf's realisation is identical to RP; a similar articulation had also been recorded in Myddfai. [13]
  • There is no phonemic distinction between STRUT and COMMA, with the merged vowel being realised as open-mid [ ɜ ] in stressed syllables and as mid [ ə ] when unstressed. It is transcribed as /ʌ/ because the stressed allophone is close to RP /ʌ/. [14]
    • When unstressed and spelt with an ⟨e⟩, the DRESS vowel is preferred, such as cricket, fastest and movement. Likewise when spelt with ⟨a⟩, it varies from TRAP to STRUT. [15]
  • There is no horse–hoarse merger, with the first set pronounced as [ɒː], and the second [oː] respectively. [12]
  • Like all accents of Wales, the SQUARE–DRESS, PALM–TRAP and THOUGHT–LOT sets are based more on length rather than vowel quality; creating minimal pairs such as shared–shed, heart–hat and short–shot. [16] [17]
  • The SQUARE–DRESS vowels are close to cardinal [ ɛ ]. [18]
  • THOUGHT and LOT are close to cardinal [ ɒ ]. In the case of the former, its articulation is considerably more open than the corresponding RP vowel. [11]
  • Pairs PALM–TRAP are relatively centralised, although TRAP may approach to the front. [11]
  • The trap–bath split is completely absent in Abercraf English unlike other Welsh accents which have lexical exceptions. [12] [19]

Diphthongs

Diphthongs of Abercraf English, according to Tench (1990:135-136) Abercrave English diphthongs chart.svg
Diphthongs of Abercraf English, according to Tench (1990 :135–136)
Diphthongs [12]
Endpoint
FrontBack
Start pointCloseeiɪu ou
Openai ɒiau

The offsets of the fronting diphthongs are near-close [ ɪ ], whereas the offsets of the backing diphthongs are close [ u ]. [20]

  • The CHOICE onset is closer to open mid [ɔ], despite its transcription as /ɒ/. [18]
  • There are no minimal pairs between PRICE words such as aye/I and Dai / Di , unlike in Port Talbot. Like in Myddfai, the onset of PRICE is more open [ ɐ̟ ], compared to other Welsh accents such as West Glamorgan /ə/. [13] [21]
  • MOUTH has a near-open onset [ ɐ ], sharing a similar vowel quality as Myddfai, which is also more open than /ə/ that of West Glamorgan. [22]

Abercraf has kept some distinctions between diphthong–monophthong pronunciations; they are shared among other south Welsh dialects such as Port Talbot. These distinctions are lost in most other dialects and they include:

  • When GOOSE is spelt with ⟨ew⟩, diphthongal /ɪu/ replaces monophthongal /uː/, thus blew/blue and threw/through are distinct. [23]
  • The sequence /juː/ is pronounced as /juː/ when ⟨y⟩ is represented in the spelling, otherwise /ɪu/, as in you/youth as opposed to use/ewe. [23] When unstressed and after non-coronal consonants, /juː/ uses the FOOT vowel instead. [24] [25]
  • Absence of toe–tow and pain–pane mergers, therefore there are distinct monophthongal and diphthongal pronunciations of FACE and GOAT lexical sets. They are diphthongs /ei/ and /ou/ when the spelling contains ⟨i⟩/⟨y⟩ and ⟨u⟩/⟨w⟩ respectively, otherwise they are monophthongs /eː/ and /oː/. [23] [26] A good illustration is that of the word play-place/ˈpleipleːs/. [23]
    Monophthongal pronunciations /eː/ and /oː/ are both close-mid; they match their cardinal equivalents. The diphthongal pronunciations have less movement compared to other south Welsh accents, with the onsets of each evidently being close-mid. [27] [28] Exceptions to this rule also exist similar to Port Talbot English, but FACE is slightly different in Abercraf: [23]
    • The monophthong is generally used before nasals and in the sequence ⟨-atiV⟩, therefore strange and patience is pronounced /eː/. [23]
    • Certain minimal pairs that are not distinct in Port Talbot English, but are in Abercraf, such as waste/waist. In Port Talbot these two are pronounced monophthongally. [23]

NEAR and CURE are not centring diphthongs unlike RP, rather a disyllabic vowel sequence consisting of the equivalent long vowel as the first element and the COMMA vowel, such that these words are pronounced /niːʌ/ and /kɪuːʌ/ respectively. [23]

  • Like Port Talbot English, NEAR has a monosyllabic pronunciation /jøː/ word-initially, including after dropped /h/, making hear, here, year and ear all homophones. Likewise, heard also has this vowel. [4]

Phonemic incidence

Abercraf English generally follows West Glamorgan lexical incidence patterns. [29] [30] [19]

Assimilation and elision

As mentioned above, there is less assimilation and elision than in other accents, however some consonants can be elided: [15]

The vowel /ə/ is not elided, thus factory, mandarin, reference always have three syllables, unlike many accents such as RP or even Port Talbot. [15]

Intonation

Abercraf English is considered to have a 'sing-song' or 'lilting' intonation due to having high amount of pitch on an unstressed post-tonic syllable, as well as pre-tonic syllables having a great degree of freedom, with a continuous rising pitch being common. [15]

Grammar

Vocabulary

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References

  1. 1 2 Tench (1990), p. 130.
  2. ↑ Tench (1990), pp. 140–141.
  3. ↑ Tench (1990), pp. 130, 140.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Tench (1990), p. 131.
  5. ↑ Tench (1990), p. 139.
  6. ↑ Connolly (1990), p. 126.
  7. ↑ Wells (1982), p. 298.
  8. 1 2 Tench (1990), p. 132.
  9. ↑ Tench (1990), p. 133.
  10. ↑ Wells (1982), pp. 380, 384–385.
  11. 1 2 3 Tench (1990), pp. 135–136.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Tench (1990), p. 137.
  13. 1 2 Tench (1990), pp. 135–137, 141.
  14. ↑ Tench (1990), pp. 133, 135–137.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 Tench (1990), p. 140.
  16. ↑ Tench (1990), p. 136.
  17. ↑ Wells (1982), p. 381.
  18. 1 2 Tench (1990), p. 135.
  19. 1 2 3 4 Wells (1982), p. 387.
  20. ↑ Tench (1990), pp. 135–137.
  21. ↑ Wells (1982), p. 385.
  22. ↑ Tench (1990), pp. 136, 141.
  23. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Tench (1990), p. 134.
  24. ↑ Tench (1990), p. 124.
  25. ↑ Wells (1982), p. 386.
  26. ↑ Connolly (1990), pp. 122–123.
  27. ↑ Tench (1990), pp. 134–136.
  28. ↑ Wells (1982), p. 384.
  29. ↑ Tench (1990), pp. 137–138.
  30. ↑ Connolly (1990), p. 124.
  31. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Tench (1990), p. 138.
  32. ↑ Tench (1990), pp. 138, 141.
  33. ↑ Tench (1990), pp. 131–132.

Bibliography

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