Territorial varieties of English pronunciation

MINISTRY OFHIGHER AND SECONDARY SPECIAL EDUCATION
OF THEREPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN
GULISTAN STATEUNIVERSITY«TerritorialVarieties of English Pronunciation»  
Gulistan 2008

1.Functional stylistics and dialectology
Theproblem of the work is concerned with varieties of English in different regionsof Britain and various countries of the world. It is quite clear of course thatdialectology is inseparably connected with sociolinguistics, the latter dealswith language variation caused by social difference and differing social needs;it studies the ways language interacts with social reality.
Wepropose now a definition of this field of science: Sociolinguistics is thebranch of linguistics which studies different aspects of language – phonetics, lexicand grammar with reference to their social functions in the society. The aim isto explain language phenomena in connection with factors outside the languagefaculty itself in terms of large-scale social structure and in terms of howpeople use language to communicate with one another.
Thoughin the past fifteen years Sociolinguistics has come of age and is a fastexpanding and increasingly popular subject it should be fair to mention herethat language has always been viewed as a social phenomenon, the most importantmeans of human intercourse. So it is evident that language is indissolublylinked with the society; in it we can see a faithful reflection of the societyin which people live.
Itis quite clear, of course, that such fields of science as linguistics, sociolinguistics,psycholinguistics are inseparably linked in the treatment of various languagestructures. For example, the subject matter of ethnolinguistics graduallymerges into that of anthropological linguistics and that into sociologicallinguistics and that into stylistics, and the subject matter of socialpsychology.
Somescholars consider functional stylistics to be a branch of Sociolinguisticssince it studies the distinctive linguistic characteristics of smaller socialgroupings (such as those due to occupational class, age and sex differences)(38, 68).
Inthe case of English there exists a great diversity in the spoken realization ofthe language and particularly in terms of pronunciation. The varieties of thelanguage are conditioned by language communities ranging from small groups tonations. Now speaking about the nations we refer to the national variants ofthe language. In then – treatment we follow the conception of A.D. Shweitzer.According to him national language is a historical category evolving fromconditions of economic and political concentration which characterizes theformation of a nation. In other words national language is the language of anation, the standard of its form, the language of a nation's literature.
Itis common knowledge that language exists in two forms: written and spoken. Anymanifestation of language by means of speech is the result of a highlycomplicated series of events. The literary spoken form has its nationalpronunciation standard. A «standard» may be defined as «a socially acceptedvariety of a language established by a codified norm of correctness».
Todayall the English-speaking nations have their own national variants ofpronunciation and each of them has peculiar features that distinguish it fromother varieties of English.
Itis generally accepted that for the «English English» it is «Received Pronunciation»or RP; for «The American English» – «General American pronunciation»; for the AustralianEnglish – «Educated Australian» (we shall speak about it in detail later in thebook).
Standardnational pronunciation is sometimes called an «orthoepic norm». Somephoneticians, however, prefer the term «literary pronunciation».
Thoughevery national variant of English has considerable differences inpronunciation, lexic and grammar, they all have much in common which gives usground to speak of one and the same language – the English language.
Itwould not be true to say that national standards are fixed and immutable. Theyundergo constant changes due to various internal and external factors.Pronunciation, above all, is subject to all kinds of innovations. Therefore thenational variants of English differ primarily in sound, stress and intonation.It is well-known that there are countries with more than one national language,the most common case being the existence of two national languages on the sameterritory. For this Canada will be an example, where two different languages – Englishand French – form the repertoire of the community. In this case scholars speakabout bilingualism in contrast to monolingualism typical of a country with onenational language. Here arises the problem of interference, that is «linguisticdisturbance which results from two languages (or dialects), coming into contactin a specific situation»[1].
Itmay be well to state that every national variety of the language falls intoterritorial or regional dialects. Dialects are distinguished from each other bydifferences in pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. We must make clear that,when we refer to varieties in pronunciation only, we use the word «accent».1 Solocal accents may have many features of pronunciation in common andconsequently are grouped into territorial or area accents. In Britain, forexample, Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cheshire accents form the group of «Northernaccent». We must admit, however, that in most textbooks on phonetics the word «dialect»is still used in reference to the regional pronunciation peculiarities, thoughin the latest editions both in this country and abroad the difference in terms «dialectsand accents» is generally accepted. As we see, those terms should be treateddifferently when related to different aspects of the language. It is, however,true that there is a great deal of overlap between these terms. For certaingeographical, economic, political and cultural reasons one of the dialectsbecomes the standard language of the nation and its pronunciation or its accent– the received standard pronunciation. This was the case of London dialect,whose accent became the «RP» («Received Pronunciation») of Britain.
Ithas been estimated that the standard pronunciation of a country is nothomogeneous. It changes in relation to other languages, and also togeographical, psychological, social and political influences. In England, forexample, we distinguish «conservative, general and advanced RP».
Asa result of certain social factors in the post-war period – the growingurbanization, spread of education and the impact of mass media, StandardEnglish is exerting an increasing powerful influence on the regional dialectsof Great Britain. Recent surveys of British English dialects have revealed thatthe pressure of Standard English is so strong that many people are bilingual ina sense that they use an imitation of RP with their teachers and lapse intotheir native local accent when speaking among themselves. In this occasion theterm diglossia should be introduced to denote a state of linguistic duality inwhich the standard literary form of a language and one of its regional dialectsare used by the same individual in different social situations. This phenomenonshould not be mixed up with bilingualism that is the command of two differentlanguages. In the case of both diglossia and bilingualism the so-calledcode-switching takes place. In recent years the effect of these forms oflinguistic behavior is studied by sociolinguists and psychologists.
Aswas stated above, language, and especially its oral aspect varies with respectto the social context in which it is used. The social differentiation oflanguage is closely connected with the social differentiation of society.Nevertheless, linguistic facts cannot be attributed directly to classstructure. According to A.D. Shweitzer «the impact of social factors onlanguage is not confined to linguistic reflexes of class structure and shouldbe examined with due regard for the meditating role of all class-derivedelements – social groups, strata, occupational, cultural and other groupsincluding primary units (small groups).» (38)
Westernsociolinguists such as A.D. Grimshaw, JF.Z. Fisher, B. Bernstein, M.Gregory, S. Carroll, A. Hughes, P. Trud[2] gill andothers, are oriented towards small groups, viewing them as «microcosms» of theentire society. Soviet sociolinguists recognize the influence of society uponlanguage by means of both micro – and macro-sociological factors.
Everylanguage community, ranging from a small group to a nation has its own socialdialect, and consequently, its own social accent.
Britishsociolinguists divide the society into the following classes: upper class,upper middle class, middle class, lower middle class, upper working class,middle working class, lower working class.
Thevalidity of this classification is being debated in sociolinguistics. Theproblem of social stratification and of group theory has only recently beentackled by the science of sociology. The serious study of social dialects mustbe proceeded*, or at least accompanied by significant advances in sociology andespecially in the more precise definition of the notions, such as class,nation, nationality, society, language community, occupation, social group,social setting, occupational group, and so on.
Itis well worth to understand that classes are split into different major andminor social groups (professional, educational, cultural, age, sex and so on).Correspondingly every social community has its own social dialect and socialaccent. DA. Shakhbagova defines social dialects as 'Varieties spoken by asocially limited number of people.»
Soin the light of social criteria languages are «characterized by two plans ofsocially conditioned variability – stratification, linked with societalstructure, and situational, linked with the social context of language use.» (38,p. 6)[3]
Havinghad our main terms straightened we may speak now of the «language situation» interms of the horizontal and vertical differentiations of the language, thefirst in accordance with the spheres of social activity, the second-with itssituational variability.
Itis evident that the language means are chosen consciously or subconsciously bya speaker according to his perception of the situation, in which he findshimself. Hence situational varieties of the language are called functionaldialects or functional styles and situational pronunciation varieties – situationalaccents or phonostyles.
Ithas also to be remembered that the language of its users varies according totheir individualities, range of intelligibility, cultural habits, sex and agedifferences. Individual speech of members of the same language community isknown as idiolect.
Nowin conclusion it would be a perfectly natural thing to say that language inserving personal and social needs becomes part of the ceaseless flux of humanlife and activity. Human communication cannot be comprehended withoutrecognizing mutual dependence of language and context. The mystery of languagelies, if nowhere, in its endless ability to adapt both to the strategies of theindividual and to the needs of the community, serving each without imprisoningeither. This is what makes sociolinguistics as a science so important. In thisbook, though, we shall focus our attention on territorial modifications ofEnglish pronunciation viewing them as an object of sociolinguistic study.


2.The main part
 
2.1Spread of English
Itis common knowledge that over 300 million people now speak English as firstlanguage. It is the national language of Great Britain, the USA, Australia, NewZealand and Canada (part of it).
Englishwas originally spoken in England and south-eastern Scotland. Then it wasintroduced into the greater part of Scotland and southern Ireland. In the 17thand 18th centuries it was brought to North America (mainly from the West ofEngland). Later in the 18th and 19th centuries English was exported toAustralia, New Zealand and South Africa owing to the colonial expansion. A flowof emigrants who went to invade, explore and inhabit those lands came mostlyfrom the south-eastern parts of England.
Englishbecame wide-spread in Wales at about the same time. Welsh English is verysimilar to southern English, although the influence of Welsh has played a rolein its formation. Then in the 20th century American English began to spread inCanada, Latin America, on the Bermudas, and in other parts of the world. Thusnowadays two main types of English are spoken in the English-speaking world:English and American English.
Accordingto British dialectologists (P. Trudgill, J. Hannah, A. Hughes and others (61,78) the following variants of English are referred to the English-based group:English, Welsh English, Australian English, New Zealand English; to theAmerican-based group: United States English, Canadian English.
ScottishEnglish and Irish English fall somewhere between the two being somewhat bythemselves.
Onthe whole this division seems rather reasonable and the «English» types ofEnglish will be treated first in this book, though it is safe to say thatEnglish, Welsh English, Scottish English and Northern Ireland English should bebetter combined into the British English subgroup, on the ground of political,geographical, cultural, psychological unity which brought more similaritiesthan differences for those variants of pronunciation.
Toour regrets, the lack of space gives us no chance to describe all theterritorial and national variants of English pronunciation.
2.2English-based pronunciation standards of English
 
2.2.1British English
Aswas mentioned before, BEPS (British English Pronunciation Standards andAccents) comprise English English, Welsh English, Scottish English and NorthernIreland English (the corresponding abbreviations are EE, WE, ScE., NIE).
Table1 British English AccentsEnglish English Welsh English Scottish English Northern Ireland English Southern Northern
Educated
Sc. Eng. Regional Varieties 1. Southern 1. Northern 2. East Anglia 3. South-West 2. Yorkshire 3. North- West 4. West Midland
 
2.2.2English,English
Inthis chapter we are going to look in greater detail at the ReceivedPronunciation (RP) and at the regional non-RP accents of England.
Roughlyspeaking the non-RP accents of England may be grouped like this: 1. Southernaccents.
1)Southern accents (Greater London, Cockney, Surray, Kent, Essex, Hertfordshire,Buckinghamshire);
2)East Anglia accents (Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire,Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Leicestershire;
3)South-West accents (Gloucestershire, Avon, Somerset, Wiltshire).
2.Northern and Midland accents.
1)Northern accents (Northumberland, Durham, Cleveland);
2)Yorkshire accents;
3)North-West accents (Lancashire, Cheshire);
4)West Midland (Birmingham, Wolverhampton).
Ithas long been believed that RP is a social marker, a prestige ac-cent of anEnglishman. In the nineteenth century «received» was understood in the sense of«accepted in the best society». The speech of aristocracy and the courtphonetically was that of the London area. Then it lost its localcharacteristics and was finally fixed as a ruling-class accent, often referredto as «King's English». It was also the ac-cent taught at public schools. Withthe spread of education cultured people not belonging to the upper classes wereeager to modify their accent in the direction of social standards.
Wemay definitely state now that RP is a genuinely regionless accent withinBritain; i.e. if speakers have it you cannot tell which area of Britain theycome from; which is not the case for any other type of British accents.
Itis fair to mention, however, that only 3–5 per cent of the population ofEngland speak RP. British phoneticians (Ch. Barber (44),[4]A.C. Gimson (57), A. Hughes and P. Trudgill (61) estimate that nowadays RPis not homogeneous. A.C. Gimson suggests that it is convenient todistinguish three main types within it: «the conservative RP forms, used by theolder generation, and, traditionally, by certain profession or social groups;the general RP forms, most commonly in use and typified by the pronunciationadopted by the BBC, and the advanced RP forms, mainly used by young people ofexclusive social groups – mostly of the upper classes, but also for prestigevalue, in certain professional circles.
«Thislast type of RP reflects the tendencies typical of changes in pronunciation. Itis the most «effected and exaggerated variety» of the accent. Some of itsfeatures may be results of temporary fashion; some are adopted as a norm anddescribed in the latest textbooks. Therefore, it is very important for ateacher and learner of English to distinguish between the two. RP speakers makeup a very small percentage of the English population. Many native speakers,especially teachers of English and professors of colleges and universities(particularly from the South and South-East of England) have accents closelyresembling RP but not identical to it. P. Trudgill and J. Hannah call itNear-RP southern. So various types of standard English pronunciation may besummarized as follows: Conservative RP; General RP; Advanced RP; Near-RPsouthern.
Changesin the Standard
Aswas stated above, changes in the standard may be traced in the speech of theyounger generation of native RP speakers. These changes may affect all thefeatures of articulation of vowel and consonant phonemes and also the prosodicsystem of the language.
Considerablechanges are observed in the sound system of the pre-sent-day English, which aremost remarkable since the well-known Great Vowel Shift in the Middle Englishperiod of the language development. It is a well-established fact that nolinguistic modification can occur all of a sudden. The appearance of a newshade in the pronunciation of a sound results in the coexistence of freevariants in the realization of a phoneme. The choice between permissiblevariants of [w] or [М] in words is an illustration of what is meant by theprocess of variability and free variants. In Russian we observe free variantsof the pronunciation of the words of энергия, темп type: non-palatalized and palatalizedvertions of [H] – [H'] and [T] – [T']. The degrees of variability aredifferent. The most perceptible and stable changes are described in the worksof British linguists and have been investigated by Soviet phoneticians. The RPof recent years is characterized by a greater amount of permissible variantscompared to the «classical» type of RP described by D. Jones, L. Armstrong, I.Word.
Thephenomenon is significant both from the theoretical and practical viewpoint.The variability concerns mainly vowels. Most of English vowels have undergonedefinite qualitative changes. The newly appeared variants exhibit differentstability and range.
Thequalitative distinctions manifest new allophonic realizations of the vowelphonemes. Ch. Barber comes to the conclusion that a definite trend towardscentralization is observed in the quality of English vowels at present. (44)
Changesof Vowel Quality
1.According to the stability of articulation. 1) It is generally acknowledgedthat two historically long vowels [i], [u:] have become diphthongized and areoften called diphthongoids; the organs of speech slightly change theirarticulation by the very end of pronunciation, becoming more fronted. Ch.Barber tries to draw a parallel with the Great Vowel Shift which took place inMiddle English, where diphthongization was just one part of a complete changeof pattern in the long vowels. He claims that there is some resemblance to thisprocess today and other phonemes may move up to fill the places left vacant.
2)There is a tendency for some of the existing diphthongs to be smoothed out, tobecome shorter, so that they are more like pure vowels.
a)This is very often the case with [ei], particularly in the word final position,where the glide is very slight: [ta'dei], [sei], [mei].
b)Diphthongs [ai], [au] are subject to a smoothing process where they are followedby the neutral sound [ə]:
ConservativeRP: [tauə], [faiə]
GeneralRP: [taə], [faə]
AdvancedRP: [tα:], [fα:]
c)Also diphthongs [oə], [uə] tend to be leveled to [o:]. Thus thepronunciation of the words pore, poor is varied like this:
olderspeakers: [poə], [puə]
middle-agedspeakers: [po:], [puə]
youngerspeakers: [po:], [po:]
Itshould be mentioned, however, that this tendency does not concern the diphthong[iə] when it is final. The prominence and length shift to the glide, thisfinal quality often being near to [¬]; dear [diə]– [di¬].
2.According to the horizontal and vertical movements of the tongue. Very strikingchanges occur in the vowel quality affected by the horizontal movements of thetongue. In fact the general tendency is marked by the centering of both frontand back vowels:
a)the nuclei of [ai], [au] tend to be more back, especially in the male variantof the pronunciation;
b)the vowel phoneme is often replaced by [a] by younger speakers: [hv] – [hav],[nd] – [and];
c)the nucleus of the diphthong [ª] variesconsiderably, ranging from [oª] amongconservative speakers to [ª] amongadvanced ones:
ConservativeRP: [soª], [foªn], [noªt];
AdvancedRP: [sª], [fªn], [nªt].
Thistendency is so stronp that the transcription symbol has been recently changedin many British books: [oª] – [ª].
d)Back-advanced vowels [¬], [ª] are considerably fronted in the advanced RP: but [b¬t] – [bət], good [gªd] – [gəd].
Itshould be mentioned here that there is a tendency for all short vowels to bemade nearer the centre of the mouth, that is to move towards [ə],especially in unstressed position: honest [αnist] – [αnəst].
Thusthe horizontal changes in vowel quality may be listed like this:
Centeringof short vowels:
Moreback pronunciation of the nuclei of diphthongs: [ai] –» [ai], – [aª] – [aª]
Moreadvanced pronunciation of the diphthong: [oª] – [ª].
Morefronted pronunciation of the diphthongoids: [i] – [i(j)], [u] – [u(w)].
Verticalchanges in vowels may be traced in [e] and [o:] which tend to be closer inadvanced RP. It has also been stated above that the nuclei of diphthongs [ei],[ea], [oa], [ua] become more open when these phonemes are being leveled,particularly the diphthong [ea] which is characterized by a great opening ofthe first element: careful [kəfªl] – ['k:fªl]. The first element of the diphthong [ªə] can be lowered considerably. Thus several words with [ªə] are given a shade pronunciation by some advanced RPspeakers: poor, sure [pªə] [©ªə] – [pə, ©ə].
3.Combinative changes. It is general knowledge that when sounds are in companythey influence each other. These changes are called combinative. They takeplace only in certain phonetic contexts. In a diacritic study, however, thereis no sharp boundary between isolative and combinative changes.
1)Changes in [j + u:], [1 + u:]. Words like suit, student, super, bulletin may bepronounced either [sju:t] or [sat], [stju:dant] or [stu:dnt], [sjuipa] or [su:pa].The tendency is for middle-aged and younger speakers to omit the [j] after [s]before [u:]. Word-internally [j] tends to be retained as in assume [asju; m].There is also fluctuation after [1]: word-initially lute [lu:t] is normal, butit is possible to pronounce [ilju:¯n] inillusion, for example. These recent developments in combinative RP changes bearremarkable resemblance to American Standard pronunciation.
2)Change of [:] to [α] before [f, s]. Where orthographic «o» occurs beforethe voiceless fricatives [f, s, ½] olderspeakers pronounce the vowel [o:]: loss [lots]. This pronunciation is currentlydying out in RP and being replaced by [α]: [lαs].
Wordslike salt and ault still may be pronounced with [‹:].
4.Changes in length.
Itis an accepted fact that English vowels vary in length according to thephonetic context – the consonant they are followed by (voiceless, voiced),syllabic border, the degree of stress, the types of nuclear tone and so on.
Actuallynowadays there are changes in vowel length that are influenced by otherfactors. There is, for example, a strong tendency for the so-called shortvowels to be lengthened, and it is interesting to note that this lengthening canbe heard sporadically in many words in any position.
Thelengthening of [i] is often heard in big, his, is; of [u] in good; [¬] in come. It should also be mentioned that [i] is oftenlengthened in the final syllable, i.e. very, many: [veri], [meni;].
Shortvowels [e, ae] are also very frequently lengthened in yes, bed, men, said, sad,bad, bag and so on. This tendency has considerably increased in the past fewyears.
Changesin Consonant Quality
1.Voicing and Devoicing. As is well known, there is no opposition of final RPconsonants according to the work of the vocal cords. They are all partiallydevoiced, particularly stops. Such devoiced sounds are clearly heard after longvowels and diphthongs as in deed: [did]. How-ever, these partly devoicedconsonants are never identical with their voiceless counterparts, because thelatter are pronounced with strong breath-force.
Thistendency for devoicing now seems to be on the increase. As soon as theopposition of voiced – voiceless is neutralized in the final position, thefortis/lenis character of pronunciation has become the relevant feature ofconsonants.
Thevoiced/voiceless distinction of the minimal pairs [sed] – [set], [dαg] – [dαk]may seem to be lost. Actually it does not take place. The weak consonants arenever replaced by their voiceless counterparts, they never become strong, thestops [b, d, g], though devoiced, never acquire aspiration. More than that. Theinterrelation of final consonants and the preceding stressed vowels is veryclose. The instrumental investigation of E. Kurjatnikova, showed that theduration of the vowel before the traditionally called voiced consonant is 1.5times larger than that before the voiceless consonant. Cf.: He saw his cap. – Hesaw his cab.
Describingthe positional allophones of the English stops A. Gimson characterizes theinitial lenis [b, d, g] as partially devoiced, final lenis [b, d, g] asvoiceless.
Thesound [t] in the intervocalic position is made voiced, e.g. better [betə] –[bedə], letter [letə] – [ledə].
2.Loss of [h]. In rapid speech initial [h] is lost in form words and tends to dieout from the language. Even most highly educated people subconsciously drop itcompletely. So instead of: He wants her to come [hi – wαnts h tə, k¬m] one hears:
[iwants 3 tə k¬m]. It is evident, ofcourse, that the loss of [h] in stressed syllables sounds wrong.
3.Initial «hw». Some conservative RP speakers pronounce words like why, when,which with an initial weak breath-like sound [h] – [M]. The general tendencyis, however, to pronounce [w].
4.Loss of final. The pronunciation of [in] for the termination [i] has been retainedas an archaic form of the RP: sittin', lookin'. These occasional usages are notlikely to become general.
5.Spread of «dark» [l]. This tendency is evidently influenced by the Americanpronunciation and some advanced RP speakers are often heard saying [l] insteadof [1] as in believe, for example. There is no threat in spreading it widelyyet but it is quite common for pop singers now. It should also be mentionedthat sometimes final [I] tends to be vocalized as in people, for instance, butis not likely to become a norm.
6.Glottal stop. In RP the glottal stop [?] can appear only in the following twoenvironments: a) as a realization of syllable-final [t] before a followingconsonant as in batman [btman – [b? mn] or not quite [nαt 'kwait] – [nα?'kwait]; b) in certain consonant clusters as in box, simply [bα? ks], [si?mpli], where it is known as «glottal reinforcements». The use of glottal stopby advanced RP speakers produces a «clipped» effect on a foreigner.
7.Palatalized final [k’] is often heard in words week, quick, etc.: [wik’],[kwik'].
8.Linking and intrusive [r]. It has been estimated that all English accents aredivided into «rhotic» or «r-full» and «non-rhotic» or «r-less». Rhotic accentsare those which actually pronounce [r] corresponding to orthographic «r». RP isa non-rhotic accent but most speakers of it do pronounce orthographic «r» word-finallybefore a vowel: It is a far away country. It is known as linking «r». Failureby students to pronounce it does not usually affect comprehension but mayresult in their sounding foreign.
Asa further development and by analogy with linking «r», «r» is inserted before afollowing vowel even though there is no «r» in spelling. This «r» is known asintrusive «r». The actual situation is that younger RP speakers do have itafter [a] as in idea of, China and,
Itis said that nowadays in colloquial fluent speech there is a strong tendencytowards elision, reduction and assimilation. This tendency is reflected in thepronunciation of the young generation: tutor [t©u:tə], second year [sekənd¯ia], perhaps you [pə'hp©u:], gives you [giv¯u:], as youknow [ə¯ju: 'nª]; in the transcribed texts of British textbooks: him [im],he [i:], her [3], his [iz], can [kn], from [firm], than [n], them [m], some[sm], suppose [sp”ªz], have to [hafta], usually [ju:¯wəli], last time [la:staim], and there was no one [ənər wz'n”ª w¬n]; even in thetraditional spelling: C'm on, baby, Sorry 'bout that Oh, le'mme see. Oh, Idunno. Must’ve put’em all together. Why d'you ask? What d’ja think? Alright!
9.Combinative changes. Sound combinations [tj, dj, sj] are pronounced as [t©, d¯,©] respectively, e.g. actual [ktjual] – [ktjual], graduate ['grdjªeit] – [grd¯ªeit], issue ['isju:] – [i©u:].
Inthe clusters of two stops, where the loss of plosion is usually observed, eachsound is pronounced with audible release, e.g. active [ktiv] – [ktiv], sit down[sitdaªn] – [sit 'daªn].
Non-systematicVariations in RP Phonemes
Somefree phonemes have appeared under the influence of the written image of words,their spelling.
Unstressedprefixes ex – and con – have gained orthographical pro-nunciation: excuse[iks'kju:z] – [eks'kju:z], exam [ig'zm] – [eg'zm], continue [kəntinju:] – [kantinju;], consent [kən sent] – [kan'sent].
Thedays of the week: Sunday [s¬ndi] – [s¬ndei], Monday – [m¬ndei].
Notealso free variants in often: [afən] – [aft(ə) n].
Othercases: economics [ika'namiks] – [eka'namiks].
Nowby way of conclusion we would like to state that not all the changes arerecognized as a norm by most affected advanced RP speakers. Some of thesechanges are quite stable, some tend to disappear. The language is a living bodyand its oral aspect is most vitally changeable. But one should realize theimportance of most recent developments, which, in opinion of many prominentphoneticians, may lead to radical changes in the whole inventory of vowel andconsonant phonemes.
RegionalNon-RP Accents of England
Aswas stated above, we grouped regional accents of England into southern andnorthern ones. This division is very approximate of course, because there arewestern and eastern accents but their main accent variations correspond eitherwith southern or northern accentual characteristics. Thus we would like topoint out here the main differences between southern and northern accents.
Invowels
Oneof the main differences between these groups of accents is in the phonemeinventory – the presence or absence of particular phonemes. Typically, thevowel [A] does not occur in the accents of the north; e.g. South North blood [bl¬d] [blªd] one [w¬n] [wαn] but [b¬t] [bət]
Wecan also note that many northern speakers while they do not have [A] have [u;]rather than [u] in words such as hook, book, look. They therefore distinguishpairs like book and buck, which in the south sound [buk] and [DAK], in theNorth as South North Book [bu:k] [buk] Buck [b¬k] [buk]
Anotherwell-known feature which distinguishes northern and southern accents concernsthe vowels and [a].
Beforethe voiceless fricatives [f, ½, s] andcertain consonant clusters containing initial [n] or [m], is pronounced in thenorth instead of [a]. South North path [pa:½] [p½] dance [da:ns] [dns]
Note:Speakers with more strongly regional southern substandard accents may not havethe contrast or, at most, have a contrast that is variable.
Inthe south, however, [K] is often pronounced as [a]:
A=    in path
B –    [a]in path
C=    [a] contrast absent or in doubt
Onemore major north-south differentiating feature involves the final [i:] like inwords city, money, etc. In the north of England they have [i]. In the south ofEngland these words are pronounced with [i] e.g.
South North
city[siti:]    ['siti]
money[m¬ni:]    [mani]
Inconsonants
Ithas been mentioned above that some English accents are «rhotic» or «r-ful» andother are non-rhotic or «r-less». Rhotic accents are those which actuallypronounce [r], corresponding to orthographic «r» in words like bar and farm.This [r] sound is post-vocalic and is most often heard in Scotland, Ireland andin the southwest of England. The map on p. 222 shows the spread of post-vocalic[r] (A = post-vocalic [r] present, B = post-vocalic [r] absent).
Inmost regional accents the glottal stop is more widely used than in RP. In someareas, especially the north-east of England, East Anglia and Northern Ireland,the glottal stop may also be pronounced simultaneously with the voiceless [p,t, k], most strikingly between vowels: pity [pit? i:]
Manynon-RP speakers use [n] in the suffix «– ing» instead of; sitting [sitin]. Inan area of western central England which includes Birmingham, Manchester andLiverpool they pronounce [g]: singer [sige], wing [wig].
Nowabout [j] – dropping. In most accents [j] is dropped after [t, s]: student [stjudənt],suit [sat]. In parts of the north the change has progressed a good dealfurther, it has been lost after [½]: enthusiasm[an'½u:ziəzm].
Inlarge areas of eastern England [j] is lost after every consonant. In London [j]is lost after [n, t, d]: news [nu:z], tune [tu:n].
SouthernEnglish Accents
Wenow turn to an examination of regional non-RP accents of England and we shallfirst give a brief outline of the group of Southern accents.
Aswas stated above, educated Southern speech is very much near-RP accent whereasnon-standard accents are very much near Cockney. Therefore we shall focus ourattention on the rather detailed description of uneducated London accent – Cockney.
Cockneyaccent. It has been long established that Cockney is a social accent – thespeech of working-class areas of the Greater London. Here are somepronunciation peculiarities of it.
Invowels
1.[¬] is realized as [i]: blood [b¬d] – [blid];
2.is realized as or [i]: bag [bg] – [bg], [big];
3.[i] in word-final position sounds as [ij: city [siti] – [siti:];
4.when [o:] is non-final, its realization is much closer, it sounds like [o:]:pause [po:z] – [po:z]; when it is final, it is pronounced as [o:ə]: paw[po:] – [po:ə];
5.the diphthong [ei] is realized as [i] or [ai]: lady [leidi] – [lidi:],[laidi:];
6.RP [3ª] sounds as [ª]: soaked [sªkt] – [sªkt];
7.RP [aª] may be [ə]: now[naª] – [nə],
Inconsonants
1.[h] in unstressed position is almost invariably absent;
2.[?] is widely spread in Cockney speech: paper [pi? pa], butterfly [b¬'təflai];
3.The contrast between [½] and [f] iscompletely lost: thin [½in], booth[bu:f];
4.The contrast between [] and [v] is occasionally lost: weather [weva];
5.when [] occurs initially it is either dropped or replaced by [d]: this [dis],them [(d)əm];
6.[1] is realized as a vowel when it precedes a consonant and follows a vowel, orwhen it is syllabic: milk [mivk], table [teibv]; when the preceding vowel is,[1] may disappear completely;
7.is replaced by [n] in word-final position: dancing [da:nsin] or it may bepronounced as [ik] in something, anything, nothing: [n¬fik];
8.[p, t, k] are heavily aspirated, more so than in RP;
9.[t] is affricated, [s] is heard before the vowel: top [trap].
Northernand Midland Accents
Midlandaccents, Yorkshire, for example, West Midland and North-West accents have verymuch in common with Northern ones. Therefore they are combined in this bookinto one group; peculiar realization of vowels and consonants will be marked,of course, when each subgroup is described separately.
Thecounties of northern England are not far from the Scottish border, so theinfluence of Scotch accent is noticeable, though there are of course manyfeatures of pronunciation characteristic only of northern English regions. Themost typical representative of the speech of this area is Newcastle accent. Itdiffers from RP in the following:
Invowels
1.RP [¬] is realized as [u]:love [l¬v] – [lªv];
2.RP final [i] sounds like [i:]: city [siti] – [siti:];
3.words like dance, chance which in RP have [a] are pronounced with: [dns], [t©ns];
4.[ei], [ª] are eithermonophthongs, or much narrower diphthongs than the ones in the south ofEngland, or they may even sound as opening diphthongs [le], [ªo]: bay [be:], [bie], plate [ple:t], [phet], boat [bo:t], [bªo t];
5.words that have «al» in spelling – talk, call, all, are pronounced with [a]:[ta:k], [ka:l], [a:l];
6.RP words with [3:] are pronounced with in a broad Tyneside accent: first [fist],shirt [f:t]; so first, forced; shirt, short are homonyms;
7.[ai] is [i]: right [rit];
8.words which in RP have [au] may have [it], e.g. about [abut].
Inconsonants
1.[1] is clear in all environments;
2.[h] is usually present in all positions;
3.– ing is [in]: shilling [©ilin];
4.[p, t, k] between vowels are accompanied by glottal stop [?]: pity [pit? i:];
5.in parts of Northumberland and Durham [r] may be uvular (in its production thetongue and the uvular, not the tongue and the alveolar ridge take part),
Yorkshireaccents
Yorkshireand Bradford accents are identical with northern vowel features in points 1, 3,4 (only many speakers pronounce words which have «ow», «ou» in spelling with[au]: know [nau]; with northern con-sonant features in point 3.
Nowhaving accomplished the description of regional non-RP ac-cents of England wewould like to say that we didn't attempt to give a detailed account of all theregional differences in accents of remote ru-ral areas. Rather we concentratedon urban accents which can be heard when one travels throughout the country andwhich are most likely to be encountered by foreign tourists. Internationalfeatures were not dealt with.
WelshEnglish
Aseveryone probably knows Wales is a bilingual area. This speech situation inlinguistics is known as exoglossic. In Wales English dominates over Welsh inurban areas, in the west and north-west of the country the balance being in favorof Welsh, where English is learnt at schools as a second language. At themoment nationalistic feelings are rather strong in Wales and we are witnessinga movement in favor of the revival of the Welsh language and its spread in allareas of Wales.
However,Welsh English at the level of educated speech and writing is not much differentfrom that of English. Most differences are found at the level of more localizeddialects.
Inthis chapter we shall give a brief outline of Welsh English pronunciation standard.
Theprincipal phonological differences between WE and RP are the following:
Invowels
1.The distribution of [‚] and [a] isas in the north of England. Last, dance, chance, etc. tend to have rather than[a].
2.unstressed orthographic «a» tends to be [se] rather than [a], e.g.: sofa [so:f];
3.there is no contrast between [¬] and [a]:rubber [rəbə];
4.[i] at the end is a long vowel: city [siti:];
5.in words like tune, few, used we find [iu] rather than [ju:]: tune [tiun];
6.[ei], [ª] may become monophthongs:bake [b:k], boat [bo:t];
7.the vowel as in girl is produced with rounded lips approaching [o:];
8.the vowels [iə], [ªə] do notoccur in many variants of Welsh English: fear is [fi:jə], poor is [pu-wə].
Inconsonants
1.W. Eng. is non-rhotic, [r] is a tap, or it is also called a flapped [r].Intrusive and linking [r] do occur.
2.Consonants in intervocalic position, particularly when the preceding vowel isshort are doubled: city [siti].
3.Voiceless plosives tend to be strongly aspirated: in word final position theyare generally released and without glottalization, e.g. pit
4.[1] is clear in all positions.
5.Intonation in Welsh English is very much influenced by the Welsh language.
ScottishEnglish
Wemust first make clear that the status of Scottish English is still debated.Some linguists say that it is a national variant. Others say that it is adialect.
Englishhas been spoken in Scotland for as long as it has been spoken in England. Inthe Highlands and Islands of northern and western Scotland, however, Gaelic isstill the native language of thou-sands of speakers from these regions. Astandardized form of this language, known as Scots, was used at the court andin literature until the Reformation. Then it was gradually replaced by English.Incidentally a number of writers and poets of the likes of R. Burns retainedtheir native language.
Nowadayseducated Scottish people speak a form of Scottish Standard English whichgrammatically and lexically is not different from English used elsewhere,although with an obvious Scottish accent. We must admit, however, thatnon-standard dialects of Scotland still resemble Scots and in many respects areradically different from most other varieties of English. It is very difficultto understand them for students who learn RP.
Atthe moment there is currently a strong movement in Scotland for the revival ofScots. Nevertheless Scottish Standard English is still more prestigious and inthis book we concentrate on Scottish English as used and spoken by educatedurban Scots.
Asfor the status of Scottish English, in this book it will be treated as adialect though it is fair to say that there is much in favor of calling it anational variant of English.
Vowels
1.Since Sc. Eng. is rhotic, i.e. it preserves post-vocalic [r], vowels such as RP[iə], [3:], [“ə], [uə] do notoccur: RP Sc. Eng. Beer [bra] [bir] Bird [b3:d] [bird] Hurt [h3:t] [h¬rt] Bard [ba:d] [ba:rd] Moor [mªə] [mªr]
2.Length is not a distinctive feature of Scottish vowels. So pairs likepool-pull, palm-pam, cot-caught are not distinguished. It should be noted,however, that vowels are longer in final stressed open syllables thanelsewhere.
3.Monophthongs are pure, there is no trace of diphthongization with theexceptions of [ai – ei], [ao – eu] and [01].
4.The RP [a(a)] distinction doesn't exist: hat [hat], dance [da:ns].
5– [i], [u], [¬] [ə] may becentral.
6.In non-standard Sc. Eng. accent [u:] often occurs when RP has [au]: house[haus-hu:s]
7.It is interesting to mention that [TO] and [su] may be not contrasted.
8.In very many regional accents do, to are pronounced as [də], [tə].
9.In some accents words such as arm, after, grass may have [e] rather than [a:]after [ftə].
Consonants
1.Sc. Eng. consistently preserves a distinction between [w]: which [vit©] – witch [wit©].
2.Initial [p, t, k] are usually non-aspirated.
3.[r] is most usually a flap.
4.Non-initial [t] is often realized as glottal stop [?].
5.[fl is dark in all positions.
6.The velar fricative [x] occurs in a number of words: loch [lux].
7.– ing is [in].
8.[h] is present.
9.A specific Scottish feature is the pronunciation of [½r] as [©r]: through [©ru;].
NorthernIreland English
Itshould be stated first of all that English pronunciation standards in NorthernIreland and in the Republic of Eire are different. The explanation lies inhistory.
Inthe Middle Ages almost the whole of Ireland was Irish speaking. Nowadays,however, native speakers of Irish are few in number and are confined to ruralareas even though Irish is the official language of Ireland and is taught inschools. The English language in Southern Ire-land was originally introducedfrom the West and West Midlands of England and still shows signs of this today.This kind of English has spread to cover most of the Irish Republic. Naturallythe pronunciation of these areas retains features of western parts of England.
TheEnglish of northern parts of the island with its centre in Belfast has itsroots in Scotland, as large numbers of settlers came to this part from thesouth-west of Scotland from the seventeenth century onwards. Now speaking aboutNorthern Ireland, it is true to say that English here is not homogeneous. Areasof the far north are heavily Scots-influenced. Other parts are marked by lessheavily Scots-influenced varieties of English. It is, of course, obvious thatthe language distinction is not coterminous with the political division of theRepublic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, some areas of the Republic, Donegal,for instance, speak N. Ir. Eng. (Northern Ireland English), while some of thenorthern provinces speak S. Ir. Eng. (Southern Ire-land English).
Inthis chapter we shall deal with Northern Ireland English pronunciation.
Vowels
Thevowel system is similar to that of Scottish accents, post-vocalic retroflexfrictionless sonorant [r] being used as in Scotland.
[i]:pit [pit], fir [fir], bird [bird], city [siti], fern [firn], fur [fir];
[i:]bee [bi:], beer [bi:r], seedy [si:di], meet [mi:t], meat [mil];
[e]pet [pet], bed [bed];
 [¬] but [b¬t];
[a]pat [pat], bard [bard], hat [hat], dance [dans], half [haf];
[ª] put [pªt], boot [bªt], pull [pªl], pool [pªl], poor [pªr];
[o]boat [bot], board [bord], pole [pol], knows [noz], nose [noz], pour [por], pore[por];
 [α]:cot [k α t];
[ai]:buy [bair], tide [taid];
[au]:bout [baut];
[oi]:boy [boi].
Thefollowing notes on vowels should be read in association with the list above.
Theactual realization of a vowel may vary considerably according to the followingphoneme:
1.in words like bay, say the vowel is a monophthongs [e], preconsonantally it maybe a diphthong of the type gate [giət];
2.[i], [u] are fairly central;
3.[o:] and [»] contrast only before [p, t, k];
4.[ai], [au] are very variable;
5.realization of [a] may vary considerably.


Conclusion
TheAmerican variant of English has been very thoroughly described by manyprominent scholars both in this country and in the USA. In this book, however,we shall try to follow the conception introduced by A.D. Shweitzer in hissociolinguistic approach to the treatment of contemporary speech situation inAmerica (38).
Thesociolinguistic situation in the United States is very complicated. It is moldedby certain linguistic, cultural, historic, demographic, geographic, politicaland other factors.
Generallyspeaking, the situation in the USA may be characterized as exoglossic, i.e.having several languages on the same territory, the balance being in favor ofAmerican English.
Itis true, of course, that the formation of the American Standard underwent theinfluence of minorities' languages, but its starting point was the Englishlanguage of the early 17th century. However, time has passed, American Englishhas drifted considerably from English though as yet not enough to give usground to speak of two different languages. Thus we speak of the nationalvariant of English in America.
AmericanEnglish shows a lesser degree of dialect than British English due to somehistorical factors: the existence of Standard English when first Englishsettlers came to America, the high mobility of population, internal migrationsof different communities and so on. As regards pronunciation, however, it isnot at all homogeneous. There are certain varieties of educated Americanspeech. In the USA three main types of cultivated speech are recognized: theEastern type, the Southern type and Western or General American.
1.The Eastern type is spoken in New England, and in New York city. It bears aremarkable resemblance to Southern English, though there are, of course, someslight differences.
2.The Southern type is used in the South and South-East of the USA. It possessesa striking distinctive feature – vowel drawl, which is a specific way ofpronouncing vowels, consisting in the diphthongization and even diphthongizationof some pure vowels and monophthongization of some diphthongs at the expense ofprolonging («drawling») their nuclei and dropping the glides.
3.The third type of educated American speech is General American (GA), also knownas Northern American or Western American spoken in the central Atlantic States:New York, New Jersey, Wisconsin and others. GA pronunciation is known to be thepronunciation standard of the USA. There are some reasons for it. GA is theform of speech used by the radio and television. It is mostly used inscientific, cultural and business intercourse. Also in two important business centers– New York and St. Louis – GA is the prevailing forms of speech andpronunciation, though New York is situated within the territory where EasternAmerican is spoken, and St. Louis is within the region of Southern American. Inthis chapter we shall give an outline of GA accent. We will then point todifferences between this accent and RP.
1.There is no strict division of vowels into long and short in GA, though someAmerican phoneticians suggest that certain GA vowels are tense and likely to beaccompanied by relative length: [i:] in seat, [u:] in pool
Theyalso admit that a slight rise in tongue position during the pronunciation oftense vowels leads to a diphthongal quality of tense vowels which contrasts toa monophthongal quality of lax vowels.
2.Classification of vowels according to the stability of articulation is the mostcontroversial subject in GA. Some diphthongs are treated in GA as biphonemiccombinations. The inventory of GA diphthongs varies from three to twelvephonemes. Following DA. Shakhbagova we distinguish here five diphthongs in GA:[ei], [ai], foi], [auj, [ou].
3.Another very important feature that causes different interpretations ofdiphthongs and vowel length in GA is the pronunciation of [r] sound between avowel and a consonant or between a vowel and. a silence: turn [t3:rn], bird[b3:rd], star [star].
Ithas been estimated that 2/3 of American population pronounce [r] and 1/3 omitit. Thus GA is rhotic in words like far, core, etc. (when [r] follows thevowels and ends the word), this sound is consonantal and non-syllabic accordingto Ch. Thomas. It involves the characteristic hindering of the free flow ofbreath which we associate with consonants. The sound [r] in far closes thesyllable more definitely than in British Received Pronunciation of the word[fa]. On the other hand, there is a vocalic, or vowel-like and syllabic [r],that occurs in words like bird, murmur (after a vowel and before a consonant).Ch. Thomas writes that in such cases we should better transcribe the words birdand murmur like [brd] and [mrmr]. In such cases [r] is responsible for thecharacteristic vowel-like quality within the syllable; it
isresponsible for syllabic quality as well. That's why Ch. Thomas says that [r]syllabic in bird and [r] non-syllabic in far should be transcribed differently.According to V.A. Vassilyev it is still the vowel of the word that forms asyllable ([3;] in bird, [o:] in corn, etc.), not the syllabic [r] sound. Hementioned although that all the vowel sounds in pre – [r] position sound morelike [a], [r] gives the preceding vowel a retroflex coloring. It means that thetip of the tongue glides to the retroflex position without, however, stayingthere long enough to produce a full-fledged retroflex [r] sound, [r] alsoprolongs the vowel a little. V.A. Vassilyev uses the term «[r] – compensating»vowels (suggested by AX. Trakhterov) for the vowels in such words in BritishReceived Pronunciation.
4.One more peculiar feature of pronunciation of vowels in American English istheir nasalization, when they are preceded or followed by a nasal consonant (e.g.in such words as take, small, name, etc.). Nasalization is often called anAmerican twang. It is incidental and need not be marked in phonemic transcription.
5.GA front vowels are somewhat different from RP. Vowels [i], [i] are distributeddifferently in GA and RP.
Inwords like very, pity GA has [i] rather than fij. In word final position it isoften even diphthongized.
Vowel[e] is more open in GA. It also may be diphthongized before [p], [t], [k]: let[leat].
6.There are four mixed or central vowels in GA: [3], [ə], [¬], [a]. They differ markedly from RP vowels in articulation anddistribution.
7.The three RP vowels [α], [a] correspond to only two vowels in GA – [a].This combined with the articulatory differences between RP [α] and GA [a]and a difference in vowel distribution in many sets or words makes it verycomplicated. The following chart vividly shows it. RP GA Dad [‚] [‚] dog [α] [a] path [α:] [‚] dance [α:] [‚] half [α:] [‚]
Besides,word distribution of [α] in RP and GA is completely different. GA isintermediate in quality between the RP and [α]. In its production the lipsare considerably less rounded.
8.Now to the qualities of GA diphthongs.
a)the diphthong [ei] is closer in GA as opposed to RP;
b)very front realization of [ª] such as inRP is not found in GA;
c)the nucleus of [aª] tends to be moreadvanced in GA;
d)since GA is a rhotic accent with non-preyocalic [r], it has the consequencethat the following RP vowels (derived historically from vowel + [r]) do notoccur in GA: [iə] in dear – GA [dir], [ə] in dare – GA [deir], [ªə] in tour – GA [tur].
1.The RP allophonic differentiation of [1] does not exist in GA. In all positions[IJ is fairly dark.
2.Intervocalic [t] as in pity is most normally voiced. The result isneutralization of the distribution between [t] and [d] in this position, i.e. latter,ladder. The original distinction is preserved through vowel length with thevowel before [t] being shorter.
Inwords like twenty, little [t] may even drop out. Thus winner and winter, forexample, may sound identical.
3.GA [r] is articulated differently from RP one. The impression is one of greaterretroflexion (the tip of the tongue is curled back further than in RP).
4.The «wh» spelling is represented in GA by [M] sound (or some-times transcribedas [hw]. So most American speakers make a clear distinction between «wh» and «w»words: where – ware, which – witch.
5.The sonorant [j] is usually weakened or omitted altogether in GA between aconsonant (especially a forelingual one) and [a-] as in the words: news [nu:z],Tuesday [tuzdi], student [studant], suit [sat], tube [tab], stupid [stu:pid],during (du:ri).
A.1. Many differences involve the pronunciation of individual words or groups ofwords.
2.Words apparatus, data, status can be pronounced with either [ei] in GA, butonly with [ei] in RP.
3.Words like hostile, missile, reptile have final [ail] in RP. In GA they mayhave [əl].
1.In words of French origin GA tends to have stress on the final syllable, whileRP has it on the initial one: GA RP ballet [bas'lei] [baelei] beret [ba'rei] [ben]
3.Some compound words have stress on the first element in GA and in RP theyretain it on the second element: weekend, ice-cream, hotdog, New Year.
4.Polysyllabic words ending in – ory, – ary, – many have secondary stress in GA,often called «tertiary»: laboratory flaebrs.ton], dictionary fdikfa.nen],secretary [sekrə.teri], testimony [testimouni].
GAintonation on the whole is similar to that of RP. But there are, of course,some differences that should be mentioned here.
1.In sentences where the most common pre-nuclear contour in RP is a graduallydescending sequence, the counterpart GA contour is a medium Level Head:
Idon't want to go to the theatre.
4.The Fall-Rise nuclear tone is different in RP and GA: Really?
Thesecomparisons show that the main differences in intonation concern the directionof the voice pitch and the realization of the terminal tones. In GA the voicedoesn't fall to the bottom mostly. This explains the fact that the Englishspeech for Americans sounds «affected» and «pretentious» or «sophisticated».And for the English, Americans sound «dull», «monotonous», «indifferent».
Itshould also be mentioned that the distribution of terminal tones in sentencetypes is also different in both variants of English.
1.GA «Yes, No» questions commonly have a falling terminal tone; the counterpartRP tone would be a rising one:
Shallwe stay here?
2.Requests in RP are usually pronounced with a Rise, whereas in GA they may takea Fall-Rise: Open the door.
Itsemphatic variant in Mid-wavy-level Head:
2.The usual Medium or Low Fall in RP has its rising-falling counterpart in GA: Comeand see me tomorrow.
3.Leave-takings are often pronounced with a high-pitched Fall-Rise in GA: Goodnight.
3.The rising terminal tone in RP in GA has a mid-rising contour: Do you like it?
Orit may have a level tone in GA:
Inconclusion we would like to say that American phoneticians use a pitch contoursystem to mark intonation in the text: It's a Wery 'cold, day.
««Willyou, come?         Will you come?
Itis certain that we have not covered here all the cases of different intonationstructures used in RP and GA. Recently there have appeared in this countryseveral papers and books on the subject, so for further information see thosebooks.

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