Synopsis: phonological variation in the British Isles

Drawn together here, in outline, is information central to the phonetic and phonological variation to be found in the varieties of English spoken in the British Isles, as described in detail written by the contributors to this work. All varieties are taken to be the same in kind. However, whilst most are regional, two (British Creole and Received Pronunciation) are not in fact to be geographically placed, and some of those that are regional cover much larger territories than others. Treatment is inevitably ‘broad brush’, so that the summary is to be taken more as an introductory index to the descriptions than as a description in its own right. Where, as is for example especially the case for the national varieties of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, there are marked internal differences to be taken account of, these are necessarily in large measure masked here. Readers should therefore take this summary as a starting point, and must refer to the relevant topics themselves in order fully to appreciate the richness of present variation throughout the region.

Predictably, most phonological differences between varieties concern the vowel systems and realizations. As is quite customary for the British varieties, both qualitative and quantitative vowel distinctions are made, the quantitative ones resulting in the holding of categories of “short” and “long” vowels, along with diphthongs, and unstressed vowels. The convention of lexical sets, as employed in the topics themselves to give order to vocalic variation, is maintained in this summary, and the keywords for those sets furnish the headings for the various sub-sections in which the vowels are discussed.