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The Arabic language is the language of Islam where all the prophets and the ‘alim story, al-ahkam, and other Islamic-related matters from the prophetic sayings and Quranic verses are told originally in Arabic as they first came from the Arabic tribes. Arabic is a formal language in Egypt, Jordan, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Comoros, Kuwait, and many other Middle Eastern countries.

This language is still in use today and is well-known in Malaysia where Muslim students learn the language since primary school and it also becomes an additional language for most Muslims in Malaysia. Industry Arabic reported that there are approximately more than 300 million Arabic speakers around the globe excluding non-native speakers who have this language as their additional language, making it the fifth most common spoken language (2023).

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Arabic language has certain restrictions on the consonants where some English consonants do not exist in the Arabic language context which causes the restriction of producing sounds like the sound /p/ (Alshalaan, 2020).

This causes the different sounds produced by the Arabic speaker in English speeches that somehow affect the understanding of the receiver end, making it a bit hard to understand what they intended to say. However, the shortcomings and restrictions do not stop the Arabic native speakers from speaking English which is a positive indicator of them being able to speak more than a language or to be called a bilingual.

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Have you ever watched BBC news or any other segments of BBC? Then maybe you will notice the ‘standard’ English accent used by the broadcasters. This accent is called the British accent or widely known as Received Pronunciation (RP). Other names for RP are Queen’s English, King’s English, BBC English and Oxford English (Payne, 2023).

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According to history, the initial usage and declaration of RP is due to the standardisation of spelling and grammar after a long history as a spoken language only. Since the power base of the royal court and administration was situated in Westminster, Southeast of England at that time, it was agreed upon to use the majority accent in that region (Søvik, 2024).

During the second half of the 15th century, spelling and grammar had undergone a huge process of spelling and grammar standardisation. After both of the elements had been systemised and equalised, this is the earliest usage or the base of RP that had been used until today (Søvik, 2024) .

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Cont.... (Social and Geographical Context)

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Cont.... (Social and Geographical Context)

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Even though this accent is more recognised as the social variation rather than regional variation as the usage of this accent highly depends on the social context rather than the geographical context, there are several places in England that utilised this accent as their main pronunciation format.

The places that are known to use this accent are London and other places in the Southeastern of England (refer to Picture 1.1 below) (Payne, 2023).

In terms of social context, this accent is widely used around the United Kingdom as the format in formal events, educational settings and news broadcasting such as BBC (Roach, 2004; Payne, 2023).

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Source: South East Transformation Academy. Public Service Transformation Academy. https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.publicservicetransformation.org%2Fsoutheast%2F&psig=AOvVaw2pEMYXGFnvAneqBBtmkpTF&ust=1705745368813000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBMQjRxqFwoTCKCn0Yub6YMDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

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There are several features in this accent that make it different from other accents in the UK. However, the listed down below are among the most outstanding one (Roach, 2004; Payne, 2023):

1. Non-rhotic /r/ except if there is a vowel after the /r/.

Example: word butter; /ˈbʌtə/,

but if there is a vowel after that such as buttery, the phonetic transcription will looks like; /ˈbʌtəri/.

2. Vocalisation of /h/.

Example: word happy; /ˈhæpi/

There are other regional accents that omit the /h/, so it become /ˈæpi/.

3. Lengthening of vowel /u/.

RP speakers usually articulated the long /u/ vowel as if it is ‘gliding’

For instance, the word Tuesday; /ˈtjuːzdeɪ/, with the symbol ː after the vowel.

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1. This is an example by famous BBC broadcaster, Zeinab Badawi. Her RP accent is outstanding!

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwaP1kyAqqo&t=288s

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According to Afeadie (2017), the British colonization of West Africa prompted the dominance of English, giving rise to West African pidgin English. In northern Nigeria, English has become significantly utilized for social, political, and trading purposes.

Today, with a population of 200 million, English is an official language in Nigeria, persisting from British colonial rule until 1960. Dr. Ugwuanyi, a Nigerian English linguist, notes the marked changes in Nigerian English over the past six decades, suggesting it is now a complete language (Orjinmo, 2023). This linguistic evolution reflects the enduring impact of colonial history on Nigeria's multilingual population.

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As stated by Orjinmo (2023) and Akerstrom (2021), the features of Nigerian accent as follows:

Emphasizing the first syllables: The stress in the word 'comfortable' falls on the sounds /kʌm/ in the first syllable rather than on the following ones

Flat pronunciation due to a lack of intonation: /fuːwal/ for 'fuel' and /bʌnʌnʌ/ for 'banana'

Difficulty in pronouncing /h/ and /ħ/ sounds as a starting of a word: Instead of /haʊs/, the word 'house' is pronounced as /aʊs/

Metathesis between /p/ and /f/ sounds: Police becomes /fʊliːs/

Extensive use of slang: For instance,

I dey fine - I am fine

Wahala - Problem

Gi mi - Give it to me

Abeg - Please

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2. The second example is a clip of Harry Potter series, which shows the character, Hermione pronouncing her British accent.

Source: https://youtu.be/hNmALFOwqTI?si=MIcv6upGp7Kwwu5n

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English Accent Challenge: American vs Nigerian (Yoruba)

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3. There is also a research paper that studies the usage of RP accent among BBC radio presenters. Even though this study highlights the differences between the usage among male and female broadcasters, it is still on the basis of Received Pronunciation.

Source:

http://dx.doi.org/10.18778/0208-6077.52.08

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332643530_The_accent_of_BBC_radio_presenters/fulltext/5cc1c41e4585156cd7b16791/The-accent-of-BBC-radio-presenters.pdf (The English pdf)

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Crystal D., 2000, Language developments in British English, in: M. Higgins, C. Smith, J. Storey (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Modern British Culture, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar Crystal D. (ed.), 2008, A Dictionary of Linguistic and Phonetics, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

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English-Nigerian Movie: A clip from "Happiness for Two - Chidi Dike: Chinenye Nnebe"

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In conclusion, British accent or RP is a standard accent that is used by people around the world in learning English, for formal events, broadcasting, etc. which initially derived from a long history of the development of the English language itself. There are several outstanding features that differentiate this accent from others, or in other words make it unique in its own way.

Last but not least, every accent has its own speciality and functions that need to be celebrated by everyone. The exploration of such accents can reflect the rich culture of each society.

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In conclusion, the Nigerian accent is a result of a in-depth exploration of linguistic challenges, especially in understanding English's historical context in West Africa, vary of colourful slangs, and the complexities of pronunciation.

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Hermione’s British Accent [YouTube]. (2018). Neu English 你优英语

Kingdom of Kush - History Of Africa with Zeinab Badawi [YouTube]. (2020). BBC News Africa.

Kowalska, M. (2018). The accent of BBC radio presenters. Folia Linguistica, 52(1), 111-121

Payne, L. (2023, December 8). Received Pronunciation. Encyclopedia Britannica.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Received-Pronunciation

Roach, P. (2004). British English: Received Pronunciation. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34(2), 239-245.

Søvik, K. (2024, January 19). The Origins of British Accents. NDLA. https://ndla.no/article/30829

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/p/ sound is changed into /b/ sound resulting in words like party sounds like /ba:rtɪ/.

Emphasises on the /r/ sound. The sound will be labelled as voiced alveolar trill.

Prolonged vowel sound. The vowel /ɒ/ in the word 'long' sounds /lɒːːːːːŋ/

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Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

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In conclusion, English Arabic Accent is the result of Arabic native speaker's ability to comprehend a language other than the Arabic language. They would not sound like a native English speaker, but the ability of speaking English from any accent should not not be looked down because it enhance a person's skill to develop a new language.

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Alshalaan, K. (2020). A comparison between English and Arabic sound systems regarding places of articulation. Scientific Research, 7(5). https://doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1105679

Arabic English Accent is so Funny. (2021)YouTube. Retrieved January 19 2024. https://youtube.com/shorts/vMTGQlgX0bk?si=3TO5C3ISplFX4zRJ.

Funny Arab Talking in English. (2019). YouTube. Retrieved January 19, 2024. https://youtu.be/keFgbTba6Q0?si=s3wG4g5uTGisupF5.

How many countries speak Arabic? (2023). Industry Arabic. Accessed 18th January 2024. https://industryarabic.com/how-many-countries-speak-arabic/#:~:text=Did%20you%20know%20that%20Arabic,Arabic%20as%20a%20secondary%20language.

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Afeadie, P. A. (2016). Language of power: Pidgin in the colonial governance of Northern Nigeria. Legon Journal of the Humanities, 26(1), 19. https://doi.org/10.4314/ljh.v26i1.2

Akerstrom, L. (Akinmade). (2021a, February 22). 29 phrases to get you started learning pidgin English. Matador Network. https://matadornetwork.com/read/beginners-guide-to-nigerian-pidgin-english/

Accent Challenge. (2020). Youtube. Retrieved January 18, 2024, from https://youtube.com/shorts/Mww8j7Hefs4?si=GpPhynfggp-RDPgM.

Happiness for Two - Chidi Dike: Chinenye Nnebe. (2023). YouTube. Retrieved January 18, 2024, from https://youtu.be/cOX1rShRvws?si=7p7XNpcv9zYMJilk.

Orjinmo, N. (2023, September 9). The Nigerians learning to speak with British accents. BBC News.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-66569668

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According to Cox and Palethorpe (2007), Australian English is a regional dialect of English that shares phonemic inventory with Southern British English. It is a relatively new English dialect that has been spoken for only a little over 200 years. It can be defined as a new dialect that arose from contact between people who spoke distinct, mutually intelligible versions of English (Australian English, 2023).

It originated in the late 18th and early 19th century and was influenced by British Isles dialects. Australian English was the result of British colonialism in Australia, which lasted from 1788 to 1901. This means that Australian English was extensively influenced by regional British and Irish dialects due to the migration of British and Irish people to Australia in the late 1800s. It was first spoken by native-born colonists in the Colony of New South Wales.

Over time, the Australian accent has evolved and divided into 3 main variations which are broad, general, and cultivated (Mitchell & Delbridge, 1965). According to Collins (2012), broad Australian English is recognisable to English speakers all around the world. It is widespread, but especially common in rural areas with one third of Australian population (34%) using it.

For general Australian English, it is the most frequent Australian accent which is popular in urban areas and is used as a standard language in Australian films, television shows, and advertising. This variation is used by majority of Australian population (55%). However, cultivated Australian English has traditionally been associated with higher social class or education with 11% users in the population.

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Here, I'm using the General Australian accent and these are some of its interesting features!

1. "o" sounds like a mixture between /ʌ/ and /ɑː/ with a hint of /r/.

“no” & “so” = “naur” & “saur”

2. /aɪ/ sound more like a softer /ɔɪ/ sound.

“night” & “find” = “noight & foind”

3. /eɪ/ sound is more elongated or sounds more like /ai/ and contains a stronger /j/ sound, so would sound more like "aye."

“mate” & “way” = “mait” & “wai”

4. Using high rising terminal a.k.a. Australian Question Intonation :

The act of raising a voice at the end of a sentence that makes the statement sound like a question.

=G’day mate?!

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In conclusion, Australian accent is the result of British colonialism in Australia. It evolved due to different English variations being spoken during that time. However, now, it has actually become a new recognised English variation which contains a lot of interesting features of its own with approximately 18.5 million users in the population.

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The United States' national language that is used by its citizens is English, which has Latin origins from the Roman's invasion of Britain, and was brought to the United States of America after the British invaded (Nishino, 2021).

Much like any other languages, American English has many accents, which are as follows, according to Delvin (2019);

American Accents (Geographic)

Maine Accent

New England English

Pacific Northwest English

California English

Midwestern American English

Southern American English

Hawaii English And Pidgin

New Orleans And Cajun English

East Coast City Dialects (Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and New York City)

High Tider (North Carolina Coast)

American Accents (Other)

General American (America’s “Neutral” Accent)

African American Vernacular English

Radio/TV Voice

Sports Announcer Voice

Native American English

From all of the accents stated, we will only look at one of the East Cost City Dialects; New York American accent.

According to Parachuk (2023), the New York accent are a mixture of accents from the earliest settlers of NYC and immigrants in the 1800s. The former are the Dutch and English, while the latter include the Irish, Western Europeans, Italian, Jewish, Jamaican, Puerto Rican and Dominican communities.

NYC has five boroughs, namely;

Manhattan

Brooklyn

Queens

Staten Island

Bronx

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1) The 'th' at the start or end of a word are hardened to /t/ or /d/. For example;

there - /der/ - /de/

wordsmith - /wɜːrdsmɪθ/ - /wɜːdsmɪt/

2) The elimination or exaggeration the /r/

In the past, New Yorkers would dismiss the /r/ in words and instead, they just draw out the vowel before the consonant 'r'. For example;

actor - /æktər/ - /æktər/

car - /kʌr/ - /kʌ/

Nowadays, New Yorkers tend to exaggerate the /r/. As an example

first - /fɜːst/ - /fərst/

3) Tensing of /æ/

example;

class - /klæs/ - /kleəs/

glass - /glæs/ - /gleəs/

4) The AW sound

Some words that have // are raisied, turning it into /wɔː/

Example;

coffee - /kɔːfi/ - /kwɔːfɪ/

talk - /tɔːk/ - /twɔːk/

stalk - /stɔːk/ - /stwɔːk/

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In conclusion, the New York English accent is a very unique accent that I feel deserved more appreciation to despite being seen as the most 'incorrect' and 'unpleasant' American accent from the view of people outside of New York as asserted by Cutler (2019). Personally, there's a charm that the New York English has that makes it sound better and more satisfying to hear compared to the standard American English accent.

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Cutler, C. (2020). Metapragmatic comments and orthographic performances of a New York accent on YouTube. World Englishes, 39(1), 36-53.

Delvin, T. M. (2019, January 28). The United States Of Accents: A Guide To The American Ways Of Speaking. Babbel Magazine. https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/american-accents

Emily Frances. (2010, July 21). New York Accents, A Movie [video]. YouTube. YouTube. https://youtu.be/xlILInD-JkM?si=SEhhxomDPuoOX74j

Nishino, H. (2021). The Origin of the English Language. Tokyo Future University bulletin, 15, 213-222.

Parachuk, T. (2023, August 10). Talk Like a New Yorker: The Ultimate Guide to the NY Accent. VBlog. https://www.voices.com/blog/new-york-accent/#where-does-the-new-yorker-accent-come-from

Sam. [@bkshedevil] (2022, January 5). #stitch with @therealchinito28 #bkshedevil #newyorker [video]. TikTok. https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSNEqQXfk/

Woltmann, S. (2023, June 12). How to Do a New York Accent. Backstage. https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/how-to-do-new-york-accent-38229/

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Australian English. (2023, June 5). Macquarie University | Tertiary Education.   https://www.mq.edu.au/research/research-centres-groups-and-facilities/healthy-people/centres/centre-for-language-sciences-clas/australian-voices/australian-english

Collins, P. (2012). Australian English: Its Evolution and Current State. International Journal of Language, Translation and Intercultural Communication, 1,75-86. https://doi.org/10.12681/ijltic. 11

Cox, F., & Palethorpe, S. (2007). Australian English. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 37(3), 341–350. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44526466

Mitchell, A.G. & A. Delbridge. (1965). The Speech of Australian Adolescents, Sydney: Angus and Robertson.

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The study of phonetics, i.e, the study of speech sounds is a linguistic branch that focuses on the aspect of sounds in language. This study explores a lot of sound aspects including the accent of a language. Accent is the format of pronunciation that a speaker uses. In general, there are two types of accent variation which are the social variation and the regional variation.

Therefore, the e-portfolio presented to you is the compilation of the description and discussion of selected Accents of English and the video presentation by Group Smiggles 😁.

The selected accents are as below:

British accent (RP) by Qistina Sofiya Sabab (2210308)

Nigerian accent by Nureen Fathiah Mohd Fardzly (2218526)

Australian accent by Nur Hanis Syahida Sofian (2211010)

Arabic accent by Nur Syia'run Mardhiah Pauzi (2219696)

New York accent by Aishah Mohamed Hamidi (2213990)

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Do check out our group's presentation video😁

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Do check out our group's presentation video😁

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Do watch our group's talents having fun with these accents!😆

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Group Smiggles: Video Presentation of Selected Accents of English