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.

• 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

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.

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.

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 

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).

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. 

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.

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?!

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.

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

• 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/

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/

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) .

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).

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)

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.

• 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)