Scouse Explained

Scouse
Also Known As:	Liverpool English / Merseyside English
State:	England
Familycolor:	Indo-European
Fam2:	Germanic
Fam3:	West Germanic
Fam4:	Ingvaeonic
Fam5:	Anglo-Frisian
Fam6:	Anglic
Fam7:	English
Fam8:	British English
Ancestor:	Old English
Ancestor2:	Middle English
Ancestor3:	Early Modern English
Isoexception:	dialect
Glotto:	none
Ietf:	en-scouse
Region:	Liverpool City Region

Scouse, more formally known as Liverpool English or Merseyside English, is an accent and dialect of English associated with the city of Liverpool and the surrounding Liverpool City Region. The Scouse accent is highly distinctive as it was influenced heavily by Irish and Welsh immigrants who arrived via the Liverpool docks, as well as Scandinavian sailors who also used the docks,^[1] and thus has very little in common with the accents found throughout the rest of England.^[2] People from Liverpool are known as Liverpudlians, but are usually called Scousers; the name comes from scouse, a stew originating from Scandinavian lobscouse eaten by sailors and locals.^{[3] [4]}

The development of Liverpool since the 1950s has spread the accent into nearby areas such as the towns of Runcorn and Skelmersdale.^[5] Variations within Scouse have been noted: the accent of Liverpool's city centre and northern neighbourhoods is usually described as fast, harsh, and nasal,^[6] while the "Beatles-like" accent found in the southern suburbs of Liverpool is typically referred to as slow, soft, and dark.^[7] Popular colloquialisms have shown a growing deviation from the historical Lancashire dialect that was previously found in Liverpool,^[5] as well as a growth in the influence of the accent in the wider area.^{[2] [8] [9] [10] [11]} Scouse is often considered by other Britons to be one of the country's least popular accents due to its difficulty, but it conversely also performs very well in polls of British accents that people perceive as happy and friendly.^[12]

Etymology

The word is a shortened form of lobscouse, the origin of which is uncertain.^[13] It is related to the Norwegian lapskaus, Swedish lapskojs, and Danish labskovs (skipperlabskovs), as well as the Low German labskaus and refers to a stew of the same name commonly eaten by sailors. In the 19th century, poorer people in Liverpool, Birkenhead, Bootle and Wallasey commonly ate scouse as it was a cheap dish and familiar to the families of seafarers. Outsiders tended to call these people "scousers".^[14] In The Lancashire Dictionary of Dialect, Tradition and Folklore, Alan Crosby suggested that the word only became known nationwide with the popularity of the BBC sitcom Till Death Us Do Part (19651975), which featured a Liverpudlian socialist and a Cockney conservative in a regular argument.^[15]

Origins

Originally a small fishing village, Liverpool developed as a port. After the 1700s, it developed into a major international trading and industrial centre. The city consequently became a melting pot of several accents and dialects as sailors and traders from different areas (specifically Wales and Ireland) established themselves in the area. Until the mid-19th century, the dominant local accent was similar to that of neighbouring areas of Lancashire. For instance, the comedian and actor Robb Wilton (1881–1957), despite coming from the Everton district of Liverpool, spoke with a dry Lancashire accent rather than a Scouse accent.^[16]

The influence of immigrants from Ireland (especially Dublin) and Northern Wales, as well as visiting Scandinavian sailors, contributed to a distinctive local Liverpool accent.^{[17] [18]} The first reference to a distinctive Liverpool accent was in 1890. Linguist Gerald Knowles suggested that the accent's nasal quality may have derived from poor public health in the 19th century, by which the prevalence of colds among many people over a long time resulted in a nasal accent coming to be regarded as the norm and copied by newer incomers learning the dialect of the local area.^[19] Scousers tend to speak at a higher pitch than most other English speakers, sometimes approaching falsetto.

Academic research

The Victorian phonetician Alexander John Ellis said that Liverpool and Birkenhead "had no dialect proper", as he conceived of dialects as speech that had been passed down through generations from the earliest English speakers. Ellis did research some locations on the Wirral, but these respondents spoke in the traditional Cheshire dialect at the time and not in Scouse.^[20] The 1950s Survey of English Dialects recorded traditional Lancastrian dialect from the town of Halewood, finding no trace of Scouse influence. The phonetician John C. Wells wrote that "the Scouse accent might as well not exist" in The Linguistic Atlas of England, which was the Survey's principal output.^[21]

An academic study of Scouse was undertaken by Gerald Knowles at the University of Leeds in 1973. He identified a key problem: that traditional dialect research had focused on developments from a single proto-language, but Scouse (and many other urban dialects) had resulted from interactions between an unknown number of languages.^[22]

Phonology

pronounced as /notice/The phonemic notation used in this article is based on the set of symbols used by .

Vowels

! colspan="2"

Front	Central		Back
Short	Long	Short	Long	Short	Long
Close	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Mid	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/			pronounced as /link/
Open	pronounced as /link/				pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Diphthongs	pronounced as /eɪ   aɪ   ɔɪ   aʊ   ɛʉ   iɛ/

• The square–nurse merger in Scouse renders minimal pairs such as fair-fur, stare-stir and pair-purr homophonous as pronounced as //feː//, pronounced as //steː// and pronounced as //peː//. The actual realization is variable, but the current mainstream pronunciation is close to pronounced as /link/, as shown on the vowel chart. Other allophones include pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/ as well as the rounded pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/, with all but pronounced as /link/ being more conservative than pronounced as /link/. In addition to those, there also exist the diphthongal variants pronounced as /[ɛə]/ and pronounced as /[əɛ]/. Middle class speakers may differentiate from by using the front pronounced as /link/ for the former (so that fair, stare and pair are rendered pronounced as /[fɛː, stɛː, pɛː]/) and the central pronounced as /link/ for the latter (so that fur, stir and purr are rendered pronounced as /[fɜː, stɜː, pɜː]/), much like in RP.
• As other Northern English varieties, Scouse lacks the foot–strut split, so that words like cut pronounced as //kʊt//, luck pronounced as //lʊk// and up pronounced as //ʊp// have the same pronounced as //ʊ// phoneme as bull pronounced as //bʊl//, foot pronounced as //fʊt// and put pronounced as //pʊt//. Speakers attempting to distinguish between the two typically use a stressed pronounced as //ə// for the former set: pronounced as //kət, lək, əp//, resulting in a Welsh English-like strut–schwa merger. However, this often leads to hypercorrection, so that good luck may be pronounced pronounced as /[ˌɡəd ˈɫʊk]/.
• Words such as grass, path and sample have a short pronounced as //a//, rather than the long pronounced as //ɑː// due to the lack of the trap–bath split: pronounced as //ɡɹas, pat̪, ˈsampəl//. As with the foot–strut split, an attempt to use pronounced as //ɑː// in an RP-like way may lead to hypercorrections such as pronounced as /[ˌbɫɑːk ˈkʰasɫ]/ (RP pronounced as /[ˌblak ˈkʰɑːsɫ]/).
• The words book, cook and look are typically pronounced with the vowel of rather than that of, which is true within other parts of Northern England and the Midlands. This causes minimal pairs such as book and buck, cook and cuck, and look and luck. The use of a long pronounced as //ʉː// in such words is more often used in working-class accents; recently, however, this feature has been becoming more recessive, being found less often among younger people.
• The weak vowel merger is in transition, making some instances of unstressed pronounced as //ɪ// merge with pronounced as //ə//, so that eleven pronounced as //ɪˈlɛvən// and orange pronounced as //ˈɒrɪndʒ// are pronounced pronounced as /[əˈɫɛvən]/ and pronounced as /[ˈɒɾəndʒ]/. The typical g-dropped variant of ing is pronounced as /[ən]/, which is subject to syllabic consonant formation (as in disputing pronounced as /[dɪsˈpjʉːʔn̩]/). As in Geordie, pronounced as /link/ for standard pronounced as /link/ may also occur, as in maggot pronounced as /[ˈmaɡɪθ̠]/.
• In final position, pronounced as //iː, ʉː// tend to be fronting/backing diphthongs with central onsets pronounced as /[ɨ̞i, ɨ̞u]/. Sometimes this also happens before pronounced as //l// in words such as school pronounced as /[skɨ̞uɫ]/.
• The vowel is tense pronounced as /link/ and is best analysed as belonging to the pronounced as //iː// phoneme.
• There is not a full agreement on the phonetic realisation of pronounced as //ɑː//:
  • According to, it is back pronounced as /link/, with front pronounced as /link/ being a common realisation for some speakers.
  • According to and, it is typically front pronounced as /link/.
• The vowel is typically central pronounced as /link/, and it may be even fronted to pronounced as /link/ so that it becomes the rounded counterpart of pronounced as //iː//.
• The vowel pronounced as //iɛ// typically has a front second element pronounced as /link/.
• The vowel pronounced as //eɪ// is typically diphthongal pronounced as /[eɪ]/, rather than being a monophthong pronounced as /link/ that is commonly found in other Northern English accents.
• The vowel pronounced as //ɛʉ// has a considerable allophonic variation. Its starting point can be open-mid front pronounced as /link/, close-mid front pronounced as /link/ or mid central pronounced as /link/ (similarly to the vowel), whereas its ending point varies between fairly close central pronounced as /link/ and a more back pronounced as /link/. The most typical realisation is pronounced as /[ɛʉ̞]/, but pronounced as /[ɛʊ, eʉ̞, eʊ, əʉ̞]/ and an RP-like pronounced as /[əʊ]/ are also possible. John Wells also lists pronounced as /[oʊ]/ and pronounced as /[ɔʊ]/, which are more common in Midland English and younger Northern English. To him, variants with central or front onsets sound 'incongruously "posh in combination with other broad Scouse vowels.
• The vowel pronounced as //aɪ// can be monophthongised to pronounced as /link/ in certain environments. According to and, the diphthongal realisation is quite close to the conservative RP norm (pronounced as /[aɪ]/), but according to it has a rather back starting point (pronounced as /[ɑɪ]/).
• The vowel pronounced as //aʊ// is pronounced as /[aʊ]/, close to the RP norm.

Consonants

• H-dropping, as in many other varieties of Northern England English. This renders hear pronounced as //hiɛ//, high pronounced as //haɪ// and hold pronounced as //hɛʉld// variably homophonous with ear pronounced as //iɛ//, eye pronounced as //aɪ// and old pronounced as //ɛʉld//.
• NG-coalescence is not present as with other Northern English accents, for instance realising along as pronounced as /[əˈlɒŋɡ]/.
• Like many other accents around the world, G-dropping also occurs, with pronounced as /[ən]/ being the most common realization of the sequence.
• pronounced as //t// has several allophones depending on environment:
  • Intervocalically (including at word boundaries), it is typically pronounced pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /link/, which is found in several other Northern English varieties.
  • Pre-pausally, it may be debuccalised to pronounced as /link/, with older speakers only doing this in function words with short vowels: it, lot, not, that, what pronounced pronounced as /[ɪh, lɒh, nɒh, d̪ah, wɒh]/ respectively. On the other hand, younger speakers may further debuccalise in polysyllabic words in unstressed syllables, hence aggregate pronounced as /[ˈaɡɾɪɡɪh]/. This is not differentiated from pronounced as /link/ in this article.
  • T-glottalisation is rarer than in the rest of England, with pronounced as /link/ occurring before pronounced as //l// and syllabic consonants.
  • Affrication of pronounced as //t// as pronounced as /link/ word-initially and lenition to pronounced as /link/ intervocalically and word-finally. The latter type of allophony does not lead to a loss of contrast with pronounced as //s// as the articulation is different; in addition, pronounced as //s// is also longer. For female speakers, the fricative allophone of pronounced as //t// is not necessarily pronounced as /link/ but rather a complex sequence pronounced as /[hsh]/, so that out is pronounced pronounced as /[aʊhsh]/, rather than pronounced as /[aʊθ̠]/. In this article, the difference is not transcribed and (IPA|θ̠) is used for the latter two allophones.
• pronounced as //k// can turn into an affricate or a fricative, determined mostly by the quality of the preceding vowel. If fricative, a palatal, velar or uvular articulation (pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|ç}}, {{IPAplink|x}}, {{IPAplink|χ}}]/ respectively) is realised. This is seen distinctively with words like book and clock.
• pronounced as //p// can be fricatised to pronounced as /link/, albeit rarely.
• As with other varieties of English, the voiceless plosives pronounced as //p, t, k// are aspirated word-initially, except when pronounced as //s// precedes in the same syllable. It can also occur word- and utterance-finally, with potential preaspirated pronunciations pronounced as /[ʰp, ʰt, ʰk]/ (which is often perceived as glottal noise or as oral friction produced in the same environment as the stop) for utterance-final environments, primarily found in female speakers.
• The voiced plosives pronounced as //b, d, ɡ// are also fricatised, with pronounced as //d// particularly being lenited to the same extent as pronounced as //t//, although the fricative allophone is frequently devoiced.
• Under Irish influence, the dental stops pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|t̪}}, {{IPAplink|d̪}}]/ are often used instead of the standard dental fricatives pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|θ}}, {{IPAplink|ð}}]/, leading to a phonemic distinction between dental and alveolar stops. The fricative forms are also found, whereas th-fronting is not as common.
• The accent is non-rhotic, meaning pronounced as //r// is not pronounced unless followed by a vowel. When it is pronounced, it is typically realised as a tap pronounced as /link/ between vowels (as in mirror pronounced as /[ˈmɪɾə]/) and sometimes in initial clusters as well (as in breath pronounced as /[bɾɛt̪]/) and as an approximant pronounced as /link/ otherwise, a variant sometimes also used in lieu of the tap.

International recognition

Scouse is highly distinguishable from other English dialects. Because of this international recognition, Keith Szlamp made a request to IANA on 16 September 1996 to make it a recognised Internet dialect.^[23] After citing a number of references,^{[24] [25] [26] [27] [28]} the application was accepted on 25 May 2000 and now allows Internet documents that use the dialect to be categorised as Scouse by using the language tag "en-Scouse".

Scouse has also become well-known as the accent of The Beatles, an international cultural phenomenon.^[29] While the members of the band are famously from Liverpool, their accents have more in common with the older Lancashire-like Liverpool dialect found in the southern suburbs; the accent has evolved into Scouse since the 1960s.

See also

Other northern English dialects include:

• Cumbrian (Cumbria)
• Geordie (Newcastle)
• Lanky (Lancashire)
• Mackem (Sunderland)
• Mancunian (Manchester)
• Pitmatic (Durham and Northumberland)
• Tyke (Yorkshire)

External links

• Sounds Familiar: Birkenhead (Scouse) — Listen to examples of Scouse and other regional accents and dialects of the UK on the British Library's 'Sounds Familiar' website
• 'Hover & Hear' Scouse pronunciations, and compare with other accents from the UK and around the world
• Sound map – Accents & dialects in Accents & Dialects, British Library.
• BBC – Liverpool Local History – Learn to speak Scouse!
• A. B. Z. of Scouse (Lern Yerself Scouse)
• IANA registration form for the en-scouse tag
• IETF RFC 4646 — Tags for Identifying Languages (2006)
• Visit Liverpool — The official tourist board website for Liverpool
• A Scouser in California — A syndicated on-air segment that airs on Bolton FM Radio during Kev Gurney's show (7pm to 10pm – Saturdays) and Magic 999 during Roy Basnett's Breakfast (6am to 10am – Monday to Friday)
• Clean Air Cleaning Up Old Beatles Accent, ABC News

Notes and References

1. Web site: The origins of Scouse. www.bbc.co.uk. https://web.archive.org/web/20230518180742/https://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/content/articles/2005/01/11/voices_liverpoolaccent_feature.shtml. 18 May 2023. live.
2. News: Regional accents thrive against the odds in Britain. Dominic Tobin and Jonathan Leake. 3 January 2010. The Sunday Times. Times Newspapers. https://web.archive.org/web/20110909020239/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6973975.ece. 9 September 2011. dead.
3. Chris Roberts, Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind Rhyme, Thorndike Press, 2006
4. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Web site: Harry Enfield - The Scousers Visit The Beach. 10 January 2008 . www.youtube.com.
5. Web site: New-dialect formation in nineteenth century Liverpool: a brief history of Scouse. Patrick Honeybone. Open House Press.
6. Web site: 11 funny differences between north and south Liverpool. Emilia. Bona. 29 September 2019. Liverpool Echo.
7. Web site: BBC News - London 2012: A 12-part guide to the UK in 212 words each . 26 December 2019 . 12 November 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201112024851/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18983558 . dead .
8. Web site: Scouse twang spreads beyond Merseyside. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1583317/Scouse-twang-spreads-beyond-Merseyside.html . 12 January 2022 . subscription . live. Julie Henry. The Telegraph. 30 March 2008.
9. Web site: Scouse accent defying experts and 'evolving'. 29 March 2008. Nick Coligan. Liverpool Echo. 20 April 2011. 13 October 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20121013054207/http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-life/liverpool-lifestyle/2008/03/29/scouse-accent-defying-experts-and-evolving-100252-20689770/. dead.
10. Web site: Scouse accent on the move. Chris Osuh. 31 March 2008. Manchester Evening News. 20 April 2011. 11 January 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130111074928/http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1043173_scouse_accent_on_the_move. dead.
11. Web site: British regional accents 'still thriving'. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6927109/British-regional-accents-still-thriving.html . 12 January 2022 . subscription . live. Richard Savill. 3 January 2010. The Telegraph.
12. Web site: Scouse ranked second-least attractive accent in the country. Emilia. Bona. 17 August 2015. Liverpool Echo.
13. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/109528#eid39045794 "lobscouse"
14. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/173218?redirectedFrom=Scouse#eid "Scouse"
15. Alan Crosby, The Lancashire Dictionary of Dialect, Tradition and Folklore, 2000, entry for word Scouser
16. Book: Robb Wilton, character comedian born Robert Wilton Smith in Liverpool 1881. Spoke in Lancashire dialect & delivered monologues. Died 1957 Postcard.. 1881–1957. English.
17. https://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/content/articles/2005/01/11/voices_liverpoolaccent_feature.shtml Paul Coslett, The origins of Scouse, BBC Liverpool, 11 January 2005
18. The Vauxhall and other dockland areas of the city, in particular, retained a strong Irish character that set them apart culturally from other areas. Peter Grant, The Scouse accent: Dey talk like dat, don’t dey?, Liverpool Daily Post, 9 August 2008. Archived from the original on 26 May 2013. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
19. http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/209515.article Scouse: the accent that defined an era
20. Knowles . Gerald . 1973 . Scouse: the urban dialect of Liverpool . PhD . 2.2 . University of Leeds . http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.546087 . 2 December 2017.
21. http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/lae-revw.htm Review of the Linguistic Atlas of England
22. Knowles . Gerald . 1973 . Scouse: the urban dialect of Liverpool . PhD . 3.2 . University of Leeds . http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.546087 . 2 December 2017.
23. Web site: LANGUAGE TAG REGISTRATION FORM. IANA.org. 25 May 2000. 25 November 2015.
24. Book: Frank. Shaw. Fritz. Spiegl. Stan. Kelly. Lern Yerself Scouse. September 1966. 1: How to Talk Proper in Liverpool. Scouse Press. 978-0901367013.
25. Book: Linacre. Lane. Fritz. Spiegl. Lern Yerself Scouse. June 1966. 2: The ABZ of Scouse. Scouse Press. 978-0901367037.
26. Book: Minard, Brian. Lern Yerself Scouse. July 1972. 3: Wersia Sensa Yuma?. Scouse Press. 978-0901367044.
27. Book: Fritz. Spiegl. Ken. Allen. Lern Yerself Scouse. December 1989. 4: The Language of Laura Norder. Scouse Press. 978-0901367310.
28. Szlamp, K.: The definition of the word 'Scouser', Oxford English Dictionary
29. Web site: CLEAN AIR CLEANING UP OLD BEATLES ACCENT. abcnews.go.com. 23 Feb 2002. 29 December 2017.