Scouse history:

The late 19th century Merseyside accent, known to many as Scouse is much valued by its inhabitants and acts as a fundamental feature of identity for many. Its roots stem from Liverpool’s port as the first wet dock was built here which led it to become one of the vital ports in Britain.[1]The port known as Albert Dock today, became one of the biggest employers of Liverpool and an influx of people from far and wide created the accents distinctive sound. There was significant migration from Ireland due to the potato famine, therefore Irish English had a great role to play in the formation of the scouse accent.
For instance, the pronunciation of ‘k‘ sounds like ‘ch‘ as in ‘cook‘ as in ‘kooch’, ‘H‘ dropping in terms such as ‘happening‘ pronounced as ‘appenin‘, or the ‘g‘ sound being dropped including terms such as ‘fumin‘. Scouse is a characteristic of Liverpool speech that includes Birkenhead and urban areas of Liverpool. [2]

Accent and dialect:

In Linguistics we can differentiate between an accent and dialect and they are not the same thing. An accent is defined by researchers as variation in pronunciation. [3]   Some researchers have claimed Scouse to be only an accent and does not have a dialect due to its distinctive pronunciation. However, There is agreement amongst researchers that it is an accent certainly different from their Northern neighbours!

Scouse is an accent that is spoken relatively fast and often difficult to comprehend by speakers outside of Liverpool.  The accent is continuously developing and questions have been raised whether Scouse is getting Scouser? . There is also significant differences between older and younger generation speakers today.

Dialect on the other hand is a variety distinguished by differences of grammar and vocabulary. Scouse contains a lot of colourful words that makes its dialect unique. Here is a snippet of some Scouse terms:

• Bevvied, Bladdered: refers to a person who is drunk.
• Clobber: refers to any type of clothing
• Ozzy: is a short term derived from hospital.

A characteristic of Scouse grammar is using ‘la’ at the end of speech, this is dominant in Males speech and directed towards other Male speakers. ‘La’ is a colloquialism and a condensed version of the word ‘Lad’ similar to the term ‘mate’ which is common in informal speech. For example, a male speaker may say ‘’What’s happenin, la?” to a close friend. Furthermore, it is common in Scouse speech to use the colloquialism ‘youse’, it is the plural form of you [4]. For instance: “what are youse up too”, when conversing with two speakers. As mentioned earlier of the influence of Irish English in Scouse, this trait is common in Irish English too.

Scouse identity:

Accent and dialect affect the construction of Scouse identity, it is important to note that researchers have stated identity is a production that is never complete and is often a form of categorisation that separates people [5]. Important aspects of identity will be found within the city, such as the length of residence and whether an individual associate themselves as a Scouser. Some Scousers may not refer to themselves as having Scouse identity but a Liverpudlian identity due to the negative connotations surrounding the accent. Although , people who consider themselves Scouse may regard a Liverpudlian as a Liverpool football club supporter.

Researchers have suggested positive traits of Scouse speakers being friendly and humorous that makes the accent unique. Scouse identity brings a sense of belonging which linguists have suggested it answers the question ‘Where do I belong?’ Generally, Scousers take pride in their accent and it is inherently part of Liverpool.

 

 

Attitudes and differences:

 

Researchers have found language attitudes to be evaluation reactions towards different language varieties or their speakers and includes accents and dialects. [6] Scouse is an accent that is portrayed negatively in the media and an accent that is often associated with criminal activity.

Surprisingly, Liverpool speakers have negative perceptions of speakers from Birkenhead and St Helens. Birkenhead and St Helens have a distinctive sound difference from that of a typical Liverpool speaker and insulting terms are used by Liverpool speakers towards people of this region such as ‘Plastic Scousers’ indicating these people are pretending to act like Scousers. Interestingly, an interviewee on the BBC voices study from the Garston region who considered herself to speak with a strong scouse accent stated that a Birkenhead accent was ‘Horrendous’. The speaker also mentioned that people from the Liverpool region have negative perceptions of people from these regions. A derogatory expression used towards people from St Helens is ‘woolyback’ as it is an urban area of Merseyside. Other urban regions of Liverpool such as Formby and Crosby are perceived as speaking a posh form of Scouse as their accent is softer than that of a speaker closer to the centre of Liverpool.

Scouse people usually have positive attitudes towards the accent. A common consensus is that it is easily recognisable due to its distinctive sound, one interviewee of the BBC voices study stating it was ‘easy to spot a Scouser in the wild’. Despite their own positive attitudes, interviewees were aware of the negative stereotypes surrounding the accent and were keen to share stories about this issue. Furthermore, Scouse is an accent that is rated low in comparison to other accents [7]. These statements were interesting as it provided an insight into individual perceptions of the accent as well as outsiders perceptions. This was used as a basis for our study and highlighted a theory called Social Identity theory.

Edited by Matthew Mottram.

[1 [2] [5] P. (2007) New-Dialect Formation in Nineteenth Century Liverpool: A Brief History of Scouse. The Mersey Sound: Liverpool’s Language, People and Places. [online] pp.1-26. Available from:<http://www.lel.ed.ac.uk/homes/patrick/livengkoi.pdf&gt; [accessed 30 November 2018]

[3] [4] [6] [7] Huges, A. Trudgill, P. (2002) English Accents and Dialects: An Introduction to Social and Regional Varieties of English in The British Isles. London: Hodder.