Differences Between English of Northern England and Southern England

The English of England has many varieties. In both the north and the south, there are many types of English. However, there are features which distinguish the English of northern England and southern England.

One of the most noticeable differences is the trap-bath split. However, in many parts of southwestern England, the trap-bath split does not apply. For speakers who have the trap-bath split, the vowel of trap is a low front vowel and the vowel of bath is a low back vowel. The trap-bath split is common in the southeast, but it is not common in the north. Most northerners use the same vowel to pronounce the words trap and bath.

Another difference is the foot-strut split. It does not exist in the English of northern England. In the north, the words cut and put are pronounced with the same vowel. The words look and luck are pronounced the same. In the south, however, cut and put have different vowels. The vowel of cut is a mid central vowel.

In northern England, the vowel of cat is a low central vowel, but in the south it is a low front vowel.  For many northern speakers, the vowel of words such as cart  and palm is not a back vowel, but a long low central vowel. In such cases, the difference in vowel quality is quantitative and not qualitative as it is in the south.

Words such as place and road are often pronounced with monophthongs in the north. The vowel quality varies in the north. In the south, however, they are pronounced as diphthongs.

The unstressed word-final vowel in words such as funny and happy is usually pronounced with a lax vowel in the north. The tense vowel [i] is used in the Liverpool area, however. In the south, the tense vowel is common.

Unlike in the south, most of the north does not maintain a clear distinction between the lateral of lake and the lateral of bell. The area of Newcastle is an exception because it maintains the distinction. In the south, the lateral of lake is not velarized, but the lateral of bell is.

Though the English spoken in England varies greatly, there are a number of features that distinguish the English of the north from that of the south. With the exception of the southwest, the south maintains the trap-bath split. All of the south maintains the foot-strut split. Many words with diphthongs in the south are pronounced with monophthongs in the north. The south maintains two types of laterals, one that is not velarized and one that is. In the north, however, most speakers only use the velarized lateral.