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Regions of Great Britain

The Great Britain is made up of three different regions that are not independent nations. These regions are England, Wales and Scotland.

1. England

England is the largest of the four geographical regions making up the United Kingdom. It is bordered by Scotland to the north and Wales to the west and it has coastlines along Celtic, North and Irish Seas and the English Channel. Its total land area is 50,346 square miles (130,395 sq km) and a population of 51,446,000 people (2008 estimate). The capital and largest city of England (and the UK) is London. The topography of England consists mainly of gently rolling hills and lowlands. There are several large rivers in England and the most famous and longest of these is the Thames River that runs through London.

England is separated from continental Europe 21 mile (34 km) English Channel but they are connected by the undersea Channel Tunnel.

2. Scotland

Scotland is the second largest of the four regions making up the UK. It is located on the northern part of Great Britain and it borders England to the south and has coastlines along the North Sea, Atlantic Ocean, North Channel and Irish Sea. Its area is 30,414 square miles (78,772 sq km) and it has a population of 5,194,000 (2009 estimate). Scotland's area also includes almost 800 offshore islands. The capital of Scotland is Edinburgh but the largest city is Glasgow.

The topography of Scotland is varied and its northern portions have high mountain ranges, while the central portion consists of lowlands and the south has gently rolling hills and uplands. Despite its latitude, the climate of Scotland is temperate because of the Gulf Stream.

3. Wales

Wales is a region of the United Kingdom that is bordered by England to the east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to the west. It has an area of 8,022 square miles (20,779 sq km) and a population of 2,999,300 people (2009 estimate). The capital and largest city of Wales is Cardiff with a metropolitan population of 1,445,500 (2009 estimate). Wales has a coastline of 746 miles (1,200 km) which includes the coastlines of its many offshore islands. The largest of these is Anglesey in the Irish Sea.

The topography of Wales consists mainly of mountains and its highest peak is Snowdon at 3,560 feet (1,085 m). Wales has a temperate, maritime climate and it is one of the wettest regions in Europe. Winters in Wales are mild and summers are warm.

 

8. Social portrait of the population. Dialects. Upper, Middle and working clases — do they still exist?

Standard variety is the variety of a language which has the highest status in a community or nation and which is usually based on the speech and writing of educated native speakers of the language. A standard variety is generally used in the news, media and in literature; described in dictionaries and grammars; taught in school and taught to non-native speakers when they learn the language as a foreign language. A standard variety may contain some variation in pronunciation according to the part of the country where it is spoken, e.g. Standard British English in Scotland, Wales, Southern England.



Standard English is sometimes used as a cover term for all the national standard varieties of English. These national standard varieties have differences in spelling, vocabulary, grammar, and particularly pronunciation, but there is a common core of the language. This makes it possible for educated native speakers of the various national standard varieties of English to communicate with one another.

British English

The British accept and enjoy the class distinctions. And these class distinctions influence people's speech greatly. The way English is spoken helps to identify not only the region that one lives in, but the class status too.

Since the days of Shakespeare the English of South-East England has been considered "the standard", and by the way the South-East is the region of economic and political power. Many people in England possess so called Received Pronunciation (RP), derived from the public school system attended by the boys from rich families. RP remains the accent of the elite.

There are two kinds of RP. One is "unmarked" RP, which suggests no more that the speaker is well educated. This is the dialect of the BBC. Through radio and television "unmarked" RP is becoming more and more widely spoken accent. Then there is "marked" RP, which indicates high social class and is spoken by many army officers who come from upper class families. Although spoken by less than 5% of the population, RP has great influence and social authority.

Regional accents are also often spoken in Britain. Scottish, Welsh and Irish are generally the most popular regional accents. Then come Northern and West country accents and then - the least popular urban accents of London, Liverpool, Glasgow. It is interesting to notice that the television news is usually read by RP speakers, while the weather forecast following the news is often read by someone with a regional accent.

Scottish English

Scottish English uses a number of special dialect words.

For example lake - loch; mountain - ben; church - kirk; to remember - to mind; beautiful - bonny; to live - to stay; a girl - lassie; no - ken.

The American English

English in the USA differs considerably from British English. Pronunciation is the most striking difference but there are also a number of differences in vocabulary and spelling as well as slight differences in grammar. On the whole British people are exposed to a lot of American English on TV, in films, in literature and so they will usually understand most American vocabulary.

Examples: British: colour, centre, practice. American: color, center, practise.

But American English and British English are not too separate languages. It is one language in different variations. American English is not the only special variety of English.

Each area of the English-speaking world has developed its own special characteristics, its own vocabulary and pronunciation characteristics.

Australian English

Australian English is particularly interesting for its reach store of highly colloquial words and expressions. Australian colloquialism often involves shortening a word.

Sometimes the ending "ie" is changed into "o". Instead of "smokie" they say "smoko". Instead of "beautiful" they often say simply "beaut". Because of current popularity of Australian TV-programs and films some of these words are now being used by British people, too.

* * *

Britain was once a class-ridden society. Today, multiculturalism and a changing economy are gradually eroding the British class system, but some features of the system still remain.

Sociologists define social class as the grouping of people by occupations. Doctors and lawyers and university teachers are given more status than unskilled labourers. The different positions represent different levels of power, influence and money. In days gone by your class would affect your chances of getting an education, a job, etc. and it would also affect the people who you could socialise with and marry. Today this type of thing is all-but-gone with the high-profile exception of the Royal family.

The British society has often been considered to be divided into three main groups of classes:

 

· the Upper Class

Often people with inherited wealth. Includes some of the oldest families, with many of them being titled aristocrats.

· the Middle Class

The majority of the population of Britain. They include industrialists, professionals, business people and shop owners.

· Lower or Working Class

People who are agricultural, mine and factory workers.

 

Although some people in the UK still refer to themselves as "working-class", "lower-middle" or "upper-middle" (and of course there are those who think of themselves as the "elite" class), to the majority of the British the meanings don't seem to matter much these days.

 


Date: 2015-04-20; view: 2447


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