Cardiff English is a variety of Welsh English, as spoken in and around the city of Cardiff, and is somewhat distinctive in Wales, compared with other Welsh dialects. The pitch of the Cardiff accent is described as somewhat lower than that of Received Pronunciation, whereas its intonation is closer to accents of England rather than Wales.
It is estimated that around 500,000 people speak Cardiff English. The dialect is generally limited to inside the city's northern boundary, rather than the nearby South Wales Valleys where the spoken variety of English is different. However, the dialect area spreads east and west of the city's political borders, covering much of the former counties of South Glamorgan (Barry) and south-west Gwent, including Newport and coastal Monmouthshire.
The dialect developed distinctively as the city grew in the nineteenth century, with an influx of migrants from different parts of Britain and further afield. The Cardiff accent and the dialect's vocabulary has been influenced in particular by those who moved there from the English Midlands, the West Country, other parts of Wales, and Ireland. The Survey of English Dialects did not cover Cardiff but it did survey nearby Newport and six small villages in Monmouthshire.
Influence The formation of the modern Cardiff accent has been cited as having an Irish influence, similar to the influence of Liverpool's Scouse accent, given both cities' status as major world ports. This argument can also be made for nearby ports of Newport and Barry, which also attracted internal migrants during the industrial revolution. Of note is its great similarity to West Country dialects, where many moved from for work on the nearby docks. According to a 2005 BBC study, the Cardiff accent, as well as that of Liverpool and East London, is in the process of changing due to the modern influence of immigration on youth, primarily of Arabic and Hindustani influence.
Social variation Research has shown that there is a great sociolinguistic variation on the Cardiff accent, that is to say, a difference in the way people speak from different social backgrounds in Cardiff. Unsurprisingly, those from a more affluent background generally speak with a less broad accent, closer to that of standard English, compared with people from a working-class background. Thus, the city itself has different dialects, with people from the less affluent eastern and western districts of the city having a stronger and broader accent than those living in the more affluent north Cardiff.
Phonetics and phonology
Cardiff English shares many phonetic traits with the English spoken in the Severnside area of England, but differs in being non-rhotic. A notable characteristic in the accent is the lack of rounding lips when pronouncing consonants and vowels. While in Received Pronunciation, lip-rounding is a common feature to distinguish vowels, in Cardiff English this is not often observed.
The tongue also holds a slightly different shape with people speaking in Cardiff English. The front is rigid and close to the alveolar ridge, while the back is relaxed, creating a large pharyngeal cavity. In continuous speech, the soft palate is also lowered, providing a slight nasal quality. Creaky voice is mainly absent and can only be found in prestigious middle-class varieties as in RP. The vocal folds are tenser than in Received Pronunciation, giving a husky, breathy sound to articulation, with the overall effect of greater resonance, tension and hoarseness makes the accent often thought of as being "harsh" or "unpleasant".
Place names in Cardiff, such as Crwys and Llanedeyrn, may be pronounced in a way which reflects rules of neither Welsh nor English.
Consonants Consonants in CE share general similarities to that of Received Pronunciation. Unique characteristics of consonants of this accent include:
Strong aspiration or affrication of voiceless stops as or respectively, which occurs in initial position in predominantly stressed syllables. Sometimes, the stops may be realised as a pure fricative, such as realised as intervocallically. When not in initial position, these stops can also be glottalised in the manner of RP, although this becomes weaker in broader forms of the accent. glottalisation of before , also in the sequence (as in Canton) which is always pronounced with an alveolar plosive in RP. Furthermore, the final syllable of little is commonly pronounced as . Flapping of generally occurs between voiced phonemes. It can even be an approximant . Like RP, consistent yod-coalescence of . Fricative allophones for voiced stops in medial position, especially with turning to . Furthermore, they are noticeably devoiced in final position. The fricatives may have slightly sharper friction, especially before front vowels; on the other hand may lack labialisation found in other accents. Like the voiced stops, can be devoiced to . Realisation of more often as an approximant rather than a fricative, and undergoes elision as mentioned below. G-dropping is common. Despite carrying out mild stigma, it can still carry prestige as it is heard in middle-class varieties of the accent. More common in younger working-class varieties, -thing is sometimes pronounced . H-dropping often occurs as the is only a marginal consonant in the dialect, being commonly dropped in the so-called 'weak forms'; pronouns and the modal auxiliaries had, has, have. Intervocallically, there is a voiced allophone such as ahead. Studies in the travel agency have been recorded that 'weak forms' are variably dropped, with these same group of people constantly dropping words like hotel (which are in turn preceded by an), emphasising its French origins. It undergoes the same stigma as in . In the broadest forms of the accent, is , commonly represented in the words huge and human. This is also found to a degree in Ireland and American cities influenced by these accents such as Philadelphia and New York City. However, higher-class speakers may pronounce similar to RP, as , although the articulation is more front and the narrowing is closer, making Cardiff's sound markedly prominent to RP. The broadest accents may realise particularly as a tap intervocalically and after the consonants . It can also sometimes be tapped word-initially. Otherwise, it is generally a postalveolar approximant . Cardiff's taps involve a much larger portion of the tongue and is less rapid than in RP, almost as long as . This can cause some homophones between tapped/approximant and , including butter/borough, hotter/horror and starting/starring. Like several northern English dialects, some words' final consonants may be devoiced, in words such as second or wardrobe. The conjunction and, when stressed and before a break, is also notably pronounced . Slight palatal friction of ; often elided before . Unlike other South Wales varieties, has the same clear/dark allophones as RP, namely with clear before vowels and , and (which can be heavily velar) before other consonants and pauses. is frequently a syllabic . Alternatively an can be added before the consonant, otherwise the consonant may be vocalised as a close back vowel. is unrounded , especially before . Two loan consonants from Welsh, and are included in the dialect, but are only found in Welsh names. is often debated as to whether it even should be considered as a phoneme in Cardiff English, as it is exclusively found in people of Welsh-speaking backgrounds or people who have patriotic sentiments to the Welsh language. Many speakers who do not pronounce a convincing find it difficult or even possible anyway, so they would substitute it with either , in names such as Llewelyn, Llandaff. (Usually realised as under Welsh influence), on the other hand, is more manifested as many speakers of the accent pronounce it in such as Castell Coch, Mynachdy, Pantbach, although that is not to say substitutions such as exist. can also be found in a few interjections of disgust, such as ugh or /.
Vowels
The accent is non-rhotic, in other words the is only pronounced before a vowel. Much like RP, linking and intrusive R is present in Cardiff English, such as in drawing or draw attention .
Unlike the consonants, CE's vowels are significantly different from Received Pronunciation. Many vowels in this accent have a more centralised articulation, as well as the starting points of most diphthongs, as seen below. Like mentioned above, at least the broad varieties seem to lack labialisation. However, if they are labialised, they are articulated with tight lips.
Monophthongs + Monophthongs of CE Front Central Back Close Mid Open
The vowel is markedly closer and more front, generally having no glide, when compared to RP ., citing Word-final is generally short and often more open than (), although few broader speakers use a short close vowel . is a somewhat more open , compared to typical RP, causing non-Cardiffians to interpret it as the vowel. However, more Standard Southern British speakers have a similar realisation as Cardiff. The weak vowel merger is variable, so that words such as anniversary and elephant often feature , rather than : . In broader speech, this can be replaced with : . However, the ending is usually , rather than . The situation is thus as in Standard Southern British, with some words and morphemes being commonly pronounced with an unstressed and others with . Like , is also closer, somewhat advanced and generally has no glide found in RP and several other British dialects. The vowel in is a steady monophthong , significantly raised well above open-mid, which is the common realisation the in-glide of the Received Pronunciation equivalent. is a more open and slightly retracted when compared to RP. Like in the diagram above, some may have their vowel at the same height as this vowel, only differentiated by vowel length. A closer and fronter vowel is used for , when compared to RP. It is usually realised with strong rounding, even the broadest accents have at least a slight rounding. Accents in the general register have a close-mid tongue height. and can be considered to belong to one phoneme , although some sources claim contrast otherwise, which is problematic as there are no minimal pairs between these two vowels. When stressed, it covers a wide allophonic variation as shown in the chart. It is typically open-mid or above, and much closer than RP. The vowel is phonetically central . A similar vowel is used by younger speakers of RP instead of the traditional . Broad forms of Cardiff English use a centralised, unrounded and open-mid , with higher-class accents having a closer vowel with strong rounding that is typical of RP. The horse–hoarse merger is present with younger speakers, although a preservation with some older speakers does exist. is one of the most characteristic vowels of the accents, generally being an open front vowel and notably longer than Received Pronunciation. Broader accents typically exhibit raising, most commonly as , with being heard from the broadest accents of working-class males. Within the United Kingdom, there is no other dialect that has a vowel more raised than , although some American dialects may have these realisations. Regardless if neighbouring any nasal consonants, it is frequently nasalised itself (); this has been linked to Merseyside velarised speech., citing The raising of this vowel has been stigmatised with local Cardiff culture, especially its city name Cardiff , as well as Cardiff Arms Park and a pint of dark, referring to the local brew Brains Dark.