„There `ll be no stopping us!

“‘

Lenition in Liverpool English:

a description of how a soundshift
in the consonants /ptk/ creates
Scouse

Presentation by Michael TL Pace-Sigge

Dept. Of English Language & Literature: University of Liverpool: 09/04/2003
 The English Voiceless Stops
• This thesis investigates variation in the use of
lenition – the change occurring when stops are not
fully realised - of the voiceless stops (p t k) in the
urban vernacular of Liverpool.

• “Continuant” in the expression “voiced or unvoiced

fricative continuant” differentiates the continuous
sounds of speech from those that require a
cessation of sound for their formation. Such sounds
are called stop sounds; they are caused by complete
interruption of breath by a stopping of the breath
flow.
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 Definition Lenition
• Consonants are (in articulatory terms) tricky with a
lot of things having to get shifted around So when
you speed up your speech and have a consonant
between vowels, it tries to become more like a
vowel. The first thing it loses is the closure that
many consonants have(...), becoming a fricative (p
becoming an <f> in this case - still a consonant but
"easier" to say). There may be many intermediate
stages, but eventually the consonant either becomes
a vowel or disappears altogether.

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 Previous Work
• The first thorough investigation into the accent, and
the standard work ever since, was Gerry Knowles
Scouse: The Urban Dialect of Liverpool in 1973.
• The only other major work on the Liverpool Accent is
Hilary De Lyon’s sociolinguistic study from 1981 (De
Lyon: 1981).
• Since the late 1990s more research by Patrick
Honeybone, Catherine Sangster and Kevin Watson.
Furthermore, looking at the accents of England, both
Peter Trudgill and the BBC published material on the
Liverpool accent.

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 Ways Of Analysing
– Sociolinguistic: looking at gender, age,
background (parents), occupation, areas of living
and comparing a group of people with that form
a representative mix.
– Phonetic: focussing on how the speech is realised
by speakers of the dialect / accent. Research
would look at intonation, pitch, melody and the
realisation of consonants, diphthongs and vowels
and compare these with the standard accent.
• Traditionally, the research was based on the study-
author’s ability to hear and distinguish individual
sounds. This is, however, very subjective.
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 Ways of Analysing: My
Methodology
• For this study, I have interviewed informants
of both sexes, between the ages of ten and
72, who all live in the same small area of
Liverpool.
• The recordings were then fed into a
computer, so that I can compare the speech
of the informants using the help of electronic
analysis, looking at wave-forms and
spectrograms to highlight possible contrasts.
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 Comparing /k/ lenition
• „(Sometimes you do get • “(To ehm – pause -) take
frustrated with) doctors..“ (it off)” – Diane, f, 60
• Lisa, f, 28

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 Comparing /t/ lenition
• „(No more of) tha‘ • “(in our) street (pause)” –
(pause)“ Ali, m, 18 Steve, m. 38

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 Comparing /p/ lenition
• “(he’s) putt’n’ more • “(ten) pound (in
people on benefit” – vouchers)” – Dan, m, 10
Diane, f, 60

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 Comparison: Scouse / SE (1)
• “(Yeah –pause -) but • “(Sometimes it is really
(really they should)” – interesting)-pause- but
Diane, f, 60 –pause –“ Annette, f, 54

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 Comparison: Scouse / SE (2)
• “(oh) happy • “Happy birthday”,
(birthday)”– Mr C, m, Chris, m, 66
38

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 Comparison: Scouse / SE (3)
• “Liverpool” – Alf, m, 72; Dan, m 10

• “Liverpool” – Ro, f,
24

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 Comparison: Scouse / SE (4)
• „Are like (pause)“ - • “(Things) like (eh you
Lisa, f. 28 know)” – Ro, f, 24

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 Comparison: Scouse / NI-Engl.
• “(pause)...Iraq • “Iraq” – Ciara, Northern-
...(pause)” – Ali, m, 18 Irish (Belf.), f, 25

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