View source for British English

{{Short description|Set of varieties of English language}}
{{Redirect|BrE|other uses|BRE (disambiguation){{!}}BRE}}
{{pp|small=yes}} 
{{Use British English|date=December 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = British English
| altname          = 
| nativename       = 
| states           = [[United Kingdom]] (originally [[England]])
| region           = [[British Isles]]
| ethnicity        = [[British people]]
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Germanic languages|Germanic]]
| fam3             = [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic]]
| fam4             = [[North Sea Germanic]]
| fam5             = [[Anglo-Frisian languages|Anglo-Frisian]]
| fam6             = [[Anglic language|Anglic]]
| fam7             = [[English language|English]]
| dia1             = [[English language in England]]
| dia2             = [[Scottish English]]
| dia3             = [[Welsh English]]
| dia4             = [[Ulster English]]
| dia5             = [[Hiberno-English]]
| dia6             = [[Bermudian English]]
| dia7             = [[Falkland Islands English]]
| dia8             = [[Cayman Islands English]]
| dia9             = [[Gibraltarian English]]
| dia10            = [[Manx English]]
| dia11            = [[Channel Island English]]
| ancestor         = [[Proto-English]]
| ancestor2        = [[Old English]]
| ancestor3        = [[Middle English]]
| ancestor4        = [[Early Modern English]]
| stand1           = [[Received Pronunciation]]
| script           = [[Latin script|Latin]] ([[English alphabet]]) <br /> [[Unified English Braille]]
| nation           = [[United Nations]] (with [[Oxford spelling]])
| isoexception     = dialect
| ietf             = {{wikidata|property|references|P305}}
}}
{{American and British English differences}}
'''British English'''{{efn|Abbreviations: '''BrE''', '''en-GB''', and '''BE''')<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lexico.com/definition/british_english |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112020400/https://www.lexico.com/definition/british_english |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 November 2020 |title=British English |publisher=Lexico.com |date= |access-date=18 February 2022}}</ref>}} is the set of [[Variety (linguistics)|varieties]] of the [[English language]] native to the [[United Kingdom]], especially [[Great Britain]].{{refn|The ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' applies the term to English as "spoken or written in the [[British Isles]]; esp[ecially] the forms of English usual in Great Britain", reserving "[[Irish English]]" for the "English language as spoken and written in Ireland".<ref name="Oxford English Dictionary">{{cite book|title=Oxford English Dictionary|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordenglishdic0015unse|chapter-url-access=registration|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford, England|year=1989|edition=2|chapter=British English; Hiberno-English}}</ref> Others, such as the ''Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary'', define it as the "[[English language in England|English language as it is spoken and written in England]]".<ref name="Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary">[http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/american-english/british-english?q=British+English ''British English''], Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary</ref>}} More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the [[English language in England]], or, more broadly, to the collective dialects of English throughout the United Kingdom taken as a single umbrella variety, for instance additionally incorporating [[Scottish English]], [[Welsh English]], and [[Northern Irish English]]. [[Tom McArthur (linguist)|Tom McArthur]] in the [[Oxford English Dictionary|Oxford Guide to World English]] acknowledges that British English shares "all the ambiguities and tensions [with] the word 'British' and as a result can be used and interpreted in two ways, more broadly or more narrowly, within a range of blurring and ambiguity".

Variations exist in formal (both written and spoken) English in the United Kingdom. For example, the adjective ''wee'' is almost exclusively used in parts of Scotland, north-east England, Northern Ireland, Ireland, and occasionally [[Yorkshire dialect|Yorkshire]], whereas the adjective ''little'' is predominant elsewhere. Nevertheless, there is a meaningful degree of uniformity in written English within the United Kingdom, and this could be described by the term ''British English''. The forms of [[Spoken language|spoken]] English, however, vary considerably more than in most other areas of the world where English is spoken<ref>{{cite news|first=Stuart |last=Jeffries|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/mar/27/regional-english-dialects|title=The G2 Guide to Regional English|journal=[[The Guardian]]|date=27 March 2009|at=section G2, p.&nbsp;12}}</ref> and so a uniform concept of British English is more difficult to apply to the spoken language. 

Globally, countries that are [[List of countries that have gained independence from the United Kingdom|former British colonies]] or members of the [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] tend to follow British English,<ref>{{cite book|title=New Oxford Style Manual|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2016}}</ref> as is the case for English used by European Union institutions.<ref>{{cite web |title=10.3. Spelling |url=https://style-guide.europa.eu/en/content/-/isg/topic?identifier=10.3-spelling |website=Interinstitutional Style Guide |publisher=Publications Office of the European Union |access-date=11 June 2024}}</ref> The [[United Nations]] also uses British English with [[Oxford spelling]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Six Official UN Languages |url=https://languages.un.org/en/language-and-communications/six-official-un-languages |access-date=2025-07-12 |website=Language and Communications Training |publisher=United Nations}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Spelling |url=https://www.un.org/dgacm/en/content/editorial-manual/spelling |access-date=2025-07-12 |website=Department for General Assembly and Conference Management |publisher=United Nations}}</ref> In China, both British English and American English are taught.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Dezuruigbo Journal|title=A study of British and American English for Chinese students|last=Odinye|first=Sunny|year=2016}}</ref> The UK government actively teaches and promotes English around the world and [[British Council|operates in over 100 countries]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/british-council |title=British Council |date=19 July 2018 |access-date=21 January 2023 |archive-date=21 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230121174726/https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/british-council |url-status=live |website=GOV.UK }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org// |title=Learn English Online |website=British Council |access-date=4 February 2023 |archive-date=21 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230121175722/https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org// |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/learningenglish/english/hygiene |title=About BBC Learning English |access-date=4 February 2023 |archive-date=4 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230204204233/https://www.bbc.com/learningenglish/english/hygiene |url-status=live}}</ref>

== History ==
{{Main|History of the English language}}

===Origins===
{{further|History of the English language|Proto-Indo-European|Proto-Germanic|Proto-West Germanic|Proto-English|Old English|Middle English|Early Modern English|Modern English}}
English is a [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic language]] that originated from the [[Anglo-Frisian languages|Anglo-Frisian]] [[dialect]]s brought to Britain by [[Germanic peoples|Germanic settlers]] from various parts of what is now northwest Germany and the northern Netherlands. The resident population at this time was generally speaking [[Common Brittonic]]—the insular variety of [[Continental Celtic]], which was influenced by the [[Roman army|Roman]] occupation. This group of languages ([[Welsh language|Welsh]], [[Cornish language|Cornish]], [[Cumbric]]) cohabited alongside English into the modern period, but due to their remoteness from the [[Germanic languages]], influence on English was [[Lists of English words of Celtic origin|notably limited]]. However, the degree of influence remains debated, and it has recently been argued that its grammatical influence accounts for the substantial innovations noted between English and the other West Germanic languages.<ref>[[English and Welsh]], 1955 J. R. R. Tolkien, also see references in [[Brittonicisms in English]]</ref>

Initially, [[Old English]] was a diverse group of dialects, reflecting the varied origins of the [[Anglo-Saxon]] kingdoms of England. One of these dialects, [[Late West Saxon]], eventually came to dominate. The original [[Old English]] was then influenced by two waves of invasion: the first was by speakers of the [[Scandinavia]]n branch of the Germanic family, who settled in parts of Britain in the eighth and ninth centuries; the second was the [[Normans]] in the 11th century, who spoke [[Old Norman]] and ultimately developed an English variety of this called [[Anglo-Norman language|Anglo-Norman]]. These two invasions caused English to become "mixed" to some degree (though it was never a truly [[mixed language]] in the strictest sense of the word; mixed languages arise from the cohabitation of speakers of different languages, who develop a hybrid tongue for basic communication).

The more idiomatic, concrete and descriptive English is, the more it is from Anglo-Saxon origins. The more intellectual and abstract English is, the more it contains [[Latin]] and [[French language|French]] influences, e.g. swine (like the Germanic {{Lang|de|schwein}}) is the animal in the field bred by the occupied Anglo-Saxons and pork (like the French {{Lang|fr|porc}}) is the animal at the table eaten by the occupying Normans.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/ling201/test3materials/HistEngoverhead.htm|title=Linguistics 201: History of English|website=Pandora Internet Web Server |access-date=29 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018113704/http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/ling201/test3materials/HistEngoverhead.htm|archive-date=18 October 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> Another example is the Anglo-Saxon {{Lang|ang|cu}} meaning cow, and the French {{Lang|fr|bœuf}} meaning beef.<ref>{{Citation|title=Why You Swear in Anglo-Saxon and Order Fancy Food in French: Registers |first1=Tom |last1=Scott |website=YouTube |date= 14 June 2013 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA2xRVMOThc| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211028/wA2xRVMOThc| archive-date=28 October 2021|language=en|access-date=18 March 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Cohabitation with the Scandinavians resulted in a significant grammatical simplification and lexical enrichment of the [[Anglo-Frisian languages|Anglo-Frisian]] core of English; the later Norman occupation led to the grafting onto that Germanic core of a more elaborate layer of words from the [[Romance languages|Romance]] branch of the European languages. This Norman influence entered English largely through the courts and government. Thus, English developed into a [[loanword|"borrowing" language]] of great flexibility and with a huge [[vocabulary]].

== Dialects ==
{{see also|English language in England|Scottish English|Welsh English|Northern Irish English|Irish English|Anguillan Creole|Montserrat Creole|Bermudian English|Falkland Islands English|Cayman Islands English|Gibraltarian English|Manx English|Channel Island English}}
{{IPA notice}}[[List of dialects of the English language#Europe|Dialects]] and [[Regional accents of English|accents]] vary amongst the four [[countries of the United Kingdom]], as well as within the countries themselves.

The major divisions are normally classified as [[English language in England|English English]] (or English as spoken in England (which is itself broadly grouped into [[English language in Southern England|Southern English]], [[West Country English|West Country]], [[East Midlands English|East]] and [[West Midlands English]] and [[English language in Northern England|Northern English]]), [[Northern Irish English]] (in Northern Ireland), [[Welsh English]] (not to be confused with the [[Welsh language]]), and [[Scottish English]] (not to be confused with the [[Scots language]] or [[Scottish Gaelic]]). Each group includes a range of dialects, some markedly different from others. The various British dialects also differ in the words that they have borrowed from other languages.

Around the middle of the 15th century, there were points where within the 5 major dialects there were almost 500 ways to spell the word ''though''.<ref name="thehistoryofenglish.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.thehistoryofenglish.com/history_early_modern.html|title= Early Modern English (c. 1500 – c. 1800)|website=The History of English |access-date=28 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141209013306/http://www.thehistoryofenglish.com/history_early_modern.html|archive-date=9 December 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Research ===
Following its last major [[survey of English Dialects]] (1949–1950), the [[University of Leeds]] has started work on a new project. In May 2007 the [[Arts and Humanities Research Council]] awarded a grant to Leeds to study British regional dialects.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20050313183453/http://www.personal.leeds.ac.uk/~smlsaj/ Professor Sally Johnson] biography on the [[Leeds University]] website</ref><ref name=MEO>[https://web.archive.org/web/20061003092355/http://reporter.leeds.ac.uk/press_releases/current/voices.htm Mapping the English language—from cockney to Orkney], [[Leeds University]] website, 25 May 2007.</ref>

The team are{{efn|name=note}} sifting through a large collection of examples of regional slang words and phrases turned up by the "Voices project" run by the [[BBC]], in which they invited the public to send in examples of English still spoken throughout the country. The BBC Voices project also collected hundreds of news articles about how the British speak English from swearing through to items on language schools. This information will also be collated and analysed by Johnson's team both for content and for where it was reported. "Perhaps the most remarkable finding in the Voices study is that the English language is as diverse as ever, despite our increased mobility and constant exposure to other accents and dialects through TV and radio".<ref name=MEO/> When discussing the award of the grant in 2007, [[University of Leeds|Leeds University]] stated:
{{blockquote|that they were "very pleased"—and indeed, "well chuffed"—at receiving their generous grant. He could, of course, have been "bostin" if he had come from the [[Black Country]], or if he was a [[Scouser]] he would have been well "made up" over so many spondoolicks, because as a [[Geordie]] might say, £460,000 is a "canny load of chink".<ref name=Indi-20070601>McSmith, Andy. ''Dialect researchers given a "canny load of chink" to sort "pikeys" from "chavs" in regional accents'', [[The Independent]], 1 June 2007. Page 20</ref>}}

=== English regional ===
{{Expand section|with=details about other different regional accents and dialects|talk=Shortcomings|small=no|date=April 2024}}
Most people in Britain speak with a regional accent or dialect. However, about 2% of Britons speak with an accent called [[Received Pronunciation]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/case-studies/received-pronunciation/|title=Received Pronunciation|access-date=20 March 2017|archive-date=22 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190722181432/http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/case-studies/received-pronunciation/|url-status=dead}}</ref> (also called "the King's English", "Oxford English" and "[[BBC]] English"<ref>BBC English because this was originally the form of English used on radio and television, although a wider variety of accents can be heard these days.</ref>), that is essentially region-less.<ref name=sweet>{{cite book |last=Sweet |first=Henry |title=The Sounds of English |page=[https://archive.org/details/soundsenglishan00sweegoog/page/n11 7] |url=https://archive.org/details/soundsenglishan00sweegoog  |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1908 }}</ref><ref name=fowler>{{cite news |last=Fowler |first=H.W. |editor=R.W. Birchfield |title=Fowler's Modern English Usage |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1996 }}</ref> It derives from a mixture of the Midlands and Southern dialects spoken in London in the early modern period.<ref name=fowler/> It is frequently used as a model for teaching English to foreign learners.<ref name=fowler/>

In the South East, there are significantly different accents; the [[Cockney]] accent spoken by some East Londoners is strikingly different from Received Pronunciation (RP). Cockney [[rhyming slang]] can be (and was initially intended to be) difficult for outsiders to understand,<ref name="Franklyn1975">{{cite book|last=Franklyn|first=Julian|title=A dictionary of rhyming slang|year=1975|publisher=Routledge and Kegan Paul|location=London|isbn=0-415-04602-5|page=9}}</ref> although the extent of its use is often somewhat exaggerated.

[[London]]ers speak with a mixture of accents, depending on ethnicity, neighbourhood, class, age, upbringing, and sundry other factors. [[Estuary English]] has been gaining prominence in recent decades: it has some features of RP and some of Cockney.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Crystal |first1=David |title=Language and time |website=BBC - Voices - Your Voice |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/yourvoice/feature2_4.shtml}}</ref> Immigrants to the UK in recent decades have brought many more languages to the country and particularly to London. Surveys started in 1979 by the [[Inner London Education Authority]] discovered over 125 languages being spoken domestically by the families of the inner city's schoolchildren.<ref>{{cite report |author=Department of Education and Science |date=Summer 1980 |title="Report by HM Inspectors on Educational Provision by the Inner London Educational Authority" |via=Education in England  |url=http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/hmi/1980-ilea.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171119045234/http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/hmi/1980-ilea.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 November 2017 |publisher=H.M. Stationery Office |page=4 |access-date=17 January 2023 |quote=A survey of all school pupils conducted by ILEA's Research and Statistics Division has established that one in ten children in inner London speak English as a second language; ILEA pupils have over 125 different mother tongues, far more than any other LEA in England and more than in New York.}}</ref> Notably [[Multicultural London English]], a [[sociolect]] that emerged in the late 20th century spoken mainly by young, [[Working class|working-class]] people in [[Multiculturalism|multicultural]] parts of [[London]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.urben-id.org/|title=UrBEn-ID {{!}} The UrBEn-ID project |website=urben-id.org |access-date=23 May 2016|archive-date=19 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210319181015/https://www.urben-id.org/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=2 November 2013|title=Argot bargy|newspaper=The Economist|url=https://www.economist.com/britain/2013/11/02/argot-bargy |url-access=subscription |access-date=15 April 2021|issn=0013-0613 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210430131251/https://www.economist.com/britain/2013/11/02/argot-bargy |archive-date= 30 April 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=How Is Immigration Changing Language In the UK?|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-is-immigration-changing-language-in-the-uk/ |first1=Hannah |last1=Ewens |access-date=16 April 2021|website=Vice |date=24 February 2016 }}</ref>

Since the mass [[internal migration]] to [[Northamptonshire]] in the 1940s and given its position between several major accent regions, it has become a source of various accent developments. In Northampton the older accent has been influenced by overspill Londoners. There is an accent known locally as the [[Kettering]] accent, which is a transitional accent between the [[East Midlands]] and [[East Anglia]]n. It is the last southern Midlands accent to use the broad "a" in words like ''bath'' or ''grass'' (i.e. {{respell|barth}} or {{respell|grarss}}). Conversely ''crass'' or ''plastic'' use a slender "a". A few miles northwest in [[Leicestershire]] the slender "a" becomes more widespread generally. In the town of [[Corby]], {{convert|5|mi|km|0|spell=in}} north, one can find Corbyite which, unlike the Kettering accent, is largely influenced by the West Scottish accent.

== Features ==
Phonological features characteristic of British English revolve around the pronunciation of the letter R, as well as the dental plosive T and some diphthongs specific to this dialect.

=== T-glottalling ===
Once regarded as a Cockney feature, in a number of forms of spoken British English, {{IPA|/t/}} has become commonly realised as a [[glottal stop]] {{IPA|[ʔ]}} when it is in the intervocalic position, in a process called [[T-glottalisation]]. National media, being based in London, have seen the glottal stop spreading more widely than it once was in word endings, ''not'' being heard as "no{{IPA|[ʔ]}}" and ''bottle of water'' being heard as "bo{{IPA|[ʔ]}}le of wa{{IPA|[ʔ]}}er". It is still stigmatised when used in word-medial positions, such as ''later''.<ref name="Trudghill56">{{cite book|last=Trudgill|first=Peter |author-link=Peter Trudgill|title=Language in the British Isles|year=1984|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge, England|isbn=0-521-28409-0|pages=56–57}}</ref> Other consonants subject to this usage in Cockney English are ''p'', as in pa{{IPA|[ʔ]}}er and ''k'' as in ba{{IPA|[ʔ]}}er.<ref name="Trudghill56" />

=== R-dropping ===
In most areas of England and Wales, outside the [[West Country English|West Country]] and other near-by counties of the UK, the consonant R is not pronounced if not followed by a vowel, lengthening the preceding vowel instead. This phenomenon is known as [[Rhoticity in English|non-rhoticity]].
In these same areas, a tendency exists to insert an R between a word ending in a vowel and a next word beginning with a vowel. This is called the [[intrusive R]]. It could be understood as a merger, in that words that once ended in an R and words that did not are no longer treated differently. This is also due to London-centric influences. Examples of R-dropping are ''car'' and ''sugar'', where the R is not pronounced.

=== Diphthongisation ===
British dialects differ on the extent of diphthongisation of long vowels, with southern varieties extensively turning them into diphthongs, and with northern dialects normally preserving many of them. As a comparison, North American varieties could be said to be in-between.

==== North ====
Long vowels /iː/ and /uː/ are usually preserved, and in several areas also /oː/ and /eː/, as in '''go''' and '''say''' (unlike other varieties of English, that change them to [oʊ] and [eɪ] respectively). Some areas go as far as not diphthongising medieval /iː/ and /uː/, that give rise to modern /aɪ/ and /aʊ/; that is, for example, in the traditional accent of [[Newcastle upon Tyne]], 'out' will sound as 'oot', and in parts of Scotland and North-West England, 'my' will be pronounced as 'me'.

==== South ====
Long vowels /iː/ and /uː/ are diphthongised to [ɪi] and [ʊu] respectively (or, more technically, [ʏʉ], with a raised tongue), so that '''ee''' and '''oo''' in '''feed''' and '''food''' are pronounced with a movement. The diphthong [oʊ] is also pronounced with a greater movement, normally [əʊ], [əʉ] or [əɨ].

=== People in groups ===
Dropping a morphological [[grammatical number]], in [[collective noun]]s, is stronger in British English than North American English.<ref name="BOD">{{cite web |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111118122015/http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2011/09/agreement-over-collective-nouns/ |archive-date=Nov 18, 2011 |url=http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2011/09/agreement-over-collective-nouns/ |publisher= [[Oxford Dictionaries (website)|Oxford Dictionaries]] |website=OxfordWords |title=A quest for agreement over collective nouns |date=September 5, 2011 |first1=Catherine |last1=Soanes }}</ref> This is to treat them as plural when once grammatically singular, a perceived natural number prevails, especially when applying to institutional nouns and groups of people.

The noun 'police', for example, undergoes this treatment:

{{blockquote|'''Police are''' investigating the theft of work tools worth £500 from a van at the Sprucefield park and ride car park in Lisburn.<ref name=BBC1>[https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-38547391 Police are investigating the theft of work tools in Lisburn], [[BBC]], 8 January 2017.</ref>}}

A sports team can be treated likewise:

{{blockquote|Arsenal '''have''' lost just one of 20 home Premier League matches against Manchester City.<ref name=BBC2>[https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/39396482 Arsenal 2-2 Manchester City], [[BBC]], 2 April 2017.</ref>}}

This tendency can be observed in texts produced already in the 19th century. For example, [[Jane Austen]], a British author, writes in Chapter 4 of ''[[Pride and Prejudice (novel)|Pride and Prejudice]]'', published in 1813:{{blockquote|All '''the world are''' good and agreeable in your eyes.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1342/1342-h/1342-h.htm|title=Pride and Prejudice |first1=Jane |last1=Austen |website=The Project Gutenberg |access-date=2020-02-27}}</ref>}} However, in Chapter 16, the grammatical number is used. {{blockquote|'''The world is''' blinded by his fortune and consequence.}}

=== Negatives ===
Some dialects of British English use negative concords, also known as [[double negatives]]. Rather than changing a word or using a positive, words like ''nobody'', ''not'', ''nothing'', and ''never'' would be used in the same sentence.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/grammar/british-grammar/types-of-english-formal-informal-etc/double-negatives-and-usage|title=Double negatives and usage |website=Cambridge Dictionary }}</ref> While this does not occur in Standard English, it does occur in non-standard dialects. The double negation follows the idea of two different morphemes, one that causes the double negation, and one that is used for the point or the verb.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Susagna |last=Tubau |title=Lexical variation and Negative Concord in Traditional Dialects of British English |journal=The Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=143–177 |doi=10.1007/s10828-016-9079-4|year=2016 |s2cid=123799620 |url=https://ddd.uab.cat/record/287774 }}</ref>

== Standard British English ==
[[Standard English]] in the United Kingdom, as in other English-speaking nations, is widely enforced in schools and by social norms for formal contexts but not by any singular authority; for instance, there is no institution equivalent to the {{Lang|fr|[[Académie Française|Académie française]]|italic=no}} with French or the [[Royal Spanish Academy]] with Spanish. Standard British English [[Comparison of American and British English|differs notably]] in certain vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation features from standard [[American English]] and certain other standard English varieties around the world. [[American and British English spelling differences|British and American spelling]] also differ in minor ways.

The accent, or pronunciation system, of standard British English, based in southeastern England, has been known for over a century as [[Received Pronunciation]] (RP). However, due to [[language change|language evolution]] and changing social trends, some linguists argue that RP is losing [[Prestige (sociolinguistics)|prestige]] or has been replaced by another accent, one that the linguist [[Geoff Lindsey]] for instance calls Standard Southern British English.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lindsey |first=Geoff |title=English after RP: standard British pronunciation today |date=2019 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-3-030-04356-8 |location=Cham, Switzerland}}</ref> Other scholars suggest that more regionally-oriented standard accents are emerging in England.<ref>Strycharczuk, P., López-Ibáñez, M., Brown, G., & Leemann, A. (2020). "General Northern English. Exploring regional variation in the North of England with machine learning". Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence, 3, 545883.</ref> Outside of England, namely in Scotland and Northern Ireland, RP exerts very little influence, particularly in the 21st century. RP, while long established as the standard English accent around the globe due to the spread of the [[British Empire]], is distinct from the standard English pronunciation in some parts of the world; most prominently, RP [[Comparison of General American and Received Pronunciation|notably contrasts]] with standard North American accents.

As of the 21st century, dictionaries such as the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', the ''[[Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English]]'', the ''[[Chambers Dictionary]]'', and the ''[[Collins Dictionary]]'' record actual [[Usage (language)|usage]] rather than attempting to [[Linguistic prescription|prescribe]] it.<ref name="courses.nus.edu.sg">{{cite web|url=https://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/elltankw/history/standardisation/c.htm|title=The Standardisation of English|website=courses.nus.edu.sg}}</ref> In addition, vocabulary and usage change with time; words are freely borrowed from other languages and other varieties of English, and [[neologisms]] are frequent.

===History of standardisation===
For historical reasons dating back to the rise of [[London]] in the ninth century, the form of language spoken in London and the [[East Midlands]] became standard English within the Court, and ultimately became the basis for generally accepted use in the law, government, literature and education in Britain. The standardisation of British English is thought to be from both [[Dialect levelling in Britain|dialect levelling]] and a thought of social superiority. Speaking in the Standard dialect created class distinctions; those who did not speak the standard English would be considered of a lesser class or social status and often discounted or considered of a low intelligence.<ref name="courses.nus.edu.sg"/> Another contribution to the standardisation of British English was the introduction of the printing press to England in the mid-15th century. In doing so, William Caxton enabled a common language and spelling to be dispersed among the entirety of England at a much faster rate.<ref name="thehistoryofenglish.com"/>

''[[Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language]]'' (1755) was a large step in the [[English-language spelling reform]], where the purification of language focused on standardising both speech and spelling.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Histengl/spelling.html|title=The History of English: Spelling and Standardization (Suzanne Kemmer)|website=ruf.rice.edu}}</ref> By the early 20th century, British authors had produced numerous books intended as guides to English grammar and usage, a few of which achieved sufficient acclaim to have remained in print for long periods and to have been reissued in new editions after some decades. These include, most notably of all, Fowler's ''[[Modern English Usage]]'' and ''[[The Complete Plain Words]]'' by [[Sir Ernest Gowers]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/new-edition-of-the-complete-plain-words-will-delight-fans-of-no-frills-prose-but-can-breaking-the-9219926.html|title=New edition of The Complete Plain Words will delight fans of no-frills|website=[[Independent.co.uk]]|date=27 March 2014}}</ref>

Detailed guidance on many aspects of writing British English for publication is included in style guides issued by various publishers including ''[[The Times]]'' newspaper, the ''[[Oxford University Press]]'' and the ''[[Cambridge University Press]]''. ''The Oxford University Press'' guidelines were originally drafted as a single broadsheet page by Horace Henry Hart, and were at the time (1893) the first guide of their type in English; they were gradually expanded and eventually published, first as ''[[Hart's Rules]]'', and in 2002 as part of ''The Oxford Manual of Style''. Comparable in authority and stature to ''[[The Chicago Manual of Style]]'' for published [[American English]], the Oxford Manual is a fairly exhaustive standard for published British English that writers can turn to in the absence of specific guidance from their publishing house.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxford/media_wysiwyg/University%20of%20Oxford%20Style%20Guide.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxford/media_wysiwyg/University%20of%20Oxford%20Style%20Guide.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live |work=[[University of Oxford]] |title=Style Guide |access-date=14 June 2019 }}</ref>

== Relationship with Commonwealth English ==
British English is the basis of, and very similar to, [[English in the Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth English]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Matthews |first=R. J. |title=New Zealand English: A Case Study |date=December 1982 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-971X.1982.tb00525.x |journal=World Englishes |language=en |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=75–80 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-971X.1982.tb00525.x |issn=0883-2919|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Commonwealth English is English as spoken and written in the [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth countries]], though often with some local variation. This includes English spoken in [[Australian English|Australia]], [[Languages of Malta#English|Malta]], [[New Zealand English|New Zealand]], [[Nigerian English|Nigeria]], and [[South African English|South Africa]]. It also includes [[South Asian English]] used in South Asia, in English varieties in [[Southeast Asia]], and in parts of Africa. [[Canadian English]] is based on British English, but has more influence from [[American English]], often [[North American English|grouped together]] due to their close proximity.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tirban |first=N |date=2012 |title=The Major Difference between British and American English in Written and Oral Communication. |url=https://old.upm.ro/cci12/volCCI_II/Pages%20from%20Volum_texteCCI2-117.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220724103127/https://old.upm.ro/cci12/volCCI_II/Pages%20from%20Volum_texteCCI2-117.pdf |archive-date=24 July 2022 |url-status=live |journal=Communication, Context, Interdisciplinarity |issue=2012 |pages=985–990 |via=Google Scholar}}</ref> British English, for example, is the closest English to Indian English, but Indian English has extra vocabulary and some English words are assigned different meanings.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dash |first=Niladri Sekhar |date=2007 |title=Indian and British English: A handbook of usage and pronunciation (review) |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/218142 |journal=Language |volume=83 |issue=2 |pages=465 |doi=10.1353/lan.2007.0065 |s2cid=144960858 |issn=1535-0665|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Cols}}
* [[American English]]
* [[Australian English]]
* [[British Sign Language]]
* [[Canadian English]]
* [[Comparison of American and British English]]
* [[English in the Commonwealth of Nations]]
* [[Hiberno-English]]
* [[Newfoundland English]]
* [[New Zealand English]]
* [[South African English]]
{{Colend}}

== References ==
=== Notes ===
{{notes | refs =
{{efn
| name = note
| In British English [[collective noun]]s may be either singular or plural, according to context. An example provided by [[Eric Partridge|Partridge]] is: " 'The committee of public safety is to consider the matter', but 'the committee of public safety quarrel regarding their next chairman' ...Thus...singular when...a unit is intended; plural when the idea of plurality is predominant". [[BBC News|BBC television news]] and [https://www.theguardian.com/styleguide/c ''The Guardian''] style guide follow Partridge but other sources, such as [[BBC Online]] and ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20080821181421/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/tools_and_services/specials/style_guide/article986720.ece The Times]'' style guides, recommend a strict noun-verb agreement with the collective noun always governing the verb [[Grammatical conjugation|conjugated]] in the singular. BBC radio news, however, insists on the plural verb. Partridge, Eric (1947) ''Usage and Abusage'': "Collective Nouns". Allen, John (2003) ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20110707214856/http://www.bbctraining.com/pdfs/newsStyleGuide.pdf BBC News style guide]'', page 31.
}}
}}

=== Citations ===
{{reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
* McArthur, Tom (2002). ''Oxford Guide to World English''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-866248-3}} hardback, {{ISBN|0-19-860771-7}} paperback.
* Bragg, Melvyn (2004). ''The Adventure of English'', London: Sceptre. {{ISBN|0-340-82993-1}}
*{{Cite book
  |title=English After RP: Standard British Pronunciation Today
  |first=Geoff  |last=Lindsey
  |year=2019
  |publisher=Springer Nature  |location=Switzerland
  |isbn=978-3030043568
}}
* Peters, Pam (2004). ''The Cambridge Guide to English Usage''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-62181-X}}.
* Simpson, John (ed.) (1989). ''Oxford English Dictionary'', 2nd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

== External links ==
{{commons category}}
* [http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/index.html Sounds Familiar?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160912081632/http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/index.html |date=12 September 2016 }} – Examples of regional accents and dialects across the UK on the [[British Library]]'s 'Sounds Familiar' website
* [http://sounds.bl.uk/BrowseCategory.aspx?category=Accents-and-dialects Accents and dialects from the British Library Sound Archive]
* [http://www.soundcomparisons.com/ Accents of English from Around the World] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429190515/http://www.soundcomparisons.com/ |date=29 April 2011 }} Hear and compare how the same 110 words are pronounced in 50 English accents from around the world – instantaneous playback online
* [http://septicscompanion.com/ The Septic's Companion: A British Slang Dictionary] – an online dictionary of British slang, viewable alphabetically or by category
* [http://www.britishenglish.com.tr/ British English Turkey]

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[[Category:British English| ]]
[[Category:Dialects of English]]
[[Category:Languages of Gibraltar]]
[[Category:Languages of the United Kingdom]]