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Scouse

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This article is about the accent. For the food, see scouse (food).
This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

Scouse is the accent and dialect of English found in the north-western English city of Liverpool and in some adjoining urban areas of Merseyside. The Scouse accent is highly distinctive and sounds wholly different from the accents used in the neighbouring regions of Cheshire and rural Lancashire. Inhabitants of Liverpool are called Liverpudlians, but are more often described by the slang term Scousers.

The word Scouse was originally a variation of lobscouse (probably from the north German sailor's dish Labskaus), the name of a traditional dish of Scouse made with lamb stew mixed with hardtack eaten by sailors. Alternative recipes have included beef and thickened with the gelatin source found in cowheel or pig trotter in addition to various root vegetables. Other sources suggest that "labskaus" is a Norwegian term ("lapskaus" in Norwegian), and considering the number of Merseyside place-names ending in "-by" (Formby, Crosby, Kirkby, Greasby, Pensby, Roby), a Viking rather than German source must be considered. Various spellings can still be traced, including "lobscows" from Wales, and some families refer to this stew as "lobby" rather than scouse. In Leigh, between Liverpool and Manchester, there is even a "Lobby shop". The dish was traditionally the fare of the poor people, using the cheapest cuts of meat available, and indeed when no meat at all was available scouse was still made, but this "vegetarian" version was known as "blind scouse".

The roots of the accent can be traced back to the large numbers of immigrants into the Liverpool area in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries including those from the Isle of Man, Wales, Scotland and, most substantially, Ireland. The influence of these different speech patterns became apparent in Liverpool, distinguishing the accent of its people from those of the surrounding Lancashire and Cheshire areas. It is only recently that Scouse has been treated as a cohesive accent/dialect; for many years, Liverpool was simply seen as a melting pot of different accents with no one to call its own. The Survey of English Dialects ignored Liverpool completely, and the dialect researcher Ellis said that Liverpool [and Birkenhead] had "no dialect proper".[1]

Phonology

The characteristic features of the accent of the region are discussed in section 4.4.10 of Wells (1982).

Consonants

A notable feature of Scouse is its tendency towards lenition of stop consonants (Honeybone 2001, sections 4 and 5, Marotta and Barth 2005). In particular

  • The /k/ phoneme is often pronounced [x], especially at the end of a word, so that back [bax] sounds like German Bach and lock [lɒx] sounds like Scottish English loch. In other positions /k/ may be realised as an affricate [kx].
  • There are several possibilities for the /t/ phoneme in Scouse. In some contexts, it may be realised as an alveolar slit fricative, [θ̠] or as a similar affricate [tθ̠]; these sounds may sound like [s] and [ts] respectively. The sounds [s] and [ts] themselves may also be used. Hence right may be heard as rice or rights.
  • In some words, for example but and what, the final /t/ may be replaced by [h] or a flap [ɾ], which may be heard as an /r/.
  • More rarely, lenition can also affect /p/, which may be realised as a bilabial fricative [ɸ], and /d/, which undergoes lenition similar to that of /t/, producing a voiced slit fricative [ð̠] or affricate [dð̠]. (Marotta and Barth 2005)

The th sounds /θ, ð/ may be pronounced as dental [t, d]. This feature is shared with Hiberno-English.

The velar nasal [ŋ] is usually followed by a hard [g] sound in words where most other English accents have it at the end of a word or before a vowel, so that sing is [sɪŋg] as opposed to [sɪŋ] in Received Pronunciation. See Ng coalescence.

The /r/ sound is often a tap [ɾ], similar to Scots.

Vowels

Features of Scouse vowels include:

  • The nurse-square vowel merger, so that fur and fair sound the same. Phonetically, the merged vowel is typically [eː].
  • As elsewhere in the north of England, the accent does not use the broad A, pronouncing words like bath with the [a] of cat, and the vowels put and putt are often the same.
  • Unlike most other northern English accents, the vowels of face and goat (Received Pronunciation /eɪ/ and /əʊ/) are pronounced as diphthongs similar to those of RP.

Other features

Scouse is noted for a fast, highly accented manner of speech, with a range of rising and falling tones not typical of most of northern England. This has led to some people from the Midlands referring to Liverpool people as "Sing-song Scousers".

Irish influences include the pronunciation of the letter 'h' as 'haitch' and the plural of 'you' as 'youse'.

There are variations on the Scouse accent; with the south side of the city adopting a softer, lyrical tone, and the north a rougher, more gritty dialect. These differences between both the north side and the south side of the city can be seen in the pronunciation of the vowels. The northern half of the city more frequently pronounce the words book, cook, look and took, as in the words boo, coo, loo and too, and then adding the k sound at the end. The southern half of the city show a greater likeness to the more common pronunciation of these words.

Comparison with recordings made since the 1960s support the notion that the Scouse accent is ever-changing. From the mid-1980s it has evolved into a more abrasive and less melodious form than it was in the 1960s [citation needed].

Scouse-speaking personalities

See also Liverpudlians.

Scouse can be heard from:

In addition, the following fictional characters speak scouse:

Scouse dialect

[original research?]

As with all dialects, there are many words in Scouse that would be strange to an outsider, some of the more common being:

  • ackers - (money/cash)
  • ale 'ouse - (pub)
  • ali - (barber. Derived from Ali Baba)
  • an-twakky - (antique/old fashioned)
  • are-eh - (pronounced "R A" - A complaint of misfortune or unfairness)
  • arlarse - (mean, unfair or crafty person or act, also 'arl')
  • auld - (old)
  • aul'fella - father
  • baghead - (heroin addict)
  • base van (police cctv vehicle)
  • beak - (cocaine/the judge)
  • bevvie/bevvy - (alcoholic drink)
  • bevvied - (drunk)
  • bezzy - (best)
  • biddie - (woman (normally old))
  • biff - (a poor person/idiot)
  • bifta/bifter - (cigarette/splif)
  • big girl's blouse (wimp [male])
  • bill - (alone/on one's own e.g. 'I'm on my bill')
  • bills - men's underpants (from Bill Grundies, undies)
  • billy - (a loner - from "Billy No Mates")
  • binnie - (binman)
  • bizzies - (the police)
  • blag - (fake e.g. "e's gorra blag la coste trackie on" - "He's wearing a fake Lacoste tracksuit")
  • blue-nose - a person who supports Everton Football Club
  • blurt - (idiot)
  • boss - (excellent)
  • bomby - (building bombed during WWII (see holler and deby))
  • bommie - (bonfire)
  • boxer - (coffin maker)
  • brass - (prostitute)
  • bunk in - (to obtain admittance without paying a fee)
  • bute - (a smug self righteous know-it-all/snob)
  • butty - (buttered sandwich)
  • cackhanded - (inept person or left-handed person)
  • casey or case-ball - (leather football)
  • chewy - (gum, as in "give's a bit o' chewy")
  • chief - (thief)
  • chiefed - (stolen)
  • class - (really good)
  • cob on - (sulking / angry as in "He's gorra cob-on")
  • cocky watchman - (overnight building site security)
  • come 'ed - (come on, contraction of "come ahead")
  • cop for (to kiss - 'She copped for him')
  • cozzy - (costume, usually swimming-)
  • dead - (really, e.g. 'dead smart')
  • dipper - (pickpocket)
  • divvy - (stupid person)
  • do in - (to damage something e.g. 'I did me back in')
  • do one - (leave e.g "you're annoying me, do one!")
  • doris - (old woman)
  • duff up - (beat up)
  • dunbar - (style of hair, similar to a bearskin hat)
  • fod - (abbreviation of forehead)
  • firebobby - (a fireman)
  • freemans - (someone else paying for the ale)
  • fridge - (a person who has never kissed someone)
  • gary - (ecstasy [tablet]. Named after Gary Ablett (footballer))
  • geg - (to interrupt or be nosey)
  • get - (idiot, sometimes preceded with "dozey" or "dopey")
  • get off (1) - (leave e.g. "This is boring, let's get off")
  • get off (2) - (to kiss pasionately e.g. "will you get off with sharon down the jigger?)
  • get on - have a look at
  • go 'ed - (shortened form of "go ahead", "go on" or "ok then")
  • gozzie - cross eyed/looking
  • grock - (Phlegm. Also a large intimidating person)
  • in a bit - (goodbye)
  • is right - (an expression of support/approval/agreement)
  • jarg - (fake, awful)
  • jigger - (back alley of a house.)
  • jigger rabbit - (a cat)
  • joey - (an idiot, probably from Joey Deacon)
  • judy - (young woman)
  • judy scuffer - (a policewoman)
  • kecks - (underpants or trousers)
  • ken - (house)
  • knackers - (testicles)
  • khazi - (toilet)
  • kidda - (lad, mate)
  • kopite - (supporter of Liverpool Football Club)
  • la - (lad, friend)
  • latchlifter - (price of half a pint of ale)
  • laughin' - (good)
  • 'leccy - (electric)
  • leg it - (run away)
  • legger - (chase from somebody)
  • made up - (happy/pleased)
  • meff - (scruffy person) More generally a loser
  • nah (no)
  • nob'ead - (idiot [offensive])
  • on toes - to run
  • ozzie/ozzy - (hospital)
  • penguin house - (a convent)
  • privvy - (the toilet)
  • Red - a supporter of Liverpool Football Club (e.g. "I'm a Red")
  • rozzer - (policeman)
  • Scally/Scal - (sub grouping of youths, similar to chav, shortened from scallywag meaning 'mischievous youth')
  • scone 'ead - (idiot)
  • scran - (food)
  • scrat end - (Burnt chips)
  • scuffer - (a policeman)
  • see ya - (goodbye)
  • shady - (dubious, unfair)
  • sinkhip - (three-legged man)
  • sketchy - (dodgy)
  • skinny - (sly/unfair)
  • smart - (great, brilliant)
  • snaff - (a lie, a snaffer is someone who tells tale tales)
  • snaffer - (multiplicitous)
  • soft lad - (idiot - a term of endearment or aggression depending on context)
  • sound - (good, well, I agree)
  • sly - (devious, nefarious, sordid e.g 'That's sly that')
  • spack - (annoying/idiot.)
  • spends - (money)
  • spoon - (To kick a ball badly, to make a mistake)
  • swerve - (to avoid e.g "swerve tha lad")
  • ta-rah (good bye)
  • takey - (a lift on someones bike)
  • tatty'ead - (somebody with an objectionable/scruffy haircut)
  • Tilly Mint - (a female know it all)
  • toby - (to go for a walk, e.g. let's go for a toby down here)
  • tod - (alone/on one's own e.g. 'I'm just on my tod')
  • trackie - tracksuit.
  • trainies/trabs - (sports footwear)
  • tunnel rat - (a person who lives on the wirral)
  • twirlie/twirly - (a female pensioner, a contraction of the question "Am I too early?" - asked of the bus driver, referring to the use of a free bus pass at off-peak times.)
  • tax - (to steal e.g. 'I taxed it')
  • Whopper - (Idiot)
  • Wool/Woollyback - (Non-Liverpudlians living in areas surrounding Liverpool, now known in today's generation as anybody that is not from Liverpool.)
  • yews/youse - (plural version of "you")

References

  • Black, William. (2005). The Land that Thyme Forgot. Bantam. ISBN 0593 053621. p. 348
  • Honeybone, P. (2001), Lenition inhibition in Liverpool English, English Language and Linguistics 5.2, pp213-249.
  • Marotta, G. and Barth, M., Acoustic and sociolingustic aspects of lenition in Liverpool English, Studi Linguistici e Filologici Online 3.2, pp377-413. Template:PDFlink (including sound files).
  • Shaw, F. and Spiegl, F., (1966). How to Talk Proper in Liverpool (Lern Yerself Scouse S.) Liverpool:Scouse Press. ISBN 0-901367-01-X
  • Wells, J. C. (1982). Accents of English 2: The British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-28540-2.
  • The game Worms 4 Mayhem features a weapon called the inflatable Scouser.
  1. ^ Template:PDFlink page 2
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