Kent accent in the 19th century: Rhoticity

This post continues from the introductory Kent accent in the 19th century.

Rhoticity

Rhoticity refers to the pronunciation of /r/. Originally, all instances of /r/ were pronounced in all dialects of English. From the 15th century, spellings in the Paston letters suggest that, in East Anglia at least, /r/ was no longer being pronounced in syllable codas. This means instances like bar, cart, carter were no longer pronounced, while instances like right, bright, carriage were. Since then, this nonrhotic pronunciation has spread to most of England, and to wherever it has been taken overseas. For example, Elaine Chaika (Language – the Social Mirror, Heinle, 2008, chapt. 9), gives documentary evidence that early settlers in Massachusetts had brought their nonrhotic accent with them from East Anglia.

Estuary English is also nonrhotic, which raises two questions: when did popular London speech become nonrhotic (to become the nonrhotic model for Estuary English), and to what extent can nonrhotic tendencies be seen already in the speech of these informants from Kent? Lynda Mugglestone (Talking Proper, OUP, 2003, chapter 3) quotes evidence from the late 18th century that popular London speech was already nonrhotic then; at the same time, the prescriptivist debate for and against rhoticity, continuing into the 1850s and 1860s, must mean that both rhotic RP and nonrhotic RP were to be heard so late. But these Kentish informants would hardly have heard any RP, if at all, especially as children acquiring language. It’s the popular London model that’s needed. The migrants from London, especially the children, would have been nonrhotic and in such number that Kentish children took their lead in the Thames-side towns.

Sound examples

The following sound examples exemplify selections of words from these informants, arranged from most rhotic to least rhotic:

Staple: rhotic
church, word, concern, army, course, pleasure

Denton: rhotic
father, course, year, farmers, workmen, mother, market, corn, Canterbury

Appledore: rhotic
Newchurch, winter, morning, farm, steamers, corn

Goudhurst: rhotic
work, mornin(g), dinner, (h)orse, forge

Stoke: partially rhotic
(h)o(r)ses, fou(r)teen, worse, (h)ard work, barn, largest, years, butche(r), labou(r)

Warren Street: nonrhotic
ho(r)se, he(r)e, ya(r)d, ba(r)n, fathe(r)

Farningham: nonrhotic
pinche(r)s, fou(r), (h)o(r)seshoes, scrap i(r)on

Results

Figure 2. The degree of rhoticity by the seven informants: Old fully rhotic (O), partially rhotic (P), new non-rhotic (N).

Four informants acquired fully rhotic accents in the 1880s and 1890s, in East and South Kent (from Staple, Denton, Appledore and Goudhurst). One informant was partially rhotic a decade earlier (at Stoke in the north). And two informants were nonrhotic (at Farningham and Warren Street). Generalizing, this means that rhoticity had been lost, or partially lost, by around 1880 in the rural half of Kent nearest to London. It was still retained, and acquired by children, in the peripheral areas furthest from London.

What can be guessed from this about nonrhotic speech in the towns?

Recall first that Ellis had reported nonrhotic speech in Margate in the NE (Fig. 1 in the previous post), which implies that other urban areas along the river and estuary coast nearer London were also nonrhotic.
Now add to that the nonrhotic rural speech at Farningham and Warren St around 1890, implying that, at least, the adjacent riverside urban areas from Gravesend to Sittingbourne were also nonrhotic.
It’s also most likely, that Maidstone (between Farningham and Warren St) had also become nonrhotic.
It’s safer not to speculate about rhoticity in Canterbury and Ashford in east Kent.

Top

________________________________________________________________