英国人为什么不卷舌?_BEC初级作文

英国人为什么不卷舌?

传统英语，无论是在英伦三岛或美国殖民地，其发音大部分都带有“卷舌音” 。带卷舌音的人在说"hard(艰难)" 和"winter(冬季)" 这类词时，总是发出“R”音，而不带卷舌音的人则不然。然而今天，在英国大部分地区，人们说话通常都不带卷舌音。例如，大部分现在英国人会跟你说，这是一个“hahd wintuh(严冬)”。

It was around the time of the American Revolution that non-rhotic speech came into use among the upper class in southern England, in and around London. According to John Algeo in "The Cambridge History of the English Language" (Cambridge University Press, 2001)，this shift occurred because people of low birth rank who had become wealthy during the Industrial Revolution were seeking ways to distinguishthemselves from other commoners; they cultivated the prestigious non-rhotic pronunciation in order to demonstrate their new upper-class status.

大约在美国独立战争时期，在伦敦及附近地区，英格兰南部的上层阶级之间开始用非卷舌音讲话。据约翰·艾尔吉奥在《剑桥英语史》(剑桥大学出版社，2001年)的说法，之所以发生这种转变，因为出生于低阶层的人们在工业革命时期已发家致富，他们极力寻求使自己有别于其他平民的方法；他们逐步养成久负盛名的非卷舌音发音，以显示他们的新贵地位。

"London pronunciation became the prerogative of a new breed of specialists — orthoepists and teachers of elocution. The orthoepists decided upon correct pronunciations, compiled pronouncing dictionaries and, in private and expensive tutoring sessions, drilled enterprising citizens in fashionable articulation," Algeo wrote.