Territorial Variation of English Pronunciation in Contemporary Song Genres

The territorial variation of the English language and English pronunciation is in the center of attention of modern researchers. Due to the processes of globalization and the opening of pre-existing borders, there is a gradual mixing of linguistic norms, which is the reason for the emergence of new territorial variants of English. These changes are reflected not only in the media, politics, and other public institutions but also in art. The study of variants of polynational languages seems promising both for the general theory of language and for analyzing the characteristics of individual variants of such languages in the sphere of art, including popular music. The relevance of this paper is determined by the need to study the specifics of the implementation of the territorial variation of the phonetic means of the English language in contemporary song genres, in particular in pop music, which is very popular among young people and affects the pronunciation trends of speech of youth. The novelty of the study is determined by the fact that it identifies the sociocultural sources of territorial variation in English pronunciation in the songs of Adele (Great Britain) and Sia (Australia) as representatives of contemporary pop culture and as the most inclined to adapt their pronunciation and master new pronunciation options. Due to their worldwide popularity, Adele and Sia have a wide impact on the state and sound of Modern English. In the course of the study, sociocultural sources of modification of the pronunciation of pop music performers were identified. To achieve the goal, the features of the speech of Adele and Sia were analyzed, which made it possible to study and compare the territorial variation of the pronunciation of each of them and draw appropriate conclusions. In addition, not only the speech of the singers (interview) was analyzed, but also the phonetic features of their songs. The findings and research materials obtained in the course of the research can be applied in the practice of teaching English, as well as in the study of modern variants of English pronunciation. Subsequent research can be carried out in the area of studying other accents that have an impact on modern pronunciation trends.