British Accents

earllogjam

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Yes, there is a snobery and and a class distinction based on accent in this country and it works both ways ( Please don't be so simplistic in your assumtions that the UK is as uniform as the US). A southerner moving to the north will feel as much prejudice as a northerner moving to the south. and unlike the USA this can be a matter of a few miles.

We are proud of our accents, our cultural and local difference and our cheeses.

I never realized how provincial places in Britain were. I take it that accents can be a touchy issue judging from DaveyR and Geordie's exchange here, rife with stereotypes still.

Do most people in Britain live in the same towns that they grow up in? This is the only way I see accents perpetuating. They always seem specific to a town or region. It seems that there is a tendency to loose their regional accent when they move to another area or at least their kids do. Would a Cockney speaker switch his speech pattern if he finds himself living in Mayfair?


Being associated with TV, it is the accent many emulate .... even the naturally posh !!
Is this Estuary English accent viewed with affection?
 

D_Sir Dancealot

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I never realized how provincial places in Britain were. I take it that accents can be a touchy issue judging from DaveyR and Geordie's exchange here, rife with stereotypes still.

Do most people in Britain live in the same towns that they grow up in? This is the only way I see accents perpetuating. They always seem specific to a town or region. It seems that there is a tendency to loose their regional accent when they move to another area or at least their kids do. Would a Cockney speaker switch his speech pattern if he finds himself living in Mayfair?


Is this Estuary English accent viewed with affection?

In today's world, in England anyway most people are proud of their accents. It does not matter if they come for the North,South, East or West' English accents should be encouraged. They have been around for hundreds of years. However, I went to a boys only private school and it is at this point when accents are quashed and the Queen's English is pushed down your (one's) throat. But getting back to the main point of this thread. Most people change their accents to fit in with the accents of people around them.
 

earllogjam

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In today's world, in England anyway most people are proud of their accents. It does not matter if they come for the North,South, East or West' English accents should be encouraged. They have been around for hundreds of years. However, I went to a boys only private school and it is at this point when accents are quashed and the Queen's English is pushed down your (one's) throat. But getting back to the main point of this thread. Most people change their accents to fit in with the accents of people around them.

Do most Brits carry a couple of accents up their sleeve?
 

kalipygian

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There is an excellent PBS series, 'the Story of English', produced by former Canadian, James Mcneil. It has a companion set of books.

It is interesing that call centers for the US are now being located more in the Phillipines, where American, to us familiar and unaccented, english is taught, than in India, where the way english is spoken is reminiscent of a proper victorian schoolteacher.
 

sasquatch

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I was born and bred in Yorkshire (I never really had a strong accent) but now live in Scotland. As others have found, my accent does drift if I spend any amount of time in either place.

Interestingly, during the time I spent in the States very few people knew where my accent was from. Admittedly, I did slow it down and play on it a lot (Dianna had just died, so much random sympathy) but I still got asked if I was from Belgium, Germany and Australia.
 

dong20

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I never realized how provincial places in Britain were. I take it that accents can be a touchy issue judging from DaveyR and Geordie's exchange here, rife with stereotypes still.

There are sterotypes everywhere, rife is a strong term though. sterotypes tend to be recognised by all but only acted on by the ill educated, or plainly bigotted.

Do most people in Britain live in the same towns that they grow up in? This is the only way I see accents perpetuating. They always seem specific to a town or region. It seems that there is a tendency to loose their regional accent when they move to another area or at least their kids do. Would a Cockney speaker switch his speech pattern if he finds himself living in Mayfair?

A true Cockney wouldn't be seen dead in Mayfair, and certainly wouldn't adjust their tone for anyone, not even HRH. Most Cockney these days would be better described as 'Mockney'. People 'migrate' in England the for the same reasons they would in any modern, industrialised nation. In doing so they may bring their accents with them, sometimes these will be diluted or morhped, sometimes not.

I think you're looking for parallels with US culture here, or easy answers. You won't find them. There a vast range of different reasons people will retain a dialect, sometimes it's choice, sometimes it's circumstance. But, there are no hard and fast rules, only generalisations.


Is this Estuary English accent viewed with affection?

By those that use it perhaps, but then again perhaps not depending mostly on why they are using it. Inverse snobbery abounds in that part of the UK.
 

earllogjam

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It is interesing that call centers for the US are now being located more in the Phillipines, where American, to us familiar and unaccented, english is taught, than in India, where the way english is spoken is reminiscent of a proper victorian schoolteacher.

Kali, that's strange they are transferring the call center because the accent is even more difficult to understand in the Phillipines.

Day speek wit a Peelipeeno accn't. Ya.
 

Aitch

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Do most people in Britain live in the same towns that they grow up in?

Not as much as they once did. I've lived in various locations in the UK during my (almost) 49 years. I spent the majority of my teens in the Birmingham area and thus acquired a reasonably strong Brummie accent. Upon moving south to a location about 25 miles outside London, I found that people had difficulty understanding me so I had to make a conscious effort to lose the Brummie inflections. They still slip out sometimes if I'm extremely tired or drunk!
 

Male Bonding etc

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Two of my American friends have lived in London for a number of years. While their accents are not really "British" yet, they no longer really sound very American to me. Then the other day I heard a British fellow who'd lived here in the States for some time, and he sounded American except for a few words.

I do think we, being the social animals that we are, pick up on the accents that surround us. Certainly that is how we get our accents in the first place, but as adults we still do it to varying degrees. Some people will do it more consciously, others will be more actively resistant to such change, and some will be completely unconsious of it happening to them.
 

LoveItBitch

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Being puerto rican and Norwegian raised in america and being raised by my father who was the puerto rican.. i have a pretty weird accent.. ppl do look at me strange.. i get comments... but i sound like a little girl aswell.. Actually Somebody(wont name names) said something about the way I talked when I first joined the forum. They thought i was typing from a phone thingy ma jiggy.. but it was and is actually the way i speak..I just dont think it is at all considerate to judge somebody on their accent as somebody mentioned the "posh" word and being snobby... we all come from different places... just get used to it and deal with it!!! Madona is not even from new york.. she moved their at the age of 17 to further her career.. and worked at caberete bar and a coffee shop until she was discovered and made her own band... just to let u guys know... She is american.
 

earllogjam

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By those that use it perhaps, but then again perhaps not depending mostly on why they are using it. Inverse snobbery abounds in that part of the UK.


"Inverse snobbery"... I had a good laugh with that term. That is a weird social dynamic. Is it a recent phenomenon?
 

dong20

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I do think we, being the social animals that we are, pick up on the accents that surround us. Certainly that is how we get our accents in the first place, but as adults we still do it to varying degrees. Some people will do it more consciously, others will be more actively resistant to such change, and some will be completely unconsious of it happening to them.

I think that sums it up. It comes down to how attached one is to the dialect aquired as a child. Travelling a lot tends to neutralise speech for many reasons, usually practicality. This most especially when very young. I have travelled a far amount and while I still 'know' my formative dialect (though even then it was very mild) to all intents and purposes it's gone.
 

matticus201

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I'm not sure what a speech pathologist would say on this subject, and I'm certainly not one, but I have studied speech pretty extensively since I was a theatre major. I think it's important to differentiate between the "dialect" and the "accent." Take the US for instance. For the purposes of theatre, there is what is called a Standard American Dialect. Under this general heading, there are several different accents such as Southern, Baltimorean, Northern, and Californean, to name a few. Beneath each of these general headings, there are subheadings, such as Texas Southern, Mississippi Southern, and so on. They aren't all named after states and regions, these are just the ones that come to mind.

I assume that in the UK the same holds true. I've had to master the Standard British Dialect for several things before. The accents, as have already been mentioned, would be Cockney, Scott, etc. It's extremely difficult to master an accent convincingly, because they are ingrained at birth. Some require you to make the sound completely differently with your mouth. That's why I always thing people that put on fake accents are crazy.. it's a lot of work.

Anyway, that's my two cents. =)
 

LoveItBitch

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K dong ur right,an imma type de way i speak so maybe ull can undastan mah speach.My mum was norwegian and me was raised by both parents till mah mum passed when me was 13 den mah papi raised me,so ju can see dat mah gramma isnt all too gud and it takes lots fo me to type propa speach but me do it so ppl can undastan me.

Mah speach comes from my broken language i learnt as a child from mah parents ,its mo a mixture of da culturz .. and mah surroundings are hard latin so i speak its wiv mo a latin accent.. funny tis it?
 

dong20

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I'm not sure what a speech pathologist would say on this subject, and I'm certainly not one, but I have studied speech pretty extensively since I was a theatre major. I think it's important to differentiate between the "dialect" and the "accent." Take the US for instance. For the purposes of theatre, there is what is called a Standard American Dialect. Under this general heading, there are several different accents such as Southern, Baltimorean, Northern, and Californean, to name a few. Beneath each of these general headings, there are subheadings, such as Texas Southern, Mississippi Southern, and so on. They aren't all named after states and regions, these are just the ones that come to mind.

I assume that in the UK the same holds true. I've had to master the Standard British Dialect for several things before. The accents, as have already been mentioned, would be Cockney, Scott, etc. It's extremely difficult to master an accent convincingly, because they are ingrained at birth. Some require you to make the sound completely differently with your mouth. That's why I always thing people that put on fake accents are crazy.. it's a lot of work.

Anyway, that's my two cents. =)

You're right the two are not really the same although the terms tend to be used interchangably, and I'm as guilty as anyone at times.
 

D_borefordhey

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i come from hereford and everyone think if your from hereford you speak like a farrrrmer oww arrr ish well i do a bit but i have a well mannered posher accenmt beacuse i grew up first class surroundsins ( i lived with gran she was a house kepper on a private estate)