BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 28 Feb 14 - 05:27 PM

Mrrzy, If you haven't seen this you will love it.

The interface is clunky, but the information and samples are superb.

American English Dialect Map.

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 28 Feb 14 - 05:25 PM

someone was able to identify my accent, not as the region where I grew up, not as the accent of either of my parents, but as the school I went to.

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: Mrrzy
Date: 28 Feb 14 - 05:17 PM

I'd love to see one of these for the US (well, hear, OK).

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: Jim McLean
Date: 28 Feb 14 - 02:52 PM

I' m trying to remember a quote from Bernard Shaw, I think. Someone said "I've got an 'ead ache" and the reply was "Take an aspirant and go to bed".

Someone may remember the exact quote.

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: The Sandman
Date: 28 Feb 14 - 02:22 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZMfnBkV0DM

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 28 Feb 14 - 02:20 PM

Yes, Eliza, you well understand my post.

The "Standard English" I referred to was what we were taught in school. "Pronounce the "g", don't drop your "h"s. Neither my Dad nor I have thick accents but when we talk to each other, both our accents get much thicker. Carol gets a big kick out of that. It nothing like what we hear here in the "deep south"

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 28 Feb 14 - 01:50 PM

Jack, your last post interests me, because there are accents connected with class and class-mobility. I was born in Middlesex, and spoke in an accent a bit like Cockney. (Glottal stops, dropped aitches). Yet when I went to grammar school, I consciously tried to adapt my accent to the rather more middle class speech of the majority of pupils there. My parents were working class, and found this new, posh daughter quite funny. I could nip between these two accents without any effort. I expect there are many instances of people using two or more different types of speech depending where they find themselves, eg job interview, upmarket dinner party, old friends' reunion etc. When I moved to Edinburgh I soon adopted their speech, and then Glasgow, both of which I judge to have spoken fairly flawlessly! Now after 36 years in Norfolk, I can speak it perfectly, but can also be 'posh' when required. At home I speak African French all the time, so my poor old head has loads of lingo inside it. No wonder I forget where I left my glasses!

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: GUEST,Guest - Bob Blair
Date: 28 Feb 14 - 01:37 PM

Google Andy Stewart The Rumour and listen to him do a wee tour of Scottish accents

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: Will Fly
Date: 28 Feb 14 - 11:54 AM

Will, please, please translate that Staffs speech for me!!

For you, Eliza, anything:

Arfur Tow Krate In Staffycher = How to talk right In Staffordshire

Wonner fate? = Want a fight?

Cosner kek a bow agen a wow? = Can you kick a ball against a wall?

:-)

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 28 Feb 14 - 11:47 AM

We had about 400 people in our high school, about six distinct accents including the ones speaking Standard English and trying to sound like the provincial media announcers. Basically, every little cove and bay had its own accident. I could tell who was from the West or East side of a town with 1,200 people from the way they pronounced "R."

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 28 Feb 14 - 11:39 AM

Will, please, please translate that Staffs speech for me!!

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: Jim McLean
Date: 28 Feb 14 - 08:32 AM

If you pronounce Northern Irish sounds, e.g. "now" as "boy" it seems to work.

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: Will Fly
Date: 28 Feb 14 - 04:44 AM

PS: Cosner kek a bow agen a wow?

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: Will Fly
Date: 28 Feb 14 - 04:42 AM

Not at all bad though, like Yorkshire, he could have done a tour of Lancashire on its own - and excluded Liverpool. I think every county probably has distinct areas where the accents are subtly different from each other - accents which locals will detect and "foreigners" won't.

I remember taking my driving test in Palmers Green in North London in 1971. We finished the test and the examiner - who happened to be the Chief Examiner for that area and who put the fear of God into the candidates - said, "You've passed - well done." Then he said, "And how long is it since you lived in Bolton?" Bolton's in the north-west of the country, in Lancashire, and has a distinct local accent. Ask anyone from Bolton to say, "How's your brown trousers" and you'll know what I mean.

Pity he didn't do the Midlands collection - Birmingham (subtly different from the Black Country), and particularly the Potteries. I have a Potteries dialect book somewhere entitled, "Arfur Tow Krate In Staffycher."

Wonner fate?

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 28 Feb 14 - 03:46 AM

There are funny little pockets of accents just a few miles apart. in Ashington (Northumberland) the folk speak Pitmatic, a rare accent or pronunciation only found there. And Scouse (Liverpool) stops abruptly when you leave the city, becoming Lancashire (quite different) In Norwich, people speak a nasal 'Narridge' with quite broad vowels. But move two miles out and the lovely rounded country Norfolk accent takes over. It's always fascinated me how UK accents change as you move east, west, north or south just a tad.
Regarding 'Mid-Atlantic', I don't think it means people who actually live in the middle of the ocean. It's merely a way of speaking which tries to find a middle course between American and British. I first heard it on radio programmes, when disc-jockeys on Radio Caroline spoke like that. It doesn't actually mimic either accent, it's a sort of mongrel talk!

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: Peter the Squeezer
Date: 28 Feb 14 - 03:01 AM

Didn't notice any Geordie in there.

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Feb 14 - 02:52 AM

What accounts for so many variations ina small area when people now move about so much more?

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 27 Feb 14 - 05:04 PM

What is this "Mid Atlantic?" The only English speakers remotely mid Atlantic are Bermudans.

To me, Canadian 10 year old brought up on US TV, the Thunderbirds sounded like English actors trying to copy the accents and speech patterns of the Cartwrights on Bonanza.

Judge for yourselves! :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hiTMX9Vegw

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 27 Feb 14 - 04:37 PM

Regarding "leveller's" comments about variations in Yorkshire accents.
Bill Bryson claims that there are more diverse accents in, even, a small area of Yorkshire than variation in American accents in the whole of the USA.
Hard to believe, but that's what Bill says!

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 27 Feb 14 - 02:58 PM

Lynn, I remember 'Thunderbirds' (rather primitive animated puppet adventure series years ago) used a strange mid-Atlantic accent for all the characters except Lady Penelope, who spoke in a very posh way, and Parker, her cockney chauffeur. Anyone else remember Thunderbirds Are Go? I expect the mid-Atlantic accent was to make it saleable in the USA as well.

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 27 Feb 14 - 02:15 PM

As a regular listener, many thanks to the BBC newscasters for speaking English distinctly with pronunciation close to OED recommendations.

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: Lighter
Date: 27 Feb 14 - 10:04 AM

How 'bout this guy:

http://www.duffus.com/vid3geo.htm

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: MartinRyan
Date: 27 Feb 14 - 09:57 AM

I enjoyed that little tour - cleverly done. Like everyone else, of course, I reckon he made a hames of my own regional accent...!

Regards

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 27 Feb 14 - 08:28 AM

It was a very quick tour, but sadly it has to be.
These accents and dialects are rapidly disappearing in favour of the dreadful television 'Estuary' English with its glottal stops and total abandoning of Ds and Gs at the end of words - brrrrr -ugly!
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 27 Feb 14 - 08:07 AM

People are not always aware of their own accents. I heard someone being interviewed on BBC Radio 4, who said that his was a 'posh' accent. To me, he came across as decidedly 'Essex' - but then, maybe his speech was 'posh' in comparison with that of those he grew up with.

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: theleveller
Date: 27 Feb 14 - 07:08 AM

Clever but the problem with such a short piece is that he has to generalise. I don't know where his Yorkshire accent is supposed to be from but it's such a big and diverse county that it has at least as many different accents as Scotland - probably more.

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: GUEST,LynnH
Date: 27 Feb 14 - 03:32 AM

Pity he missed 'neutral/mid-atlantic english'.......As a voiceover I'd have love to hear his attempt at it.

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 26 Feb 14 - 10:12 PM

Ah! Yes that was cool.

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: GUEST,fan of linguistics
Date: 26 Feb 14 - 09:55 PM

favorite line from Inglorious Basterds...
I wasn't speaking to you Lieutenant Munich... nor to you Lieutenant Frankfurt!

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 26 Feb 14 - 09:48 PM

"I wish it were that easily described in the US."

Oh but it is! It is called talking like a Canadian!! ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: Bill D
Date: 26 Feb 14 - 08:51 PM

" I imagine a lot of readers do strive for a "neutral" accent..."

Yep.. and just as Received Pronunciation is a recognized standard in England, Germany, which has some dialects that are almost different languages, has 'Die Umgangsprache', which is the basic form used on news programs. 'Most' Germans can approximate it when necessary.

The article makes this point: "It is important not to confuse the notion of Received Pronunciation – a standard accent – with the standard variety of the English language used in England that is given names such as "Standard English", "the Queen's English", "Oxford English" or "BBC English". The study of RP is concerned exclusively with pronunciation, while study of the standard language is also concerned with matters such as grammar, vocabulary and style."

I wish it were that easily described in the US.

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 26 Feb 14 - 04:38 PM

From this article I see also that BBC English is also an accepted term and that a regional accent on the BBC might be considered "Standard" English, with that accent? Do you think I have that right?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Received_Pronunciation

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 26 Feb 14 - 01:32 PM

I've read that book so often I almost know it by heart, Dave.
By the way, BBC English is actually called Received Pronunciation (or RP) But I'm pleased to note that a regional accent is completely acceptable nowadays on TV and Radio.

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 26 Feb 14 - 01:16 PM

Pretty accurate from what I know and very nicely done. Thanks, Jack. Ever read Bill Bryson's "Mother Tongue". Very interesting study of the English language with lots of details about accents and dialects.

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: gnu
Date: 26 Feb 14 - 01:08 PM

I haven't checked back on Facebook to see if anyone commented on my share so I am glad you posted it herein, JtS.

I am keen to hear John's (Giok) take... if he sees this.

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 26 Feb 14 - 12:27 PM

Bill, I have heard BBC readers with what my ears tell me is pretty much the Dublin accent described in the tour. I've met some people from London, who didn't have to "chew their words" to sound like BBC English. But your point is well taken. I imagine a lot of readers do strive for a "neutral" accent just as Brian Williams admits to suppressing the New Jersey accent he grew up with.

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 26 Feb 14 - 12:20 PM

The "tour" was very well done. The choice of wording was very economical and entertaining, almost poetic, in its concise communication.

The case that the USA is not "America" is a lot easier to make than the case that Canada is not in the "the Americas" Canada is half of North America, The United States is "of America." Right?

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: Bill D
Date: 26 Feb 14 - 12:20 PM

What is fun is to watch BBC newsreaders 'chewing' their words to be sure they don't sound like ANY of those examples.

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: bubblyrat
Date: 26 Feb 14 - 12:11 PM

Oh ! What fun ; I loved it ! Yes, Dublin is very much in what are geographically , if not politically ,very much the British Isles.One might therefore argue ,logically, that Canada is in The Americas .

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 26 Feb 14 - 11:52 AM

Thanks, Jack.

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 26 Feb 14 - 11:47 AM

Now a Belfast accent is one of those I never could do, Patsy! What I found clever is the seamless way he moved from one to the next. He must have an excellent ear for human speech.

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 26 Feb 14 - 11:38 AM

I agree with you Eliza it is clever the best I can do if I try hard is a Belfast accent. But no I am not going to do a demonstration!

Subject: RE: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 26 Feb 14 - 09:55 AM

He didn't stay long in East Anglia, Jack. Many people find our Norfolk accent a bit hard to copy. But wasn't he clever? Wish I could do that! He missed out Birmingham and Aberdeen. And is Dublin in the British Isles?

Subject: BS: A tour of the British Isles in accents
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 26 Feb 14 - 09:33 AM

This is a fun clip from the BBC