How do British accents vary?
102372
>>>>>How do British accents vary?\n\nThat’s a hell of a question. How would you answer the question “How do US accents vary?” The answer is pretty much the same. And of course you can’t really describe an accent in print.\n\n>>>>>I've heard that they can reveal your social standing but in what way? \n\nThe same way they can  in the US or almost any other part of the world. Accents are tied to geographic location. Some geographic locations are primarily populated by poor people. Those children form that area that are educated outside will lose their accent so the accent comes to be associated ONLY with poor people. When you hear  that accent  you can pretty much guarantee the person in poor. Conversely some accents are associated with areas populated by rich people, or even with specific private schools. If you hear that accent you can guess  the person has or at least had money.\n\nBut as I say, England is neither better nor worse than the US in this respect these days. \n\nWhat do you think of when you here the classic Robert de Niro Brooklyn accent? Is it the accent of a college professor or a taxi driver?  A stockbroker or a steelworker?\n\nHow about the classic Boston accent of the Kennedies, Mayor Quimby) or Frasier? ? Is it the accent of a college professor or a taxi driver?  A stockbroker or a steelworker?\n\nAnd the list goes on. Appalachian accents are strongly associated with poor rural, Southern accents with strong diction are associated with wealth and refinement whereas southern accents with dropped letters is associated with poverty, the Jersey Accent is associated with the upper working classes etc.\n\nIn England you would say that a West End Cockney accent was the same as a Bronx accent.  An Oxford accent the same as a Classic Boston Accent. A Yorkshire accent the same as an Appalachian accent. A Scouse accent the same as a Jersey accent. Those pairs of accents mean almost exactly the same thing in their respective countries. And they are all reveal the social standing of the speaker.\n\n Of course it isn’t perfect. There are Liverpuddlians who have become multi-billionaires just as numerous people who grew up in Brooklyn have made lots of money. But as a general rule those accents tell you where people are socially even more where they came from. \n\nThese days the utility of accents at defining social position is fading in Britain just as it is fading in the US. Prior to WWII in both the US and England if you moved up the social ladder you made a conscious effort to lose your accent if it wasn’t appropriate. These days people tend to be more proud of the fact that they have moved up and don’t make the attempt to disguise it so much.
890286
English English is the one I prefer.  It is by all means the proper way of speaking it since the language first developed in Britain.  Oh yeah, I love the accents as well.
319314
The English language, as it is today, is an almagamation of several different sources, the main influences being Latin, thanks to the Roman Occupation of England for a few centuries!!\n\nCeltic, Saxon, Norman, Slavic and Germanic have also had their influence on Britain, and the usual description of English is ANGLO-SAXON.\n\nHope this helps without going too much into history and all that crap.
865963
The Cockney and Scouser accents make me laugh (in a good way).  I love the Geordie accent but it doesn't appear in many movies  So I guess I will have to go for the Yorkshire accent.  Now if you had said the UK I would definitely go for Scottish.
56069
Although there are many different American accents (Boston, Southern, Western, Broklyn, etc.) it almost seems like all professional radio announcers were raised in the same town (Radio City, USA?) and have no pronounced accents.  You can hear this if you drive cross-country and tune in local radio stations where the news announcers will sound different than the locals (say local ministers on Sunday morning).\n\nI would suggest using a tape recorder to record perhaps a US news broadcast then repeat what you hear into a tape recorder and compare your accent with the newsperson's accent.  Try different broadcasters.  Pretend you are in a play where you must act the part of the broadcaster and check for details.  It may be easy or difficult depending on how strong your own accent is and how good you are at mimicking others.  In the early days of radio the main actors in a radio play had to also do other voices such as a New York cop or an Irish washer woman, etc. to add "realism" to the play.  You can do the same.  Good luck.
1137853
Every-body has an accent. The way how some-one speaks, reveals where their ancestors came from.An accent does not make a person better than any other. How-ever if accents is the issue I love the Jamaican accent. Jamaicans talk real pretty.
11669
I've never heard anyone say "different to," but the style guides listed below say it's a British variant.\n\n"Different from" is considered slightly more proper than "different than."
440964
Definitely the southern accent is the most noticeable, and has plenty of its own words and culture to back it up.  Even that is split up between different areas - Texas, Louisiana, and Florida included. They stretch out their words longer.\n\nFollowing that, the Northeastern accents - Boston, New York, Philadelphia and the like. They tend to say their o's differently at least in Philadelphia, and Boston they drop their r's. The TV show Law and Order shows examples of New York accents.\n\nLastly, the Midwestern accents, which are a mix of Scandinavian and Canadian influences into American English.  One movie that shows this well is "Drop Dead Gorgeous."
228218
I'm not from England, I'm Irish, but I'd say some American accents sound lovely and some sound horrible.  There are lots of different American accents, just as there are lots of English accents, some nice and some not so nice.  I don't really think it's always the accent we like or dislike, it's other features of the person's speech.  For example, I personally can't bear listening to people with a strong nasal tone to their voice and I switch off when someone speaks too loudly.  I've read some research that says accents that feature stronger nasal tones are perceived negatively - in the UK, this is often described as a feature of the Birmingham accent (in the English midlands), the Australian accent, and the accent in some parts of New York and New Jersey (like Chandler Bing's early girlfriend in Friends).  My own accent - Northern Irish - is definitely NOT considered a 'cool' accent, so I'll sit here in my little glass house and make sure I throw no stones ;-)
1047361
Keep your Georgian accent it's part of who you are and there is no real set standard any more ifyou have seen the pbs special on the history of english there are just preconcieved ideas associated with certain accents.  Like the oxford english accent or the "generic english" which isn't really generic if you listen long enough.  Georgian accents are somewhat southern aristocratic I think.  I don't think you should have to change.  Brits arn't racing to sound like Americans.  Be Yourself.
841215
The scots have a Burr (equivalent to the irish brogue).\nThese are not dialects, a dialect is a language that is an offspring of another language, adding and changing certain words.\nAn accent is a way of pronouncing the words in a language...\nEnglish has many accents...\nirish brogue\nscottish burr\ncockney, kentish, oxfordian, yorkshire, liverpudlian, etc...\nThe main accent is called the BBC accent it is the standard british accent used by professional and well educated people in Great Britain, particularly in the south.\n\nThe Australian accent is also quite different and unique.\n\nThe Canadian is also different, though similar to the US.\n\nThe USA has what is called a\nGeneral American accent which is the most common, espècially in the central and western parts of the country\nThere are several more, the most well known being:\ntexan drawl or twang\nsouthern drawl\nnewenglander\nbostonian, etc....
859992
Some people just find certain accents difficult. Yep your over sensitive here ok? I am good with accents and can replicate most accents why i dont know? its not common for people to recognise or even understand accents?? Dont let it get you down this one. I f anyone was thick it was them.
742277
Loads of info here:\nhttp://linguistlist.org/ask-ling/accent.html
445446
Since you are asking about British accents, you might really enjoy the article "Web Project shows developement of British regional accents" at:\nhttp://www.usatoday.com/tech/world/2004-02-11-brit-dialect-Web_x.htm\n\n\nFor a more complete treatment of the development of regional accents, Wikipedia has a good entry at:\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_accents_of_English_speakers
622521
12 answers and only j_smith's actually says anything. Yes, a lot of vocabulary differences - like the ones j_smith listed. Also significant spelling differences mostly instituted by Noah Webster in an attempt to simplify the language (colour, centre, realise, tire, many others). Accents are different but there are a million in the USA and a million in the UK so that's not worth speaking about. A few very slight grammatical differences (have gotten).\n\nSome Americanisms are actually preserved older forms of the language (gotten is an example - Shakespeare said it, and he spelt 'labour' without the 'u' too) and some are changes that have come about since. Neither is better, or more comprehensible, or more accurate, or more genuine, or more legitimate, than the other.\n\nBoth of them are equally inferior to Canadian English, which takes the best of both!
1012561
He was born & raised in Texas. Some people who live in other places will lose their accent. I have a strong southern accent, much more than my brothers & sister - we were all raised together & live within 10 miles of each other. Some people pick up accents more than others. If I spend a lot of time with my friends from out west, I get a weird accent. His Mom definitely has an accent.
761743
Well in the UK there are hundreds of accents.There' Irish,Scottish,Welsh and English Each of these countries has various accents.To speak proper english,listen to news readers or people who don't have an accent.That's the easiest to learn.Be warned though,it's very difficult to lose the accent you have.I think the easiest accent to aquire is the irish.The most difficult scots.But if you put your mind to it,it can be done