Despite this being called “English with a Dialect” it’s not a study of dialect words. Rather, it’s a load of archive recordings of speakers with regional accents, cobbled together here as a “pronunciation guide” for actors and a “study guide” for teachers.
Some of the accents have really changed in just 40 years – Liverpudlian being a case in point, and isn’t the Brummie accent on here very different to the accent we now expect – while some, like the Suffolk accent (my own: see this post if you’re not aware of it), are slowly vanishing through the onslaught of Estuary.
Also, I think it amusing (as someone who’s lived in the area for a while) that Yorkshire is covered in one all-encompassing accent.
Here’s something new to the site: an interactive map. Simply click on the area to listen to or download the recording. If you prefer traditional links, they're at the bottom of the page.
Feel free to email/tweet/comment if you hear anything you like (or if you notice any great absences)!
Here's another link, this time to some vanished Irish accents (Gaelic-speaking, I believe): Nuacht.com
Some of the accents have really changed in just 40 years – Liverpudlian being a case in point, and isn’t the Brummie accent on here very different to the accent we now expect – while some, like the Suffolk accent (my own: see this post if you’re not aware of it), are slowly vanishing through the onslaught of Estuary.
Also, I think it amusing (as someone who’s lived in the area for a while) that Yorkshire is covered in one all-encompassing accent.
Here’s something new to the site: an interactive map. Simply click on the area to listen to or download the recording. If you prefer traditional links, they're at the bottom of the page.
Feel free to email/tweet/comment if you hear anything you like (or if you notice any great absences)!
6 comments:
Bristol accent all present and correct, mainly spoken by the working class. Gentrification has meant a great influx of rounded vowels though.
Thanks for this and thanks for the work on this great blog.
Onelove.
My accent is a complete mess, as I was born and raised around Leicester, but have live just outside Bristol for close to 10 years now...
I'm going to share this with some of my friends overseas who speak English as a second language - I reckon they'll have fun. :-)
Thanks for a great share.
I note with amusement the Invernesian businessman who appears to like more than a drop of the hard stuff!
Thanks for this, it's wonderful. Though I'm not sure how, after living in Hampshire, then the Cotswolds, Stoke, Leeds, Ayrshire, North Yorks and now Leeds again, I ended up with an RP accent. Probably just because it was the only one everyone understands.
The North Welsh speaker sounds quite Southern. Maybe it is just that area, but further east the North Welsh takes on a certain flavour of Liverpool. I'm so glad I get to hear a Manx accent because i once camped there and everyone I met was from Cumbria, working on Mann for the summer.
I should mention to that last anonymous commenter that I have also posted an LP of Manx folk speech and folk songs here: http://tardymusic.blogspot.com/2009/05/wonderful-world-of-man-1975.html
Thanks for all your comments - clearly this is a living issue.
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