Your accent

[Bitofthebubbly]

Accents are so fascinating, like how can people from the north sound so different m to people from the south. It’s mad! I remember as a child my cousins moved up north, and when I went to visit them a month or so later their accents had completely changed I was bamboozled and slightly upset for some reason. Then I wanted to have the same accent as I felt mine was boring.

Im from Birmingham but live just outside now so my accent has softened a bit. It’s still very ‘west midlands’ though if that makes sense, maybe to others I still sound very brummie idk. I do find I ham up my brummie accent more when I’m around certain family members with particularly strong accents. Dunno why it just feels natural for some reason.

 

[Catfan2]

South London, neither posh nor common imo . Favourite accent is definitely Scouse, love it

 

[Albs]

Always amazes me how close manchester & liverpool are to each other but they both sound completely different.

 

[cosmo girl]

I have a East London/Essex accent. It's not really strong. Not like the towie girls. I do try not to say the word 'like ' too much.

 

[Blurp]

Not sure what a "platonic" English accent is but as far as I'm aware (I studied Linguistics) there's no such thing as "modern" Received Pronunciation - RP has a defined set of rules and doesn't deviate from these, so if your accent *does* differ from them in any way, it's something different; probably a Southern English accent like Estuary English that sounds 'posher' and is less broad than something like Cockney (and has more in common with RP).

Subconsciously altering your speech to sound more/less eloquent depending on the audience is something most people do, and has a name that completely escapes me now - it's similar to code-switching, which is switching between two dialects or languages (including in black communities, where people often switch between AAVE and Standard English).

There's definitely been a change during the 20th century. You can even hear the change in the Queen. Compare any recordings in the 30s, 40s and 50s with those later on. Even Prince Charles and Princess Anne have a slightly different RP accent from their younger siblings, and particularly from Princes William and Harry. Yes, this was something that I studied at uni too and I find it interesting as I have an RP accent thanks to school yet have absolutely no difficulty in understanding broad Doric and using the grammar and vocabulary without the accent! I did get told at a school class reunion, after being back in Scotland for around 25 years, that I still "spoke properly except when you say 'Scotland'"!

 

[BlobbyBlobbyBlobby]

Im from Manchester and I’ve lived here since I was 6 but my parents are from wales and have a welsh accent. but so I feel my accent is very strange. During lockdown I was obvs with my parents a lot and so I deffo picked up more of a Welsh twang

 

[SkinnyTurkeyDinosaur]

I wish I had a posh English accent but I sound like a chav

 

[265]

I'm just plain standard English, however I'm very well spoken and can easily be mistaken for a posh twit.

 

[Mag83]

Northern Ireland accent (not a city specific one, fairly generic) - I don't like it at all. I think our accents tend to be quite harsh sounding. I'd love a slightly more southern Irish sounding one.

I'm from N.I and anytime I’m with my mum and we hear someone from Southern Ireland talking on tv or out and about, every time without fail she will say they’re just better speakers than we are she claims their accent means their conversations sound more polite and eloquent to us in the North! I don’t tend to disagree with her but for the most part the people she’s commenting on are usually on TV because they’re great speakers and it’s their job to talk clearly so I find it quite funny.

I’m from a pretty rural area of NI and lived in London for years, I definitely think over the years I toned my accent down a lot while there, mostly I don’t talk as fast as I did because I’d have to repeat everything I said when I first moved. I now realise we do rush what we’re saying where I’m from. I went to “speech and drama” until I was 16 so I’ve always been good with pronounciation and not really using words like ‘aye’ and ‘wee’ that we’re famous for here.

 

[under the ivy]

Yorkshire/Leeds accent here Very proud of it but I toned it down at uni because some southerners couldn’t understand me

 

[coconochanel]

I'm just plain standard English, however I'm very well spoken and can easily be mistaken for a posh twit.

I love posh twats.

 

[Titntat]

Duck ayup and orate here too

Same here My daughters just turned 6 and everythings "rate good/nice"

 

[seaborgium]

I'm an AngloScot (dad was from Lancashire, mum from Dumfries), I've spent time in both and Italy, but grew up in a posh part of South Edinburgh (born in London). I often get asked where I'm from as don't sound local, and my dad always called me the English one! I'd still say it's like my link, but with bits of Leicestershire and Lancashire thrown in at times (I don't speak much Scots).

https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/edinburgh-morningside-accent-sir-malcolm-schooldays - how people sound I grew up around and family friends spoke, which my mum adopted. BTW if you like accents it's got some good ones in the collection.

 

[Gossipmongers]

I grew up in the north of England and had quite a strong accent but I moved to the south when I was 16. Over the years my accent has changed dramatically from living down here and having a boyfriend of 8 years that speaks with a ‘posh’ sounding accent which he picked up from going to private school. When I meet new people they can’t believe where I grew up and whenever I go back to my home town to see family/friends their accent sounds so strong and harsh to me now. I didn’t mind my old accent but prefer my new accent and I like that I sound like everyone else in my area.

 

[Lizzie Mintdrop]

I'm from Manchester and I made an effort when I was around 13 to smooth out my semi broad manc accent, I really don't like the accent. Now, I sound not posh but not common. My dad was from Birkenhead so had a soft scouse accent, heavily influenced by the sing song Welsh accent as the Wirral accent is, he never lost his accent despite moving away when he was 16 but he had an amazing 'posh' telephone voice, he fooled me more than once when he rang me at work and I didn't know it was him. I can do a great scouse accent because of my dad. My mum grew up near Wigan but doesn't have a strong accent because my grandad didn't think ladies should have strong accents, he always corrected her pronunciation. I find accents are so fascinating, the way they can change so much. There is an area on the border of Salford and Bolton where the accent changes completely from one side of the road to the other.

 

[Niamhm]

I like my accent From East Midlands originally and feel its very generic and easily understood. Only have difficulty if I call someone mardy or ask for cobs After 10 years with my husband, we still take the piss out of each other for saying bath /Barth and Grass / Grarse

 

[Che Guevara]

I’m welsh and not overly fussed, I hate hearing myself on video especially with the tone of my voice

 

[H8Ellie]

I’m from Bradford (West Yorkshire) & I love my accent!

 

[Readread]

I’ve got a fairly neutral central Scotland accent. However I’ve lived in Dubai for 7+ years with my husband who is from Cork in Ireland so I would probably say it’s a lot more neutral than my family and friends.

I do gain it back and have more of a twang when I’m back home. My husbands accent is as strong as it was when he left Ireland and gets stronger when in Ireland or around other Irish people. Sometimes I struggle to understand what he’s saying and we’ve been together for years

 

[Candytuft]

I am from a tiny village in West Yorkshire. One pub, one shop and 2 miles from a bus stop. We went to town twice a year. To buy new clothes for Whitsuntide and then to buy Christmas presents and see the lights. When I went to college 12 miles away my dialect rendered me as good as incomprehensible! Hard to believe now. Even lot of words for the same things were different.
Like
Money = guilder
Purse = pocket
Christmas = fest
Cellar = drum
Toys = fancies
Perfume = french.
A boyfriend/girlfriend was a walker. Because you walked out when you were courting. When it got regular you were called hopeful.
So. Are your Joe and Connie still walking ?
No. They’re hopeful now
I still have my way of talking. It’s not so prevalent now, people move about more, hear different voices. The world really is smaller now.