British Accents

Wikimedia

The United Kingdom is probably the most dialect-obsessed nation in the world. With
countless accents shaped by thousands of years of history, there are few Englishspeaking nations with as many varieties of language in such a small space.
(NOTE: This page uses the International Phonetic Alphabet(IPA). For information about this
notation, please visit my page ofIPA Resources.)

Here is a list of the most important types of British English. While this is not a complete
list by any means, it will give you an overview of the accents and dialects most often
discussed on this site and elsewhere.
Received Pronunciation
Received Pronunciation is the closest to a standard accent that has ever existed in the
UK. Although it originally derives from London English, it is non-regional. Youve
probably heard this accent countless times in Jane Austen adaptations, Merchant Ivory
films, and Oscar Wilde plays. It emerged from the 18th- and 19th-Century aristocracy,
and has remained the gold standard ever since.
Features:

Non-rhoticity, meaning the r at the ends of words isnt prounounced

(mother sounds like muhthuh).

Trap-bath split, meaning that certain a words, like bath, cant, and dance are

pronounced with the broad-a in father. (This differs from most American accents, in
which these words are pronounced with the short-a in cat.
The vowels tend to be a bit more conservative than other accents in Southern

England, which have undergone significant vowel shifting over the past century.
Speech Samples:

Actress Dame Judi Dench

Former prime minister Margaret Thatcher

Author Christopher Hitchens

Cockney
Cockney is probably the second most famous British accent. It originated in the East
End of London, but shares many features with and influences other dialects in that
region.
Features:

Raised vowel in words like trap and cat so these sounds like trep and cet.

Non-rhoticity: see explanation above under Received Pronunciation, above.

Trap-bath split: see explanation above under Received Pronunciation.

London vowel shift: The vowel sounds are shifted around so that Cockney day

sounds is pronounced IPA d (close to American die) and Cockney buy verges
near IPA b(close to American boy).
Glottal Stopping: the letter t is pronounced with the back of the throat (glottis) in

between vowels; hence better becomes IPA be? (sounds to outsiders like beuh).
L-vocalization: The l at the end of words often becomes a vowel sound

Hence pal can seem to sound like pow. (Ive seen this rendered in IPA as /w/, /o,/
and //.)
Th-Fronting: The th in words like think or this is pronounced with a more

forward consonant depending on the word: thing becomes fing, this becomes dis,
and motherbecomes muhvah.
Speech Samples:

Actor Ray Winstone

Heavy metal rocker Steve Harri

Estuary English (Southeast British)
Estuary is an accent derived from London English which has achieved a
status slightlysimilar to General American in the US. Features of the accent can be
heard around Southeast England, East Anglia, and perhaps further afield. It is arguably
creeping into the Midlands and North.
Features:

Similar to Cockney, but in general Estuary speakers do not front th words or raise
the vowel in trap. There are few hard-and-fast rules, however.

Glottal stoppingof t and l-vocalization (see above) are markers of this accent, but

there is some debate about their frequency.

Speech Samples:

Comedian Russell Brand

Celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsay

Comedian Ricky Gervais

West Country (Southwest British)
West Country refers to a large swath of accents heard in the South of England, starting
about fifty miles West of London and extending to the Welsh border.
Features:

Rhoticity, meaning that the letter r is pronounced after vowels. So, for example,

whereas somebody from London would pronounce mother as muthah, somebody

from Bristol would say mutherrr. (i.e. the way people pronounce the word in
America or Ireland).
Otherwise, this is a huge dialect area, so theres tons of variation.

Speech Samples:

Comedian Stephen Merchant

Archaeologist Phil Harding (from Wiltshire)

Comedian Justin Lee Collins (Another Bristol Accent) (also from Bristol)
Midlands English
Midlands English is one of the more stigmatized of Englishes. Technically, this can be
divided into East Midlands and West Midlands, but I wont get into the differences
between the two just now. The most famous of these dialects
is Brummie (Birmingham English).
Features:

The foot-strut merger, meaning that the syllable in foot and could is pronounced

with the same syllable as strut and fudge. (IPA ).

A system of vowels otherwise vaguely reminiscent of Australian accents, with

short i in kitsometimes verging toward IPA kit (keet) and extremely open loose
dipthongs.
A variety of unusual vocabulary: some East Midlands dialects still feature a

variant of the word thou!

Speech samples:

Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath

Northern England English
These are the accents and dialect spoken north of the midlands, in cities like
Manchester, Leeds, and Liverpool. Related accents also found in rural Yorkshire,
although there are some unique dialect features there that I wont get into now.

Features:

The foot-stut merger: (see the Midlands description above).

Non-rhoticity, except in some rural areas.

The dipthong in words like kite and ride is lengthened so that kite can become

something like IPA ka:t (i.e. it sounds a bit like kaaaait)

Unique vocab includes use of the word mam to mean mother, similar to Irish

English.
Speech Samples:

Bernard Sumner, of New Order

Actor/comedian Craig Charles

Singer Joe Cocker

Geordie
Geordie usually refers to both the people and dialect of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, in
Northeast England. The word may also refer to accents and dialects in Northeast
England in general. I would classify this as a separate region from the rest of Northern
England because its so radically different from the language spoken in nearby cities.
Features

The foot-stut merger(see the Midlands description above).

Non-rhoticity (in the cities at least)

The /ai/ dipthong in kite is raised to IPA , so it sounds a bit more like

American or Standard British kate.

The /au/ dipthong in about is pronounced IPA u: (that is, oo) in strong

dialects. Hence bout can sound like boot.

Speech Samples:

Singer Cheryl Cole

This video gives a good idea of the classic Geordie accent

Welsh English
This refers to the accents and dialects spoken in the country of Wales. The speech of this
region is heavily influenced by the Welsh language, which remained more widely spoken
in modern times than the other Celtic languages.
Features:

Usually non-rhotic.

English is generally modelled after Received Pronunciation or related accents,

but with many holdovers from the Welsh language.

Syllables tend to be very evenly stressed, and the prosody of the accent is often
very musical.
The letter r is often trilled or tapped.
Some dialect words imported from the Welsh language.

Speech Samples:

Singer Tom Jones

Actor Rhys Ifans

Rocker Gruff Rhy (Cardiff Accent)

Scottish English
This is the broad definition used to describe English as it is spoken in the country of
Scotland. Note that Scottish English is different than Scots, a language derived from
Northumbrian Old English that is spoken in Scotland as well. That being said, Scots has
a strong influence on how English in Scotland is spoken.
Features:

Rhotic, with trilled or tapped rs.

Glottal stopping of the letter t when in between vowels (similar to Cockney and

related accents).
Monopthongal pronounciations of the /ei/ and /ou/ dipthongs, so that

that face becomes IPA fe:s and goat becomes IPA go:t.
Speech Samples:

Actor Peter Mullan (Glasgow)

Actor Ewen Bremner (Edinburgh)

Conclusion
This list is woefully incomplete. I cant count the smaller dialect areas that arent
covered here (East Anglia, Urban Cardiff, Cornish English, Northumberland, etc.)
However, Ive attempted to list the accents and dialects youll see referenced the most on
this blog and elsewhere.