Accent Article

 How are accents changing throughout the UK?

Within the UK, there are thousands of accents ranging from the ‘uneducated accent’ from Essex to the ‘poshest one of all’ by Received Pronunciation users. These accents are quite different when they are in the same room together and can sometimes be quite a challenge to understand.

 

Most people in the UK are brought up with an accent whether it is the slightest phrases or speaking it constantly to everyone.  Some people’s accents might also be more recognised and easier to understand than others but this selection of research tells us otherwise. Labov did some research in 1963 (Martha’s Vineyard) where he flew to America to find out how the British, Portuguese and Wampanoag language, changed in speech. He found out that different areas of the same city have different accents. He also found that the people varied in the open and closed mouth pronunciations however looked mainly for diphthongs- combining two vowels.  This shows that within the city
you can have multiple accents and dialect that can be different from the next but also the way of speaking can be varied. It also provides individuality and being unique to that specific region because having one accent throughout the country would be quite boring, right?

The term of ‘divergence’ explains how accents are verified and how everyone’s accents are completely different to others- from the way people pronounce their words or how they speak in general. In a class survey, I found out that that the friendliest accent was Birmingham (Brummie) and the least trustworthy accent was Scouse. This shows that the divergence can change and determine how people view you as a person. But, what makes the ‘Scouse’ accent sound so untrustworthy and seem less likely to be trusted than any other accent? Received Pronunciation was found to be the most intelligent as they pronounce all the letters in the words, whereas people from Bristol (Bristolians) miss out some letters from how they are supposed to sound like ‘Luvver’ from ‘Lover’, and so it makes it sound like they are more intellectual and have knowledge in what they are speaking about, even if it’s a shopping list! It was also prescriptive as people could be referring this information from either a film or relatives that live elsewhere in the country. Has this become the harsh truth or are people starting to discriminate other accents?

People also diverge as they want to make a good impression on other individuals. This could be at a job interview or in general conversation. For example, at a job interview, if you don’t think your accent or dialect is suitable or sounds confident in getting the job then you might change your accent slightly by making it more precise. People tend to move away to different parts of the country to explore other people’s way of living too and by doing this, making a good first impression is vital.  The term of ‘convergence’ explores how people fit in to a specific social group or class by changing their language and speech. This shows that by moving to a different region for a short while, can impact your personal way of speaking as you are trying to be more like them. Research such as the Milroy Belfast Study in 1987 shows that people seem more friendly and approachable when you are speaking the same dialect and sound similar in accents while also claiming you are ‘a friend of a friend’.