English and how it is spoke

WillowTheWhisp · 07-09-2005, 07:30

As some of you know, Busman and I were down south this last weekend and fell into a discussion about regional accents. According to people down there I talk a bit funny like what with coming from up north. When I said that they have a southern accent I was told they aren't the ones with an accent. According to them they speak proper English! I'm fully aware that I have a regional accent though perhaps not as pronounced as some but I still maintain that southerners have a regional accent too.

Is there anywhere in the country which can honestly claim to speak "proper" with no trace of an accent or are we all deviants from "The Queen's English" ?

MUMMIBOO · 07-09-2005, 08:33

Hummm good question willow, I really dont have the answer to your question but i do think its good that we all have our own accents it make us all a little more identifiable if thats a word. I would say its all the Queen's english its just the accent thats different thats not what is said it how we say it.

cashman · 07-09-2005, 10:51

Is there anywhere in the country which can honestly claim to speak "proper" with no trace of an accent or are we all deviants from "The Queen's English" ?[/color][/QUOTE] dont honestly believe there is- think regional accents are great,it gives me some idea where a person is from- our own dialect has been eroded somewhat over the years,wether thats good or bad is up to the individual,i think its a shame. also i can honestly say that i can remember being called a DEVIANT willow

mantrabooks · 07-09-2005, 10:52

Hi

Good question and always a good on going debate. I have found some interteresting website you may want to ponder on....

http://www.ic.arizona.edu/~lsp/main.html

or an even more quirky subject - Do Ducks have regional accents?

check it out here

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06...ional_accents/

:

and/or is it possible to speak English without a accent ???????

chav1 · 07-09-2005, 11:06

i speaks proppa english

i do however like the accent on the old speak and spell machine ime almost on level 2 now

accymel · 07-09-2005, 11:45

Oh my i had one of those

many many plus many xmas's ago, tho very true about his voice "please spell house"? tehehehe oh i feel really old now thanx Chav

i also had speak & Maths too and still didn't do me any favours

Quote:

Originally Posted by chav1

i speaks proppa english

i do however like the accent on the old speak and spell machine ime almost on level 2 now

pendy · 07-09-2005, 12:16

In fact, the Northern accent is closer to Old English than the current Southern speak, in that it makes use of old forms like "thou" and thee". Even the BBC now uses Estuaryspeak, which sounds awful.

Mind you, when Prince Charles says "Ai'm going dine into tine to see a man abite a dawg" - what hope for the rest of us?

WillowTheWhisp · 07-09-2005, 12:28

Ah but them there southern folk reckon that's how it's meant to sound.

accymel · 07-09-2005, 12:34

True point they have strange visions of us Northerners as well, the amount of times i've heard from southern counterparts "Do u still have cloth caps, whippets & clogs"? i dont know where they get the idea from

Quote:

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

Ah but them there southern folk reckon that's how it's meant to sound.

baby boo · 07-09-2005, 13:25

A few weeks ago while going for a drive with my parents we were listening to the radio and there is actually a man who is travelling the length of britain obtaining different accents for a tv programe. he mentioned that there are hundreds of different accents in england and that everyone everyday is subjected to a rare and different accent in there own home town, due to the many different races of people and how we nowadays speak our own accent.

take a look around you and see who you have living next door to you? are they english, asian, indian, from another county in england? ie from newcastle, london, yorkshire? if you speak to your neighbours you actually pick up their accent and mix it in with your own accent and thus bringing out a new accent!

have you noticed when you take a young child on holiday, say they make friends with another child from liverpool you come home after that holiday and the child speaks to a friend of yours who hasnt been on this holiday and believe it but the child will be speaking liverpudlian.
we lancashire people still got our "owd" accent but the more and more people who move up here with different accents will slowly change our accent into something that will not be as broad as what we can be now!

cashman · 07-09-2005, 13:43

its been pointed out to me many times that i speak (broader) when talking to older lancastrians etc,something i was never aware of until told.anybody else noticed the same with themselves? or am i just a nutter?lol

accymel · 07-09-2005, 13:44

Oh i hope it doesn't happen to me then tehehehe i have a friend who has lived here most of her life but originally came from liverpool, she speaks rather lancastrian now but when she's in a mood or having a go, oh dear the birth accent comes straight out, least we know when to leave tehehe

My X husband was a southerner & moved up to lancs in his mid teens but he has a crossover of the 2 accents going at once so nobody from up here understood him nor did anyone down south tehehehe, so it can get very confusing.

baby boo · 07-09-2005, 13:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by cashman

its been pointed out to me many times that i speak (broader) when talking to older lancastrians etc,something i was never aware of until told.anybody else noticed the same with themselves? or am i just a nutter?lol

no your not a nutter cashman! honest!

lol

accymel · 07-09-2005, 13:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by cashman

its been pointed out to me many times that i speak (broader) when talking to older lancastrians etc,something i was never aware of until told.anybody else noticed the same with themselves? or am i just a nutter?lol

Yeah i find that i get broader & use Lancastrian slang like 'th'owd' & when we refer to people like brothers or sister its 'our such a body' & o'er instead of over. My brother when he was a toddler he was very broad deep Lancastrian. Yeh its strange when u get it pointed out

baby boo · 07-09-2005, 13:50

maybe strange but be proud though!!!!!!:engsmil: