Cheerio!

Welcome back ladies and gents to a new post on my accents blog!

I’m excited to be exploring the many different British accents in this post. Now for starters, the United Kingdom is a country of countries. I know, weird eh? Don’t ask me how or why because I’ve researched it and I’m still confused... Anyway, the UK consists of four countries: England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. All four countries have accents that sound completely different that I would love to talk about. However, I will also be talking about accents from London and New Castle, which are present in England.

      
      London: The stereotypical British accent, also known as Queen's English, is known to be heard in the country's capital city, as well as in South England and a bit in Wales. The Standard British accent is also known for its formal vocabulary and correct grammar in the language. However, it is rare to hear it in the modern-day in the United Kingdom. The cockney accent is basically the second most famous British accent in England, which originated in the East end of London. One of the most common observations of the Cockney accent is the pronunciation of the th in words, such as “mother” becomes muhvah or “thing” becomes fing, as well as ignoring the h so “hello” become ello and “Harry” becomes Arry.

      New Castle: Every British person knows the region around New Castle is famous for their Geordie accent. I discovered the Geordie accent when I stumbled upon a show called Geordie Shore. The show is basically a British version of Jersey Shore. The accents are quite funny and amusing. I’ve noticed that people with Geordie accents tend really breathe out their words. 

   

      Wales: The accent from this region is heavily influenced by the Welsh language, which remains still widely spoken across the country. The letter r is more pronounced in words when speaking with a Welsh accent.

      Scotland: When it comes to the Scottish accent, people usually think about pirates. I have to be honest and agree sometimes it seems as though the Scottish speaker is talking with his mouth full. The words sound really short, for example “goat” is pronounced as got.

      Northern Ireland: People with a Northern Irish accent have the tendency to raise the pitch at the end of a sentence, even when they’re not asking a question. Also, they’re likely to insert a y sound after certain consonants. For instance, “car” sounds like cyar and “garden” sounds like gyarden.

The one thing I love the most about the British accents is the slang that comes along with them. I found a video of 4 out of the 5 members of One Direction that explain… well… “try” to explain some words that are most common in the British slang. Enjoy! :)

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom

http://www.wikihow.com/Speak-in-a-British-Accent

http://dialectblog.com/british-accents/

http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/find-out-more/northern-ireland/