21.07.2010 12:10

Accents in the English-speaking world

Accents in the UK

The people of Britain have many different accents, and it’s not just the difference between Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish and English. Even within England there are huge differences in the way people speak, from Brummie English in Birmingham to Geordie in Newcastle, from Scouse in Liverpool to Cockney in London, from Mancunian in Manchester to Bristolian in the West Country.

When students talk about wanting to learn British English, they usually mean RP, or Received Pronunciation, also called the Queen’s English or Oxford English. This is an accent which is accentless, meaning that you can’t tell where in the UK the speaker comes from if he/she is speaking RP. As accent has so much to do with class in Britain, the way people speak not only tells you about where they come from … but also where they are on the social scale. The higher up the social ladder you are, the more likely you are to speak with a more RP 'accent'.

You can listen to regional British accents and dialects by clicking on:

or on:

Just choose the region you're interested in on the maps given on the sites.

Accents on stage: Pygmalion/My Fair Lady

George Bernard Shaw wanted to take a critical look at the rigid class system of his time in the UK and the way it was reflected in people’s speech, and wrote the play Pygmalion to show this. The play was first performed in 1913.

Most people know the musical/film My Fair Lady, which is based on Pygmalion. In the play, Professor Higgins has a bet with his friend, Colonel Pickering, that he can take a common flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, and pass her off as a duchess by teaching her to speak with an RP 'accent'. The most famous quote from his play is, The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain, which Eliza first says in a very Cockney accent as The rine in Spine sties minely in the pline. Professor Higgins wins the bet and people are fooled by Eliza when she goes to a ball.

If you are interested in more information about the musical My Fair Lady, just click on:

NB: Click on About the Show and then on images/video to enjoy Eliza's The rain in Spain ... when she got it right in the end (about halfway through the vidio) ... much to Higgins' relief.

Differences between North American and British Englishes

One of the main differences between the way English is spoken is between North American and British Englishes. There are, of course, many dialects and accents within these two Englishes, but these are usually recognisable to others from the same country.

Test your knowledge of American and British pronunciation with this little quiz:

If you want to find out more about examples of English accents from all around the world, click on:

Fact file on English Pronunciation

• Only 2% of British English speakers speak with an RP accent.
• Some British films were dubbed for American audiences due to the accents in them. The most famous recent example was Trainspotting.
• Wikipedia lists 30 different regional accents and dialects for the UK alone.
• The BBC first started using announcers with strong regional accents during the Second World War in order to distinguish their programmes from Nazi propaganda.

For some fun facts on English pronunciation, just click on: