What accent do you speak with?

I have a fairly flat California accent with a slight Prune-Picker shading when I'm speaking more informally. Otherwise, my accent is as flat and dry as Death Valley.

 

P.S. I am completely fascinated by the number of various accents the English have. I understand that even within a geographically small area there is perceptible enough difference in accents to distinguish which part of town a bloke belongs to based upon the sound of his speech - perhaps even down to neighborhood and such. For instance, if a fellow was born & raised in, say, White City, the accent is discernibly different from
that of a fellow born & raised in the West End. I am curious as to how this affected the accent patterns in the US, Canada, Australia, NZ, etc.; you know: if people from certain parts of England emigrated in clusters and settled in specific geographical regions in the old colonies and territories, and why these patterns are so. And I imagine Irish and Scottish immigrants to these territories also contributed heavily to accent formation and dispersal. Still, I can't figure out how we in the Southwest developed such flat, uninteresting accents.

 

The very northerly part, right on the Worcestershire border. Far nearer to Birmingham than Bristol, so more likely to hear Brummie than oo-ar or toff.

Severnside was I think the correct term.

 

Sunderland.

Actually,aye, I'm pretty sure I said "aye" and "like" long before I moved up here, like. Though maybe the "aye" was a little more "arr". Like.

I dont know... I suppose my speech patterns have changed, but its been a gradual, natural process, rather than going out with the intention of being some kind of ersatz Mackem.

 

I've been informed that there are, or were, very definate accent differences within Sunderland, but I cant say I've ever noticed. And now people are more mobile, and the city is becoming more cosmopolitan, I guess the differences will become increasingly blurred.

I cant discern any real difference between the Sunderland accent and that of Newcastle, a dozen miles up the road, but many claim there is one. I think you'd have to be that bloke, whatsisname out of "My Fair Lady" - Henry Higgins ? - to really unravel this can of worms.

 

I speak posh innit....

 

of course you do innit

 

Having lived in Newcastle, I can tell you that there definitely is a difference. People from Sunderland are nicer as well. There is even a difference between Middlesbrough and Hartlepool, which are right next to each other. There is an enormous difference between Teeside and Tyneside accents, a half an hour drive between each other. There also seems to be a distinct line between Teeside and North Yorkshire.

Shit's mad.

 

I actually do, like, bruv :tongue:

 

Well, dont get the Newcastle/Sunderland difference myself, but Teesside definitely. Always figured it must be something to do with that strange smell you often get down there - all those chemical plants. Probably mutating them.

No wonder they're known as Smog Monsters.

 

I'm pretty much accent free. A lot of people think I sound like I'm from the south, and then look confused when I say I'm from near Birmingham.

 

Ha ha, they get so much hell for being an industrial town.

My poor relatives

 

Actually, Middlesbrough has come on a lot in recent years, Stockton too - quite a nice town. Hartlepool was a bit tatty last time I visited [couple of years ago], but the real downer of a Teesside town, for me, has to be Billingham.

The industrial flares, the cooling towers, the horrible 1960s concrete town centre, the horrible concrete railway station [more of a halt, really]. If you ever wanted to shoot some grim dystopian movie [preferably in black & white] Billingham would be the ideal setting.