Hello, all. I am Ryan from Singapore. Tomorrow, I am going to have a presentation about the UK RP accent. Can anyone kindly write your thought about RP in this thread. Please. T_T. Thank you.
P/S, Please vote the poll. Thank you~

No, I don't like it. I don't know anyone who speaks that way either. It isn't representative of the English accent (there isn't one it varies hugely). Also it makes me think of people who are privileged just because of the family they are born in to.

I love RP and the authority it conveys. I'm unhappy with the way the BBC has dumbed down the national news with strong regional accents. How very inclusive and politically correct.

Long live Radio 4

I have a southern accent (Kent) and I often get called a cockney despite not sounding like one

I don't like it either, especially the way it appears on American TV all the time as a British accent. The concept of a British accent is ridiculous considering the differences between the English, Welsh and Scottish accents. Plus there's the huge variety of accents within those places, like the difference between a Cornwall accent to a Newcastle accent. It's a common misrepresentation of England and Britain. And when people speak like that, even if they are the nicest person in the world they manage to sound so up their own arse they recycle their food.

I just noticed you say 'UK RP' in your post - you realise that includes northern ireland aswell? No way on earth you will find somebody born and bred in Belfast who speaks like Jeffry the flippin butler from fresh prince.

I remember when I went on a bus tour in New York, the tourguide heard some of us talking while we were at a stop and she asked these two women from London if they were from England (because the accent sounded like the English accent) and then she comes over to me and asks if I'm from Australia! Some taxi driver in Las Vegas asked if we were from Australia as well.

I hate it really. On every American show a British person is posh and stuck up basically. They must have been born and brought up in London, studied at Oxford and they have no fashion sense and very very sensitive. They should be introduced to the real accents: Brummie, Scouse and Geordie!

I dont mind it really. This area is pretty much RP- dependent though on who you talk to though. I must speak RP because I definetley dont have a Yorkshire accent or any other accent I know of!

It is a bit stereotypical of alot of areas; but I dont tend to notice accents unless theyre strong accents (ie Geordie, Scouse, Brummie, Glaswegian). I dont notice much difference between accents in Harrogate and Leeds and London for example. Except East London. What Im trying to say is that, for me at least, accents are not as strong and as varied as foreigners and stereotypical people think.

^^ I think its sad that Leeds is losing its accent, only in south Leeds and Elland Road will you hear the rough straight talking Yorkshire accent being used. :ohno:

^^Nah. You hear it in most of South Yorkshire :-P

Ive never noticed a Yorkshire accent anywhere outside of South Yorkshire. I also absolutely despise the Yorkshire accent; it must be the worst one. Im not really a fan of accents generally- and Ive never noticed a Leeds accent either :s and Ive never noticed an accent in Manchester.

^^ I think its sad that Leeds is losing its accent, only in south Leeds and Elland Road will you hear the rough straight talking Yorkshire accent being used. :ohno:

What are they speaking elsewhere in Leeds? Accents mutate and change from generation to generation. Watch an old football game from the '70's and hear the crowd singing for a good example of this. The Leeds accent (a combination of micro-accents) has dropped an octave everywhere but South of the Aire where they all talk like fairies now!

Having lived a long time in Pudsey and Farsley, I noticed the older generation say "Fassley" for Farsley and "Oss" for horse. Nobody under 30 does, this pronunciation will die with its speaker.

Listen to a London kid, especially a South London kid, the afro-carribbean culture has influenced this iconic accent to an extent that nobody will speak like Alf Garnett in 30 years.

Read realistic novels from 100 years ago, does anybody in Manchester speak like Mary Barton now? Are the good folk of Barnsley still "O'll darn in't coil-oil where t'muck slats on t'winders?"

Accents change, but they always keep their regional identity. I think we should start worrying when people start using the accent they do in soaps, generic northern!

Ive never noticed a Yorkshire accent anywhere outside of South Yorkshire. I also absolutely despise the Yorkshire accent; it must be the worst one. Im not really a fan of accents generally- and Ive never noticed a Leeds accent either :s and Ive never noticed an accent in Manchester.

Are you mad? You can't tell the difference between Avid Merrion and Bez? I suggest you are probably spending too much time in places like the VQ, the Yorkshire accent is alive and well, in all its glorious manifestations.

There's a linguist at Nottingham Uni who reckons he can pinpoint the place where you grew up to within a few miles, just by listening to your accent.

Are the good folk of Barnsley still "O'll darn in't coil-oil where t'muck slats on t'winders?"

Yep!!!

I also absolutely despise the Yorkshire accent; it must be the worst one.

No offence No.1, but the shit never stops with you, does it.

So which is the worst of all the British accents?

Read Does Accent Matter by John Honey (London: Faber,1989). He writes something about the RP accent developing as the UK's 'educated' accent because of the public school system (for example, the actor James Mason was from Huddersfield but educated at Marlborough College, so because of his private education he sounds like any other member of the home counties middle class)

btw, Yorkshire has hundreds of different accents, no.1, and they're not all exagerrated proletarian accents either.

So which is the worst of all the British accents?

Manchester. Just blow your damn noses!

So which is the worst of all the British accents?

A Telford accent?

Only joshing. i guess it's up to the individual.

Honey's research identifies cockney, scouse, glaswegian and the West Midlands accent associated with Birmingham as the most undesirable.

You don't wanna hear our accents they a reet mish mash (reet isn't part of it but I just like it).

In answer to your question, Ryan, I don't like RP because of its class associations.
I've tried to lose my Yorkshire accent, but only because of other people's negative assumptions about it. You can talk a load of shit in an RP voice and people will continue to think you're intelligent, while the same thoughts articulated in a geordie accent will have people doubting your credibility.

VQ; well I go in there sometimes but I go to the market alot too. I tend to go everywhere. And I genuinley hate the stereotypical Yorkshire accent. Its terrible. The dialect is even worse. I dont mind Scottish accents, or Brummie accents, or Welsh accents.

^^ ^^ A self-loathing Yorkie?

RP is pretty much a dead concept now isn't it? Watching the BBC national news, I regularly hear newsreaders and correspondents with N. Irish, Scottish and Welsh accents, less so regional English accents.

Regional news here in Yorks is presented by people with (albeit very watered down) regional accents.

Look at the success of Adrian Chiles, a very clever and talented broadcaster who hasn't compromised his accent. The times they are a-changing.

Manchester. Just blow your damn noses!
It's the dampness mistertee...(sniff)....the bloody dampness.....

Well Im not particularly patriotic; Yorkshire =/ its only a cereomnial place. It doesnt even come into my mind to say I live in Yorkshire when someone asks where I live: "Harrogate, nr. Leeds, UK, EU". And Im not from Yorkshire, I just live here. The accent round here is not Yorkshire at all, although some people use the dialect a bit. People who say "love" after everything. That is so annoying. I dont really know many Yorkshire words anyway. I dont know if I even know any :s

There are more accents on tv now because they cant discriminate. They have to be somewhat understandable; not too long ago there was a bit of debate over putting subtitles on a programme where the accent was so strong many people would not be able to understand.

Multiculturalism, people travelling and commuting alot more over wider areas, the media (TV/radio particularly) have diluted accents alot.

Accents have been diluting since they first published the bible in English and has obviously been speeding up with fast travel and radio/tv. However recently there is the signs that there could be a backlash against this. Besides if you go to most places you still notice the accent and can be left feeling slightly confused.

Thank you so much for your replies. I have had my presentation this morning. Thank you. I hope that in one day, I can live in London to observe the beauty of British English accents. Thanks

I read somewhere that only 6% of the UK population speak Received Pronunciation. My accent is anything but!

I read somewhere that only 6% of the UK population speak Received Pronunciation. My accent is anything but!

Interesting. 7% of people in Britain go to private schools.

not all people who go to private schools speak RP.

Well Im not particularly patriotic; Yorkshire =/ its only a cereomnial place. It doesnt even come into my mind to say I live in Yorkshire when someone asks where I live: "Harrogate, nr. Leeds, UK, EU". And Im not from Yorkshire, I just live here. The accent round here is not Yorkshire at all, although some people use the dialect a bit. People who say "love" after everything. That is so annoying. I dont really know many Yorkshire words anyway. I dont know if I even know any :s

There are more accents on tv now because they cant discriminate. They have to be somewhat understandable; not too long ago there was a bit of debate over putting subtitles on a programme where the accent was so strong many people would not be able to understand.

Multiculturalism, people travelling and commuting alot more over wider areas, the media (TV/radio particularly) have diluted accents alot.

I'll bet if you spoke to me I would immediately cotton you were from Yorkshire.

Yorkshire has many accents from Alan Smith to Diana Rigg.

That bloke who did the video before he blew up a tube train. He had a Yorkshire accent.

The accent round here is not Yorkshire at all.


I very much doubt that you are correct in that. I'm guessing that you do not hear milder forms of the Yorkshire accent as sounding Yorkshire. Most people from outside the area would pick up on it straight away.

Your assertion that most people in Leeds do not have Yorkshire accents is loopy in the extreme.

I mean, if people in Harrogate do not have Yorkshire accents, what accent do they have?

I can spot a Leeds accent any day. It's like a lovely Sheffield accent, but gone quite wrong.

I dont know what accent Leeds has; but its not Yorkshire. Yorkshire accent is more South Yorkshire.

And you really wont find I have a Yorkshire accent; when I was learning to talk I lived in Eastbourne and London, and that accent hasnt changed much since then.

Eh? Leeds is in Yorkshire, a discernable accent can be heard when listening to natives of Leeds; this accent is, therefore, a Yorkshire accent.

Actually, the accent in South Yorks reminded me of more of that of north Notts and Derbyshire than that of the Yorkshire heartland of Leeds. If anything, Leeds's accent, although various, is on the whole, more distinctive and (to my ear, at least, and these judgements are all purely subjective) harsher-sounding than the one in Sheffield.

I dont know what accent Leeds has; but its not Yorkshire. Yorkshire accent is more South Yorkshire.


What a curious argument.

I dont know what accent Leeds has; but its not Yorkshire. Yorkshire accent is more South Yorkshire.

And you really wont find I have a Yorkshire accent; when I was learning to talk I lived in Eastbourne and London, and that accent hasnt changed much since then.

The Leeds accent is a Leeds accent, one of many different accents in Yorkshire.

In my experience there are certain people who have said to me "oh you have an accent" as though they don't have one themselves.

Everyone in the world has an accent, RP is an accent in itself.

Well yeh I know. But I dont really notice them. I think maybe I just subconciously accept people have different accents, and only notice them if theyre strong- just like people have different hair styles; I dont exactly think "oh youve got long hair" its just acknowledged as part of them. I dont really notice an accent in Manchester either. And I dont notice much accentual difference between say Christa Ackroyd and Fiona Bruce.

When you say you dont notice a manc accent, do you mean you find it hard to differentiate it from a leeds accent or do you mean that they dont have an accent at all?

I feel the manchester accent that the likes of Bez or Liam has is fake. Dunno why but... I feel the true accent of manchester is a lancashire accent spoken widely in Oldham, Bolton, Bury, Wigan and Rochdale.

My native accent is not a problem for me, nor a blessing; for I have taught my arse to speak.

I feel the manchester accent that the likes of Bez or Liam has is fake. Dunno why but... I feel the true accent of manchester is a lancashire accent spoken widely in Oldham, Bolton, Bury, Wigan and Rochdale.

Listen to Peter Hook. That is how blokes used to talk down Manchester before the comedy accents kicked in.

That "ee arr mate" is spoken by professional Mancs who think it's appreciated by 17yr olds in Cambridge. Think Liam Gallagher, Shaun Ryder, Terry Christian etc.

As Leebuk says, it is a form of the South Lancashire accent, but without the "reet", more rolling of the 'rs. Plus it tends to be not as sing-songy.

When I worked in a call centre, I often mistook people from Sheffield and Leeds to be fellow Red Rosians, unless they had a really strong accent.

I can always tell a West Yorks by the "yoo" sound, as in Styoodents and Dyoosbury.

I think the Sheffield accent is a good one, as it's a more understandable version of the yorkshire accent. I guess i'm not the only one, as they have a lot of call centre's here.

There's not actually many stereotipical accent's that I like. They all have little annoying aspects to them.

When you say you dont notice a manc accent, do you mean you find it hard to differentiate it from a leeds accent or do you mean that they dont have an accent at all?

Well obviously everyone has an accent- but I dont notice much difference in Manchester, or Leeds, or Harrogate or Sheffield, and between those I dont notice much difference with London, SE, Bristol except Cockney. If I notice accent differentation its just with individual people really.

I remember when I went on a bus tour in New York, the tourguide heard some of us talking while we were at a stop and she asked these two women from London if they were from England (because the accent sounded like the English accent) and then she comes over to me and asks if I'm from Australia! Some taxi driver in Las Vegas asked if we were from Australia as well.

I hate it really. On every American show a British person is posh and stuck up basically. They must have been born and brought up in London, studied at Oxford and they have no fashion sense and very very sensitive. They should be introduced to the real accents: Brummie, Scouse and Geordie!

Wrong! I live in the USA and I can say that we do hear other accents from the UK.

Daphne Moon -- has a manchester accent on the show Frasier!!!

Onslow-keeping up appearances - i don't know what kind of accent that is, buts it is not RP

The police cheif in Poirot - Japp - (shown quite often here) - cockney i believe, yes?

Countless other examples.

Aqua

I think the Sheffield accent is a good one, as it's a more understandable version of the yorkshire accent. I guess i'm not the only one, as they have a lot of call centre's here.


Isn't it funny how everyone thinks they have the best accent. I don't think any of you would recognise a Leeds accent if it bit you in the bollocks.
For me, Scary Spice has the most recognisable Leeds accent, even if she isn't so recognisable herself anymore.

Wrong! I live in the USA and I can say that we do hear other accents from the UK.

Daphne Moon -- has a manchester accent on the show Frasier!!!

Onslow-keeping up appearances - i don't know what kind of accent that is, buts it is not RP

The police cheif in Poirot - Japp - (shown quite often here) - cockney i believe, yes?

Countless other examples.

Aqua

The character, Daphne Moon may be from Manchester, but she does not speak with a proper Manchester accent, more like an old-fashioned, generic Northern English accent from the 1950s. No-one in Manchester actually speaks like that. I guess you've heard Liam and Noel Gallagher, from Oasis, speaking on tv? Well, that's a proper Manchester accent. I actually can't watch that programme without cringing at Daphne's accent.

One thing that really winds me up about English characters in American programmes, is that very often they're not played by an English person e.g. Spike from Buffy. Jesus, what a God-awful 'gor-blimey guv'nor' "cockney" accent that is. Then there's the new 'English guy' in Desperate Housewives, complete with a Hugh Grant style posh accent. Actually, he's a Scot doing a bad impression of a posh English person.

And why are we always portrayed as effeminate, foppish, preppy types? Other nationalities aren't stereotyped in this way, just the Brits! The Aussies, Irish, Italians etc. are usually portrayed as being 'normal', decent people with a good sense of fashion, whereas we're almost always portrayed as cold, unemotional, reserved, bespectacled, pasty-skinned, bumbling geeks. WHY GOD-DAMMIT!

Cos thats what British people sorry, English people who are famous in America are like.

Cos thats what British people sorry, English people who are famous in America are like.

And why is that? Very few non-posh English people make it in the US because American people only want to see the posh English stereotype on their television screen.

At least David Beckham will show the US that English guys can be 'normal' and down-to-earth, as well as stylish, now that he has signed for LA Galaxy.

Oh, my gawd, every English Character on USA TV for the next 20 years will have that high pitched David Beckham accent!

Well at least it will make a change from either

A: Soundling like the Queen
B: Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins
C: Ringo

I feel the manchester accent that the likes of Bez or Liam has is fake. Dunno why but... I feel the true accent of manchester is a lancashire accent spoken widely in Oldham, Bolton, Bury, Wigan and Rochdale.
That's completely wrong!
The Manchester/Salford accent is nothing like the milltowns you quoted, and (trust me on this) the Gallagher's are not faking fuck-all*, that's as Mancunian an accent you'll hear. There are of course a lot of 'gentrified' versions of Manc accents now amongst the celebs and TV media folk but that's happening all over.
Peter Kay has a Bolton accent, you'll find it's much the same as the other E. Lancs milltowns. Even to the untrained ear it's very discernible from the inner city. Even the outer fringes of Whitefield/Swinton/Failsworth/Middleton plus the belt around S.Mcr have what you would call 'Mcr accents'.

* The only thing the Gallaghers are guilty of faking is posing as talented singer/song-writers and musicians....

accents are not as strong and as varied as foreigners and stereotypical people think.

:dizzy:

You need a hearing aid, because I can tell exactly where someone is from as soon as they open their mouth, even 8 miles away the accent can be totally different.

The Manchester/Salford accent

Are quite different in themselves.

Are quite different in themselves.
Not really much in it, with the exception of a few words that's all.
An outsider wouldn't know the difference.

Not really much in it, with the exception of a few words that's all.
An outsider wouldn't know the difference.

It's merging now, but there is a significant different between people of my age in the accents of Weaste and Burnage for example, same as between Eccles and Bolton though maybe not so profound. Salfordian is far less nasal, it's far more Lancastrian in sound and even has a scouse twang to it, probably coming from Irish and Scouse dock workers.

I feel the manchester accent that the likes of Bez or Liam has is fake. Dunno why but... I feel the true accent of manchester is a lancashire accent spoken widely in Oldham, Bolton, Bury, Wigan and Rochdale.

Loads of people in Manchester and Salford speak like Bez and Liam, and loads don't. It's probably a class thing. In my hometown, there's a strong working class accent, and a middle class professional accent. Probably true of everywhere.

As much as the Manchester accent is a lancashire accent as you say, it's also a Cheshire accent in the southern half of Gtr Manchester. The difference between Vernon Kay and Anthea Turner.

I'm born and bred Leeds and have a definite North Leeds accent. I sound nothing like people from South Leeds. No1 - what are you on about??

I work a lot in Lancashire, the Burnley accent is really strong Lancastrian, the Bolton less so and then the Bury accent is half Lancastrian/half Mancunian, really fat "R's" and really squeaky "U's". Plus local dialect comes into it. The wife's Grandad is as Manc as they come - sounds like a Gallagher aged 85, says "lickle" as opposed to "little"!!! (I thought Corrie made that up).

A few years back Mark and Lard had a feature where they decided what word was best heard in a particular accent. You need to say these in the accent in question:

Cockney - "Vegetable Biriyani"
Brum - "Great"
Manc- "Years"
Leeds - "Coke"
Liverpool - "Sycophant"
Geordie - "Kawazaki" or "Photocopier"

It was funny at the time, might not be now!

Onslow-keeping up appearances - i don't know what kind of accent that is, buts it is not RP
His is a scouse accent in the Ricky Tomlinson mold. It's one of the better variations of scouse in my opinion, nicer than the Jennifer Ellison Brookside clang at least!

Loads of people in Manchester and Salford speak like Bez and Liam, and loads don't.

It's an intelligence thing, they think they sound hard when in fact they are walking characatures.

Fraiser isn't half annoying with Daphne being from Manchester but not sounding like a manc, before I heard the character actually mention Manchester I thought she was from Yorkshire. It's a dated generic 'up north' accent.

Personally I struggle to easily hear the difference between any northern accent other than scouse and geordie, all the other seem similar to me. Maybe because scouse is so influenced by Irish and some Welsh and Geordie is influenced by Scotland (is it?).

Ive never noticed a Yorkshire accent anywhere outside of South Yorkshire. I also absolutely despise the Yorkshire accent; it must be the worst one. Im not really a fan of accents generally- and Ive never noticed a Leeds accent either :s and Ive never noticed an accent in Manchester.

not noticed much then have you!

Fraiser isn't half annoying with Daphne being from Manchester but not sounding like a manc, before I heard the character actually mention Manchester I thought she was from Yorkshire. It's a dated generic 'up north' accent.

The actress, Jane Leeves, was born in Essex and grew up in East Grinstead.

I for one can attest that I have a hard time understanding Pobbie when he talks. :tongue2:

:D

The actress, Jane Leeves, was born in Essex and grew up in East Grinstead.

Sorry, I meant that character is from Manchester..

Before I moved to London I hardly thought I had an accent at all. I was the product of two generations of 'If you speak properly you won't have to live in Moston' thinking and my Mum was a militant English teacher always ready to correct any lapse into colloquialism. Added to that I lived most of my life in Altrincham and was schooled in Knutsford.

However when I came down here people were instantly able to categorise me as a) certainly northern, b) possibly Mancunian and c) therefore probably less intelligent than them. Possibly this was through going to a 60% privately edudcated university, but still accent clearly remains an important tool for social judgement. Perhaps not as strongly as class does, but it is certainly influential.

RP and proud of it. I make no apologies for sounding educated. ;)

I for one can attest that I have a hard time understanding Pobbie when he talks. :tongue2:

:D
A severe lack of sleep also helps. :D

Quote:
Originally Posted by leebuk2005
I feel the manchester accent that the likes of Bez or Liam has is fake. Dunno why but... I feel the true accent of manchester is a lancashire accent spoken widely in Oldham, Bolton, Bury, Wigan and Rochdale.

That's completely wrong!
The Manchester/Salford accent is nothing like the milltowns you quoted, and (trust me on this) the Gallagher's are not faking fuck-all*, that's as Mancunian an accent you'll hear. There are of course a lot of 'gentrified' versions of Manc accents now amongst the celebs and TV media folk but that's happening all over.
Peter Kay has a Bolton accent, you'll find it's much the same as the other E. Lancs milltowns. Even to the untrained ear it's very discernible from the inner city. Even the outer fringes of Whitefield/Swinton/Failsworth/Middleton plus the belt around S.Mcr have what you would call 'Mcr accents'.

* The only thing the Gallaghers are guilty of faking is posing as talented singer/song-writers and musicians....
All my mates are from Failsworth because i used to go to that high school and i dont think they sound nothing like people from Newton Heath or Moston and the minority of people who talk like that in failsworth are from Newton Heath. Anyway its a horrible accent and they sound like scallies. My grandad was brought up in Ardwick and he hasnt got the liam gallagher accent. I think people talk like that are maybe trying to look a bit hard.

What about Mark E. Smith? I can't understand a word he says!

Fraiser isn't half annoying with Daphne being from Manchester but not sounding like a manc, before I heard the character actually mention Manchester I thought she was from Yorkshire. It's a dated generic 'up north' accent.

Personally I struggle to easily hear the difference between any northern accent other than scouse and geordie, all the other seem similar to me. Maybe because scouse is so influenced by Irish and some Welsh and Geordie is influenced by Scotland (is it?).


I think so because Geordies say certain things the same or very similair to Scottish folk for example:

Toon = Town
Doon = Down
Hoose = House
Heed = head
Nee (Geordie), Nae (Scottish) = No
Bairn = Child

Im sure there are other examples, plus I heard Geordie is influenced to a degree by Scandinavia.

RP and proud of it. I make no apologies for sounding educated. ;)


Ah, but do you? Perhaps you sound as 'educated' as Audrey Hepburn's character in a certain film? The scene at the racecourse is a cracker that strips bare this notion. You will not be fooling the real nobs... and they will have you firmly placed as an oik... all be it a welsh one!

Perhaps you come across like so many shit 'actors' like the one who plays Rita in Coronation St... thinks she's doing PR, but is really rough as fuck with some posh bits thrown in.

You may even come across as badly as Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. He was really convinced he had cockney of perfectly and was really hurt by the comments.

It is what you say, rather than how you say it that is important at the end of the day... brains win out where they are important... any other arena is just not important!

Sorry to tell you this, but the nobs you aspire to impress will be taking the piss out of you behind your back... honestly!