The UK's least respected accents?

[bluedonkey]

A Welsh accent of course is not just one accent.

Swansea
Valleys
Pembrokeshire (Haverfordwest and north)
Cardiff
North Wales

... and that's just the sheep.

Other stereotypes are available upon request.

[pje16]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8-8WsYj9FU

[scotview]

At University for a while I had a girlfriend from (somewhere near) Turriff in Aberdeenshire.

Typical Turriff/New Pitsligo conversation might be.

"Am awa doon ti i gushet neuk wi ma fluchter spad. Noo A see yiv girs growin in yir spoots."

[terminal7]

Rees-Moggorian

T7

[Clitheroekid]

A rather cruel article about accents:

I don't really think it's cruel - it's simply reporting a well known phenomenon.

There's no doubt that an `accent hierarchy' exists, but to a large extent it's self-generated. Nearly all people who possess a considerable degree of power and influence speak in RP, so as we grow up we naturally associate the two.

For many people who either lack the ability or the desire to aspire to such positions there's no need to modify their accents, as most of the people they mix with will sound the same. But for those who have both strong accents and strong aspirations it soon becomes clear, as the article says, that they are looked down upon by the RP speakers.

It's therefore entirely understandable that they will modify their accents to imitate the RP speakers, so that they can fit in. It seems to be a fairly easy thing to do, judging by the number of people I've seen achieve it, and it undoubtedly removes a serious obstacle to upward mobility.

However, I think that one of the main reasons RP is seen as superior is to do with articulacy rather than accent, and again, this is self-generated. Aspirational people will usually be better educated, which generally results in greater articulacy, so that as they also modify their accent towards RP the net result is that the most articulate people will generally also speak in RP.

However, although I enjoy the variety of regional accents at a personal level I do actually prefer to hear RP on the radio, partly because it just sounds `right' but mainly because I find that a noticeable regional accent is quite distracting. I find I'm listening more to the presenter than to the content, which is the opposite of what good journalism should be aiming to achieve.

I've noticed that, no doubt in obeisance to the gods of diversity and inclusion, an increasing proportion of the presenters on Radio 4 are speaking in regional accents, and I actually find it both annoying and patronising. I would bet that the vast majority of the BBC people who issue such diktats speak RP themselves, and therefore to deliberately `dumb down' the presentation of BBC content for us lesser mortals is condescension of the worst sort.

Finally, I'm constantly surprised at the extent to which regional accents have survived. Children, particularly from urban areas, seem to have just as strong accents as they did 50 years ago. I'd have thought that constant exposure to the media would have resulted in a deviation to the norm - even if that norm was more likely to be Estuarial English than RP - but that doesn't seem to be the case at all.

[stewamax]

FWIW Geordie then Welsh are my two favourite accents

Interesting. I suspect it is something to do with the lilt innate in South Wales English (and in South Wales Welsh).
In the past I have asked, on first acquaintance, whether someone was Geordie or Welsh because to me there are similarities in intonation. I guess it is even possible - just - that the connection may go back at least a thousand years to when the 'languages' were cognate (for pedants, Geordie and Welsh are both Brythonic Celtic, and in c.600AD the area from Edinburgh southwards down the east coast was populated by the Old-Welsh-speaking Gododdin)

[Lootman]

Northern Irish = 'orrible.

Republic of Irish = sweet.

Do the catholics in Northern Ireland speak worse than the protestants in the Republic of Ireland?

I have studiously avoided ever going to Northern Ireland even though I have been almost everywhere in the rest of the UK. So to me the NI accent is Ian Paisley. And in that case it is hard to divorce his accent from his opinions.

For that matter do people in North Wales speak differently from people in South Wales? Not to this ear but my ear is not that nuanced.

[WrenChasen]

I was brought up in deepest Somerset (Glastonbury; it's changed a bit over the years) and it still makes me smile when I remember my (very) Glaswegian mother and the locals trying to have a conversation - lots of uncomfortable silences and blank looks.

[tjh290633]

Northern Irish = 'orrible.

Republic of Irish = sweet.

Do the catholics in Northern Ireland speak worse than the protestants in the Republic of Ireland?

I have studiously avoided ever going to Northern Ireland even though I have been almost everywhere in the rest of the UK. So to me the NI accent is Ian Paisley. And in that case it is hard to divorce his accent from his opinions.

For that matter do people in North Wales speak differently from people in South Wales? Not to this ear but my ear is not that nuanced.

The Irish accent probably varies more across the island, than just north to south. Belfast and Dublin are not the only accents. There are differences in the west as well.

There are more native Welsh speakers in the north. Their English tends to be sibillant, if Flight Lieutenant Jones was any guide. My old headmistress in junior school came from Pembrokeshire - Little England beyond Wales she called it. A slight Welsh lilt, but in Monmouthshire it tends to be more West Country than Welsh near the Wye. When you go west of the Usk the Welsh accent becomes stronger. I recall hearing a lot of Welsh spoken in Shrewsbury on Saturdays in 1953.

TJH

[bluedonkey]

North Wales accent is very different to my ear compared to South Wales. Huw Edwards has a N Wales accent (very nasal). Compare this to say, Rob Brydon or Matthew Rhys.

[UncleEbenezer]

Northern Irish = 'orrible.

Well, what do you expect? It's full of ex-pat Scots!

[Dod101]

Northern Irish = 'orrible.

Republic of Irish = sweet.

Do the catholics in Northern Ireland speak worse than the protestants in the Republic of Ireland?

I have studiously avoided ever going to Northern Ireland even though I have been almost everywhere in the rest of the UK. So to me the NI accent is Ian Paisley. And in that case it is hard to divorce his accent from his opinions.

For that matter do people in North Wales speak differently from people in South Wales? Not to this ear but my ear is not that nuanced.

The DUP area of Northern Ireland (that is Ian Paisleyland) has to me anyway, a strong accent, the rest of N I much less so. I can also say that almost all of the Irish people, including the NI people are friendly and helpful, as long as you are a neutral (which I am)

Dod

[UncleEbenezer]

as long as you are a neutral (which I am)
Dod

But are you a Catholic Neutral or a Protestant Neutral?

[Dod101]

as long as you are a neutral (which I am)
Dod

But are you a Catholic Neutral or a Protestant Neutral?

That is an interesting point that you raise. I suppose that I would be a Protestant neutral In NI anyway.

There are hotheads on both sides and I disagree with both but I keep my views to myself whilst there (Although with my east coast Sottish accent it cannot be difficult to classify me, if anyone is interested)

Dod

[richfool]

Northern Irish = 'orrible.

Republic of Irish = sweet.

Yes, or as I think of them, - harsh and soft.

I must admit accents themselves don't other me too much. It's more the person who is speaking and more specifically what they are saying and how they are saying it. I used to find Laura Kuenssberg's accent irritating, but that was invariably when she was haranguing, sorry, interviewing, the PM or a government minister.

It's amazing how many people, including TV presenters and even government minister's say: "are country", (or "are something"), rather than "our country". That irritates me.

[kiloran]

It's amazing how many people, including TV presenters and even government minister's say: "are country", (or "are something"), rather than "our country". That irritates me.

They're the same people who say yurz instead of years

--kiloran

[richfool]

It's amazing how many people, including TV presenters and even government minister's say: "are country", (or "are something"), rather than "our country". That irritates me.

They're the same people who say yurz instead of years

--kiloran

Yes, indeed. Some of them need "electrocution lessons"!

[Rhyd6]

BlueDonkey, Just to clarify Huw Edwards is South Wales born and bred, I think his accent is very soft unlike Gwynedd accent which is very harsh and nasal.
It really annoys me that people seem to think all Welsh accents are the same, I remember watching a TV play starring Trevor Eve about relocating paintings from the National Gallery to a disused slate mine in North Wales. I think they had trawled all of Wales to find any actor who possessed a Welsh accent. Imagine a play set in Birmingham where all the chacters were local but spoke with a mixture of Lancashire, Cornish, Devon, Norfolk and Essex accents, this is what the actors sounded like. There were about two who could pass as North Walian but the rest were a total mish mash.
Personally I love the Geordie accent closely followed by a Scots accent.

R6

[elkay]

There seems to be an infestation of Northern Irish accents popping up on tv/radio. To name but two, Sean Kelly in the cycling and theres a Radio One DJ that sets my teeth on edge.

Sean Kelly is a long way from being Northern Irish

Maybe you're thinking of Orla Chennaoui who I quite enjoy presenting Eurosport's cycling coverage.

<disclaimer> I'm Northern Irish </disclaimer>

In general I would agree that the Northern Irish accent doesn't come across well. But like all regions, there are variations within the region, and the variations have a different appeal depending on where you come from.

FWIW, with my local variation of the NI accent, outside NI and Scotland I am regularly identified as Scottish....

elkay

[XFool]

They're the same people who say yurz instead of years

Yes, indeed. Some of them need "electrocution lessons"!

Yeah... "I switched on the light last night and was electrocuted. I wonder if it will happen again tonight? "

Don't get me started!