Do British people of various races have their own distinct accents like they often do in the US?

Question

For example, many (not all, because I dont) black people here in the US sound different or speak differently than white americans, and another person can sometimes tell if a person is black or white just by hearing their voice or their accent. Similarly with Hispanic people- even if they are indiginous to the US and have never lived in another country. English accents I know sound differently by region, similar to the US. But do black people and other non-white British have their own dialect or accent? Or can't you tell the difference?

ok I SAID that I know English accents vary by region as well so please dont repeat that fact.
I want to know do the accents or dialects vary by RACE or ethinicty as well like they do in the US.

Answer 1

Wow, how many people did not read your question properly! I live in the UK and I can ususally tell whether someone is black or white from their accent alone. here in UK most (I say most, not all) young black people speak with an (for want of a better word) urban tone to their voice. Its very much like a british version of street speak, hip hop speak. lately though we have a huge amount of white people trying to speak that way and only the very few actually pull it off nicely. If you want to hear an example of it then try and see if you can watch the MOBO awards that are this week. they are televised but I'm not sure if it willl be shown in the US. Obviously there are also a lot of British black people who speak the Queen's English (really posh) and many other 'black' accents for example African, west indies. Hope this helps x

Answer 2

There are definitely different accents through out Britain. You can tell sometimes exactly where a person is from based on their accents, just like here in the US you know if someone is from the South or from Boston or from New York. Think of how the Beatles (from Liverpool) speak, and then think of how Prince Charles sounds. Very different accents they have. If you grow up in England, even if you are Black or Hispanic, you will have an English accent when speaking English.

Answer 3

I suppose it varies. If a person is 1st generation polish living in London they will have an accent.
My friend is black I am white living in the same Northern England area if we were to talk on the phone you would not be able to tell race only that we are from up north.

Answer 4

In england people of any race speak the accent of the region they live. They dont have for instance ebonics. As an example if USA was england. Blacks from NYC would sound like new yorkers and blacks from Texas would sound like Texas people. There would be no ebonics

You notice in USA every race sounds the same based on region except blacks?

Answer 5

British people (both black and white) have different accents if they live in the North, or the South etc. It's more regional than race based.

Answer 6

Accents in the UK are dependent more on the region. In the US, it is more of an anomaly that race sometimes influences accent. This however, might be due to the fact that minorities are more often to live in urban regions, and whites more often in rural and suburban locations...

Answer 7

It depends on where they live, The north has a different accent to the south, the cities also have different accents.

Answer 8

properly, relies upon the place you're from. i'm no longer British, yet i comprehend that folk from ny, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Texas, New Orleans, etc. have diverse accents. i'm from ny and that i've got an relatively heavy ny accessory. Dr. canine

Answer 9

yeah in the uk you get the middle class accent, the gay one that hugh grant has, the midlands or birmingham accent which makes you sound a little mentally challenged and the northern accents which noone can understand

Answer 10

Yes, I think a lot of the people here of West Indian and Indian (subcontinent) descent still have a distinctive sound.