British Plummy Accent ???

Question

Not quite comfortable with my natural accent, after a year long work, I seem to have finally lost the grip on my broad East Midland accent, and sound as if I've non-regional influenced neutral accent.

I've achieved it by firstly making myself aware of the sounds in British English along with delving into Phonetics & Phonology. I then practised on a regular basis learning the EXACT articulation of each individual sounds (around 26-30 in British neutral accent). Hence am comfortable with learning any new accent, as long as I get to know the number of sounds involved & its precise articulation.

I wonder if there's anyone around who've similar interest or could possibly point me in the right direction, which could help me gain a "Plummy" accent as of Hugh Grant. Only at certain times, I'm comfortable in identifying the sound & its articulation merely by listening to people.

Is there any book, website or anything at all that SHOW the sound articulation that occurs in "plummy" accent ???

Some of the books that I've found rather intrigued recently includes:

>> English Accents and Dialects: An Introduction to Social and Regional Varieties of English in the British Isles
>> Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the Use of the >> International Phonetic Alphabet
>> Principles of Phonetics (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics)
>> English Phonetics and Phonology: A Practical Course

Sadly, most of the books focus on neutral/standard British accent, which I've a thorough knowledge of now but I wonder if there's ANYTHING AT ALL that's specially dedicated to "plummy" accent.

Answer 1

You may not be so completely free of your East Midlands accent as you think - there is usually always a trace of a dialect left! You are ,in fact trying to substitute one dialect for another, and personally, I would far rather listen to someone with your original one than a 'plummy' one - that sounds SO affected especially if it is contrived. Please don't try to get rid of it anymore - you should be proud of your dialect, language would be so boring if we all spoke the same. However, I do sympathise , I've tried for years to water down my Essex accent!!

There are actually 44 individual sounds in the standard English language. You may have noticed that when people are speaking they often take on certain aspects of that person's dialect just for the duration of that conversation.

Just enjoy being comfortable with your own voice - and people will respect you and enjoy talking to you.

Answer 2

I gather from other answerers this not the most interesting topic but in some way I have the same problem with my Danish dialects. My only suggestion is: regain your plummy by going where they speak it - that's what I do when I need a refresher.
Good luck.

Answer 3

i think of maximum american have difficulty distinguishing between the accents, although I think of generally they often want an top class accessory. i do no longer know why i think of this, I actually have a northern twang so it rather is not me.

Answer 4

Sounds to me as if you have a serious personality problem... when you can be yourself with your own accent, you will have recovered... keep taking the tablets:-)

Answer 5

Any elocution coach could show you how to do it. Question is why would you WANT to do it?

Regional accents rule!!!

Answer 6

there isnt a brittish accent ..as it is made up from lots of different accent

Answer 7

Sorry its my bedtime, feeling sleepy all of a sudden.

Answer 8

better than American Rainbow accentsssssssss

Answer 9

YAWN, YAWN, YAWN, GEE IS THAT THE TIME ALREADY, MUST BE GOING OLD BEAN!

Answer 10

F*ckin` ell fire