Where did regional accents come from?

Question

I've always wondered why, when almost everyone in the UK speaks English, are there so many regional accent variations? I am not talking about regional words, but just the way people speak. What creates accents? It's obviously not genetic, so it must be environmental influences, but how did they originally start? I've always liked the image of someone influential in the area speaking in a certain way, and everone else copying them, but I don't think that can be correct! Basically why does someone from Birmingham speak the same language in a different accent to someone in Dorset?

Answer 1

Here are some of the major factors explaining the origins of the various British dialects (including accents):

1. "Founder's effect" - first Germanic settlers to Britain - the Angles, Saxons and Jutes (5th century AD), already spoke different of West Germanic dialects. In other words there was NEVER just one "English" language!

2. Influence from much exposure to speakers of other languages -- including "substrate languages" (of the inhabitants in the lands they conquered) & those of invaders
a. North and West Britian had the most British Celtic substrate
b. North Britain had the most direct Norse (Viking) influence
c. South England had most direct Norman French influence

3. Barriers to social mobility led to social stratification of dialects (example: Cockney English of London's working class vs.
"The King's English" and BBC's Received Pronunciation).

"Because of the long history of dialect creation in the English speaking areas of Great Britain, there are more dialects of English in Britain than in America, Canada, and Australia combined."

http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/ling201/test3materials/USdialectsoverhead.htm
http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/ling201/test3materials/AmericanDialects.htm

compare David Crystal's book *The Stories of English* (2004) [which explores the notion that there has never been just one English language]

Answer 2

Regional accents ("dialects") are actually very dynamic. While they'll develop in any region that doesn't have a lot of mixing with neighboring regions, they can also develop within subcultures. Generally, regions that interact more end up "sharing" their accents (why Canadians speak more like Americans and why New Zealanders speak more like Aussies even though we were all settled by the British). Since a regional accent is only a difference of pronunciation between two people who speak the same language, it's assumed that regional accents have existed as long as humans have had spoken languages, but each one developed in its own timeline. Some (thinking of So Cal Valley talk here) can develop over the course of a decade or so, and then go out of fashion as the subculture interacts more with other communities.

Answer 3

Languages are dynamic; that is, they change all the time. When communities are separated geographically, these changes happen independently of each other. As time progresses, these two geographical varieties - or dialects - have differences that are unique to them however they are still similar in many ways.

As an example a long time ago, people in the US and the people in the UK sounded very similar to each other. Then the changes happened in each of these dialects. In the UK, people started to remove the "r" from the ends of syllables. Apparently, people in the US, Ireland, and Scotland didn't get the memo because most of us kept on pronouncing them! People on the east coast of the US were more in contact with the British, so some people there started leaving off their R's too - places like in Boston or the South.

This change is just the tip of the iceberg. As you know, the UK has great dialectal variation and these changes happened long before the formation of the US. And here in the US, we have great dialectal variation too.

In any case, as even more time goes on dialects will turn into independent languages. Such was the case with Vulgar Latin. After a few centuries, the "geographical varieties" became languages that we call French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian today.

Answer 4

This is by far the most interesting question I have picked up on Yahoo yet. Regional accents do seem to be an international phenomenon, that is every nation has its regional accents..
I suspect it is because of a combination of waves of invasion followed by long periods of isolation.
With increased mobility, accents are dying out to some extent. Stoke-on-Trent is quite a small area, yet in my father's day, north and south of the 6 towns had a distinct accent. Nowadays, you cannot distinguish between any of them.
Dorset will have seen more immigration from abroad than Birmingham and exported their accent to Australia and America, yet Birmingham will have seen an immense amount of internal migration in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which you would think would dilute the accent. I currently live in Northumberland yet there is still a strong difference between geographically close areas (e.g Newcastle, Durham and Sunderland)
It will be interesting to see what other people think.

Answer 5

One reason can be geography, natural obstacles, for example mountains or the sea, where people have lived isolated or in minimum contact with other communities. The other reason can be the influence of the neighbouring countries. In my native country Slovenia (20 sq km) we speak Slovenian, we are only 2 million, but we have more than 40 dialects, some I cannot understand at all. Those who live near the border with Hungary have to me not understandable dialects, in the north you can hear the influence of Austrian German, in the west the influence of Italian and in the south and east the influence of Croatian, though these influences are not so different from our language since Slovenian and Croatian are similar languages. Slovenia is also hilly country, only about 16 % flat, which also explains why so many dialects.

Answer 6

You've asked a dissertation-level type question. There are literally thousands of treatises written on the subject (and loads available online, just google 'accents in England',) but here's a taste of what most of them agree on:

The differences go back to the Middle Ages when English was spoken in many different forms – Northern came from Northumbrian Old English, Midlands from Mercian Old English, South Western from West Saxon, and South Eastern from Kentish. As travel and globalisation have their effect, it’s said the numbers of accents and the differences between them are declining, but the regional accent is far from dying out.

Startlingly, recent studies have also found evidence of regional accents in ducks and dogs, so we’re in good company. According to Dr Victoria De Rijke at Middlesex University, “The Cockney quack is more like a shout and a laugh, whereas the Cornish ducks sound more like they are giggling”.

Trudgill (1999) believes that for the majority of English people "where they are from" is very important to them. Accents are clues to where people were born and where they grew up. Although some people may change the way they speak during their lifetimes, most people "carry at least some trace" of their accent and dialect origins throughout their lives:

In Britain, "people are often able to make instant and unconscious judgements about a stranger’s class affiliation on the basis of his or her accent." (Wells 1982a) Both the words and pronunciation of many individuals reflect that person’s social position. It is agreed that in England, the "phonetic factors assume a predominating role which they do not generally have in North America" (Wells 1982a).

Working class accents display a good deal of regional variety, but as you go up the social scale, it’s also apparent that upper class accents exhibit no regional variation. (Wells 1982a)

Thus by definition, any regional accent would not be considered upper-class and the more localizable the accent, the more it will described as a "broad" accent. Wells (1982a) purports that broad accents reflect:
- regionally, the highest degree of local distinctiveness
- socially, the lowest social class
- linguistically, the maximal degree of difference from Received Pronunciation.

A 1972 survey carried out by National Opinion Polls in England, provides an example of how significantly speech differences are associated with social class differences. (Wells 1982a) The following question was asked:
"Which of the these [eleven specified factors] would you say are most important in being able to tell which class a person is?" Respondents were randomly chosen from the British public. The factor that scored the highest was "the way they speak" followed by "where they live." At the bottom of the list was "the amount of money they have." All this is evidence that then, and to some degree even now, "speech is regarded as more indicative of social class than occupation, education and income."

(Giles & Sassoon, 1983) also cite consistent findings of listeners evaluating anonymous speakers with standard accents more favorably for such status traits as intelligence, success, confidence. In Britain the middle class is associated with having not only a standard accent, but with also speaking in a more "formal and abstract style than working class."

Answer 7

It is down to the regions particular characteristics, there ia a Ciren accent a very flat accent peculiar to the town of Cirencester, 8000 people, completely different to the surrounding Villages, and in the Villages the people used to speak very slowly and deliberately because there was little to say and much time to say it. The Brum and Bristol accents, which vie for the least attractive, reslt from excessive shouting to be heard in noisy environments, as TV Influence spreads we will all soon sound like Trevor Mc Bloody Donald

Answer 8

A long time ago, rivers, mountains, large distances etc were all barriers to contact the neighbouring people.

From this isolation, dialects but also accents (or different ways of pronunciation are formed).

In the UK, every settlement was for itself. For example, a serial criminal could go from town to town and he could get away with murder each and every time because the police never exchanged information.

Answer 9

I am from Birmingham myself and have no idea about that one. However, I now live in the Black Country; Wolverhampton, Dudley etc..... For anyone who thinks they are the same NO THEY AREN'T.
My partner reliably informs me that the dialect for the B;lack Country originated from working in the mines. The miners had been banned from talking by the Earl of Dudley, preumably he thought they would work harder if not talking. In response, the miners developed a shortened and abbreviated language to prevent detection.
The northern accent seems to be shorter words, where as the South seems to elongate their words.

Answer 10

Regions.