Hello there, I was wondering about this last night but my (English)man couldn't answer... how come there are so many different accents in such a small country (compared to bigger countries where they speak the same language with more or less the same accent)?
eg: there isn't a big big distance between, let's say, Liverpool and Cambridge... so why are their accent so different then?
2007-02-08 06:21:34 · 21 answers · asked by LaTiny 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
that s not true MC I am French and I can promise the differences in pronunciation are almost unsignificant
2007-02-08 06:48:30 · update #1
america is just the same,alot of countries do.i dont no y.i find it quite strange aswell for instance if you got to no someone from newcastle and someone from durham really well you'd soon realise they have different accents but there only a bus ride away.strange proberley one of those q.s that cant be answered.xx
2007-02-08 06:26:58 · answer #1 · answered by deliciousde 4 · 2⤊ 3⤋
Every country has it's regional dialects and accents. These developed many years ago when people didn't travel as often or as far as we do today.
Liverpool may only be a few hundred miles from Cambridge but 250 years ago that would be several days journey. People tended to stay within their own towns / villages so these variations grew.
The size of a country dosn't matter - Switzerland is a relitively small country and they not only have several dialects but 4 completely different languages - In the west they speak French, the North German, the South Italian and the East Romanish - All official national languages!
2007-02-08 06:28:59 · answer #2 · answered by The Wandering Blade 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Most countries, even the small ones have different dialects, some even quite different languages from other parts of the same country. Before people travelled around a lot, you may never have left your part of the country, so language developed amongst small groups. The accent where i live is totally different from the next town 10 miles down the road. We use different words for the same thing etc. Years ago, only wealthy people or traders would have travelled even such a short distance, even though these days its a few minutes by train.
2007-02-08 06:30:00 · answer #3 · answered by jeanimus 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's not just the English, the French have six or seven variants within their own country, and it's for the same reason as the English.
It happened because all those accents developed before the industrial revolution when few people traveled more than a few kilometres from their home. The wide variations in English accents around the world happened _after_ the industrial revolution because of steamships, railways, and air travel.
Additional:
I was referring to the differences between Parisien, Provençal, Flemish, Corsican, and the like. I wasn't suggesting they were mutually unintelligible dialects.
.
2007-02-08 06:27:41 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
well i live between derby and nottingham and they both have a different accent lol even though they are a few miles apart!
people say i sound posh because i am a mix of both, strange eh lol
its true what someone else said about not understanding people who speak the same language, some really strong scottish or irish accents are hard to understand so how is someone say from france going to understand them when they have been taught english to be spoken a certain way?
2007-02-08 06:37:45 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because we are an old country compared to say the USA. In times of old people never travelled far and would rarely go to other towns. So to this day you only have to go a short distance to hear a change in accent.
The word house is pronouced:
hoose by the scottish
hasss by cockney londoner.
howis by Brummies
Hyse by Prince Charles
2007-02-08 06:32:21 · answer #6 · answered by M J 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Look at how many different accents there are in the United States. Different areas, different cultures, different histories. All of these are influences on accents. Not every person sounds the same so why should they talk the same way? This happens everywhere in the world within different countries.
2007-02-08 06:26:30 · answer #7 · answered by aussie_gurl118 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
definite like a tradtional united statesaccessory isn't comparable to a Canadian accessory. It relies upon on the place that individual comes from nonetheless on occasion you won't be in a position to tell yet on occasion british/english accents could be somewhat extra strained or deeper than an australian one or a british/english accessory could be diverse from yet another english accessory. For the Canadian and American one definite particularly while you're speaking relating to the Americas this is very distinctive. a individual in Canada could have a completley diverse sounding voice than a individual interior the deep south of the U.S.
2016-11-02 21:55:40 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's a good question,here in Gwynedd/Clwyd ,North Wales the Welsh language is spoken with easily identifiable accents in places like Caernarfon, Bangor,Wrexham,Bala and Machynlleth.
The distances between them are tiny and I've always wondered why that is.I await your answers with interest.
2007-02-08 10:04:52 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
From what I know, most of them spoke different languages, there were different tribes and such, and later they were united under one country and language.
French was the official language of England for a period of time too.
2007-02-09 01:21:20 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Collections of recordings suitable for the study of accents and dialects ... regional accents and dialects covering most areas of the British Isles, arranged ...www.bl.uk/collections/sound-archive/accents.html
2007-02-08 06:28:09 · answer #11 · answered by smart arse 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋