Accents

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@Sil, is it really true that people only ten miles apart from each other speak with distinctly different accents over there? I'm aware of regional differences here, but they tend to be very subtle and usually separated by something closer to ~ 50 miles. (I'm not talking about things like southern accents vs. northeastern accents here, but rather subsets of them - e.g. a person from a the west end of a dense population center in the south may speak with southern accent A, while 50 miles away his buddy on the east side speaks with southern accent A with an extra dash of twang.)

p.s. - sorry if this is more OT ... for some reason I thought I was in a different thread. (And I'm even sober, lol.)

 

Before Tal blows his top I thought I'd start a new thread!

Gaear asked:
@Sil, is it really true that people only ten miles apart from each other speak with distinctly different accents over there? I'm aware of regional differences here, but they tend to be very subtle and usually separated by something closer to ~ 50 miles. (I'm not talking about things like southern accents vs. northeastern accents here, but rather subsets of them - e.g. a person from a the west end of a dense population center in the south may speak with southern accent A, while 50 miles away his buddy on the east side speaks with southern accent A with an extra dash of twang.)

Here in the North-East it is pretty noticable but more so if you're from round here. Part of the reason is that this was a landing point for many invasions from Europe. A lot of the area was populated by isolated tribes as well who developed their own language and dialect.

Plus there is a big football rivalry...you call a geordie a maccam while you're wearing a boro strip and you'll be looking for your teeth!

Surely the NE of England cannot be the only place like this?

 

Yep, very true. The English have the most diverse accents per size of the country than any other country as far as I'm concerned.

 

I live in Derbyshire. Right on the edge, really, not far from Yorkshire. I can nip out in the car for a short while, talk to someone and find a different accent. People from Barnsley, Rotherham, Leeds, Manchester etc all talk different. Even Sheffield, which is literally 5 minutes up the road, talk differently. It's bloody weird. In the job that I do, I talk to people allover the country and the amount of different accents you come across is unreal. I've been doing it for 5+ years now, so I've kind of become accustomed to them all, but when you get someone from the South West, say Cornwall way, and someone from the North East, you're going to have communication problems!!

As for my accent... maybe only Silvery will be able to read this and understand, but it's something like so...

'Orate flower, ah's tha gerrin duck, orate? A we guin dahn t'pub later on yoff? Am dyin to blow t'froff off a couple, been rushin' rahnd like a blue arsed fly the day! Anyroad, get thee sen dahn for abaht 8. Sahnd?'


Translated for everyone else: Hello friend, how are you, are you OK? Would you like to accompany me to the local bar tonight? I have had a busy day and would dearly like a few glasses of beer to cheer me up. I'll meet you down there at 8pm, is that ok?


One thing that is noticeable with England is, the further North you go, the more severe people can sound, but they are really not. For example, you can see 2 good mates in a pub up North talking to each, and could be forgiven for thinking they are going to start fighting any minute. They won't though, it's just how they talk. People down South tend to do more worried about upsetting people, and leave a lot unsaid. Northerners tend to just blurt out whatever is on their mind.

 

Tha's fine by me lad. Ah divvn't see wee ye worry't yesen ont translation. Av ganna gan oot nee so's al spek thee lates whan ah gey yam

(No problem buddy. I don't see the need to translate that. I've got to go out now so I'll speak to you later when I get home)

See? Simple!

 

I can hear distinct dialects just by driving 20 minutes in any direction. If I drive an hour it would be easy for a non-native speaker to pick them out.

I think the US is almost unique in having such a homogenous language. There are differences but considering the size and population they are tiny.

 

Australia is similar in that regard, had three aussie students in my high school all from different regions and you wouldn't know it to listen to them. They also described it themselves as they thought it was so strange that even people in the same class sounded very different - and this is the South which is generally considered to be more homogeneous in regards to accent.

 

I think you're all biased towards your local regions. The people who live somewhere can always tell the difference between people who don't. I can tell someone from Southland in New Zealand vs someone from Hamilton.

And in USA, you can easily tell someone from Queens vs someone from Long Island and that's just within one city, New York.

I bet the same applies in France and Spain and Italy as well.

 

Same pretty much over here. If drive 40 kilometers from my hometown to Amsterdam, I can hear people talking with a different accent. If I drive another 60 kilometers from Amsterdam to The Hague I can hear another different accent. If I drive another 25 kilometers to Rotterdam, I can hear another totally different accent again. It goes on like that for a while.

Actually if I walk for 10 minutes from where I live I can start hearing a change in accent, but that's probably because I've lived in this area all my life and it's pretty much on a division line.

As for the homogeneity of the American language: I heard that people from New Orleans can tell by the accent of another New Orleanean what quarter they are from.