English is spoken with incredibly diverse accents. In the British Isles alone, the Oxford accent, the cockney, the northern accent, the Welsh accent, the Scottish accent, the Irish accent… In the United States the Boston accent, the Texas accent, the California accent… And then Australian, New Zealand, Indian and South African accents…
Here’s a small overview of the main accents:
Great Britain, America, Australia: the main features
Cookie? Biscuit? Bikkie? It all means the same thing, but where do we use each word?
How do you pronounce “banana, girl, dance” depending on whether you are in Britain, America or Australia?
All the answers on vocabulary and different pronunciations in this very fun video!
The different accents of the British Isles
- The oxford accent
From an English people point of view, the Oxford accent is not very remarkable and nobody pays much attention to it. But for foreigners, it’s traditionally the perfect English accent…
- The cockney
The Cockney is the accent of the working classes of East London. Often referred to as “taxi driver’s accent”. Colourful, rich in emphasis, slang and puns, this widespread accent is sometimes difficult to understand.
- The geordie, the northern accent
It is not clear whether geordie is an accent or a dialect, as it mixes different pronunciations and singular vocabulary. Geordie is spoken in the north-east of England around Durham, Tynesied and Northumberland. Linguistically, it is a direct descendant of the patois of the first Anglo-Saxon invaders. It should be noted that accents in England are strongly associated with social classes. The geordie is no exception, it is associated with the working class as well as with the supporters of the football team, Newcastle United.
- The Welsh accent
It is called a Welsh accent but there are actually several, depending on the region of Wales considered. They are all influenced by Welsh, a Gaelic (Celtic) language that prevailed in Wales until the 19th century and still spoken by many inhabitants.
- The Scottish accent
Sometimes rough, choppy, fast and incisive, the Scottish accent is said to be difficult to understand. Still quite urban on the Edinburgh side, it gets stronger in Aberdeen or on the Isle of Skye!
- The Irish accent
Softened vowels, hardened consonants, more singing intonation, you have to get used to the Irish accent but it’s not really difficult to understand.
The different accents of America
- Boston accent
The New England accent, or Boston accent, is often seen as an intermediary between English and American accents. More assertive than the English accent, and easier to understand for French people, because it is closer to French in terms of sound wavelength, it is nevertheless well articulated and very clear.
- The Texan accent
The Texan accent, an accentuated form of the Southern United States accent, is characterized by a very pronounced and chewy pronunciation that gives the impression that Texans have chewing gum in their mouths all the time.
- The Californian accent
The Californian accent is often associated with West Coast youth, surfers and music from this dynamic region. A real melting pot strongly influenced by Hispanic culture, California sees the emergence of a specific way of speaking English. A few vowels are willingly transformed, with some surprising results (rain and rank are pronounced the same, for example). For the rest it is an accent that everyone knows well, having heard it in Hollywood movies.
The accents of Oceania
- The Australian accent
The English of Australia was composed from the patois of the various English immigrants who settled there. They therefore do not speak “Australian accent” but rather a version of English which differs considerably from English in its vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar… This is particularly true in rural areas, as the big Australian cities have become more aligned with international English, globalisation obliges!
- The New Zealand accent
Created by the melting pot of its immigrants, New Zealand English is very similar to its Australian cousin. The New Zealand people have multicultural origins, descendants of Maori (Polynesian) populations that were mixed with later British settlers. The “kiwis” as they call themselves, are generally welcoming, tolerant people… But not always easy to understand. Far from the English and American pronunciations!
- Indian accent
English is one of the official languages of India, which has many regional and ethnic languages (Urdu, Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, etc…). English is therefore essential in many conversations between Indians. Singing, sometimes guttural, punctuated by specific head and hand movements, using a grammar that is willingly simplified, the Indian accent is very recognizable and rather easy to understand.
Sources :
https://www.victorias.fr/dossiers/prononciation-anglais/quel-accent-pour-langlais-2.html
Images :
https://mapsontheweb.zoom-maps.com/image/141486413216, https://imgur.com/gallery/V2EX2/comment/725566919