Question for Britons

[gael]

Originally posted by Skullbones
Would someone care to demonstrate and explain different Irish accents?

This is a very brief discription:

North Irish is very similiar to Scottish (or the other way around), it tends to have more of a 'twang' the further north you go. (It lifts in pitch at the end of sentences) They say 'Aye' intead of yes way to much.

The Dublin accent is the complete opisite, a lot thicker, and tends to drop in pitch at the end of sentences.

Cork city is a weird concoction of both. Its very hard to understand. They drop the word 'so' into pretty much ever sentence.

There are many others, but these are the most distinct from each other reaching north to south on the east coast.

There are many varations in pronunciation. Generally south of the border 'TH' is pronunced with a 'D'. So the word 'that', would become 'dat'.

Ouote:
"think about how'd you'd speak if every member of your family for the past 6 generations drank 10 pints a day every day!"

 

[MrPresident]

my family were man u fans so i keep the tradition

My family were clinically insane...traditions suck.

reading the debate near the beggining of the thread i can say that us southerners pronounce thigs properly

Where exactly is the "r" in the words, "pass", "path", "bath" etc that Southerners insist on pronouncing?

 

[ferenginar]

Mr President, Ploymarth,(not sure how to pronouce that one ) does there need to be an r,

Where's the f in rough, tough, enough?

Spelling and pronunciation are not the same thing

eg through, threw
bare, bear

and many more.


ferenginar

 

[MrPresident]

Where's the f in rough, tough, enough?

The "gh" part.

 

[polymath]

@ferenginar:
Poly like the parrot's name, math like math. I don't think a southerner would say 'marth' unless they were trying to say 'mouth'.

There is in fact a general rule for 'gh': 'gh' only becomes 'f' after 'u' at the end of words. There are exceptions, of course, like 'through', 'bough' and 'borough'. It became an 'f' because of the way you shape your lips when you pronounce 'u' and 'gh' at the same time time. Over time, it became an 'f'.
When 'gh' doesn't become 'f', it is because it is really a 'ch', that has gradually gone missing in pronounced English which derived from Germanic languages. Think 'eight' in English, and 'acht' in German and you see how it works. Or 'daughter' and 'tochter'.
So as it has gone missing, we get:bought; sought; caught; daughter; fought; ought; taught; slaughter.
Even better as a way of understanding it, think about: 'search' and 'sought'; 'teach' and 'taught'; 'catch' and 'caught'. You can see the 'ch' become 'gh' and disappear from the pronunciation.
It's quite logical really.

 

[ferenginar]

I am simply saying that the pronuciation is not the same as the spelling. If you were looking for the phonetic spelling of bath it would be bahth not barth, it is not a 'r' sound but an 'ah'.

So the question becomes How do northerners pronounce 'Bah'?

ferenginar

 

[polymath]

'Bah' , that's interesting.
If I was saying 'Bah Humbug' it would be 'bar'.
But if I meant it I'd say 'ba' with a short 'a' as in 'apple'.

 

[MrPresident]

I am simply saying that the pronuciation is not the same as the spelling.

Yes but most of the time there is a rather direct connection. Sure there are exceptions to the rule but that doesn't mean the rule is wrong.

If you were looking for the phonetic spelling of bath it would be bahth not barth, it is not a 'r' sound but an 'ah'.

I don't know where you get the h from. To me the phonetic spelling of bath is ba-th. Whereas to a Southerner it would be bar-th.

 

[ferenginar]

I got it from a the Oxford English Dictionary notes on pronunciation, what would they know? Probably just a bunch of southerners.

ferenginar

 

[MrPresident]

I got it from a the Oxford English Dictionary notes on pronunciation, what would they know? Probably just a bunch of southerners.

Oxford? :rocket:

 

[Kenric af Grashen]

Originally posted by MrPresident

Oxford? :rocket:

what you from Cambridge?

 

[Kenric af Grashen]

i think its funny the way that america is like britain but upside down. the inteligent people in America can generally be found in the North and in England generally found in the South. this is also true with fat people, in England most fat people are in the North eg Newcastle, and in the US they seem to be in the south wierd eh

 

[anarres]

The only thing weird here is you Sa~Craig.

Most people's banter seems light-hearted, but your's comes across as bigoted and offensive.

Maybe it's the way you not only cus your own culture (which has always been tolerated by the masses), but you also offend another culture that you have no connection with.

Or maybe it's that you not only use the usual stereotypes (fat up north), but also unheard of ones (stupid up north).

 

[Kenric af Grashen]

nah i just like winding people up...its all for fun...

P.S I'm proud of my weirdness

 

[Kafka2]

Originally posted by Stapel
I once was told the typical american accent is the original british accent. And that the british changed theirs.

Is this bull? Could be true I think.

Many of the early English-speaking migrants to America were West Countrymen, from Somerset, Devon and the port areas of Bristol and Plymouth.

The west Country accents are closest to the American- typified by the hard "a" and "r".

 

[Michael York]

Mine came from Buckinghamshire, some I'd be an exception to the West Country trend. I read Heritage Railway and I'd like to know in which region of England has the concept of laying out a magazine in a logical manner fallen upon deaf ears. Why don't the pictures match up to the stories; why do the pictures of the proper items of interest always seem to be outdated?

Regardless, it is more worth reading than the publications from this side of the puddle.

 

[CurtSibling]

Originally posted by Sa~Craig
P.S I'm proud of my weirdness

Be not proud.

You come across as a troll!

PS
I have met decent types from all over England.
The stereotypes are just myths.

 

[anarres]

Yay Curt! We agree on something.

(maybe once in a lifetime...)

 

[CurtSibling]

Originally posted by anarres
Yay Curt! We agree on something.

(maybe once in a lifetime...)

Savour the moment!

 

[ferenginar]

I don't believe that stereotyping is good, but it cannot be a myth. Surely there is no smoke without fire, how could the regional stereotype come about unless there was something upon which it is based.

ferenginar