Question about British accents

I had a friend whose very elderly mother had a lovely Suffolk burr. It was always a pleasure to spend time with her although I often struggled to understand what she said, I just loved to listen to her. My friend’s DH was from Texas and devoted to his mum in law, but it took him years to get to grips with her Suffolk accent!

There's accents - and there's Black Country.

The more I think about it, Blinko, the more I know that you are spot on.
I had a particular friend in the 90’s from Quarry Bank who spoke true Black Country (not everyone did) and it was quite an art form.
It was definitely a life style and heritage based choice.

Your Mom was right, FC. Spot on in fact.

I did an online course on Britain in the time of King Richard III a while ago. In it there was a link to what scholars (them again!) thought RIII might have sounded like. Very close to the BC we hear today.

Interesting.

Wow! How interesting! I should have known that.
Thank you Blinko

I’ve just remembered this.
When I was doing my A level English, (at Halesowen College) one of the texts was The Wife of Bath.
We all took turns to borrow and take home an LP(!) of Judi Dench performing it.
My mom was quite amazed by it, and said that Chaucer’s English sounded just like old Black Country.

FannyCornforth

Blinko I know what dialect and accent mean, and what you’ve said doesn’t make sense at all.
All places have their own accents and dialects, including Birmingham and the Black Country.
Syntax means sentence structure, so I’m not sure what you mean there.

Hi FC it's recognised by scholars that BC is a distinct and separate dialect having roots in AngloSaxon and some of those germanic traits still exist.

For instance, Ah bist? Ah bin ya? Note though that Ah isn't sounded like ar, it's rather a long 'a' sound (but not ay). Bist and bin are declensions of the German verb to be - ich bin, du bist, etc. A classic BC query 'Thee oosn't fergit, shost?' would never be heard (or understood) anywhere outside the BC.

It's not Brummie, that's for sure.

There's a picture of a book in the article but I think it's a mock-up!

Me too. I just had a quick look on Google and can't find an actual book which I could buy. Maybe it's just an online thing?
But it's fascinating anyway, so many of those words and expressions are so familiar to me.

henetha

Now, there's an interesting thing, Callistemon21, - a Janner dictionary! How brilliant. I must try to find one. I was born in Plymouth.

www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/janner-dictionary-2019-words-you-2690875

I'm wondering now if it's real!

Now, there's an interesting thing, Callistemon21, - a Janner dictionary! How brilliant. I must try to find one. I was born in Plymouth.

I sometimes get the Liverpool and north east accent mixed up.

Blinko I’m sorry if that sounded rude, I didn’t mean it to, I just don’t know what you meant.
Doesn’t Brum have a dialect too?
I’m from Quarry Bank / Stourbridge and my family are BC through amd through.
I’ve lived elsewhere since I was 20 and I still have a BC accent.
I’m used to being called a Brummie, it doesn’t really bother me at all; but I do point out that it would be akin to saying that someone from Derby was from Nottingham.
Perhaps many people just don’t know what the BC is?

Blinko I know what dialect and accent mean, and what you’ve said doesn’t make sense at all.
All places have their own accents and dialects, including Birmingham and the Black Country.
Syntax means sentence structure, so I’m not sure what you mean there.

Harmonypuss and Blinko - you are so right. Black Country is distinct from Brummie in both vocabulary and accent.

The last time I heard the London accent that was widespread 60 years ago was very recent. I happened to chat in a cafe to two people who were retired North London market traders.

Harmonypuss

If you listen to ANYONE who's NOT from Birmingham or the surrounding areas, they'll tell you that the accent which is actually from the Black Country (Dudley, Walsall, Wolverhampton, Wednesbury etc) is a Birmingham accent WHICH IT MOST CERTAINLY IS NOT, a true Birmingham (Brummie) accent is VERY different.

There may only be a few miles between these towns/cities but our ascents are poles apart, just ask a Brummie!

Very true - and every Black Country town has a different accent. I was born and raised in West Bromwich, and can instantly identify a WB accent when I hear anyone from there speak.
Just never, NEVER call someone from the Black Country a Brummie - they will be mortally offended (yes, really) ?

Harmonypuss I worked for a time in Walsall, though I never lived in the area. I was absolutely fascinated by the accent (or dialect as Blinko informs us). I worked with families in all the surrounding areas and loved to listen to them speaking - sometimes I didn’t have a clue what they’d said but loved the sound of the words . I can’t pretend I have a good ear for accents but I certainly picked up that the variety of Black country voices were different from brummie. It’s still one of my favourite accents (dialects - sorry!), partly because I found the people to be so warm and friendly.

Soroptimum, how fun! I really enjoyed her energy on the show. She just got voted off on the last one I watched. so no spoilers...

I'm glad she's getting a bit of fame from the show. 'Good flavours, no finesse!" She just laughed because that's so true to her personality.

when i went to live in birmingham for a course, at first i thought everyone was making fun of me.
the sing-song intonation sounded like school-yard mocking.
then i realised they did it all the time, to everyone.

FannyCornforth

HarmonyPuss I think that it’s only Black Country folk and Brummies who can the tell the difference.
The accents really aren’t that different, and certainly not poles apart.

Birmingham is an accent, Black Country is a dialect. Different vocabulary and syntax.

henetha

I like accents, providing I can understand what is being said.
I'm thoroughly Devonshire, and it differs from the Cornish accent, and even Plymouth and Bristol have their own accents.

There is, apparently, a Janner dictionary, henetha.

I like accents, providing I can understand what is being said.
I'm thoroughly Devonshire, and it differs from the Cornish accent, and even Plymouth and Bristol have their own accents.

HarmonyPuss I think that it’s only Black Country folk and Brummies who can the tell the difference.
The accents really aren’t that different, and certainly not poles apart.

Lizzie

A bit off topic, but Bake Off’s Lizzie was at our Food Festival this weekend!

JdotJ

My daughter has quite a 'well spoken' London accent (no idea why, we are all cockneys ) but judging by the amount of people who think she is Australian I wonder if there is a 'posh' Australian speaking area.

A cultivated Australian accent ?

We moved from a 'nice' London suburb to Wales and my children were teased at school for their Cockney accents!