What is in an accent?

ZZZ I too speak RP in fact one friend said I "make the queen sound positively estuary"! It's the phraseology that I love and in the case of the West Devon North Cornwall accent the terminology used to describe often the most mundane is or more correctly was glorious.

There is a modern version of it but it is still around. It is easily identifiable I think nd it is the only non-regional accent we have in the UK. However I do think RP is seen very differently these days to say the 1950s. Regional accents are actually more popular generally. I think most people prefer to hear moderate regional accents in TV, on the radio and in general. It is a bit odd as an accent but it is just one amongst many these days.

You'd be out of place speaking RP anywhere these days! And I'm amazed there are so many speakers on MN.

It's not a synonym for standard English; it's a very specific accent (think cut glass 1950s BBC announcer in evening dress and pearls). And it rhymes eg "pat" with "pet" and that really does sound weird nowadays.

Oi, I speak RP and I consider myself as warm as the next person. Perhaps clipped vowels sound harsher than longer ones or maybe the problem is more that RP is associated with snobbism and exclusion and that is why it doesn't sound friendly to a lot of people. I haven't met many people as genuinely warm, kind and inclusive as my mother was and she was an RP speaker but I don't think anyone could ever have considered her cold or a snob.

I was brought up with the beautiful but sadly now virtually extinct West Devon North Cornwall dialect. My friend has a wonderful Newcastle accent both to my my ear have enormous warmth which sometimes seem to be lacking in RP or maybe it's the people themselves? .

I am personally rather fond of 'The Gentle Gordie'

My lovely HCP is from Newcastle and his name is Gordon.

Ronaldo it's hard to make out your actual opinion of people who speak in these various accents but one might be forgiven for thinking you consider them lesser than yourself.

A good way to think about it is: an accent is how a foreign speaker speaks (Polish accent, French accent), a dialect is how a native speaker speaks (Standard American, Midwest, RP). All dialects are equal from this point of view, which is good.

I would not invest any time/money in a specific dialect. What the point to spend on RP, and then, say, go to work in the States, where non-rhotic speech is perceived as low-brow? The chances that my DD's generation will have to travel the world for work are very high, and in China/Dubai/Brasil/etc nobody distinguishes and nobody cares.

In fact, I do not invest even in my own accent reduction, having chosen to learn one more foreign language rather than to polish off... er... charming peculiarities. :)

Don't your kids sound a bit out of place speaking RP English in any place outside the M25
or do you think that all regional accents - Edinburgh for example - are inferior?

Where have I ever told you where I live that you can assume that of my DS?
(I will tell you, I have never given any indication of my where abouts in the UK). I am still not telling you, but RP is never out of place anywhere.

Similarly, where have I suggested anything about accents being inferior? ( I will tell you I have not). Highlighting the problems accents can raise is not the same as making a claim as to their "inferiority".

Please to do attempt to make accusations that are not true.

an accent is just a different way of saying the same thing.

A dialect involves differing ways of putting sentences together and using entirely different words.

I personally find dialects fascinating.

No, I think we are genuinely past that stage now and regional accents are maybe even "in". I like the sound of some more than others.

I speak with a southern accent, not exactly RP, but not estuary. People tell me I'm well-spoken. DH speaks with the equivalent from the north. Not from anywhere specific, but with short northern vowels.

We've lived abroad and forrin people have always found DH much easier to understand than me. Despite most of them learning RP English.

That's my experience.

Ronaldo
Don't your kids sound a bit out of place speaking RP English in any place outside the M25
or do you think that all regional accents - Edinburgh for example - are inferior?

Then define it please and educate me.

I can tell you what the dictionary says - and that is certainly not true of me.

I think the word 'snobby' is a word most people would be able to define in simple enough terms. I haven't come across anybody before you Ronaldo who's struggled to understand it

Depends on how you define snobby.Its a word I often see used here but frankly it has no meaning to me. I generally means " I dont agree with you and I cant find a good reason to argue so I will pull a word out and use that
(rather like bigot and racist and homophobe are used these days).

I think what a person says is more important than the accent they have.
Ronaldo You sound quite snobby. I wonder if this is intentional?

I am firmly ( and possibly alone on this board) in the camp of disliking accents of any kind. As someone has said accents do carry with them steotypes. However, I do not think it is possible for most people to look beyond than as claimed. They are powerful. Accents also do denote class. This country is class ridden and pretending it is not does not help matters.

In my home we all speak received pronunciation. I believe it will give DS the best opportunities in life.

On a more practical note, as one becomes older ( and I am older now) ones hearing acuity fails ( this is not the same as deafness and is not rectificable and it starts when you reach 30 although it may be a few years later beforeyou begin to realise it). Regional accents are incredibly difficult to hear. I get very annoyed when an accent - usually Scottish ( the faniced Tennent one or I belong to Glasgow - both the same) and the Gentle Gordie being particularly easily misheard at my age. Of course the Irish accent is even worse (swallowed words often). RP on the other hand is always clear and audible. I say this from experience.

Oh is it?

I've always thought it was a bit rude of me. Someone told me once I was taking the piss, but I wasn't.

Being able to switch accents according to who you're speaking to is a sign of linguistic intelligence. It's called codeswitching.

I don't know what my accent is.

My mum is from Leics, my dad's from southampton. Both talk radio 4 as they had either london parents or went to boarding school in, of all places, Surrey
so we grew up talking the same, and being called posh by our school friends, until we learned to talk more like them (Kent) and I have been compensating ever since - whoever I'm talking to I take on their accent. I have been known to fake an accent in a waiting room or shop because I feel so uncomfortable and want to pretend I'm not really me.

I don't think it is a pure thing although I envy people who seem to have a steady accent and not drift between others.

There's a few I dislike - Manchester being one, Northern Irish is a bit difficult for me because of associations. I regularly get asked if I'm Irish though due to having gone out with a chap from Galway for a while - I took on his accent quite strongly at times without even meaning to.

I'm sure it means I'm fucked up but I cannot help it.

If you want to get to someone roots way of talking make them angry.

There are different levels of posh speaking. Frostrop is ok. The Queen is unique and monosylabic. (Less said the better is her motto) Victoria Derbyshire and some BBC types follow that didictum