To wish I had a regional accent?

[Flawe]

I’m from the UK but not England. Locally people have quite a strong and distinctive regional accent. My grandmother who was working class had a lovely lilt and accent.

My parents moved away for studies, as did I, so we don’t have a regional accent. People usually think I am from the South East where I live. I sort of wish I had a regional accent so people would know where I am from!

it depends on the region i still have a brummie slant to my accent even though i left the midlands fifty years ago and people still take the mickey and try to do an exagerated version of Brum i live in Yorkshire now

You do realise that the South East is a region of the U.K. and people think you are from the South East because you have a South East accent? So, you gave a regional accent. Unless I’m missing something.

I like having an accent and sounding the same as the people from my local area. Love the way we can recognise each other when we're a long way from home.

I see your point - but my accent is more of a neutral, modern day version of RP. Upper middle class people sound the same around the country to my ears.

I've got a Birmingham accent.
Be careful what you wish for.

Yes Welsh and quite posh sounds the same as Scottish and quite posh which sounds the same as Midlands and quite posh. It's a generic English accent without identifiable regional variation.
I bet you can do a good regional accent from where you grew up though even though it's not your natural voice.

Depends where you are from….

There are some accents that I would hate to have 😬

I live in the south, when I go north I have an accent to them

Not even the younger royals have an upper class RP accent anymore, and nobody has a neutral accent.
You may not think you have a regional accent, and it may be "posher" than some other accents, but there'll be something about your speech patterns to locate you.

I have a Lancashire accent which to me sounds awful, I wish I had a more neutral accent.

Noooo! A neutral or "King's English" accent is universally understood and will take you any where. And probably easier on the ear.

I see where you're coming from if you're proud of your area, but you're nuts. A standard RP accent is generally an advantage in life.

I know what you mean. I’ve lost my Irish accent (though I sound more Irish amongst my Irish friends or when in Ireland). I’m not even sure where it went. But I’ve lived all over the world for work since I was in my twenties and it’s just sort of slowly faded. I live in the SE but I don’t really have the Estuary accent either. And my DDs have somehow needed up sounding the generic ‘quite posh’, I think that might have been the school they went to, including a stint in an international school. Though I travel North often, and to Wales, so next time I might ask someone where they think I sound like I’m from. Maybe I just can’t hear it anymore!

Could you cultivate one?

You may have more of an accent than you realise. There are usually some words or groups of words where a bit of the region will come out. I'm quite good at guessing even really faded accents. You can always lean more into taking on that accent, you can control it to an extent. Just don't do it suddenly else everyone will think you bumped your head! I get told sometimes that I'm either from Bristol or Australia! I'm from London/Irish. Haha.

I dont think so. I've worked in very corporate environments, mainly London and all sorts of senior people had regional accents. As long as you don't use regional slang in certain environments I don't think it's a disadvantage. Possibly in the past but not anymore.

I know what you mean, OP! I’m Scottish and I definitely have a Scottish accent (having lived in England a few years back and been bullied for my pronunciation of “squirrel” 🤣). But it feels so mild and non-Scottish compared to loads of people I know. Scottish people sometimes accuse me of sounding Canadian 😟

I know what you mean, all my life people have said ‘you’re not from here are you?’ Because of my RP accent.

RP isn’t especially SE - it’s more common in the SE / near west / midlands but you get it all over

Anyway - OP if you want to change your accent you could but who cares really?

BlindurErBóklausMaður They do, RP is divided into traditional (which is nearly obsolete), general (which is broadly what people mean by standard or BBC English) and contemporary (which is how some younger RP speakers currently speak).

RP is an accent like any other and it changes through the generations. It’s become more neutral for the same reason most accents have - more social mobility and mass media.

It’s very noticeable that young RP speakers in cities sound more contemporary than in the county. Like any other group some people also change their accent for their audience, in this case by going a bit estuary - P William does this, P Harry less so.

Scottish people tend to pronounce squirrel properly. We're also better at pronouncing the German version (Eichhörnchen), not that that is that relevant to the topic in hand, of course.

We pronounce everything properly 😉

Not really.
Acoustically, as well as segmentally, the differences are such that the younger royals can't be (and aren't) considered to have an RP accent.
Strangely, Catherine's accent is much closer to the (as you say) now obsolete traditional RP than her husband's. But that's because she's been taught to speak in that way, unlike William himself.

I do agree about the shift. Have you heard the analysis of the Queen's voice and how it changed over the years? David Crystal (I think) did a brilliant article about it.

I have a generic estuary accent but I can code switch up or down easily depending on who I'm with. I mean, I dont go from
Penelope Keith to Del Boy in one sentence, but I adapt depending on who I'm with.

I'm also pretty good at mimicking regional accents. The dream would be to have a Scottish accent like my Grandfather. He had a gorgeous soft Morningside accent which I can't quite capture even though I try very hard.

My sons don't have an accent that can be nailed down to region , only a country . They grew up moving around , can't remember how many times they switched school . There was one point when my youngest started sounding like a farmer moin for mine and the like . There was much hilarity among my husbands friends but it soon disappeared .To be replaced with something more neutral .