Survey British social class accents please answer

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Brtish Social class accents
1. Do you think social class accents are still important today and why?
While class is still evident, which inevitably is forever, the accents will still exist.

2. In what parts of life are they still important? Which parts of life are especially influenced by your social class accent? work, university...
It helps people to fit in, but it also isolates people. In my school there’s a fair mix of accents, as a grammar school we get mixed classes, the high school near mine (Parkside- a v. bad rep) has very "common" accents, and the private school up the road, tends to have "higher" class accents. Personally I used to live in the nice area of Gosport (Southampton), then moved to St Budeaux (Navel estate and one of the worse areas in Plymouth). I used to stand out a fair bit, I don't (I believe) have a posh accent, but it was "common" as the Janner accent from "down 'ere".

3. Received pronunciation, Queen's English, Oxford English, Posh English
-Do you think these are different terms for the same accent, or do you think they are different accents?
The QE has a certain class to it, while the PE can be faked and OE used to define a sense of class and intelligence, however after hearing the Cox from the Oxbridge boat race I'm not sure any more, sadly.

4. RP: your comments about RP
I can't really give any, no opinion on it.

5. Oxford English: your comments about Oxford English
(as mentioned above)
6. Queen's English: if you have some comments
(as mentioned above)
7. Posh English: here you can make some comments about posh English
(as mentioned above)
8. Estuary English: room for your comments
I can't really give any, no opinion on it.

9. Slang: your comments typical slang expressions:
Well, us janners have a 'andbook, like 'ere, you know if like, ya wanna 'ave a look http://www.stevebond2k.eurobell.co.uk/janner.htm#STEP%20ONE%20-%20THE%20LANGUAGE
A greeting such as "Alright" is more like "Allreeeeeet". "Innit" is fair common and you must add "s" on the end of 'alf the word, "h's" are not spoken, neither is "my" one would say me or ma "me dad" "ma mum" "me missis" and of course "me bouyy". "Bouy" (known to the rest of the world as "boy", is very Janner, such as "I is goin' down Millenniums (AKA Millennium Complex) wiv ma bouyy". 'Ere endth da lesson like.

10. Some people say the Queen's accent has changed over the years.
-Do you think this is a good or a bad thing? Have you noticed a change in her accent?
Well I only ever hear her at Christmas.

11. Here you can name some poeple who are typical RP, Queen's English, Oxford English, posh English, Estuary speakers...
Lots?

12. Do you think there is a tendancy for upper class people/ people who are very well-educated to hide their posh accent and to speak less posh?
I often hide my accent, it can sound out of place down here. I'm sort of accent-less really, its a bit Oxford English/Posh English according to so.

13. What is your general opinion about social class accents?
-Do think they should stay or do you think they should be abolished?
You can't abolish an accent. That’s just illogical.

14. What kind of social class accent do you have yourself?
If anything it's slightly upper class, but my family aren't they just worked hard, my parents started quite literally from nothing. I'm "well spoken".

15. The future of British social class accents:
Which accents will comletely die out? Queen's English, RP?
Which social class accent will the majority of British people have in about 10-20 years? Estuary? or something else?

I don't think it will die out as long as it is used and spoken. The Janner accent keeps getting worse! ;-)

Reply 21

Ambrose

1. Do you think social class accents are still important today and why?
Yes, they are as important as the classes themselves. Part identity, part upbringing, part stereotype and discrimination. Also, some accents just sound nicer than others. Who can deny the pleasure of listening to Brian Perkins or Charlotte Green over some whining plebeian like Cat from eastenders?

2. In what parts of life are they still important? Which parts of life are especially influenced by your social class accent? work, university...
A well-spoken voice remains and should remain important in many fields, especially things like Law, Broadcasting, &c. If the accent is well prounounced then you are naturally a better communicator, not only because you use less slang and because a wider vocabulary tends to follow the educated voice, but also because some accents sound inherently educated, others sound intrinsically ignorant.

3. Received pronunciation, Queen's English, Oxford English, Posh English
-Do you think these are different terms for the same accent, or do you think they are different accents?
The Queen's English I think refers less to accent and more to grammar? You could say "I aint got a clue" in the poshest voice you could manage, and it wouldn't be the Queen's English. Posh English is that of the upper classes, not a BBC voice.
Oxford English is not the same accent as Posh English.

4. RP: your comments about RP
I love it! I think everyone should work hard to maintain their accents, and not give in to the development of a nation wide, bland accent. I like the idea that people have a sense of identity in the way they speak, it leads to variation and dialects. We don't all want to speak the same!

5. Oxford English: your comments about Oxford English
As Oxford becomes less socially elite, I think the accent will begin to change, and reflect the people who attend.

6. Queen's English: if you have some comments

7. Posh English: here you can make some comments about posh English

8. Estuary English: room for your comments

9. Slang: your comments typical slang expressions:

10. Some people say the Queen's accent has changed over the years.
-Do you think this is a good or a bad thing? Have you noticed a change in her accent?
It is probably more that her voice has changed. She is getting older. You can always hear age in a voice.

11. Here you can name some poeple who are typical RP, Queen's English, Oxford English, posh English, Estuary speakers...
Stephen Fry is Oxford English (unless he went to Cambridge...? Is there a distinction between a Cambridge and Oxford English? lol)

12. Do you think there is a tendancy for upper class people/ people who are very well-educated to hide their posh accent and to speak less posh?
Maybe some, who work with people who don't have such accents or education. But otherwise, I'm sure it is a well nurtured idiosyncracy.

13. What is your general opinion about social class accents?
I wish that people actually spoke like Dick Van Dyk in Mary Poppins
-Do think they should stay or do you think they should be abolished?
They should stay!

14. What kind of social class accent do you have yourself?
Educated South London. heh. But I'm working on getting myself a Russian accent. Just so much cooler.

15. The future of British social class accents:
Which accents will completely die out? Queen's English, RP?
Which social class accent will the majority of British people have in about 10-20 years? Estuary? or something else?
The last of the 1950s BBC voices will soon die out. We must do everything we can to revive it!! I think a London accent will become the voice of the yuppy class, if it isn't already. This will probably spread. I think the classes themselves are changing, and people are changing classes themselves. With all this movement there is bound to be new accents. Maybe regional accents will change too. Hopefully people wont get lazy with their pronounciation and end up sounding American. That would be dreadful.

Finally you can make some general comments on this topic if you like:
It's all very very interesting. But I keep finding it hard to distinguish between social and regional accents. Is there a posh Brummie accent?

Reply 22

sashh

roxy potter

this may sound very ignorant but
what is rp?
im irish i just speak with a normal irish accent(i hope)
people listen to me and they dont know what class i sound.

When the BBC started broadcasting (radio) they picked RP as being the 'most widley understood'. A lot of people complained at the start of broadcasting that they couldn't understand the accent.

Other useless information. (I think - may be wrong on these)

Gordies are often used for radio communication in the army in the hope that if the enemy are listening in they won't understand two geordies talking to each other.

In the second world war it was thought that the Germans may try fake radio broadcasts, to try to stop this one of the news readers used to say 'good night' in an RP accent and then say "goo' nite" in a Yorkshire accent.

BTW - for the benefit of the americans it's not just the accent but the words used. eg a small round piece of bread baked as an individual item might be called a bap, tea cake, barm cake, bread roll, sandwich roll, cob ......... I must have left out a few, depending on where you come from. To make things more difficult still the same words mean something different. Eg in some areas a tea cake has currents in it.