Tag Archives: celebrity accents

The Accents in Downton Abbey

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Ben

I am apparently the last person in the English-speaking world to watch Downton Abbey, but got a chance to see the first series over the past two evenings.  For the unfamiliar, the show takes place in an English country estate … Continue reading →

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Posted in British English | Tagged , , , , | 100 Comments

Was There Ever a ‘Veddy British’ R?

Posted on January 10, 2012 by Ben

One of the supposed traits of older types of British Received Pronunciation is that /r/ can be a tapped sound (for those reading this week, this sound is similar to the ‘tt’ in American ‘butter’). In ‘traditional’ RP, this typically occurs … Continue reading →

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Posted in British English | Tagged , , | 24 Comments

Leeds or Manchester?

Posted on December 19, 2011 by Ben

Turning back to the world of accent minutiae, a reader emailed me with a conundrum regarding the difference between Leeds and Manchester accents. This concerns ‘punk poet’ John Cooper Clarke, from Salford in Greater Manchester: I like to think of … Continue reading →

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Posted in British English, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 30 Comments

Dialect Work in the Old Days

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Ben

Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps is a wonderful piece of classic moviemaking, but there is something amiss with the accent (not to mention dialect) of its leading man, Robert Donat: Donat is the handsome chap who remarks, ‘Daaahhhling, fancy seeing … Continue reading →

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Posted in Miscellaneous Accents and Dialects, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 12 Comments

Foreign Accents

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Ben

As much as I hate to admit it, ‘foreign’ accents don’t pique my interest the way ‘native’ accents do.  That’s not to say I don’t love foreign languages.  I’m fascinated by the grammatic intricacy of Navajo and the differences between … Continue reading →

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Posted in Miscellaneous Accents and Dialects | Tagged , , | 40 Comments

Great Minds Who Kept their Accents

Posted on September 3, 2011 by Ben

Open Culture posted a fantastic video of the late Arthur C. Clarke discussing the future.  The clip is remarkable for its prescience (Clarke seems to predict the emergence of the internet), and is fascinating on all levels.  Given my interests, … Continue reading →

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Posted in Miscellaneous Accents and Dialects | Tagged | 29 Comments

Michelle Collins’ Accent on Coronation Street

Posted on June 25, 2011 by Ben

There has been a recent to-do over British actress Michelle Collins, who joined the Manchester-based soap opera Coronation Street. Collins was best known for her role in EastEnders (a soap set in East London), so her Manchester accent must come … Continue reading →

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Posted in British English | Tagged | 21 Comments

Estuary English in the 21st Century

Posted on June 4, 2011 by Ben

I’ve used the term  Estuary English quite a bit on this site.  For the dialect novices out there, I’d like to explain what this phrase means, and my personal take on it. Estuary English is a hard concept to define.  Sometimes … Continue reading →

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Posted in British English | Tagged , , | 28 Comments

Belated Thoughts on Obama’s Accent

Posted on May 11, 2011 by Ben

This post is four years late. I admit it. The president’s accent has already been scrutinized ad nauseum, and there have been political controversies about this very topic. But after watching a speech by Obama this morning, and finding his … Continue reading →

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Posted in American English | Tagged , , , | 23 Comments

Is the glottal stop bad for you?

Posted on April 1, 2011 by Ben

You may not know what a glottal stop is, but you’ve probably heard one. Already baffled? Let me explain. Ever talk to someone from London who pronounced butter something like “bu’uh?” With the t becoming a kind of “grunt?” The t … Continue reading →

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Posted in English Phonetics | Tagged , , , , | 47 Comments