If you travel around the UK
you’ll hear a multitude of different accents
from Liverpool
to Scotland
from South Wales
to North East England
and Northern Ireland
In this video, we’ll explore some of the sounds that make these accents so distinctive
A [k] sound is known as a plosive,
because it stops the air and then releases it in an explosive manner
Speakers in Liverpool and the surrounding county of Merseyside
may not always pronounce /k/ as a plosive
Sometimes it turns into a fricative: [x]
Fricatives are sounds made with friction:
the air is squeezed through a small gap in the mouth
When I pronounce the word "brick", it ends in a plosive sound: [k]
But listen to this speaker from Merseyside pronounce "brick" with a fricative
This sound is typical of Scouse
which is the name given to the accent of Merseyside, including the city of Liverpool
Listen to some more speakers from this area pronouncing /k/ as a fricative
In my accent, words like "wear" and "where" sound the same
But some speakers in Scotland will make a difference
Whereas "w" is pronounced [w]
“wh” may be pronounced [ʍ]
In phonetic terminology, this is a voiceless labial-velar fricative
It sounds like you are blowing out a candle
Listen to how this speaker from Scotland pronounces "wear" and "where" differently
Here are some more speakers from Scotland pronouncing words with this [ʍ] sound
Linguists give vowels names to make it easier to talk about them
The vowel sound in "round", "owl", and "town" is known as the MOUTH vowel
In my accent, it has an [aʊ] sound
But it’s pronounced very differently by speakers in Northern Ireland.
One sound that is typical of the Geordie accent from Newcastle and other accents in North East England
is the [p]
Compare the difference between a speaker from the south of England and a speaker from the North East
In North East England, the [p] sound is sometimes pronounced with constriction in the larynx
This constriction might sound like a glottal stop or
“this type of sound”. which is called creaky voice
Here are some more speakers from Newcastle and other areas of North East England
Listen to the [p] sounds
The vowel in "turn" and "first" is known as the NURSE vowel
In my accent, the lips are relaxed for this sound
But some speakers in South Wales will round their lips
The word “year”, which has a different vowel in my accent
is often pronounced with this NURSE vowel in the south of Wales
Here are some more lip-rounded NURSE vowels from South Wales
I hope my accent videos have trained your ears to recognise the diverse sounds found across the UK
If you missed the first two videos in the series, check them out here
And if you’re an English learner who wants to improve your pronunciation,
then sign up for my British Council award-nominated course
It’s tailored to your native language
prioritises sounds that improve your clarity
and uses Standard Southern British English as its model
Click the link to find out more!
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