; hence better becomes IPA be?? (Sounds to outsiders like "be uh").
В· L-vocalization: The l at the end of words often becomes a vowel sound Hence pal can seem to sound like "pow." (I ve seen this rendered in IPA as/w /,/o,/and /? /.)
В· Th-Fronting: The th in words like think or this is pronounced with a more forward consonant depending on the word: thing becomes "fing," this becomes "dis," and mother becomes "muhvah."
Estuary English (Southeast British)
Estuary is an accent derived from London English which has achieved a status slightly similar to "General American" in the US. Features of the accent can be heard around Southeast England, East Anglia, and perhaps further afield. It is arguably creeping into the Midlands and North. p align="justify"> Features:
В· Similar to Cockney, but in general Estuary speakers do not front th words or raise the vowel in trap. There are few hard-and-fast rules, however.
В· Glottal stoppingof t and l-vocalization (see above) are markers of this accent, but there is some debate about their frequency.
West Country (Southwest British)
West Country refers to a large swath of accents heard in the South of England, starting about fifty miles West of London and extending to the Welsh border.
Features:
В· Rhoticity, meaning that the letter r is pronounced after vowels. So, for example, whereas somebody from London would pronounce mother as "muthah," somebody from Bristol would say "mutherrr". (Ie the way people pronounce the word in America or Ireland).
В· Otherwise, this is a huge dialect area, so there s tons of variation.
Midlands English
Midlands English is one of the more stigmatized of Englishes. Technically, this can be divided into East Midlands and West Midlands, but I won t get into the differences between the two just now. The most famous of these dialects is Brummie (Birmingham English).
Features:
В· The foot-strut merger, meaning that the syllable in foot and could is pronounced with the same syllable as strut and fudge. (IPA?).
В· A system of vowels otherwise vaguely reminiscent of Austral...
