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The West Country accent is a generic term applied to any of several English accents used by the indigenous population of the south west of England, popularly known as the West Country. This is the region centred on the counties of Devon (Devun), Cornwall (Corrnwahll), Somerset (Zummerzet), Wiltshire, parts of Gloucestershire (Glahstershire), Oxfordshire (Ahxfodshire) and Dorset (Darrzut). Immigration to the towns from other regions means that the accents are now only commonly encountered in rural areas. Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population - Total (2001) - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Ethnicity...
The West Country is an informal area of southwestern England, roughly corresponding to the administrative region South West England. ...
Originally, a county was the land under the jurisdiction of a count (in Great Britain, an earl, though the original earldoms covered larger areas) by reason of that office. ...
Devon is a county in South West England, bordering on Cornwall to the west, Dorset and Somerset to the east. ...
Motto: Onan hag oll (Cornish: One and all) Englands Great Toe Geography Status Ceremonial and (smaller) Administrative county Traditional county Duchy of Cornwall Region South West England Area - Total - Admin. ...
Somerset is a county in the south-west of England. ...
Wiltshire (abbreviated Wilts) is a large southern English county. ...
Gloucestershire (pronounced [ ˈglɒstəʃəʳ]; GLOSS-ter-sher) is a ceremonial and administrative county in southwest England. ...
Oxfordshire (abbreviated Oxon, from Latin Oxonia) is a county in South East England, bordering on Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Warwickshire. ...
Dorset (pronounced Dorsit, sometimes in the past called Dorsetshire) is a county in the southwest of England, on the English Channel coast. ...
In the neighbouring counties of Berkshire, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, it was possible to encounter comparable accents and indeed distinct local dialects until perhaps the 1960s. Although natives of such locations, especially in western parts, can still have West Country influences in their speech this is less than in the true West Country counties. The increased mobility and urbanisation of the population have meant that local Berkshire, Hampshire and Isle of Wight dialects (as opposed to accents) are today essentially extinct. For other places named Berkshire, see: Berkshire (disambiguation) Berkshire (IPA: or ; sometimes abbreviated to Berks) is a county in the south of England, to the west of London and also bordering on Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Greater London, Surrey, Wiltshire and Hampshire. ...
Hampshire (abbr. ...
The Isle of Wight is an island off the south coast of England, opposite Southampton popularized from Victorian times as a holiday resort. ...
The 1960s, or The Sixties, in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1960 and 1969, but the expression has taken on a wider meaning over the past twenty years. ...
Urbanization is the degree of or increase in urban character or nature. ...
Strong south western accents can still be difficult for speakers of Standard English to understand. Although popularly considered to be only accents, academically the regional variations are considered to be dialect forms. These are dialects of English and should not be confused with Cornish, which is a Celtic language related to Welsh. Accents mark speakers as a member of a group by their pronunciation of the standard language. ...
A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος, dialektos) is a variety of a language used by people from a particular geographic area. ...
British English (BrE) is a term used to refer to the form of the English language spoken in the British Isles. ...
The Cornish language (in Cornish: Kernowek, Kernewek, Curnoack) is one of the Brythonic group of Celtic languages that includes Welsh, Breton, the extinct Cumbric and perhaps the hypothetical Ivernic. ...
The word Celtic can refer to: the European Celtic people, ancient or modern the Celtic languages, spoken by these people and their modern descendents the Celtic (Lusitania), Celts from the Alentejo. ...
Welsh redirects here, and this article describes the Welsh language. ...
Characteristics
The characteristic features of the accent of the region include: - A slower, drawling manner of speech, with lengthened vowel sounds (this is less pronounced among the Cornish and Bristolians, who actually speak quite rapidly).
- The initial "s" is pronounced as "z".
- "r"s are pronounced far more prominently than in Standard English.
- An initial "f" may become pronounced "v", as in varmer Joe
- In the Bristol area a terminal "a" is often followed by an intrusive "l". Hence the old joke about the three Bristolian sisters Evil, Idle and Normal. Also the name "Bristol" itself (originally Bridgestowe, variously spelt).
In various districts there are also distinct grammatical and syntactical differences: Bristol is an English city and county and one of the two administrative centres of South West England (the other being Plymouth). ...
Grammar is the discovery, enunciation, and study of rules governing the use of language. ...
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the rules, or patterned relations, that govern the way the words in a sentence are arranged. ...
- The second person singular thee (or ye in parts of Devon) and thou forms used, thee often contracted to ee.
- Bist may be used instead of are; ow bist? = how are you.
- Use of male (rather than neutral) gender with nouns; put he over there = put it over there.
- An a prefix may be used to denote the past tense; a-went = gone.
- Use of they rather than them or those; they shoes be mine = those shoes are mine.
- Am used exclusively in the present tense, usually contracted to 'm; you'm = you am = you are.
- In other areas, be may be used exclusively in the present tense, often in the present continuous; Where you be going to? = Where are you going?
West country accents also share certain characteristics with the accents of other isolated rural areas, for example those in parts of East Anglia. There is a popular prejudice that stereotypes speakers as unsophisticated and even backward, due possibly to the deliberate and lengthened nature of the accent. This can work to the West Country speaker's advantage, however: recent studies of how trustworthy Britons find their fellows based on their regional accents put the West Country accent high up, under southern Scottish English but a long way above Cockney and Scouse. Presumably anyone who sounds like a simple farmer is thought to be incapable of guile! In traditional grammar, a contraction is the formation of a new word from two or more individual words. ...
In linguistics, grammatical genders, also called noun classes, are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words; every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be very few which belong to several classes at once (Hockett 1958: 231). ...
The present tense is the tense (form of a verb) that is often used to express: Action at the present time A state of being A habitual action An occurrence in the near future An action that occurred in the past and continues up to the present Contents // Categories: Grammatical...
Norfolk and Suffolk, the core area of East Anglia. ...
For the term used in Computing, see Stereotype (computing). ...
Diagram showing the geographical locations of selected languages and dialects of the British Isles. ...
A Cockney, in the loosest sense of the word, is a working-class inhabitant of the East End of London. ...
Scouse is the accent or dialect of English found in the northern English city of Liverpool and adjoining urban areas of Lancashire and the Wirral region of Cheshire. ...
The West Country accent is probably most identified in American English as "pirate speech" -- cartoon-like "Ooh arr, me 'earties! Sploice the mainbrace!" talk is very similar. This may be a result of the strong seafaring tradition of the West Country, both legal and outlaw. Edward Teach (Blackbeard) was a native of Bristol, and privateer and English hero Francis Drake hailed from Tavistock in Devon. American English (AmE) is the form of the English language used mostly in the United States of America. ...
A pirate digging for treasure. ...
This article is in need of attention. ...
Blackbeards flag, showing a horned skeleton holding an hourglass and threatening a heart with a spear Blackbeard (1680? – November 22, 1718) was the nickname of Edward Teach alias Edward Thatch, a notorious English pirate who had a short reign of terror in the Caribbean Sea between 1716 and 1718. ...
A privateer was a private ship (or its captain) authorized by a countrys government to attack and seize cargo from another countrys ships. ...
Sir Francis Drake, c. ...
Tavistock is a town in Devon, England, lying on the River Tavy on the edge of Dartmoor. ...
The accent has arguably been given most prominence outside its native region by The Wurzels, a comic North Somerset/Bristol band from whom the term Scrumpy and Western music originated. In an unusual regional breakout their song Combine Harvester reached the top of the UK charts in 1976, where it did absolutely nothing to dispel the "simple farmer" stereotype of Somerset folk. It and all their songs are sung entirely in a local version of the accent. Adge Cutler and The Wurzels, renamed The Wurzels after Cutlers death, are a British Scrumpy and Western band. ...
Scrumpy and Western refers humorously to music from Englands West Country that fuses comical folk-style songs, often full of double entendre, with affectionate parodies of more mainstream musical genres, all delivered in the local accent. ...
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by the Official UK Charts Company on behalf of the music industry. ...
1976 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ...
Origins Until the 19th century the West Country and its dialects were largely protected from outside influences due to its relative geographical isolation. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The West Country dialects derive not from a corrupted form of modern English, but reflect the historical origins of the English language and its historical pronunciation. Much of it was derived from Old English and its Saxon roots. It is thought that the various local dialects may reflect the territories of various Saxon clans (who had their own dialects of Saxon), while the progress of their occupation explains the greater dominance of a more Germanic accent in the earlier and more heavily occupied eastern parts of the region, while the slower and lower density Saxon infiltration into Devon enabled more of a Celtic accent to be retained. The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...
Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon) is an early form of the English language that was spoken in parts of what is now England and southern Scotland between the mid-fifth century and the mid-twelfth century. ...
Old Saxon, also known as Old Low German, is a Germanic language. ...
In literature John Cowper Powys (October 8, 1872 - June 17, 1963) was a British (English-Welsh) writer, lecturer, and philosopher. ...
William Barnes (1801 - 1886) was an English writer, poet, minister, and philologist. ...
Photograph of Hardy Thomas Hardy, OM (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was a novelist and poet, generally regarded as one of the greatest figures in English literature. ...
See also This article deals with the history of the English language. ...
Mummerset is an invented English language dialect used by actors that mimics the stereotypical speech of rural Southern England, while not being specific to one area. ...
Shortcut: UK topics This is a list of topics related to the United Kingdom. ...
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