Could someone tell me whether this is a standard English accent, it sounds quiet different to me, but I was wondering what others thought.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu_moia-oVI
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu_moia-oVI
Please Identify Accent
Rick Astley was born in 1966 in Newton-le-Willows, near St Helens, Merseyside, North West England, an area which was once part of Lancashire before local authority boundary changes in England. He may well have had a recognisable Lancashire acent at one time but it certainly doesn't seem like it any more in this singing anyway. I have never heard him speak so I don't know. Anyway, he apparently now lives in posh, smart very English English RP speaking Richmond, formerly in Surrey but now part of the south western suburbs of Greater London. His wife is Danish, his offspring British, of course.
Newton-le-Willows is one of those places that have the very French definite article contained in its name - there are other "le" or "la" (and others) placenames dotted all over England - such as Chapel-en-le-Frith, Stanford-le-Hope, Poulton-le-Fylde, Ashby de la Zouch.......a throwback to the days of the Norman Conquest.
I tell a lie every time I click to send off a post in this forum - I really like spam, especially in fritters with plenty of Branstons.
Newton-le-Willows is one of those places that have the very French definite article contained in its name - there are other "le" or "la" (and others) placenames dotted all over England - such as Chapel-en-le-Frith, Stanford-le-Hope, Poulton-le-Fylde, Ashby de la Zouch.......a throwback to the days of the Norman Conquest.
I tell a lie every time I click to send off a post in this forum - I really like spam, especially in fritters with plenty of Branstons.
In the video he seems to be using a sort of international pop music accent with some Southern US influence. I honestly wouldn't be able to tell that he was English from the video.
I would definitely not say that the accent is the same as what is spoken on the national news. It is characterized by a monopthongized "long o" sound, as made famous in the North, but also by a vowel shift known as the "Northern Cities Shift" where the ae sound is extremely raised and nasal, and the "o" sound line in the word "on" is spoken in the same place as where the "ae" sound is normally spoken. We also have a very retroflex "r" sound, more so than in general American accents. The webmaster of the Northern accent site says it makes us sound like upperclass people sometimes