Mancunian Accents

Richard   Fri Oct 13, 2006 9:36 am GMT
Hi there,

I have been living in Manchester now for 4 years, having moved there from Kilmarnock in Scotland. I have begun to notice that I am gradually talking with a more mancunian accent, but I would like to know what the features of one are just to confirm it.

Normally, Im very good with features of accents having looked at it some years ago at University, but I just cant quite pin down the features of a Manc accent.

Has anybody any ideas?
Guest   Fri Oct 13, 2006 2:04 pm GMT
We can't hear you from here unfortunately. How about an audio sample?
Rick Johnson   Fri Oct 13, 2006 9:42 pm GMT
As above!

The problem is there are there are several accents around Manchester with very different features. There are accents which come are derived broad flat Lancashire accents and modern urban accents which have spikey "a" and "i" sounds. Coronation St has a new family, all of whom have such different Greater Manchester accents as to proclude any actual relationship unless they had each been brought up separately!






"I hate liver and bacon"
ankur chandra   Fri Oct 13, 2006 10:53 pm GMT
SIR I WANT SPEAKE ENGLISH .
Q   Sat Oct 14, 2006 2:16 am GMT
>> SIR I WANT SPEAKE ENGLISH . <<

Lol. I can't stop laughing. Looks just like out of those "Engrish" books.
Damian in London N2   Sat Oct 14, 2006 2:55 pm GMT
Mancunian accents - Voice Clip 1 on this link - you can listen to a group of sixth formers (that's the last grade in English schools prior to gaining their A-level exams (that's in England and Wales - in Scotland they are called Highers) which in turn gains them entry to university). This group is from Salford, which is part of Manchester, and they have the typical Mancunian accent. When one of the girls says the word "really" it is so characteristic of the area - it reminds me of Audrey in Coronation Street (which is set in Manchester anyway...in the mythical suburb of Weatherfield). It's interesting when they discuss the "Manchester" way of pronouncing the word "hanging"...comes out as ['ang-gin'] with the second "g" hard as in "get".

Audio needed

http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/recordings/group/gmr-salford.shtml
Robin   Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:35 am GMT
Well everybody, I used to live in Alderley Edge. I never had a local accent.
Damian in London N2   Sun Oct 15, 2006 9:34 am GMT
Alderley Edge? Cheshire stockbroker belt and hardly urban city centre Manchester! Does Alderley Edge actually have a local accent and isn't it full of millionaires anyway? I reckon Alderley Edge is much more likely to be predominantly RP English English than basic Salford Mancspeak :-)

http://www.wilmslow.org.uk/alderley/alderleyedge.html
Robin   Mon Oct 16, 2006 4:14 am GMT
Hello Damien

I don't think there are all that many Stockbrokers in Alderley Edge, but I take the point that you make. That does not mean that Alderley Edge does not have has a selection of accents, some of which are local, in the same way that Salford has a selection of accents.

Obviously it is not a Manchester accent, in the same way that Salford is not a Manchester accent. I suppose you could argue that Salford is in Greater Manchester, where as Alderley Edge is in Cheshire, a distinction the locals are very keen to preserve.

I went to school in Wilmslow, where some of the pupils who came from Handforth were 'Manchester Overspill' from places like Levenshulme.

The Manchester conurbation is a fairly recent phenomena i.e. dating from the Industrial Revolution. Who is to say that recent immigrants with a 'working class' accent, have a more authentic accent than people who have been around a lot longer.

In Scotland, where I live now, my ex-girlfriends parents speak proper English, rather than the local dialect, which they very much look down on.