Editing Regional accents of English (section)

==Britain and Ireland==
{{Main|British English}}

Accents and dialects vary widely across Great Britain, Ireland and nearby smaller islands. The UK has the most local accents of any English-speaking country.{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}} As such, a single "British accent" does not exist. Someone could be said to have an English, Scottish, Welsh, or Irish accent, although these all have many different subtypes.

===England===
{{main|English language in England#Overview of regional accents}}
====Southern England====
{{+rs|date=February 2025}}
There are considerable variations within the accents of English across England, one of the most obvious being the [[trap–bath split]] of the southern half of the country.

Two main sets of accents are spoken in the [[West Country]], namely [[Cornish dialect|Cornish]] and [[West Country dialects|West Country]], spoken primarily in the counties of [[Devon]], [[Somerset]], [[Gloucestershire]], [[Bristol]], [[Dorset]] (not as common in Dorset), and [[Wiltshire]] (again, less common in eastern Wiltshire). A range of variations can be heard within different parts of the West Country: The [[Bristolian dialect]] is distinctive from the accent heard in [[Gloucestershire]] (especially south of [[Cheltenham]]), for example.

The [[Cornwall|Cornish]] accent has an east–west variation, with the east of the county having influences from West Country English and the west of the county having direct influences from the [[Cornish language]].

There is great variation within Greater [[London]], with various accents such as [[Cockney]], [[Estuary English]], [[Multicultural London English]], and [[Received Pronunciation]] being found all throughout the region and the [[Home Counties]].

Other accents are those of
* the [[East Midlands English|East Midlands]] ([[Derby]], [[Leicester]] and [[Rutland]], [[Lincoln, England|Lincoln]], [[Northampton]], and [[Nottingham]])
* [[East Anglian English|East Anglia]] ([[Norfolk]], [[Suffolk]], and [[Cambridgeshire]]) 
* the [[Home Counties]] (typically [[Buckinghamshire]], [[Essex]], [[Hertfordshire]], [[Berkshire]], [[Surrey]], [[Sussex]], [[Kent]], and [[Hampshire]]). The [[Essex]] accent has an east–west variation, with the county's west having Estuary English speech features and the county's east having the traditional [[Essex dialect|Essaxon]]/[[East Anglian English|East Anglian]] features.
* A range of accents are spoken in the [[West Midlands English|West Midlands]] (in the major towns and conurbations ([[The Black Country]], [[Birmingham]], [[Coventry]], [[Stoke-on-Trent]] (considered by many to have tones of [[scouse]]), and [[Wolverhampton]]) and in rural areas (such as in Herefordshire and south Worcestershire).

In February 2019, the ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' published a quiz that maps the geographical differences between British and Irish dialects.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/02/15/upshot/british-irish-dialect-quiz.html|title=The British-Irish Dialect Quiz|last=Katz|first=Josh|date=2019-02-15|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-02-20|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

====Northern England====
The accents of [[English in northern England|Northern England]] have a range of regional variations.

[[Cumbrian dialect|Cumbria]] has regional variants in Western Cumbria ([[Workington]]), Southern Cumbria ([[Barrow-in-Furness]]), and [[Carlisle]].

[[Northumbrian dialect|Modern Northumbrian]] has local variants in Northern Northumberland ([[Berwick-upon-Tweed]]), Eastern Northumberland ([[Ashington]]) and [[Geordie|Newcastle]], [[Mackem|Sunderland]], and mid- and southern [[County Durham]]. A specialist dialect called [[Pitmatic]] is within this group, found across the region. It includes terms specific to coal mining.

[[Yorkshire dialect|Yorkshire]] is distinctive, having regional variants around [[Leeds]], [[Bradford]], [[Kingston upon Hull|Hull]], [[Middlesbrough]], [[Sheffield]], and [[York]]. Although many Yorkshire accents sound similar, accents in areas around Hull and Middlesbrough are markedly different. Due to this, the Middlesbrough accent is sometimes grouped, with modern Northumbrian accents being a midway between the two regions.

The Hull accent's rhythm is more like that of northern Lincolnshire than that of the rural East Riding, perhaps due to migration from Lincolnshire to the city during its industrial growth. One feature that it shares with the surrounding rural area is that an /aɪ/ sound in the middle of a word often becomes an /ɑː/, for example, "five" may sound like "fahve", and "time" like "tahme".

[[Lancashire dialect|Historic Lancashire]], with regional variants in [[Bolton]], [[Burnley]], [[Blackburn]], [[Manchester dialect|Manchester]], [[Preston, Lancashire|Preston]], [[Blackpool]], [[Scouse|Liverpool]], and [[Wigan]]. Many of the Lancashire accents may sound similar to outsiders, with the exception of Manchester and Wigan, where an older dialect has been maintained.<ref>{{cite web|title = Speyk Wiganese: How the town of Wigan preserved its language through mining, pies and Facebook weather forecasts|website = inews.co.uk|url = https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/speyk-wiganese-how-the-town-of-wigan-preserved-its-language-through-mining-pies-and-facebook-weather-forecasts-399054|first = Jasmine |last=Andersson |date = 24 February 2020}}</ref>

The [[Liverpool]] accent, known as [[Scouse]], is an exception to the Lancashire regional variant of English. It has spread to some of the surrounding towns. Before the 1840s, Liverpool's accent was similar to others in Lancashire, though with some distinct features due to the city's proximity to [[Wales]]. The city's population of around 60,000 was swelled in the 1840s by the arrival of around 300,000 Irish refugees escaping the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Famine]], as Liverpool was England's [[Port of Liverpool|main Atlantic port]] and a popular departure point for people leaving for a new life in the [[United States]]. While many of the Irish refugees moved away, a vast number remained in Liverpool and permanently influenced the local accent.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/content/articles/2005/01/11/voices_liverpoolaccent_feature.shtml  Paul Coslett, ''The origins of Scouse'', BBC Liverpool, 11 January 2005]. Retrieved 13 August 2018</ref>

===Scotland===
The regional accents of [[Scottish English]] generally draw on the [[Phoneme|phoneme inventory]] of the dialects of [[Modern Scots]], a language spoken by around 30% of the Scottish population<ref>{{cite book |editor=Mairi Robinson |title=The Concise Scots Dictionary |publisher=Aberdeen University Press |year=1985 |page=xxxi}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dsl.ac.uk/about-scots/the-scots-language/#sl11 |title=Phonetic characteristics of dialect districts |publisher=[[Dictionary of the Scots Language]] |website=Dsl.ac.uk |access-date=8 October 2015}}</ref> with characteristic vowel realisations due to the [[Scottish vowel length rule]].
[[Highland English]] accents are more strongly influenced by [[Scottish Gaelic]] than other forms of Scottish English.

===Wales===
{{Main|Welsh English}}

The accents of English in [[Wales]] are strongly influenced by the phonology of the [[Welsh language]], which more than 20% of the population of Wales speak as their first or [[second language]]. The [[North Wales]] accent is distinct from [[South Wales]]. North East Wales is influenced by [[Scouse]] and [[Cheshire]] accents. South East Wales accents are influenced by [[West Country]] accents. The [[Wenglish]] of the [[South Wales Valleys]] shows a deep cross-fertilisation between the two.{{clarify|date=December 2020}}{{Fix|text=Which two?}}

The [[Cardiff dialect]] and accent is quite distinctive from that of the [[South Wales Valleys]], primarily:
*Rounding of the second element of {{IPA|/ɪə/}} to {{IPA|[jøː]}}<ref name="Phonetics"/><ref name="Cardiff accent"/>
**''here'' {{IPA|/hɪə/}} pronounced {{IPA|[hjøː]}} or {{IPA|[jøː]}} in broader accents
*A closer pronunciation of {{IPAc-en|ʌ}} as in ''love'' and ''other''<ref name="Cardiff accent"/>
*{{IPA|/ɑː/}} is widely realised as {{IPAblink|aː}}, giving a pronunciation of ''Cardiff'' {{IPA|/ˈkɑːdɪf/}} as {{IPA|[ˈkaːdɪf]}}

===Isle of Man===
[[Manx English]] has its own distinctive accent, influenced to some extent by the Lancashire dialect and to a lesser extent by some variant of Irish English.

===Ireland===
{{Main|Hiberno-English}}
[[Ireland]] has several main groups of accents, including (1) the accents of Ulster, with a strong influence from Scotland as well as the underlying Gaelic linguistic stratum, which in that province approaches the Gaelic of Scotland, (2) those of Dublin and surrounding areas on the east coast where English has been spoken since the earliest period of colonisation from Britain, and (3) the various accents of west, midlands, and south.

====Ulster====

The [[Ulster]] accent has two main sub accents, namely [[Mid Ulster English]] and [[Ulster Scots dialects|Ulster Scots]]. The language is spoken throughout the nine counties of Ulster and in some northern areas of bordering counties such as [[County Louth|Louth]] and [[County Leitrim|Leitrim]]. It bears many similarities to Scottish English through influence from the [[Ulster Scots dialects|Ulster varieties]] of [[Scots language|Scots]].
Some characteristics of the Ulster accent include:

* As in Scotland, the vowels {{IPA|/ʊ/}} and {{IPA|/u/}} are merged, so that ''look'' and ''Luke'' are homophonous. The vowel is a [[high central rounded vowel]], {{IPA|[ʉ]}}.
* The diphthong {{IPA|/aʊ/}} is pronounced approximately {{IPA|[əʉ]}}, but wide variation exists, especially between [[social class]]es in [[Belfast]].
* In Belfast, {{IPA|/eɪ/}} is a monophthong in open syllables (e.g. ''day'' {{IPA|[dɛː]}}) but an ingliding diphthong in closed syllables (e.g. ''daze'' {{IPA|[deəz]}}). But the monophthong remains when inflectional endings are added, thus ''daze'' contrasts with ''days'' {{IPA|[dɛːz]}}.
* The [[alveolar consonant|alveolar stops]] {{IPA|/t, d/}} become [[dental consonant|dental]] before {{IPA|/r, ər/}}, e.g. '''''t'''ree'' and ''spi'''d'''er''.
* {{IPA|/t/}} often undergoes [[flapping]] to {{IPA|[ɾ]}} before an [[lexical stress|unstressed]] syllable, e.g. ''eighty'' {{IPA|[ˈeəɾi]}}

====Connacht, Leinster, and Munster====
{{Unreferenced section|date=February 2025}}
The accent of these three [[Provinces of Ireland|provinces]] fluctuates greatly from the flat tone of the midlands counties of Laois, Kildare, and Offaly to the perceived [[Intonation (linguistics)|sing-song]] of Cork and Kerry to the soft accents of Mayo and Galway.

Historically, the Dublin City and county area, parts of Wicklow and Louth, came under heavy exclusive influence from the first English settlements, known as ''The Pale''. It remained until Independence from Britain as the biggest concentration of English influence on the whole island.

Some Cork accents have a unique lyrical intonation. Every sentence typically ends in the trademark elongated tail-off on the last word. In Cork, heavier emphasis yet is put on the "brrr" sound to the letter "R." This is usually the dialect in northern parts of Cork City.

Similar to the Cork accent but without the same intonation, Kerry puts even heavier emphasis on the "brrr" sound to the letter "R.", for example, the word "forty". Throughout the south, this word is pronounced whereby the "r" exhibits the typified Irish "brrr". In Kerry, especially in rural areas, the roll on the "r" is enforced with vibrations from the tongue, not unlike Scottish here. 

"Are you?" becomes a cojoined "A-rrou?" single tongue flutter, especially in rural areas. This extra emphasis on "R" is also seen in varying measures through parts of West Limerick and West Cork in closer proximity to Kerry.

Another feature in the Kerry accent is the "S" before the consonant. True to its Gaelic origins in a manner similar to parts of Connacht, "s" maintains the "shh" sound as in "shop" or "sheep". The word "start" becomes "shtart", and "stop" becomes "shtop".

====Irish Travellers====

{{Unreferenced section|date=November 2006}}
[[Irish Traveller]]s have a very distinct accent closely related to a rural [[Hiberno-English]], particularly the English of south-eastern Ireland. Many Irish Travellers who were born in parts of Dublin or Britain have the accent in spite of it being strikingly different from the local accents in those regions. They have their own language, [[Shelta]], which strongly links in with their dialect/accent of English.