Research on accents and dialects

The Birmingham accent/dialect
There doesn't seem to be a key origin for this accent but many believe that Immigration from country accents and black country people was a cause as they took jobs in the factories of birmingham therefore rejuvinating the Birmingham accent. Some people believe that Shakespeare is a major influence on the Birmingham accent and that he actually spoke in an accent similar to the Birmingham accent today, however this is only a theory and is not prooven. Also Medieval english is also said to be similar to the Birmingham accent and Geoffrey Chaucer was a poet during that time (1300's) so this influence may have stuck in certain parts of england e.g. Birmingham.

Characteristics of the accent include; rounding of the long I sound and the downward intonation of both words and sentence endings. Both of these elements seem to make other Brits think Brummies are unimaginative and even "thick" The rhythm of a Brummie sentence is just as important as the pronunciation. It has a fairly monotonal sound which can make the accent seem quite boring or unenthusiastic,it definitely has less tonality on a whole than RP, Estuary and most of the northern accents. Words like Friday start to sound like "Froyday." The "a" sound at the end of the word is also underarticulated because of the downward intonation, so it comes out sounding like "Froydeh." The "ee" sound is over pronounced though so "city" is pronounced like "si-tee" and even "si-tay" the closer one gets to the Black Koontray (Country) to the west of Birmingham.

An example of celebrities with the accent are the Osbournes but predominately musician, Ozzy Osbourne. Another example is comedian Jasper Carrot. An RP version of the Birmingham accent is used by presenters,  Cat Deeley is a prime example of this.

Birmingham is located in the midlands of the uk:


Phrases or Words used/ Dialect:
Cob - for a roll
Fast, Bath, Last - Pronounced without an r sound
All roight - typical Birmingham greeting
Point - when asking for a pint of beer

Babby  -Variation of "baby"

Bawlin, Bawl -To cry, as in "She started to bawl'"

Donnie - Hands, "Go and wash your donnies"

Go and play up your own end - Said to children from a different street making a nuisance. It has been used as the title of the autobiographical book and musical play about the Birmingham childhood of radio presenter and entertainer Malcolm Stent

Pop - Another word for a glass of fizzy drinks, do you want a glass of pop

Rock - A children's hard sweet (as in "give us a rock") (In the Black Country it would be "give us a suck" Suck being a hard sweet) = LOL.

Throw a paddy -To become sulky or have a tantrum (paddy being a stereotyped 'stroppy' Irishman; presumably relating to the Irish resistance to British rule)

Up the cut - Up the canal (not unique to Birmingham)

Details of the accent: It is not the only accent of the West Midlands, although the term, Brummie, is often, erroneously, used in referring to all accents of the region. It is markedly distinct from the traditional accent of the adjacent Black Country, although modern-day population mobility has tended to blur the distinction.
The strength of a persons' accent varies greatly all across Birmingham. Like most cities, the accent changes relative to the area of the city. A common misconception is that everyone in Birmingham speaks the same accent.Has on overall negative representation among Britain and is known as one of the most undesirable accent.