Is this a Brummie accent?

Here's a video of a girl from Birmingham speaking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJTn1V1Bd3U

There's a comment under it that says that it's obvious she's from Birmingham by her accent. Is it? I would be unable to guess that. She sounds Londonish to me.

It's not distinctively Brummie. I think the comment about elocution lessons is probably more accurate as it sounds like a bit of a mishmash to me. I think the comment may have been influenced by the content more than the sounds, though I didn't listen all the way through.

My mother's a Brummie, and though she "lost" her accent at university, her sister and all of my aunts and uncles still speak authentic working class Brummie. It's true I haven't been back in years, but I did notice a few words that sounded distinctly Brummie.

Having said that, I think TDol is absolutely right that it's a mish-mash overall. She's either changed her accent by living in different places, or like my mother, is slowly erasing it as she gradually feels socially comfortable shedding its characteristics. (Working class English people often seem to feel their accent is less desirable for some reason than other accents, e.g. Oxfordshire.)

:up::up: Not at all Brummie. But that's not surprising. Many other accents (Scots, London, Welsh, Geordie, Yorkshire...) are much more saleable. She almost certainly had elocution lessons at drama school to get rid of any local accent she had.

This anecdote by Rob Brydon may lead you to an interview he gave on the subject of local accents suppressed at drama school.

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It does have some Brummie sounds, along with the rest. I have a few remnants of growing up in the Midlands in some words, like yesterday.

:up: I bow to local knowledge. My understanding of Brummie is the full-on Jack Woolley/Jasper Carrot sort. ;-)

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