What accent do they speak with?

[alexpen]

Can you help me to determine the accent the woman on the video has?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dLqK0cFwukQ
Pretty sure, the man speaks with an American accent.

 

[jutfrank]

She's English and has an English RP accent.

Conan is from the US of course. He has an American accent.

(cross-posted)

 

[alexpen]

She has a southern British (English) fairly educated English accent.

So I thought, except for the southern part. Thank you.

 

[alexpen]

She has a southern British (English) fairly educated English accent.

One more thing: so she sounds British to the core? No foreign accent whatsoever there?

 

[alexpen]

What many people think of as the BrE accent is in fact a BrE accent. There are many accents within the UK, indeed within England.

Do you think that I think there are many American accents but only one British? This would be such a fun assumption.

 

[alexpen]

I did not think because I have no idea how the English categorize their accents geographically, although I do know a little of how the Scottish English and Irish English sound. But if I knew all about it, I would not probably be asking in this forum.



I hasten to add that many reasonably educated people from southern England do not speak with that accent these days.

Why? Because it is snobbish? Then what do they speak? I guess few are able to sound naturally trying to break from pronunciation habits...

 

[emsr2d2]

There is really no such thing as a standard accent these days. The pronunciation of certain words can mark people as being from certain parts of the UK but within different regions there are lots of different voices/accents.

In the south-east of England, where I'm from, you'll hear people speak with everything from old-fashioned RP to what used to be called "common" or "council estate" English. In some cases, you can hazard a guess as to their level of education but frequently it is no indicator of educational level at all.

 

[jutfrank]

She has a southern British (English) fairly educated English accent.

That woman's accent is fairly typical of many reasonably educated people in southern England. I hasten to add that many reasonably educated people from southern England do not speak with that accent these days.

I'm really not sure what point you may be trying to make here. There is no connection between somebody's 'degree of education' (whatever that means) and the way they pronounce words.

If you are thinking about the type of school that a person has attended (i.e. a public school), I do think that these institutions can reinforce in a student a pre-existing accent that is much more to do with social class than anything else. It is statistically likely that students enrolled at expensive public schools are from middle or upper class families. Furthermore, it is not accurate to claim that public school attendees are 'more educated' than anyone else, even if you believe that the general level of education is of a higher quality.

If, by 'educated', you are talking about experience of tertiary education (university level), I certainly don't think this has any bearing on shaping a person's accent either, not least because one's accent is likely to be fixed by the age of entry.

Also, if the woman in the video speaks with a 'fairly/reasonably educated' accent, are you suggesting that there are those who are 'more' educated than her, who speak differently? Or that there are those who speak with a 'more educated accent' than her?

I'm sure you mean no offence, but I find this use of 'educated' slightly worrying. It seems to me that it has sometimes historically been used euphemistically and derogatorily by the upper/middle classes as a means of class identification, for whatever end.

 

[alexpen]

Her accent - or utterance - is neat. I like it, despite the fact that it sounds a tad sophisticated. But I have seen people on Youtube teaching English whose pronunciation is deliberately exaggerated, snobbish - yet, they receive accolades all around.

 

[jutfrank]

Until well into the 1960s there was a a fairly close connection between one's degree of education and/or one's social class and one's accent

I hope I haven't misunderstood. What do you mean here by 'degree of education'?

I meant, roughly speaking that a person who speaks as she does is unlikely, to have left school at sixteen.

I'm not entirely sure I follow the thought. Why do you think somebody who speaks like her is unlikely to have left school at sixteen? Because people of her class were likely to have been encouraged to go to university?

Are you attributing the possibility of her having gone to university as in some way playing a causal role in the development of her accent/manner of speech? This may be where I've misunderstood. If the connection between somebody's having gone to university and their accent or manner of speech is merely statistical (i.e. non-causal), in what way is it relevant?

'Accent' was the wrong word - I was thinking of her manner of delivery, sentence structure, vocabulary and accent.

All of which you mean are signs of being 'fairly educated'? Again, it's not clear to me in what sense you're using the word 'educated'. Do you mean in the sense of having been taught how to speak and act in a certain way that might be identified as normative to her social class?

It seems to me that it has sometimes historically been used euphemistically and derogatorily by the upper/middle classes as a means of class identification, for whatever end.

I'm sure it has. If you can think of a better term, please share it.

Like I've said, I suspect you may in fact be alluding to signs of class rather than to education. The fact that up until the 1960s people of a higher social class are more likely to have gone to university is not relevant, even if the case remains today. It strikes me that the reason she speaks like that is likely to have very much to do with her social background, and very little, if anything at all, to do with her education.

I wouldn't rule out, however, the possibility that since she is an actress by profession, she may have undergone some training in how to speak in such a way. Still, I don't think that would count as what people would generally understand by the word 'educated'.

 

[alexpen]

I wouldn't rule out, however, the possibility that since she is an actress by profession, she may have undergone some training in how to speak in such a way. Still, I don't think that would count as what people would generally understand by the word 'educated'.

I wouldn't rule out the possibility that most people do not understand 'educated' at all - just pretence at education.

 

[jutfrank]

Piscean—Okay, I'll leave it there.

I understand my sidetracking was irrelevant to the thread. I hope you understand my point.

Thanks for answering. :up: