There's no such thing as a British accent!

Valkyira

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Kayner100 said:
Valkyira said:
Kayner100 said:
well im northern irish and i have the passport on the left, you know the british one and in it, it say: nationality-british
you seem to have something against northern irish people, im not saying that northern ireland is in britain, im saying that northern irish people are british
Valkyira said:
Kayner100 said:
i said technically because of the definitions of wikipedia, in fact people from northern ireland are british since they are all british citizens and have british passports, same with the falklands



I'll also think you'll find, Northern Irish people have Irish passports or those of the United Kingdom. Not British. The first passport is that of the United Kingdom (which Northern Ireland is a part of) The second is a purely Irish passport. Irish people do not use a British passport. As you can see, it says 'United Kingdom Of Great Britain AND Northern Ireland.' Why would they say 'and Northern Ireland' if they were a part of Britain? Because Northern Ireland is not part of Britain.

I have nothing against Irish people wether they're Northern or from the Republic. The passport on the left is NOT a British passport. It is a passport of the United Kingdom.
ok a few questions
do british passports exist?
is northern ireland in the same country as england, scotland and wales?
and if you own a united kingdomian passport are you british?
1. There is no such thing as a British passport, British people use the United Kingdom one as it says 'of Great Britain and Northern Ireland'.
2. Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, but is not part of Great Britain.
3. You are not British if you have a UK passport unless you were born in England, Scotland or Wales.
 

iFail69

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I couldn't agree with this more. I come from Brighton which is on the south coast of England, and out accent is VERY different compared to a scottish one.

both are British, but they are not the same accent, mine is English and a Scottish accent is a Scottish accent.
 

Fetzenfisch

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Valkyira said:
ProfessorLayton said:
Because it doesn't matter. You know what they're talking about, right?
That's not the point. The point is that they're incorrect. I'm pissed off about it, but some people are downright offended at other people's ignorance.
I hardly believe that you never used terms like "French-Accent" "Spanish-Accent" "German-Accent"
Every country thats bigger than 50squaremiles has a lot of different accents, dialects, regiolects,sociolects etcetcetc..

But there are some outstanding features that they may have in common in pronounciation and thats what, as we all know is meant with such a phrase
 

Optimus Hagrid

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It doesn't matter where from Britian you are from, your accent originated from Britian, so it is a British accent.

It would be acceptable for a foriegn person to say "Hey, you have a British accent!", but if I were to say to my friend "Hey, you have a British accent!" he would most likely slap me.

If someone confused British accents with Irish and Scottish accents, well that's just plain ignorant.
 

SamFancyPants252

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there are so many variations that in England, you can identify which town someone grew up in by listeing to them talk. My Mum has a Huddersfield accent, my dada a bailiff bridge one and those two places are no more than a mile apart.
Yes, it annoys me too. I think ignorant people believe all Brits sip tea and eat cucumber sandwiches like royalty, and go "oh george, that was EVER such a great story *chuckle*"
 

Kayner100

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Valkyira said:
Kayner100 said:
Valkyira said:
Kayner100 said:
well im northern irish and i have the passport on the left, you know the british one and in it, it say: nationality-british
you seem to have something against northern irish people, im not saying that northern ireland is in britain, im saying that northern irish people are british
Valkyira said:
Kayner100 said:
i said technically because of the definitions of wikipedia, in fact people from northern ireland are british since they are all british citizens and have british passports, same with the falklands



I'll also think you'll find, Northern Irish people have Irish passports or those of the United Kingdom. Not British. The first passport is that of the United Kingdom (which Northern Ireland is a part of) The second is a purely Irish passport. Irish people do not use a British passport. As you can see, it says 'United Kingdom Of Great Britain AND Northern Ireland.' Why would they say 'and Northern Ireland' if they were a part of Britain? Because Northern Ireland is not part of Britain.

I have nothing against Irish people wether they're Northern or from the Republic. The passport on the left is NOT a British passport. It is a passport of the United Kingdom.
ok a few questions
do british passports exist?
is northern ireland in the same country as england, scotland and wales?
and if you own a united kingdomian passport are you british?
1. There is no such thing as a British passport, British people use the United Kingdom one as it says 'of Great Britain and Northern Ireland'.
2. Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, but is not part of Great Britain.
3. You are not British if you have a UK passport unless you were born in England, Scotland or Wales.
british citizenship is given to those born within the united kingdom and the british commonwealth, see The British Nationality Act of 1981
since northern ireland is a country of the united kingdom all who are born there are declared british on birth,
your idea of a british citizen must be completely different to the british governments idea of a british citizen
i am northern irish and i have the exact same passport as an english, scottish and welsh person and all say that their nationality is british
 

JasonKaotic

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Flames66 said:
I always specify that I am English, not just British so yes it could get on my nerves slightly.
You call yourself English? Wow, I thought I was the only one. I love you man :')


& Yeah, ENGLAND has loads of different accents. The stereotypical one is the posh one, a stereotype which really pisses me off.
I have a Gloucestershire accent, apparently we sound like farmers (I don't know if we do), places like Birmingham have an accent I can't really describe, etc etc. The only place I can think of that has that annoying posh accent is maybe some snooty upper-class parts of London, the rest of London has the opposite of a posh accent.

It's kinda funny when shows like Family Guy give us an Australian accent though X)
 

Flames66

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Jasonater said:
Flames66 said:
I always specify that I am English, not just British so yes it could get on my nerves slightly.
You call yourself English? Wow, I thought I was the only one. I love you man :')


& Yeah, ENGLAND has loads of different accents. The stereotypical one is the posh one, a stereotype which really pisses me off.
I have a Gloucestershire accent, apparently we sound like farmers (I don't know if we do), places like Birmingham have an accent I can't really describe, etc etc. The only place I can think of that has that annoying posh accent is maybe some snooty upper-class parts of London, the rest of London has the opposite of a posh accent.

It's kinda funny when shows like Family Guy give us an Australian accent though X)
The family guy Englishman stereotype is hilarious. I just find it funny whenever an English person is shown in an American film, it's always so terrible that it's cringe worthy.

I personally have a mildly posh sounding Devon accent.
 

mokes310

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unoleian said:
mokes310 said:
What 99.99999% of every respondent in this thread is referring to is a dialect. An "accent" is the sound of an individuals primary language imposed upon another: i.e., a native Madarin-Chinese speaker having trouble with the letter "L" in the word really/re-RRy, etc. So, when someone says that they have a "British accent" or "Texan accent", they are really saying that they have a specific DIALECT.
Maybe I'm mistaken, but doesn't dialect also encompass colloquialisms as well as pronunciation?
Nearest example I can think of is the word "hon." You talk to someone from, say, Texas or Georgia, and they'll use the word "hon" in the most impersonal of manners. Go north, and the only time you'll hear that word may be in reference to a close relation, if at all. That's dialect.

Accent is hearing a person from Maine call a car a "caaaah," while a person from somewhere in Texas would likely say "cawr." But that's not encompassing dialect.

Splitting hairs? Probably, and maybe I'm horribly mistaken, but I did read several definitions of 'dialect' before approaching this to make certain I wasn't making a complete fool of myself. Far as I can tell, I'm fairly certain I'm on the right track here.
Apologies for the delay unoleian, but both of the examples you provided would fall under the catagory of Dialect, as explained to me by my Linguistics professor.

He broke it down very simply for me, and hopefully, for the rest of everyone here.

A dialect refers to the differences in what we hear when two people speak their primary language in different fashions. Much like the example about the word car that you provided.

An accent is what we hear when our primary language is imposed upon a/our secondary language, like when certain Asian ethnicities have difficulties pronoucing the letter "L" in English. This can be complicated by socities that have to primary languages, like those who speak Gaelic and English. For example, if an Irishman learned Gaelic as his primary language, then learned English, the sound you would hear if he spoke English would then be an accent because it is not his primary language.

Hopefully that makes sense, and I'm open to more discussion.

Oh, and by the way: GO TEAM VENTURE!

Source materials:
Presentations in Everyday Life: Strategies for Effective Speaking by Isa Engleberg & John Daly (2005)

Your Voice and Articulation, 4th ed. by Ethel C. Glenn, Phillip J. Glenn, & Sandra Forman (1998)
 

Waif

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This is an interesting perspective, but what if British Accent is used as a general term for anyone for who lives in Great Britain? It may have come about when it was easier to distinguish British people in terms of British accent. To say a person has an English accent, feels strange. I speak English, but I would not say I have an English accent. Even though technically such a term would be referring to British folk. It's a bit more complex than this, I think.
 

Danny Ocean

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ProfessorLayton said:
Because it doesn't matter. You know what they're talking about, right?

Jack and Calumon said:
Calumon: I guess it's the same when you say American Accents.
Exactly. America is made up of 50 different states and different areas. People from the South don't have the same exact accents as people from up North, but I don't really care when you say American accent because I know what you're talking about.
I think the difference is that American accents don't differ as much as accents within the UK. I can't imagine a situation in which an American from one part of the USA wouldn't be able to understand one from another, because there is a basic uniformity which isn't present in the UK beyond syntax. Different areas have whole dictionaries of slang which no-one from beyond that area will be able to comprehend.
 

dragonslayer32

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seriously, if someone says britain, what country pops into your head? for the majority of people, it is england. i know, it is wrong but it is the way things are.
 

GrinningManiac

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I say English accent (being English), but I don't like calling myself English. Within England, it promotes an image of a xenophobic, bald, overweight bigot who shouts about P*kis and Jews and watched football 24/7, OUTSIDE of England it just promotes and image of snooty, elitist slavers/colonists who opress everyone.

I say I'm British inside Britain, and Scottish outside (thank god for my Dad's genes)
 

Dags90

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Danny Ocean said:
I think the difference is that American accents don't differ as much as accents within the UK. I can't imagine a situation in which an American from one part of the USA wouldn't be able to understand one from another, because there is a basic uniformity which isn't present in the UK beyond syntax. Different areas have whole dictionaries of slang which no-one from beyond that area will be able to comprehend.
You've clearly never seen Airplane!

I would say I have an American accent, as in "I have one of many varieties of American accents."

A square is also a rectangle. A rectangle is also a quadrilateral, however much it hates being placed in the same category as rhombuses.
 

technoted

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You forgot the common logic of it depends where in England you're from, I'm from Yorkshire and I sound completely different from a person down south.
 

Randomologist

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There are British people, who define themselves as living in one of the four countries. Equally, there are British accents, as they belong to one of the four. I suppose the plural must be a sticking point. We (us Brits) always seem to be portrayed as either having a plummy voice, going Toodle-Pip and sounding rather like the Queen, or as having a Cockney accent and sounding like this scene from Austin Powers Goldmember: