The West Country Accent reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

West Country Accent

The West Country Accent is the name generally given to the group of English accents used by the majority of people in the south west of England, popularly known as the West Country. This is the region centred on the counties of Devon (Devern), Cornwall (Corrnwahll), Somerset (Zummerzet), parts of Gloucestershire (Glarstershire) and Dorset (Darzet).

The characteristic features of the accent of the region include

• A slower, drawling manner of speech, with lengthened vowel sounds.
• The inital "s" is pronounced as "z".
• "r"s are pronounced far more prominently than in Standard English.
• An initial "f" may become pronounced "v", as in varmer Joe
• In the Bristol area a terminal "a" is often followed by an intrusive "l". Hence the old joke about the three Bristolian sisters Evil, Idle and Normal.
• In some rural districts the second person singular thee and thou forms are occasionally retained, thee often constricted to ee.

The accents are versions of Standard English and should not be confused with Cornish, which is a separate language with Celtic roots. Not strong enough to be considered dialect forms, strong south western accents can still be difficult for speakers of Standard English to understand. They share certain characteristics with other rural accents, for example those in parts of East Anglia, and popular prejudice stereotypes speakers as unsophisticated and even backward, due possibly to the deliberate and lengthened nature of the accent. This can work to the West Country speaker's advantage, however: recent studies of how trustworthy Britons find their fellows based on their regional accents put the West Country accent high up, under southern Scottish English but a long way above Cockney and Scouse. Presumably anyone who sounds like a simple farmer is thought to be incapable of guile!

The West Country accent is probably most identified in American English as "pirate speech" -- cartoon-like "Ooh arr, me 'earties! Sploice the mainbrace!" talk is very similar. This may be a result of the strong seafaring tradition of the West Country, both legal and outlaw. Edward Teach (Blackbeard) was a native of Bristol, and privateer and English hero Francis Drake hailed from Tavistock in Devon.

The accent has arguably been given most prominence outside its native region by The Wurzels, a comic North Somerset/Bristol band from whom the term Scrumpy and Western music originated. In an unusual regional_breakout their song Combine Harvester reached the top of the UK charts in 1976, where it did absolutely nothing to dispel the "simple farmer" stereotype of Somerset folk. It and all their songs are sung entirely in a local version of the accent.

Related Link

ThatBeBristle's Bristolian Dictionary

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