Experts claim Northern accent could be lost
It's claimed northern accents could be lost in 45 years.
Last updated 29th Jul 2021
The northern pronunciation of words such as "singer" and "law and order" is slowly being wiped out by the spread of southern versions, according to new research.
Linguist Dr Tamsin Blaxter, from the University of Cambridge, took part in a study which revealed that regional dialects could be lost in 45 years.
She provided the example of "singer" which in parts of the North West and West Midlands traditionally rhymes with "finger".
Dr Blaxter said:
"This pronunciation has survived pretty well over the 20th century, but has started to shift to the pronunciation of the South (and indeed the North East and East Midlands), where these words don't rhyme, and we would project that trend to continue."
The pronunciation of the "L" at the end of a syllable, such as in words like "fill" and "tell" is also changing.
She said:
"Traditionally, northern accents had what is called a 'clear L' here (which sounds exactly the same as 'L' at the beginning of a syllable), whereas people from further south tended to have a 'dark L', which sounds a little 'swallowed', with the tongue raised in the back of the mouth.
"The dark L has spread across much of the North of England (with a hold-out region in Tyneside) and we would project that change gradually continuing."
Dr Blaxter said the "intrusive R" is also changing in words like "thaw(r)ing", "draw(r)ing" and in phrases like "law(r) and order".
She said: "This was historically only found in the South East, but has now spread through the whole of the Midlands and is making inroads into the North - we expect this process to continue."