Hello it’s Jon, your pronunciation and accents coach and right here you can get a better British accent. Today we are looking at Standard Southern British English. It’s an accent tutorial and I’m going to show you what it is, who speaks it and where, I’ll also give you how to speak smoooothly AND I’ll give you a top film tip. So, are you ready? Let’s go!
First some background features What is it? The new standard Standard Southern British English is now the go to expression for calling the standard accent from the South of England. Linguists now agree on the term Standard Southern British English or Southern British English (SBE) as the accent you are likely to hear by actors such as Benedict Cumberbatch (who is from London) and people living in this area. As an extra note - I also speak Standard Southern British English as I was born and raised in the south of England. And by the way, don’t forget to subscribe to the channel and click the bell for notification for more videos on accents. Now, what do we mean by Southern British? Now, let’s establish what Southern British is. It is actually the South of England. That is to say, we are really talking about the Home Counties and London. I’ll show you on my map of England here. The home counties include Kent, Surrey, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Berkshire and Sussex. Plus we can include Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hampshire. These are really the key counties where SBE is spoken. We can include counties like Dorset in the South of England too but the further away from London you go the thicker the accents get. So we can’t go too far! What is not included in SBE? Now, we can’t include dialects in this or any strong accents from the south of England (like Cockney) because they are not standard (even though it’s from London) Also we can’t include the Midlands and the North of England, nor Scotland, Ireland or Wales. So none of this talk alright? (Cockney accent). No, no today we will speak in a standard way. Alright, Let’s move on. SBE Accent Features - How to Speak Smoothly So let’s move on to the tutorial. The main point is to show you how to speak smoothly. So, I’m going to show you how Standard Southern British English is making it easier for you to say sounds. The first one is called Monophthongization (what?) or smoothing. Here’s how we can compare it: Today’s analogy brought to you by Green’s pies. Think of it like you are making the top of a pie. You have the dough and you need to roll the dough as there are a few bumps in the dough. The dough is our voice. But, once you roll it, it becomes nice and smooth. We can apply this to how we speak. We don’t want difficult, bumpy speech - we want Smooth and easy. Why not hit the like button if you like pies! OK let’s get on to smoothing Here are some examples of two ways of saying different sounds: ɑj + ə → ɑː notoriety becomes notoriety ɪj + ə → ɪː dear becomes dear ɛj + ə → ɛː prayer becomes prayer Interestingly, the schwa sound /ə/ disappears in the second version. Now, this is what I believe has happened. Which is easier to say? Prajer or prayer. Of course the second one, So I believe that British English is evolving so that we are making things easier to say, and that has become more important than speaking more carefully. Now have a look at the following words. How do you think we say them? Dear Here Fear Peer Now the fact is that there are really two ways of saying these words. I want to show you the difference and how you can smooth out what you say. So, let’s say these in two ways: The first way Dear Here Fear Peer The second way Dear Here Fear Peer Now, the sound is a lot smoother right? Because it has changed from a diphthong sound (two sounds) to more of a monophthong or single sound. Let’s put it in a sentence and say it both ways. I’ll name them first and second. First My dear, he’s here and I fear that he wants to peer over the fence. Second My dear, he’s here and I fear that he wants to peer over the fence. The second is the more modern way of saying it. It much more common for younger SBE speakers to smooth their vowel sounds. Same rule applies here but different sound. First Way Care Bear Share Pear Second Way Care Bear Share Pear So, you could say: He cares about bears and likes to share his pears. I think these sentences are getting more and more strange! The same rule applies to the third set First Way Pour Unsure Tour Moor Second Way Pour Unsure Tour Moor He was unsure about the tour on the moor as he poured himself another drink. So the word sure has ended up rhyming like shore. Amazing eh? So in all of the phrases the second one is the more modern way of saying the word. Both ways are correct though and it’s your choice which one you choose if you want to speak with this accent. Some people even switch and they can pronounce a word both ways in a conversation, depending on the situation. Ok this is the end of the tutorial part. Now, let’s move on to the top film tip today. It’s an old one but a good one! Top Film Tip Top FilmTip this week is Harry Potter. Now I know the films are not new but the talent of actors and different accents make it a perfect choice to compare different accents. Let’s take the three main characters Harry, Hermione and Ron. They have 3 slightly different accents but you could say that they come under Standard Southern British English. Let’s start with Hermione (Emma Watson), she speaks in a rather posh way, rather like classic RP or received pronunciation. Ron, on the other hand, speaks in a more Estuary English way and Harry, well Harry speaks something in between. The other one to look out for is Severus Snape played by Alan Rickman. He loves saying ‘Harry Potter’ and he also speaks in a Standard Southern British way. So my top tip this week is to watch or rewatch the Harry Potter films to check those accents. Please leave a comment if you want to find out more about the accents in Harry Potter. Final note In this video I wanted to show you how British English is developing as we are moving away from labels like RP. I mean RP is still probably the most desired British accent for people across the world. However, today I wanted to show how we speak now and in the future. Because as they say, the future is now! Stay connected remember and bye, bye…...
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hi! it's jon.Welcome to my blog of free tutorials explaining different British accents and areas of pronunciation. It's a complement to my video channel with video scripts, lessons and sometimes extra info not included in some videos. Click on the image to go to the video. archiveCategories
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