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The United Kingdom is probably the most dialect-obsessed nation in the world. With countless accents shaped by thousands of years of history, there are few English-speaking nations with as many varieties of language in such a small space. Here is a list of the most important types of British English. While this is not a complete list by any means, it will give you an overview of the accents and dialects most often discussed on this site and elsewhere.
1) Received Pronunciation
Received Pronunciation is the closest to a standard accent that has ever existed in the UK. Although it originally derives from London English, it is non-regional. Youve probably heard this accent countless times in Jane Austen adaptations, Merchant Ivory films, and Oscar Wilde plays. It emerged from the 18th- and 19th-Century aristocracy, and has remained the gold standard ever since.
Features:
Non-rhoticity, meaning the r at the ends of words isnt prounounced (mother sounds like muhthuh).
Trap-bath split, meaning that certain a words, like bath, cant, and dance are pronounced with the broad-a in father. (This differs from most American accents, in which these words are pronounced with the short-a in cat.
The vowels tend to be a bit more conservative than other accents in Southern England, which have undergone significant vowel shifting over the past century.
2) Cockney
Cockney is probably the second most famous British accent. It originated in the East End of London, but shares many features with and influences other dialects in that region.
Features:
Raised vowel in words like trap and cat so these sounds like trep and cet.
Non-rhoticity: see explanation above under Received Pronunciation, above.
Trap-bath split: see explanation above under Received Pronunciation.
London vowel shift: The vowel sounds are shifted around so that Cockney day sounds is pronounced IPA dæɪ (close to American die) and Cockney buy verges near IPA bɒɪ (close to American boy).
Glottal Stopping: the letter t is pronounced with the back of the throat (glottis) in between vowels; hence better becomes IPA be?ə (sounds to outsiders like beuh).
L-vocalization: The l at the end of words often becomes a vowel sound Hence pal can seem to sound like pow. (Ive seen this rendered in IPA as /w/, /o,/ and /ɰ/.)
Th-Fronting: The th in words like think or this is pronounced with a more forward consonant depending on the word: thing becomes fing, this becomes dis, and mother becomes muhvah.
3) Estuary English (Southeast British)
Estuary is an accent derived from London English which has achieved a status slightly similar to General American in the US. Features of the accent can be heard around Southeast England, East Anglia, and perhaps further afield. It is arguably creeping into the Midlands and North.
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Features:
Similar to Cockney, but in general Estuary speakers do not front th words or raise the vowel in trap. There are few hard-and-fast rules, however.
Glottal stoppingof t and l-vocalization (see above) are markers of this accent, but there is some debate about their frequency.
4) Midlands English
Midlands English is one of the more stigmatized of Englishes. Technically, this can be divided into East Midlands and West Midlands, but I wont get into the differences between the two just now. The most famous of these dialects is Brummie (Birmingham English).
Features:
The foot-strut merger, meaning that the syllable in foot and could is pronounced with the same syllable as strut and fudge. (IPA ʊ).
A system of vowels otherwise vaguely reminiscent of Australian accents, with short i in kit sometimes verging toward IPA kit (keet) and extremely open loose dipthongs.
A variety of unusual vocabulary: some East Midlands dialects still feature a variant of the word thou!
5) Northern England English
These are the accents and dialect spoken north of the midlands, in cities like Manchester, Leeds, and Liverpool. Related accents also found in rural Yorkshire, although there are some unique dialect features there that I wont get into now.
Features:
The foot-stut merger: (see the Midlands description above).
Non-rhoticity, except in some rural areas.
The dipthong in words like kite and ride is lengthened so that kite can become something like IPA ka:ɪt (i.e. it sounds a bit like kaaaait)
Unique vocab includes use of the word mam to mean mother, similar to Irish English.
6) Welsh English
This refers to the accents and dialects spoken in the country of Wales. The speech of this region is heavily influenced by the Welsh language, which remained more widely spoken in modern times than the other Celtic languages.
Features:
Usually non-rhotic.
English is generally modelled after Received Pronunciation or related accents, but with many holdovers from the Welsh language.
Syllables tend to be very evenly stressed, and the prosody of the accent is often very musical.
The letter r is often trilled or tapped.
Some dialect words imported from the Welsh language.
7) Scottish English
This is the broad definition used to describe English as it is spoken in the country of Scotland. Note that Scottish English is different than Scots, a language derived from Northumbrian Old English that is spoken in Scotland as well. That being said, Scots has a strong influence on how English in Scotland is spoken.
Features:
Rhotic, with trilled or tapped rs.
Glottal stopping of the letter t when in between vowels (similar to Cockney and related accents).
Monopthongal pronounciations of the /ei/ and /ou/ dipthongs, so that that face becomes IPA fe:s and goat becomes IPA go:t.
