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Five thousand people took part in a 麻豆社 survey about
attitudes to voices鹿. The most disliked English accents are Birmingham
and Black Country. Out of 34 accents ranked for pleasantness, prestige
and career progression, Birmingham's at the very bottom of the pile for
each category with Black Country just above it. Liverpool, Glasgow and
Asian accents aren't far behind.
| Top Ten
Least Pleasant Voices |
1 - Ian Paisley
2 - Billy Connolly
3 - Cilla Black
4 - Paul O'Grady
5 - Jasper Carrott
6 - Janet Street-Porter
7 - David Beckham
8 - The Queen
9 - Frank Skinner
10 - Tony Blair |
The survey asked people to rate famous people's voices.
Jasper Carrott and Frank Skinner are in the top ten for the least pleasant.
But people still find them hilarious. Strange. Also strange is that Billy
Connolly and the Queen appear in both lists! Clearly, favourite
accents are a very individual thing.
Language evolution
Dr Clive Upton, a linguistics expert from the University
of Leeds, is leading a research project into regional dialects. He's working
closely with the 麻豆社 Voices project. He hails originally from Shirley
near Solihull so he certainly doesn't find the Midlands accent unpleasant:
"Everybody knows Birmingham - they might just know
the M6 or New Street station but everyone is familiar with it so feels
they can comment on it. What are people evaluating it for? For friendliness,
people would vote the Birmingham accent pretty hightly."
| Top Ten
Most Pleasant Voices |
1 - Sean Connery
2 - Trevor McDonald
3 - Terry Wogan
4 - Hugh Grant
5 - Moira Stuart
6 - The Queen
7 - Billy Connolly
8 - Ewan McGregor
9 - Joanna Lumley
10 - Pierce Brosnan |
Listen to the clip below to hear Dr Upton talking to
Adrian Goldberg on the 麻豆社 WM Breakfast programme on Monday 17 January
2005:
 Listen
to Dr Upton
What do you think of your voice?
While the rest of the UK's not keen on our accents, 21%
of West Midlanders said they don't like their accent and 20% said they're
not proud of it虏.
72% of us think we have at least a "moderately strong"
accent with 4% saying it's "very strong". Interestingly 6% think
they have no accent at all! (Standard English is still an accent, you
know!)
Would you change your voice if you could? 63% of West
Midlands folk wish that they could (even just occasionally). Most of us
want an ordinary (boring?) Standard English voice but some fancy Scottish
or Southern Irish!
Most of us - 81% - admit we change our voices depending
on who we're talking to, especially to ensure we're understood or to fit
in better.
Get involved
Voices is the largest ever celebration of the way the
British Isles speaks today. We want you to share your thoughts on the
way you talk in the Midlands. The online survey will ask you what naming
words you use. For example, what do you call your mum? What words do you
use for rain? Alleyway? Or even... the toilet?! Click
here to find out more.
Join the discussion about our Midlands accent. What's
your opinion? Click the link below - it's easy to get involved, just type
your comment into the box:
鹿 - Survey by Greenfield Online; 5010 respondents;
male:female ratio 49:51
虏 - 469 respondents were from the West Midlands
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