Accent Training: How To Do A Bristol Accent

Hi there, it’s Matt from VoiceHacker. We do dialect coaching over Skype. We’re here to do a Bristol accent, and we’ve got 6 tips to help you out. Let’s get started. I had some trouble with the Bristol accent. There’s lots of famous folk from Bristol, like the comedian Bill Bailey, and creator of Wallace and Gromit, Nick Park.
But as you can hear, they don’t quite have that distinctive Bristolian twang. Stephen Merchant certainly does. But I decided to turn to a rather more distinct voice: Football manager Ian Holloway. So here we go: 6 top tips for the Bristol accent.
For number one, you’ll be able to hear straight away the ‘r’ sounds are very prominent. In ‘longer’ and ‘term’ - and all the way through this sentence. This means the Bristol accent is what’s called a ‘rhotic’ accent: you say every ‘R’ you see.
Number two on the list are the ‘ng’ sounds. These tend to lose the ‘g’, and turn ‘doing it’ into ‘doin’ it - unforgiving into unforgivin’ and meeting into meetin’. This happens only on ‘-ing’ endings, so drop off those g’s when you can.
For number three, it’s time to look at some vowels. The /əʊ/ sound is a big change here. In promoted - and open - it changes a lot, doing a lot less motion and keeping quite tight in the mouth. ‘So’ instead of ‘so’.
For tip number four, the next vowel is the /aɪ/ in ‘delighted’ and ‘like’. It’s very similar to the Dublin Irish accent - think of Colin Farrell saying ‘life’. The jaw stays quite steady, and the tongue does most of the work. Keep your mouth still while you do it.
For our penultimate tip, we turn to a classic: the old ‘Bath/Bath’ debate. RP speakers like myself say /bɑːθ/, with a long /ɑː/. But Bristolians say /bæːθ/, turning ‘passing’ into ‘passing’ and ‘last’ into ‘last’. They flatten like crazy - but they keep their length.
Now we reach our final tip - Bristolians tend to use elision when they speak. In other words, they run words together. You can even hear this in Bill Bailey - as well as Ian. Notice that some ‘th’ sounds are getting lost there.
So, to sum it up. Keep the r’s in, drop the ng’s, curl the /əʊ/’s, flatten the /aɪ/’s, stretch the /æː/’s and get that elision going. Easy. Thanks for watching, and make sure you subscribe for more accent hacks.
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[@mohaamd_7505]

It’s quite fascinating to me, how rather small the UK is, yet has such a rich and diverse variety of dialects.

[@benirw1n]

Ian Holloway’s Bristol accent sounds so much like a cross between Irish and Scottish to me. I searched for tips on doing Stephen Merchant’s accent, but this was definitely helpful and cool!

[@perry714.]

It’s quite funny I’m Bristolian and when we chats to people from up north they can’t understand us because we join so many words together, not only that but we completely change words aswell, for instance if I said that last part out loud I wouldn’t of said aswell I would of replaced it with inall, there’s also the word something, depending the sentence we’re using it in we may change it to sumutt. This video is a great start to learning to Bristol accent but there is so much more to it than just sounding it out the same, it’s also the language you use, the order you put it in, we take letters out in some places and add some that were never there in others it’s very unique

[@PapiDoesIt]

I grew up in the Smoky Mountains of east Tennessee. A Bristolian accent would be clearly understood there. Very similar to "mountain talk" in many ways.

[@youandwhosearmy6339]

I love this comment, because i have long thought that our accent (Bristol, England) is easily the closest English dialect that there is to American English. People tend to take the piss over here, because we actually pronounce our Rs here in the west of England. Americans always say their Rs too and I love it. I'm out to check out this Tennessee accent....

[@texastea5686]

Lol yes. The Tennessee twang!

[@emilygee6618]

Same here! And yes it would!

[@luxy2854]

Heya y'all. Mountain-mouth sounds like that because of the isolation that people in the mountains generally had, so most appalachian accents are actually very very close to the dialects of the settlers back in the 16th, 17th, 18th centuries. can't say about bristolian folk, but that's why appalachian accents sound the way they do

[@fraserthomas6040]

That's a really interesting comment. I was born in Bristol and now live in Seattle. I now need to go to the Smoky Mountains to see for myself!

[@alorachan]

My entire family on my dad's side is from the Bristol area (I was born and raised in the US), I LOVE talking with my Bristolian family, especially my great uncle whose accent is SO perfectly Bristolian. Love the accent

[@excaliburhead]

I’m a Texan absolutely fascinated by the different British accents

[@marioescobar2065]

Best British accent of all ❤️❤️❤️

[@nihilusdirus]

As an American from the South (Arkansas, which has an accent halfway between Texas and Louisiana), Bristolian accents are a lot easier to pull off than other accents. In Arkansas accents, words run together, r's are sharp, we shorten ng to n', we say the a's and o's the same way (though the a's are shortened a bit more in our accent). I thought it would be fun to throw out here for anyone interested in American accents as well

[@orangegrey292]

Hm I live in arkansas and want to learn this accent, Hope it does help lol!

[@George-bi8sj]

I'm actually a Bristolian who's been to Arkansas (Fort Smith). One guy there seemed to think I was Texan, lol.

[@katcankan7129]

This is the best way l have heard of getting across the different accents of the UK. Well done!👏

[@MrAjripley]

Learnt some new things about my own accent!! haha! Great video, was a suggested video from my bristolian accent video

[@john-paulconway240]

Great video Matt - very useful!

[@elbenni8786]

Bristol was the principal port for all trade to Ireland from Anglo Norman times until at lest the 18th century, Bristol merchants had all trading rights for imports exports, the English spoken in Ireland especially on the east coast is very similar to this.

[@FredBTs]

damian kilbane no It isn’t.

[@kelly-anntomasi788]

Love this. I'm from Bristol yeah this is a good video aha :)

[@julianhermanubis6800]

This really does sound reminiscent of some American Southern accents, in particular "up country" and Appalachian ones. Every single feature discussed here is prominent in them.

[@matthewpaterson5216]

Thank-you, your video is quite helpful.

[@gokith1119]

One of the most important accents that made up the American accent

[@naajohnnorthcott8267]

For an exaggerated Bristol accent, listen to Adge Cutler singing "Virtute et Industrial" and note the "l" on the end. In the same way, "idea" becomes "ideal".

[@Rob-fs8vq]

Good choice in Ian Holloway:- archetypal Bristol accent (along with Cathy Barry!)

[@dingus3443]

This is helpful, thanks

[@YourDadsUnclesFriend]

Why did I only become self-aware that I speak like this?

[@bisoahmad772]

great video!

[@George-lr4xi]

This guy is so good he is constantly doing a Jamie Lannister impersonation

[@maureenm8462]

I'm from brum and I leave the g off the end. And I didn't know what a bristol accent sounds like. I think we all say the same phrases where ever we r from

[@gdsongwriter]

Actually Nick Park was born in Preston and didn't move to Bristol until he was 26 and although Bill Bailey grew up just outside of Bristol I do believe he left the area when he went to university, so neither are likely to have notable Bristol accents. As a Bristolian, whose alter ego happens to be Geoffrey Mountstevens, Professor of Bristolian, I think I can add some rather valuable additional insights into the Bristol accent. For example, the Bristolian 'th' sound doesn't usually get lost, and is rather interesting because the tongue touches the teeth much more lightly when Bristolians pronounces the 'th' sound than is the case in RP English. Likewise, the famous Bristol 'L' at the end of words ending with an 'a', although dying out, can still be heard. Geoffrey Woodruff described it very well on an EP from the 70s "Sounds of Bristol", saying It's actually more like an 'aw' sound and the 'l' is hardly pronounced. So America becomes Americawl. I could go on but you only have to check out Josie Gibson or Tricky on KZbin. They have even stronger accents than the great Ian Holloway!

[@brianiles7443]

Just turned to this comment after the latest posting of Matt Pocock's piece. Good stuff gd. I think Woodruff must be referring to a Bedminster or other variant of the schwa sound - the unstressed vowel. In my kneck of the woods ( Hanham, Kingswood) it's certainly not aw, rather uh, and you'll get clear examples of this in 'The Mystery of the Bristol L' KZbin posting. This was a talk at Hanham and the mainly local contributors will give you the 'flavour'. Our mutual friend, Des Bowring, however, did give a brilliant, hilarious , instance of when L can follow another sound, when the girl he quotes says, 'I ain't got no bra-l-on. I've discussed the subject a lot with the Bristol Centre of Linguistics at UWE whom I ran the talk past. Sadly, their recent surveys have not come across the L. I know very well it's still quite common in my area - mainly but not exclusively amongst the aged .I think that - as with the John Wells evidence in the 1980s - none of the students/ linguistics surveyors were actually Bristolians who might have been more attuned to the sometimes elusive character of the L

[@faegibb4043]

Bill bailey sounds posh to me haha

[@mavsworld1733]

Francesca Gibbens Bill Bailey has a Bath accent, because that's where he went to school. Bath is an expensive place to live, and so has a very middle class accent, heading towards RP.

[@FredBTs]

MavsWorld in Bath the I think the accent is less harsh and a bit more country than Bristol. To me, coming from the outskirts of Bristol, Bristolian is not typical “West Country “. I went to school in Bristol but later did my clubbing in Bath.

[@SidVicious152]

There's also this middle "t" sound disappearing in two syllabus words : "a bo'le of wa'er" being said for "a bottle of water"

[@ladylaois8184]

Oh my gert days like! I’m a Bath gal but I’m 35 years outside Bristol. So I have picked up the accent.

[@TheEskimosPantry]

Nick Park is from Lancashire. Has very soft Lancashire vowles.

[@dojokonojo]

Were the first American colonists from Bristol? Sounds like a lot of these same features are heard across the pond.

[@wearlybird]

Yes, many of the earliest colonists to Virginia were Bristol royalist cavaliers escaping the roundheads. They laid down the basic American accent which evolved slightly over the centuries due to climate, immigration and passage of time. If you travel to isolated places such as Virginia's Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay you can still hear a preserved 17th century port of Bristol pirate accent.

[@elisemacer6564]

I’m Bristolian I pronounce all the like that 😂 my teacher used to hate me cuz I didn’t pronounce my t

[@dmitribovski1292]

You missed replacing a lot of TH's wiv V's

[@faegibb4043]

Stephen merchant has a particular bristolian accent - we are both from Hanham waaaaayyyyy

[@vanylla3859]

Omg I am too!!

[@kurluk04]

He does, hes got a softer Bristolian accent, im from downend so its also quite soft - but places like filton, southmead, bedminster, hartcliffe - tend have a heavier accent 👍

[@huongvu137S]

Cool and hard.

[@v.polonez5945]

This is British I love I hate london accent but this sounds lovely and yes it is similar to irish a bit american too

[@PIANOPHUNGUY]

Cary Grant was from Bristol, England? He didn't speak Bristolian, did he? Did he speak mid Atlantic 30's and 40's English?

[@katnjny]

Thank you for this! Is there any chance you can post an IPA transcription of the "long o" as in GOAT sound, please? I'm not quite grasping what you mean by "curling." Thank you so much!

[@matthewlewis2072]

"Goat" would be quite short in the vowel sound, almost like "go". Don't pronounce the "t", although it is sort of there...

[@katnjny]

Thank you. It's actually addressed in the video (long o sound). I'm not sure how I missed it the first time.

[@IlIlIlIllIlIlIllI]

Im from bristol

[@arianan4380]

That last one is hard

[@xiaomarou9890]

What’s with the famous L-endings after vowels??? e.g. radiol, cowl, operal.

[@ankicat3425]

Is it very similar in wording to the American accent? From a none native speaker, trying to learn more accents ;)

[@Person01234]

An accent isn't really the same thing as a dialect, if you're talking about differences in wording you'd be talking about different dialects for the most part.

[@hasjan652]

This was not too bad (I am Bristolian).

[@coreyldr]

Bristolians don’t say the t in promote though so it would be Pruh-mow-)

[@twistedcoffee1187]

This vid gives me which part of people moved to new continent.

[@pipsta]

What accent does Brian May have?

[@W1LL1AMPA1N]

What about Russel Howard

[@jareddwija8839]

It sounds like an American accent

[@jonalynjungiereck5562]

Need to learn Bristol accent ,bf lives there ..

[@mcwaivi7349]

As a Bristolian I’ve also heard i dont pronounce my t’s lol

[@abhiramn474]

Sounds the way a stereotypical pirate talks.

[@alexspareone3872]

Ive watched a bunch of videos on this. This is the only one that managed to make the topic borng. I can watch no further.

[@peterneate607]

There are different Bristolian accents within Bristol. South Bristol is more like a Somerset accent. Ian Holloway is from Hanham, so his accent is more Gloucestershire sounding. Then you have the "posh" Bristol accent from Clifton, Redland and Stoke Bishop. However, this is a good video for any actor trying to learn the accent. I am a Bristolian a girt posh un :) Oh and Bill Bailey is not from Bristol. He was born in Bath and grew up in Keynsham. Steve Merchant is from Hanham like Holloway.

[@kevinchamberlain7928]

They also drop "L" at the end of some words eg Bristol = "Briiistoh"

[@we1330]

What about the Bristol 'L'?

[@erkkinho]

Em is a relic of OE, not an elision.

[@lynphillips2109]

Cary Grant

[@InvisibleTower]

3:40 hmm

[@damaracarpenter8316]

Is it common for bristolian accents to change "th" sounds to "f" sounds? My boyfriend and his siblings are bristolian and do this for many words but his parents don't seem to.. I quite like it lol.

[@srin3897]

Damara Carpenter Yea me and alot of my mates do that and we're from bristol

[@damaracarpenter8316]

Srinxx x cute! I notice it in a cockney friend from London so it must be a English thing that appears in various regions.

[@Clodhopping]

It's a London thing ("fing") that's become popular across the country.

[@needleboy17]

Numberblocks Four and Forty!

[@loonylinn8824]

The “L” at the end of a vowel?

[@beththefantastic8069]

shire born and raised haha

[@Zeldaschampion]

Strange....why is the DrunkenMasterPaul song playing in the beginning...

[@starfish7486]

bristolian accent not bristol accent 😂

[@shadowestrella1351]

what about the ts? XD

[@zigado4017]

Forgot destroy the T in water

[@louistillsonphillips]

Bill bailly is from bath not bristol

[@Stiggs-bu2fz]

Where's David prowse?!

[@justoutofframemoviereviews656]

unavailable, sadly.

[@DemonKitty666_]

Westcountry accent = Lazy Irish accent. Am I right or wrong?

[@Rosie6857]

Wrong. They are quite separate sounds.

[@Miguel-he7bj]

Some of these rules seem similar to the standard American accent. Am I wrong?

[@MattPocock]

+Miguel G True! Both are rhotic accents, which means that some words are super-similar.

[@Miguel-he7bj]

Matt Pocock and the Bristol accent vowels you cite also seem to be the same for the standard American accent. That is, we say "promoted" the same way, "like" the same way, and "bath" the same way. The Southern American accent do drop the ng in ing-ending words. Like Hank Williams when he sings "Hey good lookin', watcha got cookin' ". If you have time, can you do a Minnesota accent video. Btw, love the videos. They're great. Accents fascinate me. I should've been a linguist. (is that the name of your trade?)

[@ThomasBahamas]

Specifically the Philadelphia accent at least to me

[@cyrusthagreat6649]

most settlers in early america came from southwest england, where bristol is located, thus the reason for the lexical similarities. later on, when the british decided they, for example, didn't like pronouncing their r's in the syllable coda, we decided they were mentally incompetent (i mean, come on, its right there) and so we kept saying it the way we always had, thus the reasons why the bristolian accent is similar to american english

[@dkroll92]

@@cyrusthagreat6649 I'm from California but most of my early ancestors came from southwest England (Devon and Cornwall at least) - long time ago, admittedly. But I notice that I use every thing they bring up in the video, obviously the rhotic Rs and sharper As like most Americans but the dropping the g from -ing words and slurring words together; all of it. Ian Holloway has more of the "pirate" thing going on but is basically what I'd sound like if I tried to do a pirate accent until my voice got a bit hoarse.

[@hoagy_ytfc]

Bristol accent without mentioning putting a spurious L on the ends of many words?

[@Rosie6857]

Does that still occur? It must have done at one time or the city would be called Bristow, so I have read. The spurious L must be what phoneticists call a dark L. My own speech is near-RP with a dash of Croydon but I find the Bristol accent quite agreeable and pleasant.

[@kurluk04]

Popping down asdawl 😂

[@dalzvert9206]

Similar to the southern accent

[@qwoc]

No, I’m from London we don’t sound like him

[@Ridley369]

@@qwoc He's referencing the Southeast American accent(s). Tidewater Southern and Appalachian dialects and accents are direct descendants of West Country accents, primarily Cornwall, Bristol, and Somerset.

[@qwoc]

Ridley369 oh

[@jkrazy13]

This sounds so much like Cleveland, Ohio.

[@jonchurch-fraser3233]

thats comost o americas setlers came from th west country.

[@texastea5686]

I once met a girl from Ohio who same down to Texas for college and instead of saying "wash", it sounded more like "warsh" or "worsh"

[@Marymooau]

My dad was born in Bristol. Still has the accent despite us living in Australia for 26 years. I got rid of my West Country accent ASAP lol

[@Ridley369]

Why did you?

[@jackhaynes6013]

Who ere from hartclife

[@mtaybar4303]

No...I'm from knowle!

[@mikelane4896]

I'm from arcliffe!

[@elliot7404]

Wheres the Welsh accent mate?

[@nicw6316]

It's Bristolian accent not Bristol accent

[@lucyivanova3265]

nic w can you explain what the difference is ?

[@lupa3041]

@@lucyivanova3265 one is correct grammar one is not

[@thearcticlord3920]

A Brizel accen'

[@masondooley7338]

I am bristolion no clue why I'm here lol

[@matthewlewis2072]

Skeletor is a good example but he's bothering to pronounce some of his "t" sounds, particularly in the middle of words - these often get omitted. Plus the "th" sound is often pronounced "f", so "things" becomes "fings". But, yeah, bung in a couple of "minds" and the odd "luvver", and you've got half a chance. But as with all accents, be very careful - get it wrong in the wrong place and people may take offence - but mostly us Bristolians are pretty easy going, so warn us first and we might let you off!

[@cruisincat62]

look becomes 'lerk' also.

[@TheUnhappybirthday]

Gosh!! You are right!. A lot of bristolian seems to say "Fank you"!!!.

[@j.s.h6980]

Utg

[@dolmanf]

OTIB

[@supernova6015]

Me,a Bristolian who don’t sound like it ~ 👁👄👁

[@mycuppatea6108]

Why would anyone want to try and do a Bristolian accent? I hate my Bristolian accent :)

[@colliecandle]

You are not alone in that sentiment !

[@FredBTs]

Nyxtroos Bristolians that are famous have a different accent from the general population because they are speaking to a national audience. My American wife has been to Bristol many times but still has trouble understanding them especially when it’s an animated conversation. The accent is nothing like American.

[@Ridley369]

Because it's about culture and heritage...

[@Ridley369]

​@@FredBTs Come to the Tidewater region of the Southeast US (Southern Maryland/Eastern Shore, Central Virginia); Our accents come from Cornwall, Somerset, and Devonshire. 'S' sounds become 'Z' (Briztol), 'R' sounds go where they don't belong (warsh), 'V' sounds get bastardized ("seven" -> "seb'n" / "Devon" -> "Deb'n"), 'O' sounds get rounded as noted in this video ("go" -> "geh'o"), and more fun characteristics!

[@FredBTs]

‘Ridley369 The “S” at the end of a word is often pronounced as a “Z” but I’ve never heard anyone say “Briztol “ maybe “Brissle”. Somerset and Devon have {to me} a very different accent and use “Z” more. I’ve never heard anyone say “seb’n” or “Deb’n”. Have you been to the West Country?

[@jasminev1482]

Spaniards r better than us really 😂

[@ihavenocockandimustcream]

i live in bristol and i always get asked where I'm from bc of my accent [im polish but i sound vaguely american/irish/australian for some reason], i'm here to try n learn to mask it better because it gets annoyin havin ta explain it all the time