THE BRISTOL ACCENT: Who Speaks it and how it's Spoken

[@cernaruka]

In 1981 I spent the night at the Bristol Railway station (due to my financial situation) and I got my Bristol accent

[@mariansheilamansilla6431]

Temple Meads

[@sunnytwin]

​@@mariansheilamansilla6431 hate it there my god

[@БогданКостюченко-ц4о]

Thank you, Gideon and Luke! Informative and interesting.

[@iainmc9859]

I love the Bristol accent. Its probably the most enchanting of all English accents. Great to see a clip of Robert Newton, everyone's favourite pirate and one of the C20th most underrated actors ... and then a bit of Blackadder as well, essential cultural reference points 😊

[@LetThemTalkTV]

Robert Newton is the basis of all pirate accents and how could I not play a clip of Blackadder.

[@nataliapanfichi9933]

​​@@LetThemTalkTVWait dart vader has a Bristol accent? I thought that his actor (james earl jones) was african American?

[@samuelhonywill4499]

​@nataliapanfichi9933 James Earl Jones did the voice. A man called David Prowse, from Southmead in the north of Bristol, was the guy in the suit!

[@andywilliams2237]

@@samuelhonywill4499 James Earl Jones did the voice because Dave Prowse had a thick Bristle accent. They even dubbed his voice in the Green Cross Man adverts.... except this one kzbin.info/www/bejne/b5i7e3ifj9eVoJY

[@mattuk56]

I have the accent. I was born in Bristol in the 1980s and still live here.

[@radicalrodriguez5912]

thank God. Please keep it, it's lovely. Don't want everyone sounding the same

[@finegoldstones]

Impressive. How'd you manage to pick up the accent?

[@andywilliams2237]

Me too. I went to college in Brislington and having lived in London and the East or 50 years, my accent is still "right proper", even if I've learned not to call people "my cocker" or "babber" or even "luvver". No mention here of the "giss" verb, as in "Giss a tanner", only slight mention of the "old words" bist, bisn't, casst, cassn't and the ever-present "ass a good ideal!"

[@OceanChild75]

I love the way you always bring history into your videos. Also now I fancy learning more about pirates! 🏴‍☠️ Arrr 😅

[@LetThemTalkTV]

Thanks, I'm sure you'll make a great pirate.

[@isabelatence7035]

Great video, very noticeable, Luke Coach is very good, his material from the films is very cool with the occasion, learning a lot from this series. I think it's amazing to know

[@LetThemTalkTV]

I'm glad you liked it because there is a lot more to come. Stay tuned...

[@isabelatence7035]

@@LetThemTalkTV Super Cool, certainly waiting!!

[@Sarah.H5]

Growing up in Bristol, the intrusive L was often pronounced in my name. I was often called Sarawl. Not so much now though

[@bongumenzimtshali]

Good day… I am a South African who just discovered Karl Pilkington and I am very fascinated by his lazy English accent I would like to know more about it. If possible please provide explanation here on the comment or a link to a video.

[@raffaellabarbierato8854]

Compelling video, as always! Thank you Gedeon, you make linguistics an engaging journey through history

[@hhommayoon]

Hello I am a beginner learner I remeber that you have made a video about cockney accent After watching that video a question lights like lamp in my mind an overwhelming one that why the variety and diversity is useful for establishment or forming a accent indeed what is the importance of combining or being in the vicinity of other languages and dialects and being influenced by them I thought that any dialect that is purer is stronger because it is rooted in people's history and not created by unexpected events.

[@barbaragemin5117]

Thanks for another of your accents series Gideon. Always fascinating and entertaining.

[@hilarypower6217]

Living in Brizzle but coming from London my favourite word has to be seagull, pronounced seegle. And dont forget the 'of' as in must of, could of, should of and more. Finally, 'cheers droive' has to get a mention. You'll hear that every day on any Bristol bus as the passengers alight and thank the driver. Wouldn't live anywhere else.

[@GrenvilleBS]

“Brizzle” of course, is a word invented by those moving in and wanting to sound affectionate about the place, but aware that using any local word invites stigmatisation.

[@johnrohde5510]

Robert Newton learned his trade in Bristol.

[@urso3000]

Very cool 😎 thanks for sharing 😊

[@martinshepherd626]

My Bristolian accent is exactly 100% the same as Steven Merchant.....mind you we both were brought up in the same area of Hanham ( pronounced An'um in Bristolian) and a few streets apart to be precise!

[@user-cc2ux9ew1r]

Hey Gideon. You couldn't make us a 2 minutes lesson about * ought to * could you by any chance? I 'll promise you to be a friend and fan for life.😉 Greetings from Casablanca.

[@LetThemTalkTV]

...it's a good idea.

[@user-cc2ux9ew1r]

Merci beaucoup Mon cher ami

[@Clarkey1928]

my Nan qould use the word bist for example when asking me if i'm coming to the shops, she would say "bist coming or what?" miss the lingo, died out now

[@andywilliams2237]

I think you mean "er wha'", not "or what". I remember "Bist goin' down town saffnoon, er wha?" and "Casn't tell us whoy, my babber?"

[@Clarkey1928]

@@andywilliams2237 spot on, but not "babber" i've heard "cocker and Lover" Babber not so much

[@garypointing5825]

What about gurt, innit, scrage, daps, I instead of me,

[@StantonMcCandlish]

So what accent does TV science documentary presenter Alice Roberts have? She grew up in and around Bristol, so I was sure this would be it. But she actually sounds nothing at all like anyone in this video. Yet hers is a quite strong and distinct accent that has some elements I've also heard in some Irish ones, like pronouncing "down" as (to American ears) "dine". There are quite a number of peculiarities, really. It's an accent I've heard before, but I don't know enough about about British dialectology to be able to geographically (or socially) place it. Some of what I notice in it (again through American ears, and I'm avoiding IPA symbols on purpose since only linguists understand them): "ago" as almost "agay" or "ageh" or perhaps "agehw". "Earth" as "uhhth" (the elided /r/ has been replaced with a bit of vowel lengthing). There's very constitent non-rhoticity in the usual places that /r/ is dropped in many English dialects,, thus "creatures" as "creechuz" - but without the intrustive-/r/ of some such dialects ("law and order" as "law and ahwdah" not intrusive "lawR and ahwdah"). "Out" was closer to "ait"/"ayt", "thousand" like "thaizand" ("thigh-zand"), "down" as "dine". That's one part that sounded especially Irish-like (Donegal in particular, if I remember by Hiberno-English). Another was the /ai/ diphthong going to /oi/ (a feature also of Cockney): "wiped out" as "woipt ait". "Hostile" was American-style as "hostyle" not typical English "hostill" or "host'l" (but no /h/-dropping, not "ostyle"). "Walk" as "wawk" or "wok", "taller" as "tawluh", "animals" as "animows", so the non-rhoticity is also affecting the medial /l/ sound a bit, shifting it toward consonantal /w/. But not 100%; "world" varied (perhaps by stress level within the sentence) from "wuhld" or "wuhwd" to roughly "weld". Some medial-/l/ was retained clearly, thus "scale" as "scale" the same as in most other dialects. I'm not sure what the /l/ alteration pattern really is, other than the /l/ is kept, I think, when syllable-initial. "Triggered" as "triggid". "Forces" as "fahwces". The "long /oo/" sound (of "food" not "book") was shifted to somewhere between /ehw/ and /iw/, clearly a diphthong: "moved" as "mehwved" or "miwved", verging on two syllables ("meh-uwved", "mi-ewved"?). Most of the ah sounds in words like "thaw" and "dawn" are shifted toward the longer, rounder /ahw/ of RP "author" (edging even slightly toward German ö). However, the short-/a/ of "cat" is quite sharp, almost exaggerated, perhaps slightly nasalized (though only in words typically with that short-a, IPA [æ], sound in British English; e.g. "last" was "lahst", as typical across England, which generally lacks the cat-last merger common in much of North America). And some nasals seem drawn or extended, too, but only sometimes.

[@FriedEgg101]

Alice Roberts has been through the "red brick" uk higher education system a couple of times. She's also most likely from a middle class background. She went to a private school in Westbury-on-Trym, which is a "posh" area of Bristol. I'm generalising a lot, but it tends to be working class people that exhibit regional accents the most. What you're most likely hearing in her accent are the remnamts of middle class bristol that her education didn't "smooth out".

[@susanritter2520]

I’d noticed that Dr. Alice Roberts, archaeologist host of “Digging Up Britain,” was born in Bristol, but does not have a Bristol accent. Some of her vowel sounds are more like those of Mayfair, London. Is this due to exposure to that accent at university? Must admit I’m not quite ready for some of her vowel pronunciations.

[@johnrohde5510]

There are various accents within Bristol.

[@gdsongwriter]

Very true. There's South Bristol (Tricky), North Bristol (Terry the Oddjobman), East Bristol (Stephen Merchant) and also 'educated' Bristolian (Richard Scudemore - standard English with a very slight Bristol burr). To demonstrate this (and more) I did a KZbin video called "The Bristol Accent In All Its Glorious Variations".

[@Pfsif]

I know a bloke from the north east who pronounces "f" for the "Th". Thought is fought etc.

[@Sebaseen]

That's common for Cockney and MLE, which has many variations with certain regional characteristics for each region. However it originated in London by the immigrants mainly from the Caribbean, Africa and also Asia, was highly influenced by Cockney, therefore it shares some features like t glottalisation and th fronting, which is what you said, that is replacing th with f, v or d and sometimes t sound, depending on the word ; )

[@magnusfranzonuvebrant9519]

Our daughter, age four, six months after moving from Sweden to Filton; -Da-ee, i fough o’ summink!

[@Sebaseen]

@@magnusfranzonuvebrant9519 She dropped a 'd'? Now that's rare! ; )

[@monaalthaiby6852]

Can anyone tell me of which movie is the scene stitched at 1:57 of the video Thank you

[@timc8404]

Hot fuzz

[@timc8404]

เข้าใจไหม

[@kernowforester811]

As someone from the west of the Westcountry, there is no one Westcountry accent. When I hear Bristolian it sounds like a cross between south Wales and Brummie to me, very different from Cornwall or Devon. I find it comical. In general, I consider Bristolian to be just the typical accent of the north and east of the Westcountry, such as north Somerset and Wiltshire. It isn't just restricted to the city. Bristolian is not much like Devonian, for instance Plymouthian (Janner) variety. Devonian has different vowels, diphthongs and consonants, for instance in Devon mate is 'meht', through is 'droo', like is 'lahk' (monodipthongs), boy is 'buhee', head is 'aid', the middle 't' in e.g. butter is a soft d so pronounced 'budder'. As for the rhotic 'r' in Devonian it is pronounced further to the back of the mouth, more like an Irish retroflex 'r'. When folk upcountry hear a real Devon accent (e.g. the late Johnny Kingdom, they seem to think it is northern Irish. As for Bristol, it was shown as Bridge Stow on old GWR time tables, with the Bristol 'L' being added on the end. As for the so called 'pirate accent', that is because the actor who played Long John Silver was from Dorset. He was not from Bristol. He used a Dorset accent of his home county. Many of the sea faring historical figures like Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh spoke broad Devonian. Many of the setters to America came from the Westcountry, with remanants in Newfoundland (cod fisheries fisheries men came from Devon) and the Smith Islands in Chesapeake Bay (came from Cornwall). Dear LetThemTalkTC, how about doing a Devon or Plymouth video? Fed up with Devonian and Cornish accents being butchered in British TV and films by people who have not a clue what they are doing.

[@gdsongwriter]

As a Bristolian I get what you say about South Wales because the inflection can be similar, especially with regards to Bristolian women. However, the South Wales accent lacks the rhoticity of the Bristol accent. But Birmingham? No way. Nevertheless, it's true that the Devonian accent is very different from the Bristol accent, no matter how much Michael McIntyre may think they're similar. As a child I used to go from Bristol to North Devon for my summer holiday, usually to Westward Ho! because we had relatives who lived in nearby Northam. Our Devonian relatives would say to me "Allo Geoffrey ma dear, do 'ee wanna cuppa tay?" The Bristolian version would have been "Awl right Geoff mate? Dost thee wanna cup o' tea?"

[@kernowforester811]

@@gdsongwriter How d’ee do from Cornwall. Yes, tea is ‘tay’!. Bed is ‘baid’, head is ‘aid’ etc. Boy is ‘buhey’, mate is ‘meht’, butter is ‘budder’ and Devon is De’m’ or ‘Debm’, few is ‘voo’, none of which I have ever heard (‘yurd’) upcountry in the Bristol area. I still know it as Bridgestow The late Johnny Kingdom spoke with a general Devonian accent, which some from upcountry think sounds northern Irish, as they seem to think Devonian is exactly like Bristol. Paul Whitehouse for an Aviva TV advert years ago about being a Plymouth FC fan, had to be told not to use a Bristol accent and word by the chairman of Plymouth FCs, but use Devon (Janner) ones! He still murdered Devonian and ended up sounding more like Bristolian. Just winding up a bit a about the south Midlands though having travelled around Gloucestershire, and Herefordshire (claimed to be in the south Midlands on road signs I have seen), north Somerset, Wiltshire and Bristolian fades into Gloucestershire and Herefordshire to my ears. Gloucestershire also fades into Gwent from my travels there. Having lived in Northern Ireland, the only real similarity between Devonian, Bristolian and Northern Irish accents (there a lot over there) is that they all have a retroflex ‘r’ . Devonian does not have the Bristol ‘i’ diphthong in words like, err ‘like’, and ‘I’, which people from upcountry always get wrong. Tends to be ‘lahk’ and ‘ah’.

[@andywilliams2237]

The Bath accent was different to the Bristol accent.... but the use of the "ols words" was more common, the bist, the cast, etc. but ouside Bath, in the country, you'd get the "youm" of Adge Cutler. The bristol L was pretty much a Bristolian thing though... Dirk Robson's "Krek Waiters Peak Bristle" gives an insight...... always remember the "malarial areals of Africal"!!

[@t.r.9542]

Wonderful all these accents. My question is how do i get rid of my dutch accent????

[@ruthgiles8926]

Don't get rid of it. All accents and dialects are lovely. In my experience, the Dutch people I have met speak English eloquently and almost without any trace of a Dutch accent, so they are completely understandable. I don't doubt you do too.

[@javierhillier4252]

6:31 sounded just like my pop used to

[@petersmith1343]

As a former Bristolian, I certainly heard 'Bist' and 'Casn't' in my youth. Not so much of the Bristol L -- tho' even that sometimes.

[@peterc.7841]

I listed to a BBC radio drama once, and noticed rhotic r's. I didn't know there were any in England. So I messaged the writer of it on Twitter and asked her where it took placed and she told me Bristol.

[@kerryfry1857]

What's missing is the 'a' pronunciation. Here in Bristol, we take it literally as the a from Apple. So path, bath, glass etc. We use the ahhh ple sound for the 'a'. Plus we refer thing's as him. The masculine. Example: "give us he." If you're asked to pass something. Clearly from the German.

[@LetThemTalkTV]

Good to get feedback from a Bristolian. Yes, indeed this was a whistle-stop tour of the Bristol accent. I know there is a lot more we could (or should) have covered. Next time...

[@kerryfry1857]

@@LetThemTalkTV no worries great content ❤

[@martinshepherd626]

​@@kerryfry1857 100% agree Babs!

[@leszekkadelski9569]

Would it be out of line to ask about your wristwatch? It looks vintage and probably has some history to it. What's the make & model?

[@LetThemTalkTV]

I don't mind. It's a Cuervo and Sobrino I picked up at a market a few years ago. Nice watch but not of great value.

[@leszekkadelski9569]

​@@LetThemTalkTV I appreciate your response. Great find - it is a brand valued by those in the know.

[@RD-ht6go]

I picked up some Bristol accent too when I studied there. I kinda-l like it. 😂

[@raychat2816]

Dear Guideon, I wonder if you could help me identify a certain accent, and that’s of the gentleman running the KZbin channel TechMoan, I’ve noticed quite a few similarities between his accent and that of James May’s, am I too wrong ? And what region would that be ?

[@chrisburgess7756]

I'm just a random guy passing by but I would place this accent somewhere between Worcester and Banbury

[@pepintheshort7913]

A memory of my first time to Bristol (I’m American): sitting in a seedy pub with good cask ale and cider, and there were two rough looking guys talking to each other. Every other word out of their mouths was f**k. But they sounded like Long John Silver.

[@rickebuschcatherine2729]

Speaing of Bewulf, what's the accent of Tolkien ?

[@robrees8207]

Here's an old Brizzle piece of doggerel I learnt from Scouts in Totterdown, Bristol. B-R-I-S-T-O-L Gloster, Somerset, County as well Who bist thee? Where bist goin? Casn't see for dust One eye open, tuther shut RAH! 😂

[@oronjoffe]

I’m a little confused about the opening statement. J.k. Rowling is from Gloucestershire and Robbie Coltrane (“Hagrid”)was Scottish. Why give these as prime examples of the Bristol accent?.

[@jamestower4473]

JK Rowling is from Yate which is not part of bristol but very near to it. As far as I'm aware Robbie Coltrane was Glaswegian. He did a reasonable effort of a West country accent in that clip (for a Scotsman).

[@2012gallina]

The port theory is almost certainly true. Bristol was the second port city to London for maybe 400 years.

[@user-cc2ux9ew1r]

Gideon', do you miss Blighty, fish and chips and mushy peas or the full Monty?❤

[@George-bi8sj]

Think the L has gone now, can't remember the kast time I heard it (although I moved oit of Bristol about 15 years ago). My Nan used to pronounce 'area' like 'aerial', funnily enough, her name was Eva.

[@erkkinho]

Is there an accent without glottal stop?

[@martinshepherd626]

The Bristol L is now very rare to hear in these modern times

[@mariansheilamansilla6431]

Ideal, instead of idea. What a good ideal.

[@johnrohde5510]

Mercia was an Anglish not a Saxon Kingdom. Gloucestershire had previously been in the Saxon kingdom of Hwicce.

[@nataliapanfichi9933]

Wait dart vader has a Bristol accent? I thought that his actor (james earl jones) was african American.

[@mjhmjh6444]

You never hear him speak and he was played by an actor called Dave prouse who was the green cross code fella too,he came to my school once, Jones did the voice over , not sure Darth Vader would have been intimidating with our Bristolian accent,

[@salaama9]

Gideon rocks!

[@chrisovers8650]

As a Bristolian can I make an observation about, not just this You Tube clip, but other examples out there; there is NO one Bristol accent. Bristol has many accents, it depends where in Bristol you are from. South Bristol is different from North Bristol for example. Southmead is different from Knowle West.... Many lazy actors resort to what is termed "Mummerset" when they take on a persona west of Swindon. This accent wanders from Norfolk, to Wiltshire, to Dorset, to Gloucestershire, to Devon it is all over the place. Bristol has a different unique set of accents. The best imitation of one of the Bristol accents is Matt Lucas' Vicky Pollard in Little Britain, it is just about perfect for a south Bristol accent, note that Stephen Merchant has a different accent, that is because he comes from a different part of Bristol, Hanham, which is more west Bristol. I doubt that you would say there is just one London accent, or one British accent.

[@paulbray4733]

and mum is our muh in south Bristol

[@shaunw9270]

I'm Bristolian and I still say "How bis'?" , meaning "how are you? , how you doing? " Etc

[@johnlindsay3820]

The tricky bit is separating the broad West Country from broad Suffolk (East) accent…

[@noorulthagur8289]

I didn't know there was such a thing as a Bristol accent.

[@ildarmingazov2304]

That it be...

[@frankhooper7871]

I would dispute Anglo-Saxon being a German dialect, but will happily agree to it being a Germanic dialect

[@badcarlos551]

Other features include using the masculine form for objects: 'pass ee over yer' and the redundant 'too'. When I was young you'd hear archaic pronouns like 'thee' and regional slang words like 'gurt' much more. It's dying out a bit now though but you still hear people using the pronoun 'I" rather than me.

[@ВладимирЛут-я7с]

I read Harry Potter in English and wonder what accent does Hagrid speak. Rowling uses a specific spelling for his speech...

[@LetThemTalkTV]

I'm guessing she wanted a character with an accent from the town she grew up in.

[@magnusfranzonuvebrant9519]

Wee bist u me luvrrr?

[@LetThemTalkTV]

Are you Bristolian?

[@luxpursuits]

Jos Buttler

[@kevbee8325]

Professor Alice Roberts

[@Rob-fs8vq]

Hagrid is a fictitious character & Robbie Coltrane, the actor who played him is Scottish & nothing to do with Bristol. Bristolian Dave Prowse played Darth Vader, but James Earl Jones was his voice.

[@Sebaseen]

I must admit that the intrusive L is... I am just unable to find logic in it. How come? 😅

[@LetThemTalkTV]

It's kind of the reverse of Italian where they put a vowel at the end even if there isn't one.

[@Sebaseen]

@@LetThemTalkTV Oh, they do? Well, that's another thing learnt today. Thank you! ; )

[@gdsongwriter]

I think it was habit and imitation of elders rather than logic. The most famous example is 'ideawl' for idea (there can also be a 'w' sound which non-Bristolians don't always pick up on). As a young child I used to say 'chimley' instead of 'chimney' and I remember one lad at primary school would always say 'drawlin' for drawing. Sadly (for some of us) the intrusive L seems to be dying out.

[@Sebaseen]

@@gdsongwriter Interesting 🤔

[@AdeleKakwandi]

Is it just me or does a Bristol accent sound slightly like a Yorkshire accent?

[@amiryazdani2318]

[@mariotabali2603]

You got the like just because there's Wheatley in it.

[@foka2701]

Bad syncro in this video 😞

[@Vernerve]

Bristolian Accent FFS 😂

[@garypointing5825]

But Bristol was never ever in merica! We have always been wessex, that is West saxon!

[@mariansheilamansilla6431]

Very disappointing video. Just a few seconds of the Bristol accent actually heard.