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West Midlands accents do not have the trap–bath split much like Northern England English, so cast is pronounced [kast] rather than the [kɑːst] pronunciation of most southern accents. The northern limit of the [ɑː] in many words crosses England from mid-Shropshire to The Wash, passing just south of Birmingham.
There are also differences between Brummie and Black Country accents, which are not readily apparent to people from outside the West Midlands. [1] A Black Country accent and a Birmingham accent can be hard to distinguish if neither accent is that broad. Phonetician John Wells has admitted that he cannot tell any difference between the accents. [3]
The Potteries dialect descends from the West Midlands dialect of Middle English (ME), whereas modern Standard English descends from the East Midlands dialect. ME /a/ became /ɒ/ in the West Midland area, so that man is pronounced /mɒn/, and cannot is /kɒnə/. ME /eː/ has diphthongised in many cases to /ei/.
Black Country accents are stereotyped as indicating "low intelligence", says Dr Esther Asprey, a lecturer at the University of Wolverhampton who focuses on West Midlands dialects. "Urban accents ...
Legacies of Colonial English. Studies in Transported Dialects. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-17507-4. Fischer, Steven Roger (2004), History of Language, Reaktion Books, ISBN 978-1-86189-594-3. Crystal, David (2003). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language (Second ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press ...
The spoken English language in Northern England has been shaped by the region's history of settlement and migration, and today encompasses a group of related accents and dialects known as Northern England English or Northern English. [2] [3] The strongest influence on modern varieties of Northern English was the Northumbrian dialect of Middle ...
Additionally, just like the North, most accents in the Midlands lack the foot–strut split, with words containing [ʌ] like strut or but being pronounced with [ʊ], without any distinction between putt and put. The West Midlands accent is often described as having a pronounced nasal quality, the East Midlands accent much less so.
Clark, Urszula (2013), West Midlands English: Birmingham and the Black Country, Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 978-0748685806 Mathisen, Anne Grethe (1999), Foulkes, Paul; Docherty, Gerard (eds.), "Sandwell, West Midlands: ambiguous perspectives on gender patterns and models of change" , Urban Voices: Accent Studies in the British Isles ...