West Midlands English

Location of the West Midlands region in England.

West Midlands English is a group of dialects of the English language.

County accents

The Birmingham accent has experienced ridicule within the UK for its distinct sound. The accent is a result of extensive migration to the region during the Industrial revolution. Birmingham and its surrounding suburbs received people not only from England and Ireland, but also in smaller numbers from Wales and Scotland.^{[citation needed]}

Certain areas of the West Midlands are stereotyped as having stronger accents than others, Dudley in the Black Country being an example. There are some local phrases in the Black Country that are renowned. People do tend to substitute a reply of "arr" for "yes". Generally, most words are shortened, most commonly being "I haven't" to "I ay" (which can be argued as an even shorter form of "I ain't").^{[citation needed]} In the south of the West Midlands, the accent is more similar to the general southern accent.

Dave Bradley, a presenter on BBC Hereford and Worcester said in 2005 that:

[in Herefordshire and Worcestershire] we have many different ways of speaking the English language, at least I think that's what we are speaking !!!

Go from Kington in North Herefordshire with the Welsh-border lilt, to Evesham in the south of Worcestershire where there's a very different sound.

From Kidderminster and the North Worcestershire area where many, but not all, have a Brummigum twang, and then off down to Ross where there's a hint of the rounded Gloucestershire tones.

—Dave Bradley

Varieties of West Midlands English

• Black Country
• Brummie (spoken in Birmingham)
• Coventry
• Potteries (North Staffordshire)
• Herefordshire
• Warwickshire
• Worcestershire
• Salopian (Shropshire)

External links

• BL staff. "Sounds Familiar?". British Library. Retrieved February 2012.  – Listen to examples of regional accents and dialects from across the UK on the British Library's 'Sounds Familiar' website
• BBC staff (November 2008). "Voices 2005:Hereford and Worcester". BBC Hereford and Worcester. Retrieved February 2012. 
  • Lovell, Martyn (22 August 2005). "The voice of a Herefordshire farrier". BBC Hereford and Worcester. Retrieved February 2012.