There are many factors to be taken into account when choosing the correct voice for your product. One of these factors is what accent you want to use to sell your product/service.
There are a wide variety of accents and dialects that can be found here in the British Isles, and in this blog post we will be looking at a very small selection you may come across.
Received Pronunciation (RP)
Received pronunciation (or RP for short) is probably the most widely studied and most frequently described variety of spoken English in the world, yet recent estimates suggest only 2% of the UK population speak it. RP is identified not so much with a particular region, but with a particular social group, although it has connections with the accent of Southern England. It is associated with educated speakers and formal speech, and is possibly the closest to a standard accent we have here.
Characteristics:
- Non-rhoticity, meaning the r at the ends of words isn’t prounounced (mother sounds like “muhthuh”).
- Trap-bath split, meaning that certain a words, like bath, can’t, and dance are pronounced with the broad-a in father. (This differs from most American accents, in which these words are pronounced with the short-a in cat.
Notable speakers of RP include: The Royal Family, David Cameron (Prime Minister), Stephen Fry (TV Personality/ Author/ Comedian).
Here is an RP sample from our website courtesy of Phillip:
Yorkshire
Being based in Sheffield means we at Adelphi are most familiar with this dialect. With Yorkshire being the largest county in Britain, it is no surprise there are a number of different variations of accents found across the county. The most commonly thought of Yorkshire dialect is that of the heavily industrialized West Riding (West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire after 1974.) This is familiar to most, thanks to Radio and TV dramas set in Yorkshire. Recent studies have also shown that the Yorkshire accent is seen as one of the nations favourite accents, and is seen as ‘warm’ and ‘genuine’.
Characteristics:
- Vowel sounds in words, e.g. A is predominantly pronounced as a short “a” as opposed to the southern longer “aa” or “ah” (e.g. bath, grass, glass) and U and OO are pronounced “uh” (e.g. blood, cut, lunch).
Notable speakers of the Yorkshire dialect include: Dickie Bird (Sports commentator), Michael Palin (actor/comedian), Alex Turner (singer with the Arctic Monkeys).
Here is a Yorkshire sample from our website from Marie:
Scouse
The highly distinctive Scouse accent is found primarily in the county of Merseyside, and is very closely associated with the city of Liverpool and the surrounding areas. Up until the mid 19th century Liverpudlians spoke pretty much the same as their Lancastrian neighbours. The Scouse sound was created by the influx of people arriving through the docks from far and wide. The major influence comes from Irish and Welsh moving into the city.
Notable speakers of the Scouse accent include: The Beatles, Steven Gerrard (footballer), Paul O’Grady (comedian, TV presenter).
Here’s a Scouse audio sample courtesy of Ronnie:
Although this list is incredible short, and in no way complete, we hope we have shed some light on some of the different accents found in the UK. We have a wide selection of accents and dialects available in the Voice Over section, so whatever you are looking for we can provide you with the most suitable option for your final product. Please view our sample page here: https://adelphistudio.com/voice-overs/.
Adelphi can provide all of the services detailed above for your voice-over requirement. Please visit our website at www.adelphitranslations.com and click “Request a Quote” or feel free to call us on (0)114 272 3772.
