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DR HELEN WEST (University of Chester) explains why the Manchester Voices project is the bees knees, and why she’s now investigating Cestrian (Chester) voices
Do you think everyone from ManchestAH pronounces the name of their city like that? Or that they “ordAH” a “coffIH” rather than a “coffee”? Who or what do you think of when you think about the Manchester accent – Peter Kay? Coronation Street? What about Labour Party deputy leader Angela Raynor?
Even as a variationist linguist, if someone asks me what a Manchester accent is, the two words I would immediately say are ManchestAH citIH [mant͡ʃɛstɐ sɪtɪ]. Well, as the English Language undergraduates studying Language in Use and Topics in Sociophonetics at the University of Chester will now tell you after visiting the Manchester Voices exhibition, (yes, the title of this article is not grammatically “incorrect”) the Manchester accent is a little more complicated than that.
“Man-chest-UH, la lala lah!”
Professor Rob Drummond (Manchester Metropolitan University) and his researcher team have found that while speakers in Central Manchester and Salford may say ManchestUH and coffIH, Trafford - geographically in-between the two - say “ManchestER” and “coffEE”, while other areas of Greater Manchester sound somewhere in between. This clever exhibition highlights a broad range of variation in accent sounds: in Wigan; you catch a buz [bʊz] (not a bus [bʊs]) to the “bewkshop” [buːkʃɒp], (not “bookshop” [bʊːkʃɒp]); it’s a “bought” [bɔːt] not a “boat”[bəʊt] on the canal if you are from, Bolton, Wigan or Rochdale, and in Rochdale you would climb the “stirs” [stɜːz] rather than “stairs” [stɛːz].
What this project shows, in a way that is so accessible, is that the different areas in Greater Manchester can sound very different from one another, even if they are adjacent. The exhibition’s clever use of maps overlayed with audio show make all this variation understandable even to a mathematician. We know that a Geordie (Newcastle) and a Scouse (Liverpool) accent have many accent features that distinguish them, but who knew that regions that are so close to one another could sound so distinctive?
Are regional accents dying out?
But will all this variation last? Well, the exhibition shows us much more than the differences between regions, highlighting the importance of identity, community and belonging. As Drummond (2023, p. 41) states:
“There is always an element of truth in the stories that predict the demise of accents. It might be a that […] one of these sounds that used to be a strong marker for a particular region, has indeed been observed to be dying out in younger generations. But this doesn’t mean the whole accent is on the way out. […] Our accents are not simply passive reflections of where we are from. They are our way of signalling (or not) a sense of belonging.”
Accent van and free sweets
So how did Professor Drummond and his research team collect all their voices? They didn’t use a Labovian (1966) style “fourth floor” method, asking shop assistants: “where are the women’s shoes?” (I suppose, in the Arndale, they could have asked where you can get Japanese food to get the answer: “Yo SushIH”.) No, they used an accent van. Interested members of the public would climb into the back of the black van and be met with sweets (it’s not at all as bad as it sounds!) and an automated voice would ask them questions like: “How would you describe the way that you speak?”, “Has the way that you speak ever caused you any problems, or has it worked in your favour? Genius!
Accent prejudice
Now this second question is quite interesting. While our language helps us to reflect where we belong, there is also the darker flip side that this exhibition flags: prejudice. But I’ll let you see what the exhibition teaches us about this for yourself. It is well worth a visit! This exhibition is a wonderful gift to the people of Greater Manchester and anyone who is interested in the study of language variation and change, and language and identity.
Cestrians – make yourselves known!
But it makes me think: What about Chester? As this Reddit article asks: does Chester have an accent? I was interested to read in this thread that one Chester local “can always spot a fellow Cestrian a mile off from the accent”. I wonder how… I wonder if they know how they do this – which features stand out? Do you have any thoughts on this?
Like the Manchester Voices project, The Cestrian English Project (me, Dr Jo Close and Dr Matt Davies) aims to get Chester on the map. Can we - for the people of Chester – answer the question: what is the accent and dialect of Chester, and what is/are the identity/ies of Chester? Hopefully, yes, but we need your help! So, if you are reading this and you are from Chester, know anyone from Chester, or have any thoughts on the Chester accent, dialect and/or identity please email me on h.west@chester.ac.uk. Let’s get the Chester accent and dialect on the map!
Above all, as the Manchester Voices Exhibition encourages, no matter where you are from, be proud of your accent and dialect!
Written by Dr Helen West
References
Close, J., Davies, M., & West, H. The Cestrian English Project. https://www1.chester.ac.uk/english/research/cestrian-english
Drummond, R., Dann, H., Tasker, S. & Durkacz R., S. (2022): Manchester Voices. https://explore.manchestervoices.org/
Drummond, R. (2023). Are regional accents really disappearing? The Big Issue [30th October 2023].
Chester (2023) Reddit (Accessed 26/02/24)
Labov, W. (1966) The social stratification of English in New York City. Center for Applied Linguistics.