Why Do We Have So Many Accents?
CrowdScience
BBC
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 31 March 2017
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Why do we have so many accents - even when we’re speaking the same language? What's happening in our brains and mouths to make us sound so different from each other? This week’s question from listener Amanda takes CrowdScience to Glasgow in Scotland: home to one of the most studied - and distinctive - accents of English.
Along the way we visit a voice coach to try and learn a Texan accent, use ultrasound to see what different sounds look like inside our mouths and find out how a brand new dialect was formed when many accents collided in New Zealand.
Do you have a question we can turn into a programme? Email us at crowdscience@bbc.co.uk
Presenter: Nastaran Tavakoli-Far Producer: Cathy Edwards
New Zealand Mobile Unit recordings courtesy of Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision
(Image: A mouth screaming white letters. Credit: Thinkstock)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're about to listen to a BBC podcast and maybe it's when I had a hand in. |
| 0:04.0 | I'm Tammy Walker and I produce podcasts for the BBC. |
| 0:08.0 | My role is to give new and diverse creators a voice with the opportunity to build a career. |
| 0:12.0 | That's the thing I love about podcasts. |
| 0:14.4 | You start with just a good idea, but then you have the space to see where it goes. |
| 0:18.4 | And doing that at the BBC means we can really run with the best stories |
| 0:21.9 | while developing the most unique audio talent. |
| 0:24.8 | So if you like what you hear, why not check out the huge range of podcast we've got on BBC Sounds? |
| 0:30.5 | Hello Crowd Science. |
| 0:31.7 | Hi Crowd Science. Hello Crowd Science. We're listening to Crowd Science. Hi Crowd Science. |
| 0:33.0 | Hello Crowd Science. |
| 0:34.0 | We are listening to Crowd Science from the BBC. |
| 0:36.0 | I'm Amanda Miller from Inlet New York, |
| 0:39.0 | and my question is, why do we have so many different accents? |
| 0:44.0 | Accents? |
| 0:45.0 | Accents? |
| 0:46.0 | Yeah. |
| 0:47.0 | Actually, |
| 0:48.0 | Are you having a laugh? |
| 0:49.0 | Can you even under store us? |
| 0:50.0 | I can, yeah. |
| 0:52.0 | See if I talked to as quick you can do you understand. That was a bit harder yeah I'm not that was a bit harder yeah I'm not |
... |
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