UK English and its characteristics

The United Kingdom is made up of four nations: Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland. In addition to their cultural, social and landscape differences, each nation has its own very marked accent.

The Scottish accent: UK English and its characteristics

To learn English, there is nothing better than practicing the language in an English-speaking country or region. You can discover the language of Shakespeare in Cambridge, Ireland, Scotland… However, the English spoken in each of these places is not always the same and can sometimes be difficult to understand .
This is the case with Scottish English, which has a slightly complicated accent for newbies. And what are the special characteristics of Scottish English? Let’s take a look at them below.
Scottish English is also called Scottish English or Scottish Standard English. This variety was born as a result of a mixture between the Scots and the English from the seventeenth century.
Later, the Scottish language evolved and gave way to oral expression, linguistic characteristics and intonation that were specific to the area.
He speaks English like a real Scotsman.
However, we must bear in mind that, as in other English-speaking countries, in each region of Scotland a particular English is spoken , with specific characteristics in terms of its grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, etc.
In fact, for example, in Scottish English the diminutive “-ie” is used at the end of words. We can say that it is an equivalent to our «-ito» or «-ita». Thus, a word like ‘laddie’ (lad + ie) means ‘young man’, while ‘ lassie’ ( lass + ie ) means ‘young lady’.
This variant of Shakespeare’s language may be difficult to understand, but it will be a most fun challenge.
You can make use of the local media to improve your level of English and learn the Scottish variant in a more enjoyable and effective way. You can also turn to sites such as BBC Scotland, which is the local radio, or BBC Alba (in Scottish Gaelic), if you want to become even more familiar with this variant and live an experience of total immersion in the culture and language of this region.

The accent of England

In the territory of England, different types of accents can be differentiated, so it cannot be said that there is an English accent as such. British English differs perfectly from American English but if we pay attention, we will see that even within British English there are great differences. In addition, nowadays in British series, especially those that take place in a specific place, they emphasize a lot in the accent of the area; so we can immediately appreciate the differences and similarities between accents. Thus, in England there are five types of accent:
Cockney accent
Scouse accent
Mancunian accent
Geordie accent
Brummie accent
The cockney accent is the typical London accent that spans the capital and its surroundings (Great London). The most characteristic feature of this accent is a pronunciation phenomenon called glottal stop , that is, replacing the / t / sound when it is in the middle of a word with a brief pause. Thus, instead of water we will pronounce / wa’er /. The / th / sound is generally replaced by the / f / or / v / sounds. Words like think or thin are pronounced / fink / and / fin /. And words like brother (brother), you will hear them pronounced / bruvver /.
The scouse accent is the typical Liverpool accent . The use of double negation ( I ain’t done nothing ) stands out in the way of speaking of the inhabitants of this city , which, although in Spanish it is very frequent, in English it is grammatically incorrect. They also use yous instead of plural you . Very common in this area is also the substitution of the final / t / sound for a / r /. Thus, in expressions like shut up , people with scouse accent will pronounce / shur up /.
The mancunian accent is the typical accent of Manchester and the adjoining cities (Great Manchester). It is characterized by not pronouncing the   final t . Thus, the word about is pronounced / abao /. The / th / sound, as in think , is pronounced / f / or / v /, / fink /. They also apply the phenomenon of the glottal stop (letter is pronounced / le’a /) and eliminate the final r of the words (car becomes / ca ‘/).
The inhabitants of the Newcastle area are known as geordie . Photo: MTV.
The geordie accent is the typical Newcastle accent (Newcastle-upon-Tyne and surrounding areas) . It is one of the accents that differs the most from the rest and they have a good number of vocabulary typical of the area. For example the words bairn ( child-child ), gan ( go-go ), lass (wife- woman ). On the other hand, they pronounce a multitude of different vowels as one / u /, when in standard English each vowel is pronounced differently. Thus, the words good, push, fun or love are all pronounced with a u ( / gud /, / push /, / fun /, / luv / ).
The brummie accent is the typical Birmingham accent . The first thing that will stand out when we hear this accent is that the sound / i / is pronounced / oy /. Words like tried or realize will sound like / troyed / and / realoyze /. The diphthong ou as in house or about, generally pronounced / au /, close it a bit and it remains as a / eu / (/ heuse /, / abeut /) sound. They also have expressions of their own like “owamya?”   to say “How are you?”
Actors in the Peaky Blinders series mimic brummie accent , as the series is set in Birmingham. Photo: Frames
The United Kingdom is made up of four nations: Scotland, Wales, England and Northern