OUGD505 - Studio Brief 02 - Product Range Distribution Initial Research

Research was undertaken into dialects across the country, their usage in different areas and their history.

A study conducted by the University of Cambridge using a mobile app called The English Dialects App aimed to show the diversity and usage of different dialects across the UK. Over the course of the study the app was downloaded more that 70,000 times and has generated data from from 30,000 users across 4,000 locations. 

The app attempts to guess where in England users are from, based on a series of 26 multiple-choice questions. The app then compares the occurrence and usage of certain words and phrases today to information from the 1950's. Results from this data have concluded that English regional dialects are slowly but steadily dying out.

There are many possible reasons why these dialects are falling into disuse. The most common theory is that a steady migration of the population from Southern regions into the North. In the last 100 years there has been a much greater geographical mobility. More generations of people have migrated for education, work and lifestyle, and there has been a significant shift of population out of the cities and into the countryside. As populations move, they retain their dialects. Some researchers are even suggesting that TV shows like Eastenders are partly to blame for the homogenisation of accents across the UK.

For example, the word “splinter” is now used in almost every part of England. However there were at least 10 variations on the word in 1950, from “shiver” to “spile”. The word “backend” to refer to the season after summer, once common in the north, has now been replaced almost entirely by “autumn”.

The research did, however, find some pockets of resistance. The line that divides northerners using a short “a” in “last” from those in the south using the long vowel has moved south of Birmingham since 1950, and the inhabitants of Sunderland and Newcastle still tend to say “spelk” instead of “splinter”.

The general movements and social mobility across the country will eventually mean regional accents will become obsolete. By 2066, the study says that the Brummie, Glaswegian, Liverpudlian, Cockney, Manchunian, and Geordie accents will be significantly toned down.

It's predicted that over the next half a century, regional dialects will become more alike and technology will have a profound impact on how words are pronounced. Voice recognition technology, which often struggles to recognise regional dialects and slang, will further contribute to the variation decline.