Dialects and Accents in Britain

There are three general types of British accents in England: Northern English, Southern English, and the Midlands accent. One of the most obvious features is whether "bath" is pronounced like the a in "cat" (as it is in the US and in Northern English dialects) or like the a in "father" (as it is in Southern English dialects). The generic British accent, meanwhile, is known as "Received Pronunciation," which is basically a Southern English accent used among the elite that erases regional differences. Here's a video of one woman doing 17 British accents, most of which are shown on the map.

Credits: 25 Maps that Explain English

The Great Vowel Shift

Credits: Olaf Simons @ English Wikipedia

If you think English spelling is confusing — why "head" sounds nothing like "heat," or why "steak" doesn't rhyme with "streak," and "some" doesn't rhyme with "home" — you can blame the Great Vowel Shift. Between roughly 1400 and 1700, the pronunciation of long vowels changed. "Mice" stopped being pronounced "meese." "House" stopped being prounounced like "hoose." Some words, particularly words with "ea," kept their old pronounciation. (And Northern English dialects were less affected, one reason they still have a distinctive accent.) This shift is how Middle English became modern English. No one is sure why this dramatic shift occurred. But it's a lot less dramatic when you consider it took 300 years. Shakespeare was as distant from Chaucer as we are from Thomas Jefferson.

Why is English Spelling So Weird?

The World Map for THANK YOU

I really don't know if I agree with the "cheers" as thank you for British English... But let's assume the other suggestions are accurate. The Portuguese "OBRIGADO/OBRIGADA" should also be shown for Portugal! Do leave your remarks for your language as well! Obrigada. :)

Map credits: Lingholic

A tour of the British Isles in accents

A special thanks to Manuela Pais Pereira for the suggestion.

Phonetics: The Sounds of AmE

This collaborative project led by the University of Iowa is an example of the Web incredible potential. It is a tool for students (and also professionals) of Phonetics, Linguistics and foreign languages. The site contains animated libraries of the phonetic sounds of English. You can see an animated articulatory diagram, a step-by-step description and a video of the sound spoken in context. Who has not yet faced difficulties in producing English sounds? This is the right place to solve that kind of problem. However, bear in mind this is an American tool, so the results you will get are for American English.

The British Library

The British Library website allows you to explore 14 million books, 920,000 journal and newspaper titles, 3 million sound recordings (so important to work Phonetics), and much more. Find what you need - in the arts and humanities, sciences, or almost any subject. Its resources are huge but I have to highlight one of them: the incredible Timeline of English Literature and Language and of World events, where we can find information from Beowulf up to the XXI century. It's a great online resource for ELT.