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How to Speak Brummie

For such a small country, the United Kingdom has an incredible diversity of regional dialects, many specific to individual cities. Some of these are melodious and pleasing to the ear. Some are bizarre, some sound awkward and guttural, and some - to non-natives - seem completely incomprehensible (many English people have great difficulty understanding Glaswegian, for example - a very strong Scottish accent). Of all the dialects spoken in the British Isles, however, the one which seems to attract the most scorn is that spoken in and around the city of Birmingham.

Quite why this should be the case may at first seem unclear. The Birmingham accent - nicknamed 'Brummie' - is neither guttural nor difficult to understand. Unlike other UK dialects (Geordie1 or Glaswegian, for example) Brummie does not have a large collection of specifically local words which might alienate non-Birmingham people. And of course there is nothing specific in the character or behaviour of the average citizen of Birmingham to cause any offence. What seems to irritate the hell out of everyone is simply the sound of the thing.

The most important reason for this is probably intonation. A peculiarity of the Brummie accent is the use of a downward intonation at the end of most sentences. This means lowering the pitch of the voice and allowing the sound simply to fade away. This is in contrast to the nearby Scouse accent (or Liverpudlian) which tends towards an upward intonation. In other accents, both endings are used in equal measure, with upward intonation usually reserved for 'question' sentences. In Scouse the increase in pitch adds a vibrancy to the accent which gives it an extra appeal. In Brummie, the lowering suggests despondency and makes it less attractive to the listener. In both cases, the lack of variation quickly begins to grate.

In Brummie, this problem extends beyond the end of the sentence to the whole rhythm of the spoken word. In a melodic accent, such as Cardiff Welsh, there is considerable fluidity throughout. The Birmingham accent hits one note - usually a low one - and sticks to it no matter what. It is this lack of aural variation that is the principle cause of irritation for others. It is also the source of the stereotype of the unimaginative Brummie. The accent stays the same and never varies, and so subconsciously people assume the same must be true of the speaker.

In most other respects, Brummie is little different from other Midland's dialects (although folk from the Black Country may beg to differ). It contains most of the same vowel changes from Southern English, and has several familiar consonants.