what has had an influence upon this accent?
The major influence comes from the influx of Irish and Welsh into the city. The mixing of these different accents and dialects, joining with words and sayings picked up from global maritime arrivals, all fused together to create the unique Scouse sound. Every tide brought ashore a new imported verb and many stuck becoming part of everyday language.
where does it originate from?
The Scouse accent like much else in the city owes its roots to Liverpool’s position as a port. The melting pot created by the influx of people from far and wide was the foundation of the distinctive Scouse sound.
what is characteristic about this accent?
Scouse is noted for a fast, highly accented manner of speech, with a range of rising and falling tones not typical of most of northern England
Historical factors that may have influenced the accent
Originally a small fishing village, Liverpool developed as a port, particularly with Ireland, and after the 1700s as an international trading and industrial centre. By this point a city, it became a melting pot of several languages and dialects, but primarily Lancastrian English, Irish, Welsh, Dutch, Scandinavian, German and Scottish. As a result the Liverpool accent often has more in common with accents from other European and British port cities such as Glasgow, Dublin and Amsterdam than it does with local towns such as St Helens.
Details of the accent
There are variations on the Scouse accent, with the south side of the city adopting a softer, lyrical tone, and the north a rougher, more gritty accent. Those differences, though not universal, can be seen in the pronunciation of the vowels. The northern half of the city more frequently pronounces words such as 'book' and 'cook' differently, whereas the southern half of the city is closer to the RP English pronunciation of these words.
Examples of words and phrases
The use of me instead of my was also attributed to Irish English influence: for example, "That's me book you got there" for "That's my book you got there". An exception occurs when "my" is emphasised: for example, "That's my book you got there" (and not his).
Other Scouse features include:
- The use of 'giz' instead of 'give us'.
- The use of the term 'made up' to portray the feeling of happiness or joy in something. For example, 'I'm made up I didn't go out last night'.
- The term 'sound' is used in many ways. It is used as a positive adjective such as 'it was sound' meaning it was good. It is used to answer questions of our wellbeing, such as 'I'm sound' in reply to 'How are you?' The term can also be used in negative circumstances to affirm a type of indifference such as 'I'm dumping you'. The reply 'sound' in this case translates to 'yeah fine', 'ok', 'I'm fine about it', 'no problem' etc.
- [k] pronounced as [x] at the ends of some words.
examples of famous people with the accent
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