Brummie is the accent found in the UK’s second biggest city – Birmingham. It has a strange image among English accents, stereotypically seen as untrustworthy or funny despite its very dry, matter-of-fact tone.
For decades it’s been relatively ignored in the media, but recently the hit BBC series Peaky Blinders brought the city’s accent and colourful history to new international audiences. So what are the features of a Brummie accent? Here are 10 that stand out:
Audio Accent Key:
Black text = read in Brummie
Blue text = read in GB (General British)
Red text = read in Brummie followed by GB*To listen, use the sound bar at the top of the page.*
1) /iː/ [əi]
Monophthong /iː/ is pronounced as a diphthong starting in the centre of the mouth [əi]:
SEE MEET NEED
The same happens when this position appears in -Y endings:
REALLY FUNNY SLOWLY
and it’s found in the name of Birmingham’s most famous rock star:
2) /ɪ/ [i]
/ɪ/ is made with the tongue further to the front, close to [i]:
HIT THING LIVE
3) /uː/ [əu]
There’s a movement from the centre of the mouth when Brummie’s say this sound [əu]
LOSE FLEW SOON
4) /ʌ/ /ʊ/
In keeping with northern English accents, /ʌ/ is swapped for /ʊ/:
FUN LOVE HUNG
5) /eɪ/ [ɑɪ]
/eɪ/ starts with the tongue back and the jaw open in Brummie [ɑɪ]:
PAY GREAT SHAME
6) /aʊ/ [aə]
/aʊ/ doesn’t tend to end in a rounded position in Brummie – [aə] is typical:
ROUND BROWN HOW
7) /əʊ/ [ʌʊ]
Brummies tend to start /əʊ/ with the tongue back and the mouth more open:
GO SHOW ALONE
8) /ʌɪ/ [ɔɪ]
The /ʌɪ/ diphthong is very distinctive in Brummie – it’s made with a rounded back vowel at the beginning:
RIGHT SIGN LIGHT
10) /ŋ/ /ŋg/,/n/
In a Brummie accent the ‘g’ is pronounced in many NG spellings:
SING HANG BIRMINGHAM
But like most regional accents the g is normally dropped in -ing endings that have been added to a word:
WORKING HAVING WRITING
A Note on Brummie Intonation
The melody of Brummie is truly distinctive. It has a monotone nature with long stretches hitting the same note. But when Brummies stress a word, it tends to lengthen considerably, and this can be followed by sharp rises or falls in tone.
THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF A RISING BRUMMIE TONE
THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF A FALLING ONE.
