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| |  | Ronald White
Born: 8 May 1931
Lives: Kidderminster, Worcestershire
Time lived in area: All my life
Occupation: Retired union official |
Ronald's grandfather tied string around his trouser legs to stop snakes getting inside when working in the woods.
Language of interview:
Duration: 00:51 (mins/secs)
The participants were asked to describe how they spoke in their own words.
How do you describe your accent: "Midlands, Worcestershire."
Have there been other influences on the way you speak: Not Given
Do you have skills in languages other than English?: No
Other languages: None
My grandfather White, who was, I mean, he was sort of a woodsman, a typical woodsman. I can't remember him doing any work other than go in the woods. And used, they always, for some reason and certainly I asked that question, they always wear their trousers and just below the knees they would put a piece of string round and tie the trousers just below the knees. And they used to walk around like this, in Bewdley on a regular basis. And I always recall, you know, asking my grandfather the reason why, you know, he'd got his piece of string round, just below his knee tied his trousers. And he came back with the answer, "It stops the snakes getting up me leg". I never once believed that, but, I mean, I had to accept it.
Jonnie Robinson, Curator, English accents and dialects, British Library Sound Archive, writes There are a number of ways of gradually pinpointing someone to a specific location by focusing on crucial elements of a speaker's accent. Ronald is typical, for instance, of many speakers in the north of England and the Midlands in the vowel he uses in the words ask and answer. His pronunciation of the in the phrase this piece ofstring, you know, round, just below his knee is a characteristic feature of a number of speakers in the Midlands and north-west and enables us to narrow down even further. Unlike other localised pronunciations this is considered highly prestigious in this area and unites speakers from a very wide range of backgrounds. In most cases, however, it's a speaker's vowel sounds that are most revealing of their background. Listen to Ronald's pronunciation of the vowel sounds in the following three sets of words: my, White, tie, like and why; trousers, around and round and basis, came and snakes. This combination of vowel sounds is typical of many speakers in the West Midlands. The final clue, however, to the fact that Ronald hails from Worcestershire is the fact that he's a rhotic speaker - that is he pronounces the sound after a vowel, at one time a feature of speech throughout the UK and indeed until relatively recently still widely heard in the area to the immediate south and west of Birmingham. Today, however, it's increasingly restricted to the West Country and the far south-west of England, and is perhaps less likely to be associated with younger speakers in places like Kidderminster. Listen to the way Ronald pronounces the words grandfather, sort of, never, remember, work, certainly, trousers and answer.
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