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It’s no secret that Britain is one of the most diverse and culturally diverse countries in the world.
In fact, it has been called the “land of two cultures”.
But in the country’s national capital, London, the accent is so pronounced that it can be hard to tell the difference between a native speaker and a foreigner.
The BBC’s Inside Politics podcast recently explored the phenomenon of the “british accent”.
The series included a man who told the BBC’s Jeremy Paxman: “I have a British accent.
I’ve lived here for two years and it’s just a bit different.
I don’t speak like it.”
This man was speaking in an accent that was indistinguishable from that of the majority of British people, according to a study conducted by the University of Leicester.
Professor Roberta Smeets from the university’s Department of Geography and Linguistics said: “The study was the first study of its kind to attempt to quantify the extent of the British accent and it really is surprising.”
This is a country where people are not always as aware of the cultural differences between themselves and the people around them, so this is a very important thing to do in order to understand the ways in which we all interact in this country.
“Professor Smeys said the findings were interesting because it demonstrated that the British public were often more sensitive to accents than people in other European countries.
She added: “We found that people in the UK were less likely to have an English accent than people elsewhere in the European Union, and were also less likely than other Europeans to have a Scottish accent.”
It is not surprising that people here might be more sensitive than other European populations to accents, because it is a way of life in the British Isles.”
The study also found that the most common accent in London was a mixture of English, Welsh, Scots and Irish.
Professor Smes said the study showed that there were people who could not be identified by their own accent and were more likely to be known by others as the ‘British accent’.
Professor Sms said the British dialect is a mixture between the English and Welsh dialects and it is the Welsh accent that is usually heard by most people.
“The British accent has an accent, but it is not an English one,” she said.
“People who speak English may have an accent as a way to express their feelings, but that is not always the case.”
We think the British accents have a lot to do with that.
“Dr Richard Smith from the University College London said the research was “incredibly important” because it showed the British people’s way of speaking can be influenced by culture.
He added:”It suggests that if you’re not sure whether you are from a British background, and you’ve lived in this part of the world for a number of years, you can be quite confident that you’re an American, or British, or whatever.”
And that’s important in a country like this, where the accent has so much influence.”
The BBC Inside Politics Podcast is available on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, YouTube, TuneOut and SoundCloud.
