Brummie - Not One But Many...

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Helen McCrory's untimely death leaves a void in the pantheon of the performing arts in this country, and although her roles were many and varied she was recently, famously known for her portrayal of Aunt Polly in Peaky Blinders: which, unless you've lived in a hole for the last few years, was a remarkably successful series about a crime family based in turn-of-the-last-century Birmingham. As a bit of myth-making-based-on-a-grain-of-truth, it was pretty entertaining; although I watched little of it due to one, crucial thing. The accents: they were appalling parodies of my native tongue (although the later stuff seemed to get more of a grip on the subtleties of its many variations).

Over the last few decades, my Brummie accent has softened but still inflects my speech with that unmistakeable cadence: pure Winson Green. Jane's accent differs in that she grew up in Quinton, but  to a small extent our speech is qualified by both having fathers who were from Smethwick - a completely different linguistic kettle of fish. By the by, I was working at a place (when I was working!) just outside Bangor, and detected in the voice of the woman who lived there a familiar note. I asked where she was from and the the answer was 'Birmingham'. I replied 'That's obvious, but which part?' (already knowing the answer). 'Winson Green'. That fact was evident from the first words we exchanged - the accent of The Green is particular to the place itself and to Handsworth, though not Handsworth Wood.

Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath still has that pure, flat Green/Handsworth cadence that is very difficult to pin down - contrast his accent with Ozzy Osbourne's more sing-song Aston accent, and you can see what I mean. As with all regional accents, there is no 'one' version: Brummie, Scouse, Manc, Geordie; whatever: they're all rich and diversely specific variations on a continuum of phonetic difference. And before anyone cites the dreaded 'RP' as being somehow separate from 'the rest of us': there are as many varieties of Received Pronunciation as there are posh schools...



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