Quote Originally Posted by Tuerto View Post
Have always fascinated me. How can a difference of a few miles make such a difference. From Thornhill over to Caerphilly is only a few miles, yet the accent is so different. And why is it the further North you travel the accent seems to become 'more Broad, if that's indeed true or the correct description. Is the UK unique in this way or do others have experiences of Accent change in other countries? I find it all very interesting and would love to know what peoples theories/knowledge of accents are, or their experiences.

Is accent determined by weather, geographic environment, industry, class etc. Interested to know peoples thoughts.
I think it can only be that you just are influenced as to how you speak by what you hear around you when you're growing up, but that doesn't answer why people up here can recognise I'm from Cardiff as soon as I say something and yet we're only talking about twenty miles. When I worked in Newport, it was easy to tell who the locals were because they spoke so differently to me despite the fact that this was a place it would only take me twenty odd minutes to drive to if I travelled early in the morning, it doesn't make sense!