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.
Of course there are different accents in different countries. Our accents are influenced by the language spoken around us by parents, friends, peer groups, communities, colleagues, teachers, the media etc.

As for accents becoming more broad as one goes further north, I would say that you need to look through the opposite end of the telescope i.e. Standard English was formed by the powers-that-be adopting the accents in the area of London, Cambridge and Oxford and accents from further afield are less closely related to the accents in that area. The national roll-out of a dialect that was predominant in capital cities or important regions around the world is very commonplace.

Many dialects are dying out, however. When I worked in Germany the old fellows always talked and swore at me in the local dialect (which was closer to Dutch and which prompted me to learn the latter language in my spare time) but that dialect is all but dead now as far as the younger generation is concerned over there.