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I've seen videos of people with supposedly distinct West Country accents but honestly they sound more or less the same as people from the South East of England. Is this something that's largely dying out among people under say 30 or 40 in Cornwall, Devon and Bristol due to the influence of London or am I just not hearing it?
The only people I know who talk with a broad, and I do mean broad, Wiltshire accent are the old boys and more often than not in the more remote parts of the County.
There are still a few of them that view a trip to the market town of Devizes as a big trip, and as for heading to Marlborough, well that's a different world!
Well I guess Geordies are comprehensible for the most part, I can understand Cheryl Cole but some elders might as well be speaking Gaelic or Danish. It's still very strong though among all ages it seems.
Other accents in northern England sound somewhat southernized now, though southern accents have also northernized.
For some reason there isn't as strong a West Country identity as Yorkshire, or old Lancashire/Merseyside/Manchester, as well as a negative stigmatisation against the farmer's/inn keeper's accent. It's not surprise the Hobbits in Lord of the Rings were given West Country accents, usually in fantasy or historic films those rustic, pastoral type characters have the West Country brogue.
I like the West Country accent. Russel Howard is from Bristol - listen to his voice and you might get an idea of what people generally sound like.
Accents in general are 'diluted' nowadays. Only the older generation in Yorkshire, for example, have a really broad Yorkshire accent - and usually in the rural parts. In university cities like Leeds and Sheffield in particular, there are so many people from elsewhere in the UK and abroad, that the Yorkshire accent has been diluted significantly. There are loads of southerners from London/Surrey/Hertfordshire here.
In fact, most people cannot guess where I am from based on my accent alone, because it isn't strong.
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It's still very strong though among all ages it seems.
