"Righ' foo', lef' foo',
right foot, left foot".
Hello. I'm Gill at engVid,
and today's lesson is on
the northern UK accent,
and we've used as our example a
program called Game of Thrones,
and you may be a big
fan of this program.
I think it's very popular. But if you're not, if
you've never seen an episode of Game of Thrones,
then just to explain that it's a
historical, medieval, fantasy
about power struggles mostly,
hence the "Throne" in the title.
And we're looking today at one episode which
comes from series 3, episode 7 which shows
two of the characters, Jon Snow and
Ygritte, a young man and a young woman
walking through the countryside, and
they're going off to fight somewhere.
So they're having a conversation
on the way. So we've taken some of the words
that they say during their conversations to
look at how they pronounce them. So they're
both speaking in a northern UK accent, which
is around the sort of Yorkshire, Lancashire
area about 200 miles north of London.
But the actors themselves are not northern. They
are performing in a northern accent, so it's
possible to learn different accents. The
actress actually comes from Scotland,
but she speaks in normal life, in her real life she speaks
with a southern London, quite a cultured-London accent;
whereas the actor, the male actor who
plays Jon Snow, he's from the London area
and he speaks with a London accent. So they are
both speaking with accents that they don't
normally speak. But anyway, we're going to
look at some of the words from that episode
today, and I will demonstrate how they're
pronounced compared with the standard RP,
Received Pronunciation, southern way
of saying the words. Okay. So, right.
So the idea with the northern UK accent, it
fits the medieval fantasy type of program
more probably than the southern accent because
it has a sort of historical feel to it. It
sounds strong. The people who speak that way
sound very strong. And this word: "gritty",
"grit" is little pieces of stone. So if you
think of stone it's very hard and tough, it's
hard to break. So if somebody is gritty,
they're quite strong and tough.
So the northern accent has this strong, tough, gritty
feel to it. So it fits with the historical drama where
people are living quite difficult lives, and
they haven't got central heating, for example,
and they haven't got electricity.
So, life is hard. Okay?
So, okay, let's have a look at the... Some
of the vowel sounds which are different from
the southern. So, first of all, these examples.
In sorts of southern RP, what we call "RP",
Received Pronunciation, these would be pronounced:
"snow", "won't", "don't", "know", "road",
so it's the "o" sound. Just an "o" sound.
But in the northern accent that's used in
the program, it's much broader. It's: "snoow",
and "woon't", "doon't", "knoow", "rooad",
it's like that. Okay? So maybe you'd
like to try repeating after me:
"snow",
"won't",
"don't",
"know",
"road",
so you have to really push your
mouth forward and make it quite
dark and heavy-sounding. Okay?
So that's the "o" sound
or the "oo" sound.
Okay, it's a bit longer. You hold
it on for longer as well. Right.
Next one, these words would, in RP, would
be: "blood", "love", "drums", and "come"
as in "come on", "come on. Let's go", "come".
But... So it's a sort of "ah" sound.
But in the northern accent it's:
"blood", and "love", "drums", "come".
So, again, it's much darker
and "oo", pushing your mouth forward again. So
perhaps you'd like to repeat after me again.
So: "blood",
"love",
"drums",
"come on".
So, I hope you know all these words.
Drums, the
things that you hit, a musical instrument,
percussion instrument. Bang, bang, bang, bang.
Drums which are used in military, you know,
marches and so on for people to march along
to because they give a strong rhythm.
So: "drums",
"come on", okay?
Next one, in the south people would say:
"save", "make", "lady", "brave", "day".
So it's a bit like "a", like that. But again, in
the northern accent it's a longer sound, and it's:
"saave",
"maake",
"laady",
"braave",
"daay",
so it's much sort of wider
and, again, longer and darker.
You make the sound a
bit darker as well.
So, would you like
to repeat after me?
"Save",
"make",
"lady",
"brave",
"day".
Okay? "Brave" means
strong and courageous.
You're not afraid of anything. Okay? If you're
brave and you're really brave if you're from
the north-gritty, and
strong-and brave. Okay.
So, that's that one.
This little word: "you", it depends what part of
the sentence it comes in, but if it's towards
the end it can often be shortened. So it might
just sound like: "yuh", "yuh". I've spelt
it two different ways here (yer/yuh) to
try to suggest the pronunciation. "Yuh".
Instead of "you", just "yuh". So perhaps
you'd like to repeat after me. "You".
Okay. Okay then.
Next one, in the southern
accent: "right", "right".
This is my right hand, this is my left.
Right. Okay.
But again, the "i" of "right", it gets
longer in the northern accent. And
also the "t" isn't always pronounced,
so you get something like this:
"raaht", "right",
so you make your mouth very wide like that.
"Right", "right".
And instead of making the "t" sound,
it's called the glottal stop.
You may have heard of
this before, and that is
some sound, something that
happens in your throat.
So instead of making
the "t" sound
in your mouth, you're sort of making
a catching sound in your throat.
So: "right", it's something down there.
So: "right".
Would you like to repeat after me?
"Right", okay?
So you just stop yourself making the "t" sound
and catch something in your throat instead.
And this one: "that", "that", again, the final
"t" can be missed off, but also the "ah" sound
is a little bit wider: "thaat". "That"
in the south, but a bit wider like:
"tha", "that", "that",
so again, a big, wide mouth. I sort of
imagine it as almost a square shape. "That".
As square as you can get
it, like: "right", "that".
So it makes your
face probably look
a bit strange because you're making shapes
you perhaps haven't made before. Okay, so
that's that one. If you'd like to say
the word after me: "that", "that".
Okay. And the same with "land". In the south: "land",
but the same vowel sound as in "that", "land",
"land". And it's much wider. "Land".
You want to repeat after me?
"Land", "land". Okay.
And then the final example of what happens is words
ending "ing" where we would say in the south:
"anything", "fighting", "training", first
of all we have a "t" missing again here,
the glottal stop again. And the
"g" sound is missed off, so:
"anythin'", "anythin'",
"anything".
And "fightin'", "fighting",
and "trainin'", "training".
Okay? Do you want to repeat?
"Anything",
"fighting",
"training".
Okay. So, those are some
of the vowel sounds
and some of the other things that happen, like
glottal stop, missing "t" and the missing "g".
So let's now have a look at some of the phrases
that are used in the dialogue in the episode,
which also includes these words to get a longer
line that's said by the actors so that it...
And if you're a fan of Game of Thrones
you will probably recognize these lines.
So this is something that Ygritte, the woman says
to Jon Snow, the man, as they're walking along.
"You know nothin', Jon Snow.
You know nothin', Jon Snow."
So: "know", and "snow" are
the same vowel sound.
"Nothin'", "nothin'".
Instead of: "You know nothing, Jon Snow",
which sounds much too civilized and modern:
"You know nothin',
Jon Snow." Okay?
So, do you want to repeat
after me or with me?
"You know nothin', Jon Snow."
Okay. And then similar:
"You don't know", so the same vowel
sound again: "You don't know."
Okay, right. Just repeat
when I've done it. Okay.
Then I don't know whether... It's him, I think
Jon Snow says this to Ygritte this time, I'm
not sure, but somebody says:
"You don't have the
training", but they say it:
"You don't have the trainin'.
You don't have the trainin'."
Repeat. "You don't have
the trainin'." Okay.
And then they're talking about marching along
when they're in an army and somebody's banging
the drums to give a good rhythm for
people marching, so somebody says:
"Not banging the drums",
but: "bangin' the drums",
and the "g", instead of: "banging",
"banging" as we would say in the south,
"banging", you'd get a "g" sound in
both places: "banging". It's "bangin'",
so the hard "g" sound here and then the
"g" is missed at the end. And then
"drums", "banging the drums". Do
you want to repeat that after me?
"Banging the drums",
okay. Oh, and then this is where Ygritte,
she's being a bit sarcastic about the drums:
"Oh, so it helps you to put your left foot down and
then your right foot down, does it? That's clever."
So right foot, left foot, right foot,
left foot, right foot, left foot.
But the way she says it, she misses the "t"
off the end, so glottal stop each time and
also instead of "right", it's: "righ'".
"Righ' foo'",
so: "Righ' foo', lef' foo',
right foot, left foot".
So she's being very sarcastic which fits with the
accent, really. So do you want to say that after me?
"Righ' foo', lef' foo'".
Okay.
And then the sort of slogan of the whole program,
really, the idea that winter is coming, but
it's not said like that, not
by these characters anyway.
So they say: "Winter is comin'.
Winter is comin'"
so this is the main vowel sound, here.
"Comin'" instead of "coming".
"Winter is comin'. Winter
is coming." Okay? Right.
And similarly, the same
vowel sound again:
"Come, come on. Come on, we've got
to go." So not: "Come on, come on",
but: "Come on, come on."
It's much darker and deeper.
And this one: "She understan's", so there's
not really a "d" there. There should be a
"d" in the spelling, so that's why I've put a
little apostrophe to show it's not a possessive
apostrophe "s", it's just "ds",
there's a "d" missing. So:
"She understan's.
She understands."
Not: "She understands", but "she understands".
So do you want to say that after me?
"She understands."
So no "d" sound at the end.
Okay.
And then... Oh, they have a... Ygritte has
a conversation with another character, and
they're talking about who... What
they feel about other people, so:
"You love 'im", "loove",
not "love". "You love him"
would be in the south, but:
"You loove 'im", and
the "h" is missing.
Often in the north the "h" at the beginning
of a word is missing as well. So:
"You love 'im", "You love 'im". And: "he", "'e",
this is a missing "h" again. "He", "He loves you",
"'E loves yuh", "'E loves yuh", and so
this is where the word "u" at the end
of a line becomes just "yuh".
"'E loves yuh", "He loves you".
Would you like to
say that after me?
"'E loves yuh".
Okay, and then this is a really good one because
the whole program is about the ownership of
land, and castles, and fighting people for
ownership. So they're off to fight to get
some land back that they've lost in the past
apparently. So, I think Ygritte says this,
so she doesn't say: "After
we've taken our land back",
that's much too civilized and
modern. If you've seen Downton Abbey with an
actress like Maggie Smith as a very aristocratic
lady, she would say: "After
we've taken our land back",
but that would not work I don't
think in Game of Thrones.
It's much deeper and
more down to earth, so:
"After wiv techen
our land back",
so this "we've" is more like "wiv".
"After wiv",
and then instead of "taken",
it's more like: "techen", "techen".
"After wiv techen our land back."
So the big "ah" sound
for the "land back".
So: "After", "After" rather than "After".
A lot of southern people
say "after". I don't because I'm from further
north and I have never changed that in my
accent, but a lot of southern people say:
"after". Not everybody though, so: "After",
"ah", "after wiv taken
our land back". Okay.
So, I hope that's been interesting for you,
whether you're a Game of Thrones fan or not.
I hope it's given you some insight into how
actors, you know, can sometimes change their
accents to fit a particular character and a
particular period in history or for a fantasy
series like that.
So, I hope it's been useful and fun. And
so do go to the website: www.engvid.com
where there's a quiz for you to do to
test your knowledge of this subject.
And I hope to see
you again soon.
Thanks for watching. Bye.
