Why Do We Have So Many Accents?
What makes us sound so different from each other β even when weβre speaking the same language? Listener Amandaβs question takes us all over the worldβ¦ and inside our mouths.
Why do we have so many accents - even when weβre speaking the same language? What's happening in our brains and mouths to make us sound so different from each other? This weekβs question from listener Amanda takes CrowdScience to Glasgow in Scotland: home to one of the most studied - and distinctive - accents of English.
Along the way we visit a voice coach to try and learn a Texan accent, use ultrasound to see what different sounds look like inside our mouths and find out how a brand new dialect was formed when many accents collided in New Zealand.
Do you have a question we can turn into a programme? Email us at crowdscience@bbc.co.uk
Presenter: Nastaran Tavakoli-Far
Producer: Cathy Edwards
New Zealand Mobile Unit recordings courtesy of NgΔ Taonga Sound & Vision
(Image: A mouth screaming white letters. Credit: Thinkstock)
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How to speak like a Texan
Duration: 01:51
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- Fri 31 Mar 2017 19:32GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except News Internet
- Sat 1 Apr 2017 22:32GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
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- Mon 3 Apr 2017 13:32GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Australasia
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CrowdScience
Answering your questions about life, Earth and the universe