For hints on using this resource, please see How to Work on an Accent.
Listening Samples
Dolly
Jane McDonald
(b. 1963)
For Fun:
Key Sounds
For each sound, I’ve included audio examples and a dropdown section of practice phrases.
Unless otherwise indicated, practice phrases are excerpted from Lexical Sets for Actors by Eric Armstrong under a creative commons license.
Consonant Sounds
R-Dropping
While R in initial position (e.g. “red roses”) is always pronounced, R is not pronounced when it falls at the end of a word or precedes a consonant sound. Some example word groups are: NURSE, lettER, NEAR, SQUARE, START, and NORTH.
Linking R
R-dropping does not occur when the sound following the R is a vowel sound.
Practice R-Dropping & Linking R
R-Dropping
- The worst burnt sirloin.
- Better, stronger, faster.
- Clearly fearless.
- Upstairs Downstairs.
- A large star chart.
- Play the chord on the organ.
- Sherlock searched for the murderer.
- Future conservative leader.
- They persevered as a volunteer.
- Swear with flair.
- Sparklers for the garden party.
- Norman drove from Yorkshire to Orkney.
- The early bird catches the worm.
- Tears for Fears appeared in Tangiers.
- A square hairline.
- Skylarks darkened Denmark’s skies.
- Corgis have short legs and long torsos.
Linking R
- Jennifer‿is a junior‿in university.
- My career‿as an engineer.
- The chair‿of the libraRians association.
- The cashier wore‿earplugs.
- The surfer’s trainer‿is from overseas.
- Did you hear the LibeRians cheeRing?
- CaRers, paRents, and grandpaRents.
L-Backing
Yorkshire accents use a “heavy” L quality created by raising and/or backing the tongue body.
Practice Back L
- Lisa lived in Clifton Knolls until college.
- Cal was dealing lithium for moolah.
- Ollie and Callie played Solomon with their dolly.
- Larry slathered lavash with licorice jelly for Mel.
- I can tell, the lovers’ dalliance belonged in Las Vegas.
*Practice phrases borrowed from Introduction to Speechwork for Actors by Ron Carlos
Vowel Sounds
STRUT-FOOT Merger
Words in the STRUT group are pronounced with the same round, back vowel sound as those in the FOOT group.
Practice the STRUT Sound
- Fun in the sun
- Some fun summer lovin’.
- Percussionists love the drums.
- Umbrella weather in London.
- The Hungarian ski-jumper tumbled.
- A peanut, coconut, and fudge donut.
- The skunk stunk up the stump.
- An unlovable fussbudget.
Words like FACE and GOAT
These words tend to use a single steady vowel quality rather than a diphthong (a vowel sound that glides from one quality to another).
Practice the FACE and GOAT Sounds
FACE
- A great place to stay.
- The rail at the tail of the sailboat.
- Today’s the day!
- No pain, no gain.
- Don’t cut the main brachial vein!
- They’ve won the space race.
- He claims to feel ashamed
- Why did he call the investigator A Famous Shamus?
- Drain the rain gauge.
GOAT
- Don’t go home.
- Row, row, row your boat.
- Moan and groan on the phone.
- Toby’s bespoke smoking jacket.
- Onyesha loves coconut crab from Mozambique.
- Moe totaled the Toyota he got in Tokyo.
- If I sew the rosehips, will they grow?
- The Edo shogunate lay siege to Osaka.
- I was thrown by your iPhone’s ringtone.
Words like TRAP and BATH
In contrast to the sound system of southern England, Yorkshire speakers will use the same open sound for TRAP words and BATH words.
Practice the TRAP~BATH Sound
TRAP
- That man is a fat cat.
- Keep track of your Slack account.
- A TicTac snack attack.
- An Italian cabbage salad.
- The Flash-based app crashed my Mac.
- Alexander planned his capitol to be in Babylon.
BATH
- On behalf of the calf.
- A laughing giraffe.
- I said “footpath”, not “bloodbath”.
- A half-hour before Flagstaff.
- We laughed about the aircraft.
- Sample the raspberries at Belfast Castle.
- The dancer from France was entrancing.
Words like LOT and THOUGHT
Words like LOT and THOUGHT are pronounced in the back of the mouth and have some lip rounding associated with them.
Practice LOT and THOUGHT vowels
LOT
- It’s not hot out
- Logical, methodical economics
- My watch says it’s 3 o’clock
- Foggy cognition
- The waddling toddler
- Adopt the frog
- Pop makes Robbie vomit.
THOUGHT
- Prawns in sauce
- An authentic, signed baseball
- The flawed chalk drawing
- Her daughter brought water
- Talk more audibly!
- In awe of Fall
- Installing an awning
- It’s all for naught
Words like happY
The unstressed “ee” sound in words like happY will relax towards a more open vowel sound.
Note: the stressed-syllable “ee” sound in words like FLEECE will remain fully forward.
Practice happY vowels
- My budgie Ritchie
- The Bangladeshi yogi
- Your date is trashy and nosey
- Stringy zucchini
- A baggie of veggies
- Cheeky monkey
- Is a rookie the same as a newbie?
- Give the doggie a bickie