Brits reportedly find the London accent the sexiest by some distance, with almost one-in-five people (17.89%) voting in its favour. The
Cockney. Perhaps the most famous British accent other than R.P. is Cockney. It developed as the dialect of the poorer working classes in the East End of London, and it's still regarded as a marker of 'true' East London heritage.
The French accent, previously considered the sexiest in the world, has been dethroned by the British accent, aka the Queen's English, in a global study carried out by Time Out in over 30 countries.
The results revealed that women and men find different accents attractive, and the only common accents on both lists were Australian and Southern. While men desired Israeli and Colombian accents the most, this was not mirrored amongst the women who were surveyed, who ultimately preferred British and Spanish accents.
British, Australian, and Irish accents are the top 3 foreign accents people find to be most attractive. When it comes to attraction, 80% of people feel that accents make someone more attractive, with 77% saying someone's accent was what attracted them to a person.
The English accent is the one that is victorious, with the latest survey showing that 17 per cent of people have it at the top of their list. French came in next at 13 per cent, which is unsurprising considering that this is the language spoken in the city of love.
A survey of 2,000 adults conducted by language learning platform Preply reckoned the Tyneside accent was the second hardest to understand, behind Glaswegian and just ahead of Liverpudlian.
Received Pronunciation (RP) is the proper term to describe the regionally neutral accent used by many middle-class speakers in the UK, particularly in England. It is widely used as a reference point in dictionaries and as a model for teaching English as a foreign language.
#1 The British accent
The accent proved particularly popular in countries like China, Sweden, India and the USA.
People tend to think a foreign accent is more interesting and more sexy, says Guy Winch, a psychotherapist from Britain who's long been based in the United States, “because in general we tend to value what's less common.” Americans associate a British accent with someone being “more intelligent, more sophisticated and ...
The Australian accent emerged after the arrival of the European Settlers in 1788, who came from different parts of Britain. Unlike British English which is made up of nearly 40 different dialects, Australian English isn't as varied despite the east and west coast being approximately 4000 kilometers apart.
It really depends on where you're starting from. A very broad Australian accent can be exceptionally hard to understand (a common joke is that we slur all our words together because it's too hot to put spaces in), but if you spend time in Australia you'll likely pick it up.
The standard British accent is something called received pronunciation, or RP. Geographically, people who speak with this accent live in the southeastern part of England. This is traditionally a “posh” part of England, so this accent is considered to be upper/middle class.
Generally speaking though, it can be said that the Welsh accent is probably closest to an Australian one. This is due to their similarities in terms of pronunciation and vocabulary choices – both Welsh and Australians tend to end words on a 'v' sound rather than an 'r' sound like other English speakers do.
Three main varieties of Australian English are spoken according to linguists: broad, general and cultivated. They are part of a continuum, reflecting variations in accent. They can, but do not always, reflect the social class, education and urban or rural background of the speaker.
Australian English can be described as a new dialect that developed as a result of contact between people who spoke different, mutually intelligible, varieties of English. The very early form of Australian English would have been first spoken by the children of the colonists born into the early colony in Sydney.
Similarly, the northeast accent was surveyed to be the “smartest sounding,” with 47% of those surveyed voting for the northeast. According to the data summary of the survey, 39% of people surveyed assumed someone was more intelligent because of their accent.
The Northeastern accent topped the category of smartest sounding accents.
The Australian accent is famous for its vowel sounds, absence of a strong “r” pronunciation and the use of an inflection – or intonation – at the end of sentences, which can make statements sound like questions. According to Felicity, the way vowels are pronounced is the most peculiar feature of Australian English.
There are different variations of the Australian accent. Dr Gawne describes one variation as the "broad accent... [which is] your good, Aussie, ocker accents." Another variation is the "general accent, which is actually the majority of Australian English speakers."
While some Australian speakers would pronounce “no” as a diphthong, starting on “oh” as in dog and ending on “oo” as in put, others begin with an unstressed “a” (the sound at the end of the word “sofa”), then move to the “oh” and then “oo”.
The most common verbal greeting is a simple “Hey”, “Hello”, or “Hi”. Some people may use Australian slang and say “G'day” or “G'day mate”. However, this is less common in cities. Many Australians greet by saying “Hey, how are you?”.
Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizens, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural.