Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentThe Fall,

The Stone Roses The Stone Roses were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. They were one of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The band's classic and most prominent lineup consisted of vocalist I ...

, and Take That.

History

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

was the birthplace of the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

and at the start of the 18th century had a population of around 10,000 but by the start of the 20th century had a population of around 700,000. The history of Manchester shows that, from the Industrial Revolution onwards, the city was settled by migrants from many countries, notably from

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and other areas of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

,

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

,

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. In modern times, greater numbers have arrived from the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

and the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

. It is argued that Manchester today is the second most polyglot city after

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, creating a melting pot of languages, accents and dialects. An evolving and cosmopolitan city with many different immigrant groups, Manchester has some features that stand out from the wider Lancashire dialect, though distinctions between the Northern English accents exist along a

dialect continuum A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of Variety (linguistics), language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulat ...

and are also influenced by demographic factors such as age, economic status, gender, etc. Manchester shares features with its neighbouring twin city of

Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

, which was home to Manchester docks and could further explain the creation and emergence of an accent different from other nearby towns.

Research

Throughout the 19th century and for most of the 20th century, speech in Manchester was considered part of the Lancashire dialect, with many of the 19th-century Lancashire dialect poets coming from Manchester and the surrounding area. In the early 20th century, the ''Manchester Ballads'' featured Lancashire dialect extensively. In the 1880s, the early

dialectologist Dialectology (from Greek , ''dialektos'', "talk, dialect"; and , '' -logia'') is the scientific study of dialects: subsets of languages. Though in the 19th century a branch of historical linguistics, dialectology is often now considered a sub-fiel ...

Alexander John Ellis included the city in his survey of English speech and placed most of Greater Manchester (excluding the Bolton and Wigan areas) in a dialect district that included north-west Derbyshire. The 1982 textbook ''Accents of English'' by John C. Wells (himself a native of

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

) includes the Manchester dialect, which he describes as "extremely similar" to the dialect of the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

. His proposed criteria for distinguishing the two are that Mancunians avoid NG-coalescence, so ''singer'' rhymes with ''finger'' and ''king'', ''ring'', ''sing'' etc. all end with a

plosive In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or simply a stop, is a pulmonic consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be made with the tongue tip or blade (, ), tongue body (, ), lip ...

sound (), whereas West Riding residents employ "Yorkshire assimilation", by which voiced consonants change into voiceless consonants in words such as ''Bradford'' , ''subcommittee'' and ''frogspawn'' . In Peter Trudgill's book ''The Dialects of England'', it was classified as part of the "Northwest Midlands" dialect region. Between 2019 and 2022, a team at Manchester Metropolitan University under linguist Rob Drummond collected data investigating dialect features, dialect perceptions, and linguistic identities across Greater Manchester, with an "Accent Van" travelling around the area to interview residents.

Geographical coverage

The Manchester accent is usually found in

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

including the cities of

Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

and also in the immediately adjacent parts of the boroughs of Bury, Oldham,

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

,

Stockport Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...

,

Tameside Tameside is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England, named after the River Tame, Greater Manchester, River Tame, which flows through it, and includes the towns of Ashton-under-Lyne, Audenshaw, Denton, Greater Manchester, Denton, D ...

and Trafford. It is also prominent in "overspill" towns and estates such as Hattersley, Gamesley, Handforth and Birchwood. The famous Manc twang is heard in areas of Central Manchester and neighbouring Salford whilst northern areas of Greater Manchester associate more with traditional Lancashire. The derogatory term 'Yonner' was originally used to describe people from Oldham and Rochdale who spoke with a thick Lancashire accent. It is now often used to describe anyone from the northern boroughs of Greater Manchester who speak with a Lancashire accent. The urban dialect itself is more distinctive than many people realise, and it is quite noticeably different from the accent spoken in adjacent towns such as

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

, Oldham,

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

and

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

despite them being within

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

. The Mancunian accent is less dialect-heavy than neighbouring Lancashire and Cheshire accents, although words such as ''owt'' (meaning 'anything') and ''nowt'' (meaning 'nothing') remain part of the Mancunian vocabulary.

Phonology

General Northern English features

The City of Manchester and most other areas of Greater Manchester, such as Stockport and Wigan, are non-rhotic, meaning /r/ is not pronounced unless followed by a vowel. A few parts of Greater Manchester north of the city proper, such as Rochdale and Oldham, may exhibit some residual rhoticity, though this has been continuously declining due to non-rhoticity now spanning the bulk of urban Lancashire (Greater Manchester included). ''H''-dropping, i.e. the omission of the sound /h/ (e.g. pronouncing ''head'' as �drather than ɛd, is common in speakers of Manchester English, especially among the working class population. ''Th''-fronting, i.e. pronouncing the dental fricatives /θ, ð/ as labio-dental , v(e.g. pronouncing both ''three'' and ''free'' as ''free''), is also found in Manchester, especially in younger speakers and among working-class men. Manchester English has also been described as having so-called "dark" (i.e. velarised) /l/ in both onset and coda position (i.e. at the beginning and end of a syllable, e.g. in ''leap'' and ''peel''), though some speakers may still have a less dark onset than coda /l/. Mancunians have no distinction between the STRUT and FOOT vowels, and also the BATH vowel is the same as TRAP, rather than PALM. This means that ''but'' and ''put'' are rhymes, as are ''gas'' and ''glass'' (which is not the case in Southern England).

Unique Manchester features

The unstressed vowel system of Manchester, specifically the final vowels in words such as ''happ''Y and ''lett''ER, is often commented on by outsiders. Phonetically, both vowels are lowered and backed for certain Mancunian speakers. This means that the final vowel in ''happ''Y sounds most like the vowel in DRESS (rather than the vowel in KIT, as in Yorkshire or other Northern accents, or the vowel in FLEECE, as in many Southern English accents), and the final vowel in ''lett''ER is often perceived as being similar to the vowel in LOT (although this has been found to be a slight exaggeration of the true pronunciation). The GOAT and GOOSE vowels show socioeconomic variation in Manchester. A fronter and more diphthongal GOAT vowel (less like the Lancashire and Yorkshire pronunciations) is positively correlated with higher social classes whereas a fronter GOOSE before /l/ is correlated with lower social classes. In other phonological environments, GOOSE-fronting is found across all social classes. Manchester is one of the very few areas of England where significant numbers of speakers still resist the ''horse''-''hoarse'' merger, maintaining a distinction between the vowels in the and lexical sets, using a more open vowel (roughly []) in the former and a closer vowel (roughly []) in the latter. Therefore pairs which have become homophones in most of England such as ''horse'' and ''hoarse'', ''war'' and ''wore'', ''morning'' and ''mourning'' can remain distinct in Manchester. Another notable aspect of the phonology of Manchester English is "velar nasal plus" or the retention of �after �(where it has been lost in almost all other modern varieties of English), such that the words ''singer'' and ''finger'' rhyme for Manchester speakers, both having a medial �ɡcluster. Word-final ''ng'' clusters likewise often retain the plosive (or are otherwise reduced simply to or sometimes �, especially before a pause, where ejective ʼis not an uncommon allophone. A further trait of Manchester English, especially among younger residents, is the pronunciation of /s/ before /tɹ, tj, tʃ/ as �in words such as ''street'', ''district'', ''stupid'', ''moisture'' and ''mischief''. This is a phenomenon known as /s/-retraction and is also found in various other varieties of English. Traditionally, the Manchester area was known for glottal reinforcement of the

consonants In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract, except for the h sound, which is pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Examples are and pronou ...

, similar to modern speech in North East England. More recent research has found that /t/ most often undergoes full glottal replacement, being realised as a glottal stop �rather than as an alveolar plosive with glottal fortification �t in a process known as ''t''-glottalisation. In 2021, Manchester Voices published heat maps of the Greater Manchester area highlighting key differences between the accents of Manchester, Salford, Trafford, Stockport and Tameside and the accents of the northern boroughs of Wigan, Bolton, Bury, Rochdale and Oldham. Examples of these differences included ''bear'' being pronounced as ''burr'' and ''bus'' being pronounced as ''buz'' almost exclusively in the northern boroughs, where a more traditional Lancastrian accent is spoken as opposed to a more local Mancunian one in the southern boroughs.

Vocabulary

Below are some of the most notable dialectal words, phrases and sayings in Mancunian English. Not all of these are used by the city's entire population: * ''bobbins'' – Rubbish, worthless. Used in place of an expletive when children are present. * ''buzzin(g)'' – Extremely happy. * ''cock'' – Generic term of friendship, like mate or pal. * ''dead'' – An emphasis marker (e.g. ''dead busy'', ''dead friendly''). * ''the dibble'' – The police. * ''dimp'' – Short cigarette, cigarette stub, cigarette butt. * ''gaff'' – A residence, house or flat. * ''ginnel'' – An alleyway, especially when passing beneath a building. * ''hangin(g)'' – Nasty, disgusting (e.g. ''Karl is 'angin) * ''madferit'' – Full of enthusiasm, a phrase that embodied the Madchester era. From the phrase ''mad for it''. * ''mither'' – To irritate, to annoy or to bother. To moan or to whinge. * ''muppet'' – Fool, idiot. * ''our kid'' – Term of endearment for a sibling or close acquaintance. * ''pure'' – Emphasis on a large quantity, for example 'the gig was pure busy' meaning there were a lot of people there * ''safe'' – To be on good terms, also used to mean 'okay' and as a greeting. * ''sappnin(g)'' – Contraction of ''what's happening?'', now used as a greeting, via sense of 'what are you up to?' * ''sayin(g)'' – Contraction of ''what are you saying?'', now used as a greeting, via sense of 'what are you up to?' * ''scran'' – Food (also used in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

,

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

,

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and Newcastle). * ''scrike'' - To cry. To wail or to scream. To shriek or to screech. * ''scrote'' – Someone worthless or unpleasant; a low-life (short for ''scrotum''). * ''snide'' – Mean, tight. * ''sorted'' – Okay/dealt with (sorted out). * ''sound'' – Okay, trustworthy.

Hiberno-English Hiberno-English or Irish English (IrE), also formerly sometimes called Anglo-Irish, is the set of dialects of English native to the island of Ireland. In both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, English is the first language in e ...

influences from Ireland include the pronunciation of the letter 'h' as (although this pronunciation is now widespread, being used by approximately 24% of British people born since 1982) and the plural of 'you' as ''youse''/''yous''. Spoken word performer and poet Argh Kid (David Scott) breaks down Mancunian vocabulary in his piece "Nanna Calls Me Cock".

Social perceptions

In 2015, Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) produced an accent map of Greater Manchester, based in perceptual dialectology, which showed that the accents of Manchester and

Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

were described as "diverse", "rough", and "common", while the word " scally" was also used as a description. However, other popular media outlets have variously described social labels for the dialect, including " twangy", " euphonic", or even one of the "friendliest" accents in the UK. The MMU team's research concluded in 2023, finding that urban varieties within the county tend to be judged negatively relative to rural varieties. Among locals of Greater Manchester itself, the socially unattractive accents are associated with Salford, low social status, and urban areas, whereas socially attractive accents are associated with the northern boroughs, particularly the Bolton–Bury area, which carry social sentiments of quaintness, traditional Lancashire, and possibly rurality. A 2021 article in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' expressed some of the variation within county, stating "Greater Manchester is only about 30 miles from east to west but it has long been famed for its linguistic diversity: the rich rolling Rs and extra long 'oos' of the northern mill towns where people looook in coook booooks are a world away from the nasal Mancunian drawl where your brother is ' ahh kid' and words which end in a 'Y' finish instead with an 'eh'."

Example speakers

Particularly strong examples of the accent can be heard spoken by Davy Jones of

the Monkees The Monkees were an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. The band consisted of Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones (musician), Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork. Spurred by the success of ''The Monkees (TV series), Th ...

who was born in Openshaw, Mark E. Smith (Salford-born, Prestwich-raised singer with the Fall), the actor John Henshaw (from Ancoats) and Liam and Noel Gallagher from Burnage band

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentCaroline Aherne (raised in Wythenshawe) spoke with a softer, slower version of the accent. Stretford-raised

Morrissey Steven Patrick Morrissey ( ; born 22 May 1959), known :wikt:mononym, mononymously as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 198 ...

like many Mancunians, from an Irish background has a local accent with a noticeable lilt inherited from his parents. Salford-born Tony Wilson retained his Mancunian accent, albeit somewhat modified by his upbringing in Marple and his

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

education. Salford poet John Cooper Clarke is another example of a working-class Mancunian accent as can be heard in his spoken-word recordings. Also from Salford is comedian Jason Manford, whose Manc accent adds to his comedic style. Other notable Manc speakers include boxer

Ricky Hatton Richard John Hatton (born 6 October 1978) is a British former professional boxer who competed between 1997 and 2012, and has since worked as a boxing promoter and boxing trainer, trainer. During his boxing career he held multiple world champi ...

(from Hattersley, Hyde) and the actor Bernard Hill (from Blackley). Dominic Monaghan speaks with a notable Manc accent, and his characters in both '' Lost'' and ''

FlashForward A flashforward (also spelled flash-forward, and more formally known as prolepsis) is a scene that temporarily takes the narrative forward in time from the current point of the story in literature, film, television and other media. Flashforwards a ...

'' have made note of it. Less well known outside of the area, and with pronounced local accents, are local broadcasters Eamonn O'Neal, Mike Sweeney and Jimmy Wagg. The TV broadcaster Terry Christian (from Old Trafford) has a particularly prominent voice. The Mancunian accent is prominent in the locally-set TV series '' Shameless'', '' The Street'' and '' The Royle Family''. The character Jack Regan in the 1970s police drama '' The Sweeney'' (played by Longsight-born actor John Thaw) is a Mancunian with an accent heavily modified by years of living in London. Another example of a Mancunian speaker is Karl Pilkington, a radio and TV personality. Manchester's most famous soap opera ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

'' has, despite being based in the city (a fictionalised version of Salford), less pronounced Mancunian accents than other TV shows set in the area. Several of the show's cast members do speak with pronounced Mancunian accents in the series. They include Michelle Keegan (Tina McIntyre), Helen Flanagan (Rosie Webster) and Simon Gregson (Steve McDonald). The

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

-raised British actress, Jane Leeves, portrayed the character of Daphne Moon, a Manchester emigrant to Seattle with a supposed Mancunian accent which was actually closer to a broad Lancashire dialect, in the American sitcom '' Frasier''.

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

History

Research

Geographical coverage

Phonology

General Northern English features

Unique Manchester features

Vocabulary

Social perceptions

Example speakers

Notes

Bibliography

Further reading