British Library launches Sounds Familiar, an interactive spoken English website
Haps you'd like to record yourself having a blether with a friend, mebbe get your mam, grandfer or nana reminiscing, or you'd like to talk about somewhat else entirely. Even if you think you have naught to say, the British Library insists that there's no need to keep the noise down.
Celebrating the UK's many different accents, dialects and vocabularies, Sounds Familiar is a unique and groundbreaking new interactive website from the British Library. Users will be able to hear recordings of people from all over England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland - and children and young adults are being asked to add their own.
Sounds Familiar is the only English language website of its kind. It features 72 recordings of regional accents and dialects from every corner of the UK, some recorded in the 1950s and some almost half a century later, in 1998-1999, making it possible for users to explore how spoken English varies regionally and how accents and dialects have changed over time.
In the recordings, the interviewees discuss a huge array of subjects ranging from football to farming, school, work and home life, shopping, computers and much more. Sounds Familiar also features a series of interactive sound maps that make it possible to explore s pecific aspects of language variation and change, and examine the vocabulary, grammar and sounds of spoken English. The website also includes three case studies with over 600 audio-clips intended that give an in-depth look at three very different varieties of English: Received Pronunciation (RP), Geordie dialect and minority ethnic English.
The British Library's vision is to use the website and the new recordings submitted by young speakers to create a comprehensive 'sound map of the UK', which will showcase the varied accents and dialects that can be heard nationwide. The voice recordings gathered through the website will be added to the British Library's Sound Archive for the benefit of future generations.
Sounds Familiar is launched at a time when study resources on the English language are desperately needed. English Language is currently the fastest growing area of A-Level study, and at university level research into accents and dialects is increasingly popular.
Jonnie Robinson, Curator of English Accents and Dialects at the British Library, explains, "We are delighted to present this new online resource for English Language study and would like to encourage students from all around the UK to add their voices to the website. It will allow us to showcase all the diverse accents and dialects to be heard across the country and enable us to create an interactive 'sound map of the UK', with all the recordings being saved for future generations in the British Library's Sound Archive. We are very keen for schools to become involved with this groundbreaking education initiative and hope that they will also benefit from the many spoken English resources that are available on the website."
For further information, contact Catriona Finlayson or Ruth Howlett on +44 (0)207 412 7115 or +44 (0)207 412 7112
Notes for Editors
The British Library's spoken English website launches on Wednesday 27 March 2007. The aim of the website is to provide more comprehensive audio resources, interpretation and learning packages relating to the dual themes of language variation and language change within spoken English - both contemporary and historical.
It is designed to appeal primarily to schools and students and will include extensive background information, including transcripts, interpretation, commentary and suggestions for potential research projects. www.bl.uk/learning
The British Library Learning programme aims to support formal and informal learning in the UK and make physical and virtual access to the British Library exciting and inspiring for students, educators and lifelong learners. A wide range of activities and resources are available for learners of all ages including free workshops, projects and online resources. The programme helps build skills in research, critical thinking and source-based learning and supports the curriculum in key subject areas.
The British Library Sound Archive is one of the largest in the world. It holds over a million discs, 200,000 tapes, and many other sound and video recordings. The collections come from all over the world and cover the entire range of recorded sound from music, drama and literature, to oral history and wildlife sounds. They range from cylinders made in the late 19th century to the latest CD, DVD and minidisc recordings. The archive holds copies of commercial recordings issued in the United Kingdom , together with selected commercial recordings from overseas, radio broadcasts and many privately-made recordings. It also offers public access to a wide range of specialist publications, books, magazines and journals covering every aspect of recorded sound. For more information visit the British Library Sound Archive.
Audio content on the website has been transferred from two sources in the British Library Sound Archive:
- The SED (Survey of English Dialects), carried out by researchers at the University of Leeds from 1951 onwards, remains the only systematic nationwide study of our native English dialects.
- The MMB (Millennium Memory Bank) is an archive or oral history interviews recorded by the BBC in 1998 and 1999.
* Haps means perhaps (Great Bradley, Suffolk), wee blether means a chat (Uig, Scotland), mebbe means maybe (New Cumnock, Scotland), mam means mother (Carlisle, England), grandfer means grandfather (Selworthy, Somerset), nana means grandmother (Sale, Greater Manchester), somewhat means something (Bedale, North Yorkshire), naught means nothing (Burnley).
Existing recordings on the Sounds Familiar website:
Traditional Dialect
11 locations in England
Wearhead, County Durham
Read, Lancashire
Welwick, East Riding of Yorkshire
Kniveton, Derbyshire
North Elmham, Norfolk
Hilton, Shropshire
Warmington, Northamptonshire
Hackney, London
East Harting, West Sussex
Peter Tavy, Devon
Portesham, Dorset
Contemporary Dialect
23 locations in England
Stannington, Northumberland
Byker, Tyneside
Middlesbrough
Whitehaven, Cumbria
Burnley, Lancashire
Withernsea, East Riding of Yorkshire
Leeds
Salford, Greater Manchester
Birkenhead
Boston, Lincolnshire
Nottingham
Norwich
Castle Bromwich
Danesford, Shropshire
Banbury, Oxfordshire
Gloucester
Bristol
Hackney, London
Peckham, London
Canterbury, Kent
Melksham, Wiltshire
Plymouth
Milland, West Sussex
6 locations in Wales
Bangor, Gwynedd
Bethesda, Gwynedd
Aberhosan, Powys
Resolven, Neath Port Talbot
Maerdy, Rhondda Cynon Taff
Cardiff
10 locations in Scotland
Lerwick, Shetland Islands
Uig, Isle of Skye
Portsoy, Aberdeenshire
Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire
Morningside, Edinburgh
Glasgow
Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire
New Cumnock, East Ayrshire
Dalmellington, East Ayrshire
Selkirk, Scottish Borders
6 locations in Northern Ireland
Ballymoney
Londonderry
Belfast
Downpatrick, County Down
Lissummon, Newry & Mourne
Bleanish Island , County Fermanagh
Received Pronunciation
7 locations in England
Blagdon Hall, Northumberland
Hexham, Northumberland
Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk
Newport, Pembrokeshire
London
Harrow School
Teddington
Ethnic Minority English
9 locations in England
Bradford - second generation British Asian
Sheffield - first generation British Jamaican
Leicester - third generation British Asian
Sheldon - first generation British Chinese
Moseley - first generation British Asian
Coventry - first generation British Asian
Slough - first generation British Asian
Southall - first generation British Asian
Stoke Newington - second generation British Barbadian