Certain English Accents Are Dying Out

England's many colorful accents may not be apparent to an untrained ear, but locals can easily distinguish what region someone comes from the minute they open their mouth. Researchers out of the University of Essex are keeping tabs on dialect changes in southeast England, the BBC reports, and recently determined that three are dominant among younger people. Participants in the study, who all fell between the ages of 18 to 33, spoke in standard southern British English (SSBE, 49%), estuary English (EE, 26%), or Multicultural London English (MLE, 25%), a modern accent that's gaining prominence and is typical among British youth of Asian or Black descent from London.

"Multicultural London English is a relatively more recent accent," says researcher Dr. Amanda Cole. "It is thought to have been around since the '80s. It has a lot in common with the cockney and South Eastern dialects. But it also has linguistic features that have come from other languages and other dialects of English." While hints of King's English and Cockney may be picked up in these three dominant accents, they are no longer commonly heard among the region's younger set. The Guardian notes that King's English, or "proper" English, mimics how people typically spoke in court, while Cockney is the more working-class accent of London (think Michael Caine's accent).

To get a sense of what southeastern England's three main dialects sound like, Dr. Cole broke down some concrete examples on Phys.org. (The celeb examples are British-centric.) Adele, Stacey Dooley, and Olly Murs have EE accents, which can sound like a muted version of Cockney—pronouncing the world "house" like "hahs." SSBE can be heard from the likes of Ellie Goulding, Josh Widdicombe, and even Prince Harry, and has a more neutral sound—though they pronounce the word "goose" like "geese." And MLE is what you'll hear from Bukayo Saka, Little Simz, and Stormzy, with vowels taking on some different sounds: "bate" comes out like "beht," "boat" like "boht." (Miami English is the newest American dialect).