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Why Do We Have So Many Accents?

What makes us sound so different from each other 鈥 even when we鈥檙e speaking the same language? Listener Amanda鈥檚 question takes us all over the world鈥 and inside our mouths.

Why do we have so many accents - even when we鈥檙e speaking the same language? What's happening in our brains and mouths to make us sound so different from each other? This week鈥檚 question from listener Amanda takes CrowdScience to Glasgow in Scotland: home to one of the most studied - and distinctive - accents of English.

Along the way we visit a voice coach to try and learn a Texan accent, use ultrasound to see what different sounds look like inside our mouths and find out how a brand new dialect was formed when many accents collided in New Zealand.

Do you have a question we can turn into a programme? Email us at crowdscience@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Nastaran Tavakoli-Far
Producer: Cathy Edwards

New Zealand Mobile Unit recordings courtesy of Ng膩 Taonga Sound & Vision

(Image: A mouth screaming white letters. Credit: Thinkstock)

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27 minutes

Last on

Mon 3 Apr 2017 13:32GMT

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  • Fri 31 Mar 2017 19:32GMT
  • Sat 1 Apr 2017 22:32GMT
  • Sat 1 Apr 2017 23:32GMT
  • Mon 3 Apr 2017 02:32GMT
  • Mon 3 Apr 2017 04:32GMT
  • Mon 3 Apr 2017 05:32GMT
  • Mon 3 Apr 2017 06:32GMT
  • Mon 3 Apr 2017 13:32GMT

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