British accents:the Manchester (the

Mancunian) accent
Mancunian dialect
Mancunian (or Manc) is the accent and dialect spoken in the majority of Greater
Manchester, North West England, and its environs. It is also given to the name of the people
who live in these areas. Manchester is famous for having its own distinct dialect. Just taking a
quick walk through the city on your lunch will expose your ears to a whole new world of
words and sounds.

Dialect
The dialect is distinguishable from other Northern English dialects. A major feature of
the Mancunian accent is the over-enunciation of vowel sounds when compared to the
flattened sounds of neighbouring areas. This is also noticeable with words ending in <er>
such as tenner. Traditionally, the Manchester area was known for glottal reinforcement of the
consonants /k/, /p/ and /t/, similar to modern speech in the north-east of England.

John C. Wells observed the accents of Leeds and Manchester. He found them to be similar
despite the historic divide between the two sides of the Pennines. His proposed criteria for
distinguishing the two are that Mancunians avoid Ng-coalescence, so singer rhymes with
finger / 'singə/ and king, ring, sing, etc. all end with a hard g sound.

Dialect
Leeds residents employ "Yorkshire assimilation", by which voiced consonants change
into voiceless consonants in words such as Bradford / bratfəd/, subcommittee /supkə'mrtı/ and
frogspawn / frokspo:n/.

The Mancunian dialect may have originally developed from the old Lancastrian dialects and
could have been affected by the vast influx of immigrants introduced to the city during the
Industrial Revolution, when the cities of Salford and Manchester became a port due to the
building of the Manchester Ship Canal. Immigrants moved to the city for work opportunities
from many parts of Europe, most notably Ireland.

Geographical coverage The Manchester accent is relatively localised, covering much of

Greater Manchester including the city of Manchester and immediately adjoining parts of
Bury, Oldham, Salford, Bolton, Stockport, Tameside and Trafford. It is also prominent in
'overspill' towns and estates such as Hattersley, Gamesley, Handforth and Birchwood.

The Mancunian accent is prominent in the locally set TV series Shameless, The Street and
The Royle Family.
Phonology | The dialect is distinguishable from other Northern English dialects.

A major feature of the Mancunian accent is the over-enunciation of vowel sounds when
compared to the flattened sounds of neighbouring areas. This is also noticeable with words
ending in <er> such as tenner. Traditionally, the Manchester area was known for glottal
reinforcement of the consonants /k, t, p/, similar to modern speech in the north-east of
England.
Like all Northern accents, Mancunians have no distinction between the STRUT and FOOT
vowels or the TRAP and BATH vowels. This means that but and put are rhymes, as are gas
and glass (which is not the case in the south)

Phonology

Vowels in words such as happy and lettER are often commented on by outsiders.
Phonetically, both vowels are lowered and backed. This means that the final vowel in happY
sounds more like the vowel in DRESS (rather than the vowel in KIT like many Northern
accents, or the vowel in FLEECE like many Southern accents) and the final vowel in lettER
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)

Vocabulary
Some would controversially say some of Mancunian's most notable words, phrases and
sayings involve. However, it does not accurately represent the entire population:

Word/ phrase in Manchester Meaning

Buzzin’ to have a good time/ to be excited

Ave it Go and get something

Chuck Throw something
Dope A fool
Ee-arr To get somebody’s attention

Fib A lie
To be gaggin’ To be thirsty
Hangin’ Ugly, nasty or horrible
In-it! Isn’t it.
Kecks Trousers, jeans underpants
Leg, leggin’ Run or running
Mad fer it! We are excited again!
Nah! No
Owt Anything or something
Pure A large amount of something

Quid English money or a pound

Rozzer Police

More examples:
 If you’ve ever been a little confused when hearing certain words, phrases or
pronunciations in Manchester, here is our quick guide to understanding the Manchester
dialect.

Our kid

Pronounced “are kid” this phrase is used to refer to a sibling or close friend who is not
necessarily a child.

Example: “Our kid is coming round to mine tonight.”

  Mint

When someone in Manchester says “mint” they are not usually referring to the flavour or the
refreshing breath mint. In Manchester, “mint” is a general positive term.

Example: “I went to a festival last weekend and it was mint.”

Top

Not be confused with someone referring to the location of something, in Manchester “top” is
another word for expressing positivity about something.

Example: “Have you see the new Captain America film? It’s top!”

‘Angin’

Pronounced like “hanging” only with the h and g missing, this word is pretty much the
opposite of mint. It’s used to describe things that are really not good.

Example: “That burger I had last night was ‘angin’.”

Scran

In Manchester, this simply means food.

Example: “Let’s get some scran before the film starts.”

Mither
This is a verb which is used in the place of “bother” or “annoy.”

Example: “Stop mithering me, I’ll be ready soon” or “I can’t be mithered.”

Chuddy

The Manchester way of saying chewing gum.

Example: “Can I have a chuddy please?”

Well good/Dead good

Using either the word “well” or “dead” before the adjective “good” is to show that something
is great. In effect, these words are used in place of the world “very.”

Example: “Last night’s episode of Game of Thrones was well good.”

Nowt

This funny little word literally means “nothing.”

Example: “Shall we get a takeaway? We’ve got nowt in.”

Owt

Literally the opposite of “nowt” this word means “anything.”

Example: “Is there owt good on the television tonight?”

Swear down

This small phrase is used by Mancunians to express the fact that they are telling the complete
truth.

Example: “I swear down I didn’t eat your last banana.”

Here is a video with some of Mancunian’s most notable words, phrases and sayings.
However, it does not accurately represent the entire population.
Summing up:
Make your speech as lazy as possible. Miss out as many sylables as possible.
Endings of words are a good start. For example singin rather than singing or missin rather
than missing and so on. Now omit as much of the middle of words as you can for example
don't say bottle or kettle but bo''l.l and ke''el
Remove as much of the spoken syllables as possible. What becomes Wa Manchester United
becomes Man u or just United. Speak your piece slowly clearly and loudly. Always use hard
A's Bath not Barth Dancing not darncing.

 Start with the general Northern accent, e.g. the vowel of “putt” is
assimilated to that of “put”.
 Palatalise the sound ‘sh’; e.g. “soonshyine” as Liam Gallagher sang
“sunshine” once.
 Nasality.
That’s all you need really, any more than that and you’re trying too hard.