PropheT wrote on Jul 27, 2011, 20:20:
Jonny wrote on Jul 27, 2011, 15:47:
Blue, for shame. There's no such thing as a British accent, those are English accents.
British accent is acceptable as well, actually, especially since "english" accents aren't the same depending on which part of England you're from, either.
http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/regional-voices/phonological-variation/
There's an explanation from the British Library of the differences in British accents (their terminology).
The British library link is describing accents across the British Isles. That also includes Scottish, Irish and Welsh accents. The only acceptable use of "a British accent" is when you're not differentiating between English, Welsh, Scottish or Irish. That the regional accents sound different is no more a reason for not using "English" to describe them as it would be to say a Texan accent isn't American because it's not the same as a Californian accent.
Blame devolution for this, if you like. Britain spent 300 years suppressing the cultures of the countries inside it, to the point that Britain and England were synonymous and interchangeable even to the people who lived here. Since devolution the Scots and the Welsh have rediscovered their status as independent nations, and England is following suit. Could be in decades to come there will be no Britain, just four independent countries in the British Isles.
For now England=Britain is becoming annoying to more and more of us.