00:00This one of the clearest markers of a regional identity and one of the most misunderstood.
00:06While the rest of the UK clings to Mum, people across Birmingham and the black country stick
00:11to Mum and I've been doing so long before Hollywood scripts or Instagram captions came
00:17along.
00:18Linguists cite it's rooted in the rounded Midlands vowel sounds not borrowed from across
00:23the Atlantic.
00:24In fact the Mum spelling is a direct reflection of how it sounds when spoken locally.
00:29It's an audible quirk that ended up on paper, but is it just instinct or a small act of
00:35local pride?
00:36We asked people right here in Birmingham how they spell it and why.
00:40Yeah, so I'm in Aycock's Green, Birmingham and I always spell Mum, M-U-M, that's always
00:46been the same for me.
00:48I know is the correct way to spell Mum, M-U-M in the UK, but like on text I say M-O-M, maybe
00:57because I'm exposed to like a lot of American like media, so yeah.
01:02I'm from Stoke-on-Trent and I spell it M-U-M and it's always been that way in Stoke.
01:10All my friends who live south of Stafford who say Mum, we mock.
01:16I think I say Mum or I think I write M-U-M Mum and I think it was Mum when we were kids
01:27and I think it was Mum now I'm grown up and I don't know why, I haven't thought about it
01:31really.
01:32This accent doesn't just shape how we spell, it warps how we hear the entire English language.
01:38The Birmingham and black country dialects have a distinct rhythm, a weight to certain
01:43vowels and a habit of shortening or swallowing others.
01:47Outsiders call it flat but locals hear depth and familiarity.
01:50It's been softened by the media over the years but the chorus still there, the melodic
01:55lift, the clipped consonants, the famous dropped G. But what do people here think actually
02:00defines a Brummie accent, is it just how it sounds or is there more to it?
02:05The Brummie accent, erm, what do I say?
02:09I think it's like the N pronunciation of the way they say some words, I think they like
02:13long it out, I don't even know how to do it, like maybe they'll be like Mum or Bath, like
02:22they pronounce some words, like maybe the A and the O, like they pronounce it longer I think.
02:28There's little nuances isn't there, erm, because I think for a long while I thought anybody
02:33who was from Cannock, Rugeley, Walsall, Birmingham all sounded the same, erm, but the Birmingham
02:41accent I find a bit softer than those South Sass accents and it's just how things are pronounced
02:47and yeah.
02:48I've no idea because I'm not from Birmingham originally, erm, a mishmash of all sorts coming
02:55together in the Midlands perhaps?
02:56I don't know.
02:57people's ears in the Norse, but they always squib interruption.
03:10That's right.
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