Cardiff English

The accent is generally limited to inside the city's northern boundary, rather than the nearby South Wales Valleys where the spoken variety of English is different.

However, the accent area spreads east and west of the city's political borders, covering much of the former counties of South Glamorgan (Barry) and south-west Gwent, including Newport and coastal Monmouthshire.

[4][5] The dialect developed distinctively as the city grew in the nineteenth century, with an influx of migrants from different parts of Britain and further afield.

The Cardiff accent and vocabulary has been influenced in particular by those who moved there from the English Midlands, the West Country, other parts of Wales, and Ireland.

[2] This argument can also be made for nearby ports of Newport and Barry, which also attracted internal migrants during the industrial revolution.

The front is rigid and close to the alveolar ridge, while the back is relaxed, creating a large pharyngeal cavity.

The vocal folds are tenser than in Received Pronunciation, giving a husky, breathy sound to articulation, with the overall effect of greater resonance, tension and hoarseness makes the accent often thought of as being "harsh" or "unpleasant".

[20] According to Collins & Mees (1990:92–93), the diphthongs in CE are /ei, əu, əi, ʌu, ʌi/, corresponding to FACE, GOAT, PRICE, MOUTH and CHOICE respectively.

[30] However, CE has lost the distinction in environments where /j/ cannot proceed certain consonants in RP that can in other Welsh accents as /ɪu/, such as juice or crew.

High rising terminal is also what characterises the dialect from RP, as well as consistency in intonation with strong expression; such as annoyance, excitement and emphasis.

[57] In the 1960s, Gwyn Thomas, a Valleys man, described the speech of Cardiffians in the following way:[58] The speaking voices of this city fascinate.

The immigrant half, the visitors from the hills, speak with a singing intonation, as if every sentence is half-way into oratorio, the vowels as broad as their shoulders.

The Cardiff speech, a compound of the native dialect and a brand of High Bristolian, gives an impression of a wordly hardness.