The UK’s “friendliest” and “most relaxing” accents have been revealed, with one accent taking the crown.
A survey involving over 1,500 people assessed various UK accents on their levels of relaxation, comprehension, and friendliness. The Welsh accent emerged as the most relaxing, with 38% of participants finding it soothing. But it was closely followed by Yorkshire in second place. Of course, there’s not just one accent for Yorkshire, with several distinct accents clearly distinguishable throughout the region, just as in Wales.
Fans of The Traitors will have seen one contestant in the latest series, Charlotte, faking a Welsh accent in the show, claiming it appears more trustworthy. Meanehile, at the bottom of the list were Cockney and Essex. This research was conducted by SpaSeekers.com alongside Dr Chris Montgomery, a dialectology specialist at the University of Sheffield.
In terms of friendliness, the Welsh and Yorkshire accents again led the rankings, suggesting that the notions of “friendliness” and “relaxation” often go hand-in-hand. The bottom five included Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Cockney, and Essex accents.
The UK’s 10 Most Relaxing Accents
- Welsh
- Yorkshire
- Cornish
- Northern Irish
- King’s English
- Scottish
- West Country
- Geordie
- Lancashire
- Norfolk
The researchers have unveiled their findings, revealing: “It is the warm and friendly Welsh accent which takes first place as the most relaxing accent in the UK, with over 38% of respondents reportedly finding this accent soothing. The Welsh accent is instantly recognisable to most people from the UK and is often described as being a ‘singsong’ accent, because Welsh speakers often stretch their vowels, and their intonation typically travels from a high to low pitch. For this reason, this melodic accent may help listeners to tune in and really relax when listening to Welsh accents.”
Charlotte from The Traitors, who has adopted a Welsh accent in the hope of appearing more trustworthy
(Image: (Image: PA))
Following the Gavin and Stacey Christmas special, which aired on Christmas day, nearly 20 million viewers have been exposed to at least one variation of the Welsh accent, making it the most-watched scripted programme since records began.
Gavin And Stacey: The Finale had plenty of both Welsh and Essex accents
(Image: (Image: Tom Jackson/BBC/PA))
Dr Montgomery added: “There are a number of different factors that can affect how relaxing we perceive an accent to be – using this research as one example, we can begin to see that there are patterns in how ‘relaxing’ an accent is, compared to how ‘friendly’ it is, or how ‘difficult’ it is to understand.
“We associate people from different places with different characteristics, so the accent associated with each place will also be linked with these characteristics as a result. For example, the ‘received pronunciation’ dialect is often seen as ‘posh’ or associated with those who are highly educated, which can trigger certain emotions and feelings.
“We know that people find some accents more pleasant to listen to than others, so it’s been great to quantify this. Anecdotally, it does seem that a lot of people enjoy Italian accents, so seeing this accent emerge as the most relaxing in this survey is quite interesting. The fact that it ranks above any regional UK accents is also surprising, as we could easily assume that accents that are more familiar to us may have a more soothing effect.”