WATCH A VIDEO of Andy Burnham’s remarks after being appointed prime minister, turn the automatic transcript on, and you might be in for a surprise(即将感到惊讶): “I have just returned from Bookingham Palace(对白金汉宫的北方口音发音的戏仿),” reads one. It is a seminal moment: none of his predecessors in the age of recording has pronounced “Buckingham” in a way a transcriber would render as “Bookingham”.(这是一个开创性的时刻：在录音时代，他的前任中没有人把“Buckingham”发音成转录者会写成“Bookingham”的样子。) He is also the first to rhyme(押韵；使押韵) words like “class” with “gas”. In short, he sounds like a northerner, much more so than anyone who has taken office at Number 10 Downing Street, says Geoff Lindsey of University College London.
观看安迪·伯纳姆被任命为首相后讲话的视频，打开自动转录功能，你可能会大吃一惊：“我刚从白金汉宫（Bookingham Palace）回来，”其中一条转录如此显示。这是一个开创性的时刻：在录音时代，他的前任中没有人把“Buckingham”发音成转录者会写成“Bookingham”的样子。他也是第一个让“class”和“gas”押韵的人。总之，伦敦大学学院的杰夫·林赛表示，他的口音听起来像北方人，比任何入主唐宁街10号的人都更像。
Millions of Britons talk like Mr Burnham. Raised near Liverpool, later moving to Manchester, he is often seen as a pleaser(讨好者，取悦他人的人), but it is impossible to please everyone, especially in two rival cities. In 2016 he told Rob Drummond, a linguist at Manchester Metropolitan University, that he was accused of playing up Scouse(利物浦口音或方言) sounds in Liverpool and Manc vowels in Manchester. He calls his own accent “generic(通用的，一般的) northern”.
数百万英国人像伯纳姆先生那样说话。他在利物浦附近长大，后来搬到曼彻斯特，常被视为一个讨好者，但不可能取悦所有人，尤其是在两个竞争城市。2016年，他告诉曼彻斯特城市大学的语言学家罗布·德拉蒙德，有人指责他在利物浦夸大斯高斯口音，在曼彻斯特夸大曼彻斯特元音。他称自己的口音为“通用北方口音”。
Not every prime minister has spoken with perfect Received Pronunciation(标准发音，英国英语的权威口音) (RP), even setting aside(暂且不考虑，撇开) the Scottish and Welsh ones. Jim Callaghan's “r”s in words like “worst” and “work” were a giveaway(泄露秘密的事物，破绽): he came from Portsmouth, near the south-western part of England where “r”s are sometimes pronounced after vowels. Harold Wilson’s Yorkshire roots were also reflected in his accent, though he was less easy to instantly peg(把...归入，认定) as a northerner than Mr Burnham. Two more recent prime ministers, Sir Tony Blair and Liz Truss, grew up in the north but didn’t sound like it.
并非每位首相都操一口完美的标准发音（RP），更不用说苏格兰和威尔士首相了。吉姆·卡拉汉在“worst”和“work”等词中的“r”音暴露了他的出身：他来自朴茨茅斯，靠近英格兰西南部，那里的“r”有时在元音后发音。哈罗德·威尔逊的约克郡根源也反映在他的口音中，尽管他不像伯纳姆先生那样容易被立刻认出是北方人。最近两位首相，托尼·布莱尔爵士和利兹·特拉斯，在北方长大，但口音却不像北方人。