Transatlantic Tastes

Is the concept of British versus American speaker voicings out of date? Or just plain confusing? Paul Gough of Zilla Cabs offers his view

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Stereotypes are largely something to be avoided. Even identifying general trends requires context, but in the speaker world we often refer to two groups: American- and British-voiced speakers. This issue, we’ll look at whether this is a lazy identifier and if we can add some meat to the bone instead.

I’m from the North of England, and although I do like pigeons, I don’t have a whippet or a flat cap. We’ve all seen marketing campaigns where ‘Britishness’ invokes imagery of a three-piece suit, bowler hat and a cup of tea, while the American side has a cowboy hat and someone trying not to fall off an angry cow. If we translate this stereotype to speakers, and therefore music, it means British speakers must be great for classical music and US-made speakers great for country. But there has to be more to it than this. Granted, I may be pushing things a little bit to make a point here, but I bet I’m not too far off what many of you were thinking, and I don’t think our description of American and British voicing of speakers walks a wholly different path, either.