Is there such thing as a Sussex, or even Brightonian accent?

[wunt be druv]

My Parents and sartinly my Grandparents have quite a pronounced Sussex accent and use/speak with words and phrases distinct to Sussex,which I do try and use myself,however with the influx of dang furriners into our beautiful county and influence of television and radio estuary English it becomes harder and harder to cultivate Sussex speak.It is definately there though.

 

[Weatherman]

There is a definite rural Sussex accent but I did not hear it very often - a friend of mine lived in Ardingly all his life and he had it. eg he pronounced saturday as sa err dee.

That's how i say it

 

[BrianWade4]

Yes. Yeoman farmer type. Proud

 

[Grassman]

We've had this thread before I believe. The correct answer is there is a rural Sussex accent and there is also a Brighton one. For a very good example of the Brighton one, go and listen to Mr Benn - Ray Brooks, the narrator, is pure Brightonian.

 

[mona]

What went wrong with me then

Nothing.
It's just that living in that part of the world it's very easy to identify West Ham or Southend fans from Albion fans when we play them simply by the way they speak. East London/Essex is a much flatter accent. Plus Essex boys find the southern pronunciation of "now" or "Hove" odd. They look puzzled if you say you had a few shants last night.

 

[Jim in the West]

And when we were kids, we used to play "up the twitt'n".

I grew up in Hurstpierpoint and Burgess Hill….the twitten (as far I was concerned) was a footpath (i.e., the one between our estate in Hurstpierpoint and the main road). My mum was a speech therapist, hence I was supposed to speak decent English….it used to drive her mad that I never pronounced my Ts…..the earlier post highlighting the pronunciation of "Bwigh-on" seemed spot on.

 

[Harry H]

Ray Brooks is an excellent example of a Brighton accent.
Soft Cockney/Essex Estuary with a shot of the rest of Sussex thrown in.