Internet dialect files expanded

A database chronicling changes in England's accents and dialects over the last 50 years has been expanded.

The Collect Britain site, which pulls together two sound archives made half a century apart, now has more than 650 recordings for users to compare.

Speakers from more than 250 places in England feature on the database, which is housed in Boston Spa, near Leeds.

Curator Jonathan Robinson said the site illustrated the "incredible amount" of regional diversity in English accents.

Regional words wick with - full of (north) stithurum - long-winded tale (Lincs) nobbut - only (Yorkshire) bostin - great (West Midlands) barton-linhay - cart shed (Devon)

The first recordings were made by Leeds University in the 1950s, and the second by the BBC in the late 1990s.

It allows users to compare how people from specific areas spoke in the 1950s with how they speak now.

People from Yorkshire and the North East feature heavily in the archive, recounting stories of mining, farming techniques and the changing face of cities in the region.