What does your accent say about you? Well according to researchers at a Manchester university, an awful lot... and it’s not all good.

Sociolinguists at Manchester Metropolitan University have created an ‘accent and dialect map’ for Greater Manchester illustrating people’s opinions about some of the region’s different twangs.

Participants were given a blank map of the area of Greater Manchester within the M60 and asked to write words they associated with accents in different places.

Researchers say they weren’t so much interested in whether people knew where borough boundaries were, but which areas they thought were associated with different accents.

It’s good news if you hail from Stockport, where your voice, according to the study paints you as ‘soft’, ‘posh’ and ‘well-spoken’.

But towards the east, around Oldham, common words included ‘working-class’, ‘common’, ‘rough’ and ‘poor’.

It’s better news for those in Manchester city centre. If you live in the heart of the region, your voice is more likely to come across as ‘artsy’ and ‘metropolitan’.

(Image: Mark Waugh)

North vs South:

Accents there were also said to represent the city’s ‘diverse’ and ‘multicultural’ nature. South Manchester accents - and those around plush parts of Trafford - were thought to be more ‘standard’.

Towards Bury and Rochdale, accents were described as ‘broad’, ‘northern’, ‘common’, ‘country’ and ‘strong’. One example was Milnrow being pronounced as ‘Milnra’.

Accents Salford-way were described as ‘rough’ and ‘common’ but ‘strong’. The word ‘scally’ even popped up.

Dr Erin Carrie and Dr Rob Drummond asked ‘non-experts’ to identify accents and dialects on a map and give their opinions about their speakers.

Participants were asked to draw borders to show areas they though people spoke differently and provide words to describe voices.

A composite map from 62 people's efforts was created, with different areas showing where people thought major dialect areas were. Darker sections indicate accent ‘cores’. The most commonly used words are bigger on the map than those used less frequently.

Linguistics lecturer Dr Drummond said: “The findings suggest perceptions of accents and dialects are closely linked with social stereotypes about the people who speak them, and several of the words that were provided appear to be descriptions of people or areas rather than accents or dialects.”

Barmcakes or croissants?

Towards the south of Greater Manchester, participants wrote:

‘ginnel’ for ‘alleyway’

‘eee-arr mate’

For the north:

‘ee it’s cowd outside lad’

‘you get me?’

‘ey-up’

To the east of the map:

Pronunciation of ‘year’ as ‘yeeyer’

Pronunciation of Milnrow as ‘Milnra’