Beckhams Have Got Posher, Study Finds

The footballer David Beckham and his wife, the former Posh Spice, have become posher, according to a study.

Since the Beckhams moved to America his Cockney accent has moved towards standard English, while Victoria Beckham has apparently lost her "Essex roots".

In practice that means he is now far less prone to dropping his Hs or using Cockney vowel sounds and Mrs Beckham pronounces the L at the end of words such as "all".

The research was carried out by linguistics students at the University of Manchester, who studied interviews of videos on YouTube since 2007.

Beckham's Olympic role 'made him drop his Cockney vowels'

From the videos studied of Beckham, who is currently playing for French team Paris St Germain, he dropped his Hs 80% of the time before his move to play football for LA Galaxy.

After the relocation the figure slumped to 20%, according to the research.

Charles Boorman, one of the students who carried out the study, said: "It's clear that Becks, once a broader Cockney, nowadays speaks with more of a standard English accent.

"In fact, he's even hypercorrecting himself because he puts Hs into words when it's not really required.

"In America, they use the 'H' sound more, which explains how he acquired it.

"But my guess is that his dropping of those Cockney sounding vowels was linked to his ambassadorial role for the Olympics and his subsequent high social status."

Mrs Beckham pronounced Ls only 25% of the time aged 23 in 1997. This figure nearly doubled to 46% at the age of 38 in 2012.

Victoria Beckham swapped her Essex girl for fashion designer chic

Student Naomi Proszynska said: "Our analysis shows that Posh's speech is definitely getting posher because of changes to her L vocalisation.

"In 1997, her speech resembled what we associate with the classic Essex girl. But by 2012, her speech no longer so strongly represented her Essex roots. We think this may be connected with the fact that she's forged a different career as a widely respected fashion designer."

The final year students are studying how changing circumstances affect the way we pronounce words, under the guidance of linguistics lecturer Dr Laurel MacKenzie.

Dr MacKenzie said: "The general assumption is that once we pass puberty our way of speaking is fixed. But recent research has revealed the extent to which we can be chameleons in the way we speak, even into adulthood.

"Factors such as social mobility and geographical location can have an impact on the way adults pronounce words because our peer groups and communities are influential on our language too."

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