Hugh Grant speaks with a recognisably Standard British accent, but his pronunciation is more contemporary and relaxed than you might expect. Listen out for modern features in his speech, especially his weak forms and connected speech.
FIRST LISTEN
Watch the clip without analysing everything. You can watch it 2–3 times.
What did he say?
Why does everyone need a water bottle? There’s a tap. Go to the tap, fill a glass of water. Do children in America have to go to school carrying a huge bottle of water?
Source: Hugh Grant Goes on a Rant About His Many Pet Peeves, Breaks Down His Heretic Character, Late Night with Seth Meyers
Watch full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF-9R_yCUBw
NOW LISTEN TO MY EXPLANATION
Watch the clip once again paying attention to the features listed below. I will explain them for you ⬇️
Pay attention to the /t/ in words like water, bottle and tap. Hugh pronounces a full /t/ rather than replacing it with a glottal stop, which you’ll often hear in more casual British speech.
In “Why does everyone…” and “Do children…”, the auxiliary verb isn’t the important part of the message. Listen to how small and unstressed does and do become compared with the words carrying the main information.
Try to hear the word boundaries in “bottle of water” and “glass of water”. The words flow into one another rather than being pronounced as separate units. Pay particular attention to of: it’s reduced to a very weak form and almost disappears into the surrounding words.
CAN YOU HEAR IT?
Listen again. This time, focus on the pronunciation features from the list above.