Three Bradfordians are featured in a pioneering online archive showing how accents and dialects have changed since the 1950s.

A British Library website went on line this week, containing more than 650 sound recordings of English accents and dialects.

The site combines two large sound archives of English speakers made in the 1950s and 1999 to compare how grammar, vocabulary and accents have changed over the years.

Three radio clips on the website feature Bradford residents speaking about their experiences of living in the city. All three were picked for being representative of the Bradford area.

Florence Blanchard and Steven Elsden, both from Wibsey, were recorded by the BBC in 1999 as part of the Millennium Memory Bank project. And Stanley Woodhead, also of Wibsey, was taped in 1950 by Leeds University in the Survey of English Dialects.

Mrs Blanchard described her accent as typically Bradford. She said: "I've lived in the city all my life and think the accent has stayed the same among real Yorkshire people. Outsiders often look down on the accent but I think it's very easy to understand."

The curator of English accents and dialects at the British Library Sound Archive, Jonathan Robinson, said: "All three speakers share a similar accent and grammar structure but many words have changed.

"I assume people don't use words like 'addle', meaning to earn, any more. Accent and grammar are more resistant to change than vocabulary and I'm sure a new generation of youngsters will add to future speaking trends."

The British Library commissioned the project to aid linguistic specialists and actors in their research. The site has more than 55 hours of recordings, from more than 250 locations.

Interviewees discuss subjects ranging from football to farming, shipbuilding, steelwork, mining, fishing, shopping and computers. Mr Robinson said: "The way people speak in England has changed over the last half century.

"Contrary to popular belief, there is still an incredible amount of regional diversity and the recordings on this website illustrate elements of both continuity and change."

The Way We Speak is at www.collectbritain.co.uk/collections/dialects