The Graphic and Historical Illustrator (1834) had an intriguing article on the kind of English spoken in Somerset, two counties over from Stratford-Upon-Avon in Warwickshire, during the eighteenth century.
The April 1951 edition of the The Shakespeare Fellowship News-Letter, page 7, discusses that article and raises the question of how William of Stratford could have been understood when he moved to London. It’s important to remember that accent and dialect are not the same thing. An accent refers to how words are pronounced, whereas a dialect includes pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary.
You can read the entire newsletter here: https://shakespeareoxfordfellowship.org/wp-content/uploads/SFE-1951-04-APR.pdf
For an eye opening understanding of how pronunciation in Shakespeare’s day alters the interpretation of plays, see this video from the UK’s Open University:
