Accents - Learn to speak English...

Accents - Learn to speak English...

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I show you something fantastic and you find fault.
Published on October 6th, 2009, 8:17 pm
Rift: Sciences

Older but interesting article on accents. Apparently some people will never change their accents past some sort of childhood "programming" while others are capable and often change their accents on a whim. I'm definitely in the later group. It's gotten so bad in recent years I will commonly adjust my accent from pseudo Hispanic to standard dialect to southern, to southern Californian merely by whom I'm speaking with. Though I'm aware of the phenomenon and really try to stick to the standard.

Why do some people hold on to their accents all their lives while others drop them overnight?

She suggests that if someone wants to develop a new accent, they may want to imagine a person with that accent and then think themselves “into the skin” of that individual.

I sometimes get so used to goofing with an accent that it finds its way into my regular speech. Lately it's been saying "out" like I'm Canadian. I slip into southern when I'm lazy or when I'm surrounded by others with the thick drawl, but for the most part I think I'm nondescript... it's my vocabulary that might suggest where I grew up.

I was born and raised in Boston, so needless to say I started out with a discernable accent. I haven't lived in New England for almost twenty years but if I have a week back home, upon return my southern friends ask me what's up with the language. It's all adaptation to ones surroundings....

Serendipitous wrote: I slip into southern when I'm lazy .

Knowing you, and based on your own statement, I can deduce you are the laziest person on earth.... LOL

I suspect that it depends on how many accents you were exposed to as a child and the age at which you aexposed to the new accent.

Although I have been iin North America for 27 years I still have an English accent. There is only one accent I can slip into and that's Australian because one summer as a young teen I hung out with a bunch of Australian kids and had a definite Australian twang by the end of the summer.

I have deliberately learned to use some North American pronounciations: al-oo-min'm instead of al-u-min-i-um. tom-ay-to not tom-ah-to but that's more idiom than accent

English do seem to maintain their accents, it seems to be almost like a "base code"... Look at Hugh Laurie, or John Barrowman (Scottish) who can turn it on and off on a dime. Like A.P. I don't believe I've met a U.K. born individual who has adapted to a American accent full-time.

I once knew someone from the states who lived in the U.K. for only four years and you would have never known she hadn't lived there her whole life. (at least from a American perspective.)

Me I grew up in Ohio, moved to NC, took standard dialect voice training here to correct the NC accent, then moved to California, got cast in a role that required me to use a southern accent, then moved back here.

Shannon say my "normal mode" is a standard dialect with a "valley" twinge. She says she rarely hears the southern. Which is mainly because every time I hit a word wrong I self-correct by hearing my voice coach in my head saying it's "TOUR!!!!" not "tuuuuurrrrrrrr".

Serendipitous wrote:I sometimes get so used to goofing with an accent that it finds its way into my regular speech. Lately it's been saying "out" like I'm Canadian. I slip into southern when I'm lazy or when I'm surrounded by others with the thick drawl, but for the most part I think I'm nondescript... it's my vocabulary that might suggest where I grew up.

People where I grew up say "co-cola" instead of "coca-cola." It never rubbed off on me until about a year ago I was telling some northern coworkers about that and it became a running joke. Unfortunately the "co-cola" pronouncitaion has started slipping out unintentionally on a frequent basis. :roll:

Serendipitous wrote:I slip into southern when I'm lazy or when I'm surrounded by others with the thick drawl,

Hey! I resemble that remark!

French babies have accents when they cry.

On a side note, Amanda Tapping's accent in Sanctuary.... is like fingernails on a chalk board.

**December 22nd, 2009, 5:40 pm**

Did Americans in 1776 have British accents? If so, when did American accents diverge from British accents?

Americans in 1776 did have British accents in that American accents and British accents hadn’t yet diverged.

What’s surprising, though, is that those accents were much closer to today’s American accents than to today’s British accents. While both have changed over time, it’s actually British accents that have changed much more drastically since then.

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So all those British dramas I watch that took place 100s of years ago are wrong? They should all have American accents?

Considering the diversity of American accents, I think it's safe to say that no one talks the same now as then.

That being said, I believe that there have been few changes in either side of the Atlantic in the past 150 years. I say this based on what I've read in Dickens' novels. He had a wide variety of characters in his books, both English and American, and he wrote their lines as if they were accented, including the slang that he had heard over his travels.

In Martin Chuzzelwit, the Americans the hero meets on his flight to America are recognizable, not on;y for their rude, rowdy behavior, but for their Texan and New England accents. Just as a for instance.

"British accent” and “American accent” are oversimplifications.There are a few fascinating exceptions: New York and New England accents became non-rhotic, perhaps because of the region’s British connections. Irish and Scottish accents are still rhotic.

Yes Lews, that is what the linked article says.

First, let’s be clear: the terms “British accent” and “American accent” are oversimplifications; there were, and still are, many constantly-evolving regional British and American accents. What many Americans think of as “the British accent” is the standardized Received Pronunciation, also known as “BBC English.”

While most American accents are rhotic, the standard British accent is non-rhotic. (Rhotic speakers pronounce the ‘R’ sound in the word “hard”; non-rhotic speakers do not.)
...
There are a few fascinating exceptions: New York and New England accents became non-rhotic, perhaps because of the region’s British connections. Irish and Scottish accents are still rhotic.

Pretty Polly, squawk!

Good stuff on why Brits sound American when they sing: We are the default OS:

AS you croon your favorite pop tune in the shower, you might notice your dulcet tones were delivered in an American accent - despite where you come from.

Researchers might have found the reason why, with a study suggesting that people all over the world automatically use an American accent when they sing pop songs.

So regardless of which continent you were born or raised on, chances are good that you sing in the shower like an American.

The study, conducted by New Zealand researcher Andy Gibson from the Auckland University of Technology, examined why people pronounce words differently when they sing.

He studied three New Zealand singers, asking them to sing lyrics and then speak them.

"There were huge differences between the sung and spoken pronunciation of the same words," Mr Gibson said.

"Studies in the past have suggested that non-American singers willfully put on American accents, but my research suggests the opposite - that an American-influenced accent is the default when singing pop."

He added: "We do it automatically. It doesn't require any effort to sing with an American-influenced accent.

"The American accent doesn’t stick out in singing because we are so used to hearing it.”

The study suggested that we have more difficulty when we try to sing pop songs with our own natural accent - which could explain why famous British crooners including Mick Jagger and Amy Winehouse sound American when they sing.

“The American-influenced accent is automatic in the context of singing pop music, and it is used by people from all around the world," Mr Gibson said.

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