A question about accents

[Martin Milner]

But I wonder, if you get some American in another country that speaks English as well, and they are speaking with their American accent rapidly (as we Americans tend to do as well) do those of you in these other countries have a difficult time understanding?

I'm frequently asked to slow down and repeat myself.

By me!

OTOH, it is usually when I've still got my morning cloth-ears on, or I'm distractedly thinking of something else. I always speak with absolute clarity of course, except when I create a word-omelette and still expect Beth to understand me. The blank look is usually a clue.

It's interesting to note the words that Beth still says notably differently to me, after nine months in the country. Often shop names get different stresses, and of course many place names. As these are usually seen before they're heard, Beth has worked out her American pronunciation first, and that tends to stick.

I think Cees, Murphystout, Azalin, Tyghress, Brewerpaul and Redwolf can all attest that I speak impeccable British English, and should have a job as a radio announcer, innit.

[Flyingcursor]

The idea of an "American accent" strikes me as absurd, not that Americans don't have them, but that there are so many accents among Americans. It's a little bit like saying a "European accent." I know, I know... different languages among a lot of different European countries... but I still say that regional variation is about as broad, if not as pronounced.

I agree. The same applies to the so-called "british accent".
I went out to eat with 11 colleagues in Canterbury and heard 11 different accents. I wish I could have identified them all.

None spoke with such perfect diction as Martin though.

[Walden]

The American accents have things in common that will immediately identify them as 'American' regardless of the possibility to pinpoint them to a certain region.

I'd agree with that to an extent, though I suspect there's more in common between a northern Washington State accent and a southern British Columbia than between either of them and a Coastal Virginia accent.

Dialect can vary even in nearby areas. It is said, and I don't know how much truth there is to it, that a native Cherokee speaker from Salina can hardly be understood by a native Cherokee speaker from Tahlequah, towns 28 miles apart.

Nevertheless, yeah, I agree, I too can distinguish an American from someone from a foreign country (except for Canadians, in some cases, as the howse/hoce thing sometimes works, but there are regions of the USA that sound like Canadians to me, too), by speech, regardless of region (with a few exceptions... as noted in previous posts).

Likewise, there is usually a noticeable difference in the English-language speech of countries around the world, according to whether they learned English from Americans, as in the Philippines, or from the British, as in India.

I am well certain my lack of an accent would set me apart as an American in any part of the world. Heh yawll wouldn't even have to hear me talk to know I was an American, I spec.

As for the notion that American sausage gravy is just a cream sauce, it's not if it's prepared right, but the stuff that passes for it in many restaurants (especially chain esatablishments) can only, so far as I can tell, be classed as a very poor cream sauce. Oh... that was a different thread.

[mukade]

IIRC from and old sociolinguistics textbook, Michigan had the highest number of people who thought they were accentless. People in the southern US states were most aware that they had an accent.

Most people have mentioned regional accents/dialects, but there are also social dialects. For example, black American English is considered a social dialect, as is the 'received pronunciation' accent in England. They are related to a specific social group and not a region.

Mukade

[cowtime]

But I wonder, if you get some American in another country that speaks English as well, and they are speaking with their American accent rapidly (as we Americans tend to do as well) do those of you in these other countries have a difficult time understanding?

I'm frequently asked to slow down and repeat myself.

Nobody's EVER told me to slow down. I have been asked to repeat myself, but only because the desk clerk in Philly just wanted to hear me talk, not because she did not know what I was saying.

Actually, that whole area seemed taken by my mountain drawl on that trip. It seemed everywhere I went, folks were commenting on it, until I finally had my traveling companion (who was from New Hampshire)do all the talking. I got tired of having to tell everyone I talked to where I was from.

[Tyler]

But I wonder, if you get some American in another country that speaks English as well, and they are speaking with their American accent rapidly (as we Americans tend to do as well) do those of you in these other countries have a difficult time understanding?

I'm frequently asked to slow down and repeat myself.

Nobody's EVER told me to slow down. I have been asked to repeat myself, but only because the desk clerk in Philly just wanted to hear me talk, not because she did not know what I was saying.

Actually, that whole area seemed taken by my mountain drawl on that trip. It seemed everywhere I went, folks were commenting on it, until I finally had my traveling companion (who was from New Hampshire)do all the talking. I got tired of having to tell everyone I talked to where I was from.

I hate that! People back east always used to comment on my Utah accent, so I decided to lose it I pattern my speech after most of the newsreaders on NPR, and when travelling in Canada, I imitate one or two of my favorites from CBCRadio2.

[I.D.10-t]

I am just glad I’ve lost what little “military” accent that I once had. That and a lot of the vocabulary like “snafu.”

[jsluder]

I am just glad I’ve lost what little “military” accent that I once had. That and a lot of the vocabulary like “snafu.”

Heh. In a suburb of Austin, TX, there's a housing development with a street named Bohica Way. I've always wondered if the developer was ex-military.

[Henke]

I think all countries and languages have lots of dialects and accent. The guys in my ITM band complains about how I pronounce some words, and they live in a town 15 miles away from my town. They have a distictly different accent than people from a town another 30 miles away. Stockholm has at least 10 different accents. Sometimes I have to work hard to understand someone from Skåne (furthest down south in Sweden) not to mention the people living furthest up north east, they speak a dialect which is on the very close to being a completely different language (not talking about the Sami which really is a different language), and so on. Sweden is not a very big place, still we have an incredible amount of variation.

Wow, BTW, can anyone see something special about this? Who's popping the champagne?!

[jsluder]

Wow, BTW, can anyone see something special about this? Who's popping the champagne?!

[burnsbyrne]

A couple of anecdotes:

In 1973 I worked at a Swiss boarding school, during their summer term which was devoted to concentrated learning of German or English. The English faculty included two Scots, one with a very broad accent, a woman from Belfast, a man from Devon, two Londoners (they sounded quite different to me), myself with my Cleveland accent, a man from Boston and the director who was from Tennessee. No two of us spoke with the same accent. I wonder how confused the pupils were.

My wife is Italian and despite living in the US since 1974 she still has a pronounced "foreign" accent. She speaks fluent, idiomatic English but with a decidedly non-English pronounciation and rhythm. A few years ago she was in London for a few days. She was identified as an American by every Londoner who took notice. They did not remark on her Italian accent at all. I don't know what it all means but there it is.
Mike

[DCrom]

On a related note: English is my wife's second language.

When I first met her, a few months after she arrived in the US, her *written* English was excellent, but she had a strong Chinese accent when speaking. Now, after 23 years living in the US her vocabulary and listening skills have improved dramatically, but although her accent has been reduced quite a bit it's still very noticable.

Except to our kids. Although they can easily notice and recognise other accents, to them her West Coast US with a strong Chinese flavor is so familiar it doesn't register as an accent. They admit that if they concentrate on listening to her they can tell she speaks differently - but they're so used to it that they don't process it as "an accent".

[RonKiley]

I was studying Irish Language pronunciation in a textbook the other day. They were explaining the pronunciation of one of the combinations of vowels and remarked that it was pronounced the same as in "standard english". It took me a while to realize that they meant british standard english. Where upon I said that doesn't help me at all.

Ron

[The Weekenders]

I think Cees, Murphystout, Azalin, Tyghress, Brewerpaul and Redwolf can all attest that I speak impeccable British English, and should have a job as a radio announcer, innit.

You got one of those RP accents, there, Marty? The secret is: never move your chin and lower jaw much while you talk. Learnt that from watchin Prince Charles. With that limitation, the accent comes easy. Some of our East Coast folks, like from LongIsland do that to be snooty.

But I thot many Londoners were gettin more fond of the modified Cockney these days...

[Walden]

Philippine Customs Officer to my father: (slowly and drawled out) Yew sound like Forrest Gump!