The Accent Thread
 

A chat with Ulpian in the Rumours forum inspired this. Hopefully it won't die a quick death because I'm genuinely interested.

Accents! People love them. People hate them. People fetishize them. Everyone has one, no matter what they might insist to the contrary. And in many cases they are really tied up with a persons identity. Let's talk about them.

What accent do you have? What accents do you love? Do you think people make assumptions about you based on your accent? Go!

I'm from a rather linguistically boring part of the world (Western Canada) where everyone sounds pretty much the same for a good 1000 miles around, so I never developed much of an "ear" for accents. I've been very guilty of using those hated phrases "British accent" and "Southern (American) accent" in the past, as if I'm speaking about very specific things and not a wide and diverse accent group, as is the reality. I like to think I'm learning quickly, though.

The better half has a West Country farmer-ish English accent (think Hagrid, Harry Potter fans) that has (perhaps regrettably) been somewhat neutralised by his self-consciousness about it while living in the Southeast, and also, perhaps, by living with me. But it's so much fun when we head back to his home country and it all comes back to him. He really pronounces the ever-loving-s*** out of those r's. Perhaps its primitive of me, but to me he really does come off as somehow a different person when his accent adjusts like that (no less loveable, though). I'd like to say I don't pay attention to people's accents in that way, but I think I really do when I'm honest with myself. I guess I'm lucky to have an accent that doesn't seem to have been culturally stereotyped in any particular way as far as I can tell, but I could be wrong and it's just that nobody's told me. ;)

I have a Long Island/New York accent which I slip in and out of, lol I never really thought about which accents I like. Not something I ponder.

Mick

I live in Alabama, but I am not originally from there. People here talk with a very 'country' accent. A lot of people away from the South think people here talk like Scarlett from Gone With the Wind, but that isn't the case. More of that accent seems to be in places like Florida, Southeast Georgia, Virginia, and the Carolinas.

I don't really have an accent. I try my best to not start sounding like the accent I hear around me every day!

I think other people would make assumptions about the people who have a 'country' accent. Not to be rude, but every day I hear speech full of gramatical errors and mispronunciations and it makes these people sound uneducated.

I'm American, so I suppose I would have an 'American' accent, if that's what you would call it. But truly I don't have much of a regional one. I'm from the South but somehow managed to come out of here unscathed and speaking about as neutrally as is possible for anyone to speak. I guess growing up around a large city (Atlanta) helped me out in that respect.

I can't even fake a typical "country" accent, which is kind of depressing. I always end up sounding like Scarlett O'Hara which is a different thing altogether.

I am from Nova Scotia, Canada, but live in Maine. I have been told I have a very distinctive Maritime Canadian accent, which makes me laugh because the Mainer accent is so ridiculously distinctive (sounds somewhat like a Boston accent)

Darkcat, I'm ashamed to admit I'm largely unfamiliar with the Maritime accent in Canada. I know the Newfoundland accent, which to me just sounds like the accent of an Irish person who's lived in Canada for a while. But everyone I know who comes from the maritimes seems to have either dropped that accent or never had it to begin with, so my exposure is sadly nil.

Holidayroad, I'm one of those non-southerners who is guilty of lumping all southern accents together even when there are clearly many different varieties. I need to travel around that area of the globe some more and get more of an ear for it.

I find it really interesting that when Americans (and a lot of Canadians) want to put on a caricature of an unintelligent person, they immediately put on a southern "country" accent. I know that strong regional accents are often thought of as signifying a lack of education/worldliness, but there are a lot of strong regional accents in the US to choose from beyond the southern, yet they are rarely used in that way. I guess there's some strong historical connotations that have stuck with us.

Kathy Griffin making fun of the women on I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant is a prime example of this. She employs a fake southern accent despite the fact that the women on that show rarely seem to be from the south: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfc4PQkhuLA

I live in Kentucky, but I grew up in Illinois. So I guess you could say that I have the "standard Midwestern" accent. People in the North think I sound "southern." People in the South think I sound "northern." :)

There are dozens of variations of accents in Kentucky alone. Personally, I think accents are fascinating and are identifiers of regional culture. I'd hate for everyone to sound alike.

I love Australian accents. I've always wanted to listen to an American accent through the ears of someone British, Canadian, or Australian.

If you really want to hear some accents, check out the film "Snatch". Seriously. There are many accents, and sometimes the characters can't even understand each other! I'm not sure if I ever truly understood a word Brad Pitt was saying!

Very happy to have inspired this thread!

I grew up in northwest England with a Scottish mother. I went to a school where they looked down on regional accents and tried to give us elocution lessons. The result? A totally bland, BBC accent which is virtually untraceable!

I'm from Ohio but I love Canadian and Southern accents. Canadian's seem to like me.

I used to think my Western Canadian accent didn't exist until in parts of the U.S. people wanted me to say things like "out and about on the roof with my Mom" and then laughing. :shrug:

I think I do have a bit of a British accent in there though from relatives and neighbours as well as various telly programs. I'd say Vancouver Island has a distinct difference from the mainland anyway. I can definitely hear an Ontario accent in many people, there used to be a character on the U.K. 'Kiss Me Kate' comedy that was hilarious to me as he had it.

I am from London and Surrey and lived in Australia for a time and have been in the US for about 6 years. We are in Ohio and most people ask if I am from England, with a few asking about Oz and Ireland. I think that I have a generic English accent-not particularly posh or plummy-with a sprinkling of Aussie slang. My husband is American born with much time spent in Britain and Oz and he sounds neither American nor English. Our children are mainly English sounding yet the younger ones sound more and more American, which isn't a surprise, yet it is odd at times to hear how different they sound to us (water is wadder vs wahter vs woohter).

I enjoy regional accents and love to turn on the telly and hear Scouse or Geordie (regional UK accents) talk from UK shows or sport. I am a novice at North American accents although I am learning-we have a few Canadian friends and are trying to visit more of he USA. For now I cannot always place an accent and won't try to guess.

I saw an interesting news feature about the accent of Tangier Virginia-worth a look if you have an interest in accents. The people speak similar to the 1686 settlers.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangier,_Virginia

I love accents.I probably have a New England accent but I think I dont have any.

My favorites are the southern accent and the UK.New York,New Jersey and Boston and western are the runners up.

You think so? People tell me things like this, but I honestly can't hear any difference in most Canadian accents bar Newfoundland. Certainly I've never picked up on Vancouver island having a unique one. I'll have to listen more carefully! Although I suppose those regional differences may be deteriorating over time, as Canadians seem to be quite a mobile lot these days. I'm from Calgary, but it seems hardly anyone who lives in Calgary is actually from there originally, so perhaps there is some mythic Calgary accent and I've just never heard it because the city is such a melting pot.

Jenniferuk, your household sounds brilliant! I remember when I'd only been in the UK for a few months, and my group of friends were sitting outside, and I pointed out that all 6 of us had distinctly different accents. I completely geeked out about it and they thought I was nuts. But something about the sheer variety in such a small group made me feel all warm and squishy inside.

The Geordie accent is a favourite of mine as well, actually. I just think it has such a relaxed flavour, although here in the southeast people often seem to associate with "rough" folk. :rolleyes:

I shall have to look into the Tangier accent. That sounds really fascinating. Thanks for the link. :)

Just to add a youtube clip that samples the Tangier accent for anyone who's interested (proooobably just me ;) ) . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIZgw09CG9E

They sound amazing. I want to go there so badly now! But I think I might need a translator or some sort of real-life closed-captioning device if I want to get by.

ETA: Actually it looks like the video is a clip from a full documentary on American accents. Will have to keep an eye out for that one. :)

Isn't that interesting? Need to squeeze in a visit-looks a fascinating place.

We know Mick,John and Christine has their English accent .So Stevie and Lindsey will fall into a Cali or western accent.I do notice Stevie has alittlebit of accent.

Dex-also have a look at Outer Banks English ( if link doesn't work Google outer banks accent).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXs9c...e_gdata_player

I love those people. "People tell me I have an Australian accent and I'm like "no!"" :lol: Brilliant. How strange it must be, though, to have so many people assume you're from overseas all the time.

Personally I'm a sucker for an accent. I go to a specific hairdresser because not only is she cute but she is Croatian and has a really sexy accent (not that I normally find east European accents sexy). There used to be a French girl who worked at a shop near me that had an accent to die for. Plus I'm totally in love with Penelope Cruz and her Spanish accent.

I have to say that generally though I tend to like continental European accents rather than anything that comes out of the USA, the UK or Australia, etc. Plus doesn't hurt if the woman with the sexy accent is pretty easy on the eye too! :nod:

The Scarlet O'Hara accent is a Lowcountry accent, which is really only native to the area between Charleston, SC & Savannah, GA (and it only stretches maybe 50 miles inland from the Atlantic). So the funny thing is, if Scarlet O'Hara were a real person, she would NOT have sounded the way Vivien Leigh did in Gone With The Wind. Being a lifelong Southerner, whenever I hear the Lowcountry accent used in TV shows & movies for every Southerner from Texas to Virginia, I get pretty annoyed. Southern accents vary pretty wildly, even within any given Southern state.

I also strongly resent the fact much of the US feels the Southern accent is evocative of a lack of intelligence. True Southerners have an absolute LOVE of language, and take great pains to communicate with a dramatic flourish for description. I think the movie Steel Magnolias touches on that notion, though Daryl Hannah was the only one to get the Northwest Louisiana/ArkLaTex accent correct. But I digress. :p

You know, I've never seen Gone With the Wind. People keep mentioning this Scarlet accent, and I have no idea what they mean. :laugh: I'll have to make time for it.

Louie, I agree with you. I think the south is the only place in North America where the flourish with which the English speak is really matched. You've got me wanting to visit some of those areas now, too. Jeesh, there is simply too much of America I need to see! Curse my time and budget constraints. ;)

People in Augusta, GA also have the accent, or did at one point. That's where my Grandparents are from and they and their families (though not her children) had it heavily.

That said, I lived in Savannah for 5 years, and I VERY rarely heard anyone speak with a Lowcountry accent. If I did, they were middle aged or older, which leads me to think it's perhaps dying out a bit. There are plenty of people with thick country accents, but it's closer to what I heard living around Atlanta than what I would consider the Scarlett accent.

Also, to the people who are saying they don't know what it sounds like: have you ever seen The Golden Girls? It's the way Blanche (played by Rue McLanahan) talks.

I didn't realize the Lowcountry accent extended as far inland as Augusta! I know people from nearby Atlanta, GA don't have it, nor do folks in Columbia, SC. The accent is only native to a very small portion of the South; it's downright odd Hollywood uses it as the blanket accent for all Southerners. And you're definitely onto something about it dying out, too. The only people I've ever heard use it are currently over the age of 50, and are of a "genteel" stature. The younger, or even more "common" people don't speak that way.

It's also funny to me that Texans are always portrayed to have the cowboy accent. Don't get me wrong, you'll find that in large portions of Texas (it's native to the Plains & desert areas). Here in Austin people are almost accentless... they sound more like Southern Californians. Meanwhile, East Texans definitely have the stereotypical Southern Drawl.

I wondered if it was along those lines (love the Golden Girls!)

There's an interesting interview with Rue McLanahan discussing the creation of Blanche's accent. Apparently Rue didn't intend it to be terribly authentic, but rather a sort of over-the-top way of speaking that she though Blanche would adopt as part of the general persona she projects. She also talks about how in the pilot the director told her not to put on an accent and how much she struggled with finding a way to play the character without doing one. I find it all very interesting.

Here's the video clip for any interested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_DGIgDOg6c

Meryl has a new accent for next film.

It was a very popular play. Meryl plays a pill head with throat cancer. It's about a dysfunctional family.

I'm a little worried now. Theatre-to-film adaptations are almost always a bit awkward and disappointing. But I don't get to the theatre much these days, so I suppose I can't be too choosy. ;) I think the trailer looks very interesting. Cautiously looking forward to it.

What accents hasn't Meryl done at this point? :laugh:

And look at Abigail Breslin all grown up! I haven't been following her career and didn't know she was still acting professionally. Best of luck to her.

Interesting BBC world news segment tonight
 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22490560


German dialect in Texas is one of a kind, and dying out

Cannot play media. You do not have the correct version of the flash player. Download the correct version
14 May 2013 Last updated at 20:02 ET Help
The first German settlers arrived in Texas over 150 years ago and successfully passed on their native language throughout the generations - until now.

German was the main language used in schools, churches and businesses around the hill country between Austin and San Antonio. But two world wars and the resulting drop in the standing of German meant that the fifth and sixth generation of immigrants did not pass it on to their children.

Still the biggest ancestry group in the US, according to Census data, a large majority of German-Americans never learned the language of their ancestors.

Hans Boas, a linguistic and German professor at the University of Texas, has made it his mission to record as many speakers of German in the Lone Star State as he can before the last generation of Texas Germans passes away.

Mr Boas has recorded 800 hours of interviews with over 400 German descendants in Texas and archived them at the Texas German Dialect Project. He says the dialect, created from various regional German origins and a mix of English, is one of a kind.

"We have found no two speakers that speak roughly alike," Mr Boas told the BBC at his office in Austin.

The BBC's Franz Strasser went to Weimar, New Braunfels and Austin to find the last speakers of this dialect.

Share this page

Steel Magnolias was a play before it was a movie, wasn't it? It's one of the most revered films of all time in America.

The amount of towns here in Central Texas with German names is staggering... there's a tremendous German influence in this part of the world in everything from names, to architecture, and food. I can't say I've ever heard a German-Texan accent, though.

What I find interesting is that what we think of as the "Southern (US) Accent" didn't evolve until AFTER the Civil War. So, how did "Southerners" talk BEFORE the Civil War? And, what caused the change? :shrug:


An amusing thing I saw many years ago was a documentary on "the blues". They did an interview with Delta Blues master Mississippi Fred McDowell. He was SPEAKING English...but his Mississippi accent was SO THICK the filmmaker added subtitles anyway! :laugh: And, the funny thing is, had the subtitles NOT been there, I'm really certain that I wouldn't have known what the hell he was saying! :laugh:

Yes. I have seen the stage production a few times, and when it's performed well, I prefer it to the film. That said, I will always love the film,

You know what? I'm a terrible gay and have actually never seen Steel Magnolias.

Brb, off to hang head in shame. ;)

I'm sure I will enjoy it though. I didn't mean that all play-to-film adaptations are bad, really. I think GypsySorcerer's take highlights it for me. I don't think film adaptations can capture the electricity of live performance that made a play popular in the first place, and then they usually aren't given enough of a cinematic re-treatmant to make up for that. There are exceptions, though, of course. And a good story is a good story, no matter the medium it's told in.

I honestly had no idea there was such a strong tie to German culture in parts of Texas! I love this thread. I'm learning loads. :)

I always love her acting.I'm glad she is still producing films.

I have a mix of a Southern Appalachian English and some aspects of the Tangier/Outer Banks accent.
When I first moved back to E. Tennessee, my patrons accused me of lying to them about not being from England or Sweden due to the Outer Banks portion of my accent.

The thing is, I have no idea where it came from :shrug:.

How... erm... charming of them. :laugh::shrug: How on earth did they decide that Sweden or England were the two only possible origins of your personal accent?

Or perhaps I'm taking the use of "accused" in your statement too seriously.

Sometimes people at work ask me if I'm Irish (I'm Canadian), and when I say I'm not... if someone responded "Liar! Yes you are! That or Icelandic! One of the two, you big lying liar!" I think I might be a bit taken aback.

Thanks for reviving the thread, Silver23. I love this thread. :)

I love watching HGTV and DIY, and hearing all of those Canadian home improvement hosts say house like hah-oose. Get ah-oot of my hah-oose.

:lol:

Realy, I love accents. All of them. I wish I could give the new boy-Siri on my iPhone a bit of a cockney twist.

What on earth...? :laugh: As a Canadian I have no idea how you could hear hah-oose from us saying "house". If anything I always thought we tended towards shorter syllables than our southern neighbours. I shall have to listen to those programs more carefully to see if I can pick up what you mean. ;)

Can you not change Siri's accent!? That seems criminal. I don't have an iPhone, but I did get hours of enjoyment cycling through all the available accents on my satellite navigation system in my car. Time to write a carefully worded letter to Apple, methinks.