Re: Styles of Speech

Westprog wrote:


"Howard Brazee" <howard@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:scu5a2ppr7na79in4q0amr744c11dtr73d@xxxxxxxxxx
On Wed, 28 Jun 2006 09:55:55 -0700, Jon Schild <jjs@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

I have noticed that British playwrights and movie and TV authors
use the class accents to great advantage. The moment a character
says her first sentence, you know a lot about her. That doesn't
work as well in the US, but at least regional accents are still
sometimes useful.

Americans typically know very little about regional English accents.
Robert Mitchum was once told to have an English accent. He asked
the director which accent to use, and listed a bunch of candidates.
The director told him to pick one, and he did. American critics
though Mitchum had a terrible accent - British critics thought he
was right on.

There's a style of English accent that sounds more authentic to
American ears. Hence Dick Van Dyke, or Cary Grant. There are, though
I admit I haven't counted them,

For leads to such counts, see http://americandialect.org

few regional accents in the USA than
in the UK -

Also in Canada. And very much fewer yet in Australia.

though UK regional accents are in decline, for the same
reasons they didn't take off in the USA - too much mobility. (And TV
plays a role as well).

There are still very definite local dialects in the US. Not always
where one would expect them -- parts of Illinois sound _much_ more
Southern than parts of Mississippi.

Note that outside contact has _strengthened_ some people's accents.
William Labov's study of Martha's Vineyard showed that people who'd
lived elsewhere and then returned had stronger accents than those who'd
lived there all their lives.

--
Dan Goodman
All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies.
John Arbuthnot (1667-1735), Scottish writer, physician.
Journal http://dsgood.livejournal.com
Links http://del.icio.us/dsgood
.

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