Regional accent variations?

[Nervous_Dog]

Still the bicycle's fault, and in cities the fear of ethnc groups to travel far

[pe7e]

Yes you are pretty much correct, a persons origin can usually be asessed by their accent, to an experienced local ear this could be pinpointed to just a few square miles. A persons pronounciation and use of words will usually indicate their social standing (class) or their aspirations to attain a certain class. The persons choice of words/phrases and the size of, or lack of size of their vocabulary will usually be a reliable indication to their level of education. The most suprising thing is how people from different ethnic backgrounds have adopted these class and education idioms into their speech. A third generation immigrant, who's family moved away from the city ghetto and has passed through the English school system would not be easily identified as a non ethinic Brit over the telephone or in a non face to face situation, but you could still judge their social and educationall standing and identify the area they grew up in. It's not however a 100% accurate science, people can and do loose or change their accents to attain social acceptance. I was born into a working class environment in the north end of the east midlands, but I have a central English (Queens English) accent and the locals who don't know me usually have me down as being a southerner. I attribute this to being born into a rather quiet household since my mother was deaf, and having learned much of my use of speech from the TV and radio. This was at a time when the only language you would hear on TV was very polite central English.

[Guest lazyphil]

 

<<This was at a time when the only language you would hear on TV was polite central English>>

 

Like Harry Enfields 'Chumley Warner' sketch!!

[pe7e]

Yes by God, you've got it dear boy.

[dddave]

In the US, the Boston accent is unique; "R"s are dropped from the middle or ends of words: sister becomes sistah, park becomes pahk; but are added to words that end in "a": Cuba becomes Cuber.

It seems that many of the early settlers during the 17th century were from East Anglia in Britan and the accent is a carry-over from them.

[Lusty]

Whereabouts does the Scotish brawl kick in?When we went up to the Lake District in Cumbria which is just over the boarder(Gretna Green was about 15 miles north)I never heard anything even remotely Scottish.

[Boring_Man]

Tracing accents back that far in the U.S. is dicey business. There's a well-known story that our Appalachian brethren, hereafter referred to as "hillbillies", speak with an accent quite similar to the English of Shakespeare's time. Alas, while I cherish the thought of someday attending the hillbilly version of "Measure for Measure", this myth has been exploded. I suspect the story about the Boston accent is just that: a nice story.

 

But back to the letter "r". I'll proudly note that Philadelphia is the only city on the East Coast where the letter "r" is pronounced. No doubt this is due to the literacy of the locals, as compared with, say, Boston.

 

By the way, don't forget the "river accent" of New Orleans. Very similar to the generic Brooklyn accent. The greatest, and most easily-found example is Louis Armstrong; it's also discussed in A Confederacy of Dunces.

[Guest]

I find this subject fascinating despite being completely unable to tell one accent from another. Kiwi accents sound a bit harsher to me than aussie so I can often tell them apart but then I find south african accents sound like a harsher version of an aussie accent as well and get confused there!!! and I can't always tell if someone from new england is english or american!

 

What are people's favourite and least favourite accents? Of course it does depend on the person speaking as some can make usualyy the most melodic accents turn sour and others can make even birmingham accents sound divine. For me the south african accent can be one of the worse sounding accents along with brummie and some irish accents. Some Irish accents sound like angelic music and some sound like nails down the blackboard. So French and Irish are probably the nicest and the Southern US accents can be very nice while the Newcastle accent always makes me smile.

 

I've been told my Sussex accent is close to being accentless from an English point of view. Just a badly pronounicaited wet southern accent. One local difference though is to say "would of" instead of would have (would've).

 

an interesting fact according to National Geographic is that the US accents are getting increasingly different and more distinct from each other despite television and increased mobility. Seems to be the opposite in the UK though. My mother couldn't understand my grandfather,who was from east anglia, half the time 30 years ago but I have no problem understanding almost any regional accent nowdays.

[Flashermac]

The Boston Brahman and Tidewater Southern accents are surprisingly similar, probably since they are found in the earliest settled parts of the US. As to Appalachia, while it was once claimed to be an Elizabethan survival, it has since been pretty much established as more reflecting the Northern Irish Protestant speech of the 18th century.

 

I've lived in so many places that no one is quite sure where I'm from by my accent. I've actually been mistaken for English (a compliment), but more disturbingly as an Ozzie.

 

::

 

Time for me to take some electricution lessons ...

[Flashermac]

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_American

 

Plus lotsa links!