# Americans accents



## Tez3 (Feb 24, 2009)

Not sure this is the right place but it's a serious post!
I've always been interested in words, the way people speak and accents. when people speak English I can usually tell where they come from by their intonations and the way they pronounce words so while watching a programme the other night I was fascinated by the way one man spoke. T_his by the way isn't a religious thread!_

The programme was called Around the World in 80 Faiths, an English vicar was going around the world looking at different faiths and ways of worship. while in America he visited a pastor in Tennessee who did the snake handling thing of worship. While the pastor was talking, for the first time ever, I saw subtitles up in English for an American. I could understand what he was saying and he was definitely American, he was giving the history of the way they worship and his family had been there for a very long time. The vicar did say it was a remote part of the country and it brought to mind something Bill Bryson the author said, that many Americans who have live in isolated parts of America actually still speak with the original English accent his ancestors came over with. The English accent in the UK having moved on and changed.

I know little of Tennessee's history sadly so don't know if the original settlers would have been English or not. When the vicar spoke to others of the congregation they spoke with similiar accents but not as strong, the pastor would have been in his late sixties I think. When they sang hymns the subtitles came back up.

In another film, Scary Movie, there's a television reporter who said she was practising her accent so she could go on a nationwide station, is there then an American accent that is equivalent to our Received Pronounciation ( the way the Queen speaks...posh lol)?

Another question lol! We have an American over here in the media Lold Grossman who has an extraordinary accent which none of us is sure whether it's a 'proper' accent or his made up one. Do others speak like him?


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## elder999 (Feb 24, 2009)

Tez3 said:


> Another question lol! We have an American over here in the media Lold Grossman who has an extraordinary accent which none of us is sure whether it's a 'proper' accent or his made up one. Do others speak like him?


 
The answers to your other questions are a bit longer, but Lloyd Grossman has traces of what's called a "mid-Atlantic," or Bostonian accent. I'd imagine, that after more than 30 years in the U.K., some aspects of the local argot have rubbed off, and that when he arrived there, he probably sounded a bit more Bostonian......

We've got *lots* of accents over here, and there is a contrived form of "regionless" pronunciation, flat in affect and relatively free of inflection,  taught in broadcasting schools.


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## Bill Mattocks (Feb 24, 2009)

Tez3 said:


> Another question lol! We have an American over here in the media Lold Grossman who has an extraordinary accent which none of us is sure whether it's a 'proper' accent or his made up one. Do others speak like him?



To me, his accent sounds either slightly British, or a 'Harvard' accent, as many 'Harvard' men have.  I note that he has lived all over, so that may account for it:

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

We have lots of accents here.  I have lived in NC (my house, wife and family are currently there, I sojourn in Detroit), and whilst I can understand most folks there, some have a very thick regional dialect that leaves me unable to understand a single word they say.  I've talked to native North Carolinians feel the same way!

I was watching "Snatch" and I could not understand anything for the first five minutes - then I started 'getting it'.  Same for "Lair of the White Worm."  For a solid 15 minutes into that movie, I could not understand anything being said.  Once I 'got it' then I had no more trouble.

I have had the opportunity to live everywhere in the US.  From east to west, north to south.  I have a basic 'midwest' accent, which I am told is prized because it is nearly universally understood - newscasters often come from the midwest, places like Nebraska and Illinois and Kansas.

One interesting phenomenon lately is ESL speakers who can understand each other perfectly, but native English speakers cannot understand them.  This has been discussed if not studied.  A man from India and a man from China and a man from Russia can all chit-chat merrily away in English that no native English-speaker can understand.  Fascinating!


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## elder999 (Feb 24, 2009)

Bill Mattocks said:


> To me, his accent sounds either slightly British, or a 'Harvard' accent, as many 'Harvard' men have. I note that he has lived all over, so that may account for it:
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loyd_Grossman


 
From the link above (it'd been later in my morning, I might have bothered to do the same):



> His transatlantic accent reflects his *Boston* origins as well as the *many years he has spent in the UK*. It sounds strange to many British people, as well as Americans, and is often the subject of parody


 

uhh....._what I said?_...:lol:


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## Tez3 (Feb 24, 2009)

My English accent is a 'Services' one, it probably has London in it but because I was in the RAF for so many years it has evened out into just English lol! 

I admit I love accents and listening to people. We had the first episode last night of Law and Order UK set in London, while the accents were easy to understand I did wonder how it would go down in its home country! It's not just accents, people also speak at different speeds depending on where they come from, listening to a Liverpudian in full spate is mind boggling!

One accent and voice that's very attractive is the blonde lady in CSI Miami (the one that does the guns thing), I believe she has a 'Southern' accent? Does things to my husband certainly, rofl!


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## Hagakure (Feb 24, 2009)

I'd like to point out that "apparently" the West Midlands accent is the closest in style, pronunciation to the "original" English whatever that is, perhaps as spoken in Shakespeares day, or maybe even Chaucers. Therefore, even though I have what is officially termed a "plummy" English accent, coming from the Midlands, I still claim superiority over "all of _*yow*_". 

Tez, I agree whole-heartedly, I love accents as well, in particular, French accents, on French girls. Excellent boat floater I find.


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## Tez3 (Feb 24, 2009)

Girls like the soft Irish accents from the south lol, we had John Kavanagh (some Americans may know him as he does seminars for SBG) bring one of his MMA fighters across for one of our shows and dear me, John could charm the birds out of the trees with his accent. His fighter was Icelandic which along with Norway produces a nice accent in English too.

Ah French, the only language that sounds sexy when talking about prosaic things lol!


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## Steve (Feb 24, 2009)

elder999 said:


> The answers to your other questions are a bit longer, but Lloyd Grossman has traces of what's called a "mid-Atlantic," or Bostonian accent. I'd imagine, that after more than 30 years in the U.K., some aspects of the local argot have rubbed off, and that when he arrived there, he probably sounded a bit more Bostonian......
> 
> We've got *lots* of accents over here, and there is a contrived form of "regionless" pronunciation, flat in affect and relatively free of inflection, taught in broadcasting schools.


If we're talking about native English speakers, there are lots of areas where the "regionless" accent is not contrived. From having travelled and lived over most of the USA, it's been my experience that the further East you go, the more pronounced and varied the accents become.

Edit to add:  If we're speaking about accents we like, I am a sucker for a scandinavian accent.  While in Germany in the military, I would travel frequently to Holland.  We also went up to Denmark a few times each year.  Wow.  Just... wow.


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## Bill Mattocks (Feb 24, 2009)

stevebjj said:


> If we're talking about native English speakers, there are lots of areas where the "regionless" accent is not contrived.  From having travelled and lived over most of the USA, it's been my experience that the further East you go, the more pronounced and varied the accents become.



Up in da UP dere to, eh?


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## elder999 (Feb 24, 2009)

stevebjj said:


> If we're talking about native English speakers, there are lots of areas where the "regionless" accent is not contrived. From having travelled and lived over most of the USA, it's been my experience that the further East you go, the more pronounced and varied the accents become.


 

I'm sure, as Bill posted, that it has its roots in a midwestern inflection, but it's what is taught in broadcasting schools. Odds are good that the disc jockey you hear on the radio, or the person doing your local nightly TV news didn't grow up sounding the way they speak when they're working.

And yeah, as a native _Noo Yawkah_ I know a _ting er _ two about _havin_ an accent.....:lol:


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## Bill Mattocks (Feb 24, 2009)

elder999 said:


> I'm sure, as Bill posted, that it has its roots in a midwestern inflection, but it's what is taught in broadcasting schools. Odds are good that the disc jockey you hear on the radio, or the person doing your local nightly TV news didn't grow up sounding the way they speak when they're working.
> 
> And yeah, as a native _Noo Yawkah_ I know a _ting er _ two about _havin_ an accent.....:lol:



The classic example was Johnny Carson.  Pure Nebraska farmboy - no accent from the point of view of most US television watchers.


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## Steve (Feb 24, 2009)

Bill Mattocks said:


> Up in da UP dere to, eh?


 Upper Peninsula?  I haven't been there.  I did get orders to the UP but swapped them for Germany.  Never regretted that trade.


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## Steve (Feb 24, 2009)

elder999 said:


> I'm sure, as Bill posted, that it has its roots in a midwestern inflection, but it's what is taught in broadcasting schools. Odds are good that the disc jockey you hear on the radio, or the person doing your local nightly TV news didn't grow up sounding the way they speak when they're working.
> 
> And yeah, as a native _Noo Yawkah_ I know a _ting er _two about _havin_ an accent.....:lol:


 LOL... you guys.  I'm not suggesting that people don't unlearn their accent.  I'm simply pointing out that half the friggin country doesn't have to do that.


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## Bill Mattocks (Feb 24, 2009)

stevebjj said:


> Upper Peninsula?  I haven't been there.  I did get orders to the UP but swapped them for Germany.  Never regretted that trade.



Well, if you think someone from New Hampshire is tough to understand, try da UP one time dere hey.  Dey nod only have funny accents, but they use whole different words.  A bubbler is a water fountain, a hot dish is a casserole, you don't stay with someone, you stay by them, and you don't loan someone money, you borrow it to them.  No 'th' sound, and all flat long vowels gain an extra syllable, so 'boat' becomes 'boh-it', and 'mouse' becomes 'mah-ouse'.  Ya sure you betcha.


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## Hagakure (Feb 24, 2009)

Tez3 said:


> Girls like the soft Irish accents from the south lol, we had John Kavanagh (some Americans may know him as he does seminars for SBG) bring one of his MMA fighters across for one of our shows and dear me, John could charm the birds out of the trees with his accent. His fighter was Icelandic which along with Norway produces a nice accent in English too.
> 
> Ah French, the only language that sounds sexy when talking about prosaic things lol!


 
I love Dylan Morans take on the French. That they sit around all day, half dressed, making love, smoking Galouise (sp?), painting, drinking red wine and debating philosophy. Although not necessarily all at the same time.


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## MA-Caver (Feb 24, 2009)

I know you want this to be serious thread and I am going to treat it with the respect due that was asked. But seriously... accents are fun for me. Ah luv 'em. 
The south-eastern part of the United States which include Kentucky, Tennessee, West (BY GOD) Virginia, N & S. Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Louisiana (which has that special Cajun mixture into it) all do have that distinctive suthern acksent to be sure. I noticed it very strongly when moving back from Utah to Tennessee and still hear it but have dealt with it... dunno if ah've adopt it'd or not. 
Specifically Tennessee's accent is no different than the aforementioned states as far as dialect/accents go. All southerners have that accent. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_English is a lengthy but worthwhile read about "American English" 
This is probably more specific 


> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_English_regional_phonologyRegional dialects in North America are most strongly differentiated along the Eastern seaboard. The distinctive speech of important cultural centers like Boston, Massachusetts (_see Boston accent_); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Charleston, South Carolina; and New Orleans, Louisiana imposed their marks on the surrounding areas. The Connecticut River is usually regarded as the southern/western extent of _New England_ speech, while the Potomac River generally divides a group of Northern coastal dialects from the beginning of the Coastal Southern dialect area (distinguished from the _Highland Southern_ or South Midland dialect treated below, although outsiders often mistakenly believe that the speech in these two areas is the same); in between these two rivers several local variations exist, most famous among them the variety that prevails in New York City.
> Dialects on the East Coast of the continent are most diverse chiefly because the East Coast has been populated by English-speaking people longer than any other region. Western speech is much more homogeneous because it was settled by English speakers more recently, and so there has been less time for the West to diversify into a multiplicity of distinctive accents. A reason for the differences between (on the one hand) Eastern and (on the other hand) Midwestern and Western accents is that the East Coast areas were in contact with England, and imitated prestigious varieties of British English at a time when those varieties were undergoing changes. The interior of the country was settled by people who were no longer closely connected to England, as they had no access to the ocean during a time when journeys to Britain were always by sea, and so Western and inland speakers did not imitate the changes in speech from England.
> African American Vernacular English contains many distinctive forms that are more homogeneous from region to region than the accents of white speakers, but African-American speakers are subject to regional variation also.



Yet if you go up in to the northern parts you'll hear the New-Englander accent along the coastal and Canadian bordering states. The States along the great lakes (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan have theirs. 

In the movie Fargo you'll hear that very distinctive North Dakota accent which shows evidence that a good portion of the people are northern Euro-Scandinavian decendants.  

Texas  ... nuff said  :lol:

Out west as I've noticed the accents get thinned out and more spread out and thus flattened out. 

Why we Americans haven't kept the Queen's way of speaking of english or their own specific euro-ancestrial accents I can't say... I'm not a linguist or anything like that just speculating. 
I guess the same could be asked is why the wonderful Aussie's have their own distinctive style of speaking English even though a majority of them have descended from British Island prisoners sent into exile.


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## CoryKS (Feb 24, 2009)

Bill Mattocks said:


> Up in da UP dere to, eh?


 
Ooh, yoor from Michigan, arr yoo?  Oh goo-ud!



> A little bit _Fargo_, a little bit Nasal Chicago, and a little bit Canadian, the Michigan Accent was derived from a lot of the linguistic influences of its early settlers: Irish, Finnish, Welsh and Dutch. In some areas, particularly around blue collar parts of Detroit, hordes of poor Southerners who came up the Dixie Highway to work on the assembly lines in the early-to-mid 1900's have also injected a bit of Southern twang into our Northern European heritage.
> 
> *The resulting mix is similar to a pirate from Kentucky with a head cold*


 
http://www.michigannative.com/ma_home.shtml

/ from GraRapids


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## cdunn (Feb 24, 2009)

elder999 said:


> We've got *lots* of accents over here, and there is a contrived form of "regionless" pronunciation, flat in affect and relatively free of inflection, taught in broadcasting schools.


 
The "Regionless" pronunciation is General American. The differentiation from it in many places is relatively subtle, but existant. 

Personally, I think anymore that some of yinz guys just like to talk funny n'at.


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## girlbug2 (Feb 24, 2009)

You know, I'm going to have to research this a little bit more now, but...I recall a few years ago reading an article in a local newspaper about accents, and the author's positon on which accent represented the "purest" origins of English accent in America was...get ready for this...the Southern Cal. coastal accent, aka "surfer dude". Think Bill and Ted or dweezil zappa. Yes, according to the article (which the author said was a consensus opinion among linguists who studied British accents), that was actually how the English sounded back when they were colonizing what is now the USA. How that accent got all the way to the West Coast I don't understand, but there you have it.

One point in its favor, is that the surfer dude accent is easily understood across the country; I have never heard complaints about it being so thick as to be unintelligible. I think it's nice sounding, myself.


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## Hagakure (Feb 24, 2009)

girlbug2 said:


> You know, I'm going to have to research this a little bit more now, but...I recall a few years ago reading an article in a local newspaper about accents, and the author's positon on which accent represented the "purest" origins of English accent in America was...get ready for this...the Southern Cal. coastal accent, aka "surfer dude". Think Bill and Ted or dweezil zappa. Yes, according to the article (which the author said was a consensus opinion among linguists who studied British accents), that was actually how the English sounded back when they were colonizing what is now the USA. How that accent got all the way to the West Coast I don't understand, but there you have it.
> 
> One point in its favor, is that the surfer dude accent is easily understood across the country; I have never heard complaints about it being so thick as to be unintelligible. I think it's nice sounding, myself.


 
It's possible that a surfer dude twang could be close to an English West Country accent, which would certainly cover the Plymouth area of England.


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## Tez3 (Feb 24, 2009)

Serious as in no arguing lol but accents are fun!

All broadcasting accents used to be posh here but in the past few years regional accents have become the norm, as long as you can understand them it's nice to hear different accents. Now even some upper class people are putting on phony accents lol. Mick Jagger is one as is Nigel Kennedy the violinist.


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## Steve (Feb 24, 2009)

What about Madonna?  What the hell is that about?


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## Tez3 (Feb 24, 2009)

Hagakure said:


> It's possible that a surfer dude twang could be close to an English West Country accent, which would certainly cover the Plymouth area of England.


 
West Country people were the great seamen of England, Raleigh being one of the greatest so I imagine finding them in a coastal place wouldn't be hard to imagine? I love the Devon and Cornish accents, awlright my lover? (thats said to men and women btw!) 
Here in Yorkshire the accent varies from city to city, a Yorkshire person can tell where you come from just by listening to you, up in the Dales here we have a huge Viking influence and many place names are recognisable to Norweigian speakers.


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## mook jong man (Feb 24, 2009)

Its very strange when you watch footage of old Australian TV news broadcasts or listen to old radio shows all the announcers spoke with a British accent even though they were Australian.

 Because in the 1950s in the broadcast media they thought that the Australian accent was inferior to pure and proper English and should not be heard over the airwaves .


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## Hagakure (Feb 24, 2009)

Tez3 said:


> West Country people were the great seamen of England, Raleigh being one of the greatest so I imagine finding them in a coastal place wouldn't be hard to imagine? I love the Devon and Cornish accents, awlright my lover? (thats said to men and women btw!)
> Here in Yorkshire the accent varies from city to city, a Yorkshire person can tell where you come from just by listening to you, up in the Dales here we have a huge Viking influence and many place names are recognisable to Norweigian speakers.


 

Tell me you have a Yorkshire accent. 

My best mates are all from Leeds, a truer accent doesn't exist!

I lived in Plymouth for a few years while serving in the RN. Janners everywhere!


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## Carol (Feb 24, 2009)

Bill Mattocks said:


> Well, if you think someone from New Hampshire is tough to understand...



:xtrmshock :anic:


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## Tez3 (Feb 24, 2009)

Hagakure said:


> Tell me you have a Yorkshire accent.
> 
> My best mates are all from Leeds, a truer accent doesn't exist!
> 
> I lived in Plymouth for a few years while serving in the RN. Janners everywhere!


 
No I don't lol! I was born in London went to school and uni in Aberdeen then travelled a lot. My other half comes from Leeds though! I know Plymouth well, used to be engaged to a bootneck and had a house out Bickleigh way. I was stationed in Wiltshioe nice place, accents are real ooh argh!


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## Drac (Feb 24, 2009)

Tez3 said:


> Serious as in no arguing lol but accents are fun!


 
When they showed the BBC series Jekyll here they had announcer come on and say " Not even British people can understand each other so please use the closed caption option on your telly....


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## Xue Sheng (Feb 24, 2009)

Well in NYS we don't have accents, everyone else does 

Actually for a guy that grew up in Massachusetts I pretty much have no accent if youre talking the US.

I once saw a comic from Germany do a bit on accents. He was doing this in English so he had a pretty heavy German accent. But he was talking about getting gasoline for his car in one of the Southern states (deep south) in the USA.

He said (in his normal accent) could you please fill it up.

He said the attendant looked at him and said (he did a pretty good American accent for this) Hola K-ow, yu she-ur do tawlk funneh

There are a lot of accents here both regional and of course from other countries as well and some I do imagine have their basis in the immigrants that settled in those areas.


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## Sukerkin (Feb 24, 2009)

Drac said:


> When they showed the BBC series Jekyll here they had announcer come on and say " Not even British people can understand each other so please use the closed caption option on your telly....


 
Tha cosner bae searyouse, ar kid! Ah dunna noo whut thest awn abahrt!


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## Gordon Nore (Feb 24, 2009)

cdunn said:


> The "Regionless" pronunciation is General American. The differentiation from it in many places is relatively subtle, but existant.


 
cd,
The article you site also links to this...



> Not all of these characteristics are unique to the North Central region.
> 
> *Vowels*
> 
> ...




There are similar patterns in Standard or Generalized Canadian English. I was watching CNN's Wolf Blizter talking to CBC's Peter Mansbridge the other day, and you'd swear they were speaking the same language. There were no distinctive factors in speech, denoting one from the other.

Canadian raising, as mentioned above, refers to how a Canadian raises the vowel sound when pronouncing "about," or "house," the noun ending in a voiceless "s", compared to "house," the verb ending in a voiced "z." National broadcasters in Canada, like their US counterparts, don't raise vowels in this fashion.

Canadians who have lost or gotten rid of their regional dialects sound much like Americans who have done the same. I suspect the convergence of media has something to with that. I grew up with American television networks as as American programming available on Canadian channels.


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## zDom (Feb 24, 2009)

I used to not have an accent. 

The Missouri Bootheel ruined all that! :angry: 

I was confronted with the reality that I now have a southern-ish accent (not deep south, just...midwesterny southernish) by some fellow computer gamers when we were on a vox program together.


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## Nolerama (Feb 24, 2009)

I don't think I have an accent. Growing up as a military brat put me in contact with people from all over the US. However, being in St. Louis, some of the locals throw in an 'r' in the most random places...

'wash'= 'warsh'
'forty'= 'farty'

I don't use that, but when I visit the folks in VA, people there think I 'talk funny.'

But then again, when I encountered English-speaking Filipinos in the Philippines, they all called me "Cowboy" even though I don't sport a Southern/Southwestern twang.


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## Gordon Nore (Feb 24, 2009)

Tez,

If you have the opportunity, you might watch the PBS documentary, The Civil War. You'll hear without a doubt one of the most beautiful speaking voices ever -- American historian and novelist Shelby Foote, a Southerner who speaks with a Tidewater Accent. Foote spent his formative years living in various parts of  the South, so there are probably other dialects teased in there.

Sadly, I cannot find an audio clip, so you will have to take my word it.



> *Tidewater Accent* is an American English accent and is also a dialect.
> It is spoken in the coastal Eastern Seaboard Region of the United States from the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It is principally associated with the Tidewater region of Virginia, including the Hampton Roads region, and with the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
> This accent was 'inherited' from the early English settlers, and has evolved for 400 years in most of the region. A notable exception of interest to linguists is tiny isolated Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay because its people speak a totally unique dialect of American English, hypothesized to be nearly unchanged since the days of its first occupation by English colonists. Each of the original surnames and several of the present surnames on the island originated in the British Isles particularly Cornwall.
> House is pronounced houes,
> ...


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## Gordon Nore (Feb 24, 2009)

Another item about accents.

My wife Blanche is from Louisville, KY. She went to Cornell in upstate NY for university. During a freshman class, after she answered a question, the professor commented, "It's clear, Ms Axton, that you think as slowly as you speak." Sadly, she went to great pains to rid herself of her accent. It comes back from time to time, if she's angry at Tucker (our son) or me, and also when we're heading south to visit the in-laws.


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## Ray (Feb 24, 2009)

Nolerama said:


> I don't think I have an accent. Growing up as a military brat put me in contact with people from all over the US. However, being in St. Louis, some of the locals throw in an 'r' in the most random places...
> 
> 'wash'= 'warsh'
> 'forty'= 'farty'


You know that's part of the Theory of Universal Consonent Usage. Everytime someon in St Louis says "Warsh" there's a guy in Boston who "Pahks" his car. Therefor the usage of 'r' in the spoken language remains universally correct.

My dad spoke with what used to be a "St George" (utah) accent. Corn was called "carn." He called a fart a "fort." Horse was Harse. He didn't even come from St George, he came from Price. 

I have been accused recently of having a Wisconsin accent. When I moved from East L.A. to Utah (a long time ago), I was accused by a hispanic co-worker of making fun of the way hispanics spoke. I didn't realize I had any accent.


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## Sukerkin (Feb 24, 2009)

Is this him, Gordon?

http://video.yahoo.com/watch/147499/650129


Another snippet:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4723073http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=4723073&m=4723074


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## Gordon Nore (Feb 24, 2009)

Sukerkin said:


> Is this him, Gordon?
> 
> http://video.yahoo.com/watch/147499/650129



Thank you, kind sir.

That's him; although, some of his vocal richness is lost in either the video compression or his advanced age (November 17, 1916 &#8211; June 27, 2005) when he gave the interview. Apparently, this interview took place in 1999.

Your yahoo link lead me to the publisher of the interview, which includes some good audio clips -- http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/foo0int-1

The NPR interview is very high quality and captures the distinctness of Foote's dialect and speaking abilities.

When The Civil War documentary first played on PBS, it was clear to me that Blanche would have sold me up the river for this chap.


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## Sukerkin (Feb 24, 2009)

My pleasure, my friend.  Glad I could track something down for you.

Isn't it strange how some voices strike resonances in us?  For me, voices I 'envy' are people such James Mason, John Rhys-Davies and David Ogden Stiers.


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## Bill Mattocks (Feb 24, 2009)

Sukerkin said:


> Isn't it strange how some voices strike resonances in us?  For me, voices I 'envy' are people such James Mason, John Rhys-Davies and David Ogden Stiers.



Richard Burton for me.


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## Sukerkin (Feb 24, 2009)

Good call, Bill.  

Useless Trivia Time: One of my youthful claims to fame was living in a house bought by the money my best friend inherited from Richard Burton - about the closest I ever got to rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous :lol:.


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## Gordon Nore (Feb 24, 2009)

Sukerkin said:


> David Ogden Stiers



Stiers nailed the "Harvard Man" accent in M*A*S*H.


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## jarrod (Feb 24, 2009)

where i grew up most people had a drawl, but i suppressed mine when i was kid.  it still comes out when i'm around my dad for a while, but otherwise i don't really have an accent.  neither does my wife except, ironically, when she says "kansas".  then she has a drawl.  "we're from Kayun-zuz!"

jf


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## Blindside (Feb 24, 2009)

Gordon Nore said:


> Tez,
> 
> If you have the opportunity, you might watch the PBS documentary, The Civil War. You'll hear without a doubt one of the most beautiful speaking voices ever -- American historian and novelist Shelby Foote, a Southerner who speaks with a Tidewater Accent. Foote spent his formative years living in various parts of  the South, so there are probably other dialects teased in there.
> 
> Sadly, I cannot find an audio clip, so you will have to take my word it.



http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/foo0int-1

Each paragraph has an associated audio and vid file.  You'll need quicktime.


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## Blindside (Feb 24, 2009)

....and then realizes that another file has already been found....


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## jks9199 (Feb 24, 2009)

From the sound of things, I kind of suspect that the "accent" Tez was hearing was Appalachian...  From Wikipedia:


> *Southern Appalachian*
> Due to the former isolation of some regions of the Appalachian South, the Appalachian accent may be difficult for some outsiders to understand. This dialect is also rhotic, meaning speakers pronounce "R"s wherever they appear in words, and sometimes when they do not (for example "worsh" for "wash.") Because of the extensive length of the mountain chain, noticeable variation also exists within this subdialect.
> The Southern Appalachian dialect can be heard, as its name implies, in North Georgia, North Alabama, East Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, Western North Carolina, Eastern Kentucky, Southwestern Virginia, Western Maryland, and West Virginia. Southern Appalachian speech patterns, however, are not entirely confined to these mountain regions previously listed.
> The common thread in the areas of the South where a rhotic version of the dialect is heard is almost invariably a traceable line of descent from Scots or Scots-Irish ancestors amongst its speakers. The dialect is also not devoid of early influence from Welsh settlers, the dialect retaining the Welsh English tendency to pronounce words beginning with the letter "h" as though the "h" were silent; for instance "humble" often is rendered "umble".
> A popular myth claims that this dialect closely resembles Early Modern or Shakespearean English. [1] Although this dialect retains many words from the Elizabethan era that are no longer in common usage, this myth is apocryphal. [2]



Appalachian has a distinct sound, and can be nigh on incomprehensible to someone not used to it...  "Hollow", meaning valley, for example, is pronounced "holler."  It shifts in different regions, too.


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## Carol (Feb 25, 2009)

Not even broadcasters are perfect though... :lfao:

[yt]gpsar0cI0GY[/yt]


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## Tez3 (Feb 25, 2009)

jks9199 said:


> From the sound of things, I kind of suspect that the "accent" Tez was hearing was Appalachian... From Wikipedia:
> 
> 
> Appalachian has a distinct sound, and can be nigh on incomprehensible to someone not used to it... "Hollow", meaning valley, for example, is pronounced "holler." It shifts in different regions, too.


 
I found a clip of the visit to the pastor! It's on BBC so I hope it will show. The vicar has a 'posh' public school (thats our posh schools like Eton, Harrow and) English accent. The pastor's accent is  familiar but nothing I could put my finger on and thats annoying me now! The BBC has an archive of old British accents and I'm sure I've heard something like this before. The pastors voice does rise and fall similiar to the Welsh, I can see why people would think it's Shakespeare's English because he came from the Midlands and the pastor has very flat As which do sound simliar. Sukerkin can comment better on that! 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/80faiths/locations/northamerica.shtml


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## Carol (Feb 25, 2009)

Tried clicking on the link, it failed with a "Not Available In Your Area" message.  I guess we aren't allowed to see what the BBC thinks of us :rofl:


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## Tez3 (Feb 25, 2009)

Carol Kaur said:


> Tried clicking on the link, it failed with a "Not Available In Your Area" message. I guess we aren't allowed to see what the BBC thinks of us :rofl:


 
That is such a shame! I tried U Tube, it has some of the programme bits on such as the dung flinging ceremony (don't ask lol) but not this episode! It has bits with snake handlers on, not the one in the programme though and tbh it was all a bit sensationalist which the vicar's programme wasn't. The English vicar is very English in the way he presents the programmes though, just interest, no judgements. He went from Tennessee to a Revivalist meeting which he said though made him feel they thought him wishy washy. The preacher there was hard to understand because he was shouting so much. 
I remember reading an interesting article on American preachers and their method of preaching, not the words or the meaning as such but the rhythm of the speech, it said Martin Luther King's, 'I have a Dream' is typical of the speech patterns used with the rise and fall of the words and intonations to allow the congregation to 'reply'. 

As I said it's not the religious aspects that interest me so much as the speech and words along with the accents. A good sermon or even political speech can be a joy to listen to even if you disagree with everything!


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## Hagakure (Feb 25, 2009)

Tez3 said:


> I found a clip of the visit to the pastor! It's on BBC so I hope it will show. The vicar has a 'posh' public school (thats our posh schools like Eton, Harrow and) English accent. The pastor's accent is familiar but nothing I could put my finger on and thats annoying me now! The BBC has an archive of old British accents and I'm sure I've heard something like this before. The pastors voice does rise and fall similiar to the Welsh, I can see why people would think it's Shakespeare's English because he came from the Midlands and the pastor has very flat As which do sound simliar. Sukerkin can comment better on that!
> 
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/80faiths/locations/northamerica.shtml


 
I know the show you mean, he does have a difficult accent to place. As for the Midlands, he certainly doesn't have a Black Country accent (Dudley, Wolverhampton, Tipton etc), but there is a Midlands element to it also. Perhaps the southern Midlands, around Warwickshire/Stratford Upon Avon-esque? Accents are like wines, they have distinct flavours. 

I'm pretty well spoken, but occassionally have a flash of Midlands, so, "twice" may, under duress, become "twoice". *Blushes*.

Edited: Ok, I was way off, he was born in South London. Lived in Aus for a while, and now lives in Norfolk via having lived in Cambridge. Explains his "all over the place accent".


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## Tez3 (Feb 25, 2009)

Hagakure said:


> I know the show you mean, he does have a difficult accent to place. As for the Midlands, he certainly doesn't have a Black Country accent (Dudley, Wolverhampton, Tipton etc), but there is a Midlands element to it also. Perhaps the southern Midlands, around Warwickshire/Stratford Upon Avon-esque? Accents are like wines, they have distinct flavours.
> 
> I'm pretty well spoken, but occassionally have a flash of Midlands, so, "twice" may, under duress, become "twoice". *Blushes*.


 
Ah the Black country accent! Knew a guy in the RAF who had a really stong Brum accent that he swore was actually Black country. I'm not sure that Wikipedia is right about it being a myth that it's Shakespeare's English. Warwickshire though would also put it closer to Wales too.

I did find this which is good as well as funny, the incomparable Peter Sellers on British accents.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLsVh6Qrpew&feature=related


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## Tez3 (Feb 25, 2009)

This is good! Watch her face as she changes countries!! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UgpfSp2t6k&feature=related


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## Hagakure (Feb 25, 2009)

Tez3 said:


> Ah the Black country accent! Knew a guy in the RAF who had a really stong Brum accent that he swore was actually Black country. *I'm not sure that Wikipedia is right about it being a myth that it's Shakespeare's English*. Warwickshire though would also put it closer to Wales too.
> 
> I did find this which is good as well as funny, the incomparable Peter Sellers on British accents.
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLsVh6Qrpew&feature=related


 
I've heard it from several sources that the Black Country region/accent is the closest spoken word to earlier English, however, while I have no issue believing that, what I would say is, what English? Chaucers English? Shakespeares? Have you ever heard "Auld English"? Or read it/tried reading it? Tis gook of the gobbledey variety. 

Edited:You likely won't believe it, but there are very subtle nuances and differences from Black Country to Brummie. Different use of words to. People from Wolverhampton, may say "Yam gooin to pub". Meaning "Are you going to the pub"? Hence the reason why people from Wolverhampton are called "Yam-yams".


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## Andy Moynihan (Feb 25, 2009)

I was born and raised in Massachusetts, had the most horrocious Boston accent till my late teens when I began my concerted effort to train it out which I'm still doing but it creeps back now and then in times of either extreme stress or relaxation.

I have had several British women tell me I had a "sexy" accent,  and it seems my attempt to kill my native accent was not without merit, for one of them told me I sounded like Mel Gibson in "The Patriot". Good enough!


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## Sukerkin (Feb 25, 2009)

Tez3 said:


> http://www.bbc.co.uk/80faiths/locations/northamerica.shtml


 
I really enjoyed that, Irene. Not just because I was listening for the accents but for the subject matter too. I still think they're a load of loonies but that snake-handling fellow is at least a nice loony (and I found it oddly quite touching that he kissed the presenters hand, as if to acknowledge the presence of Gods spirit, after he'd handled a snake himself).

As to the accent. It was indeed packed full of different elements. By turns he sounded Australian, by turns classic 'Southern' ... and there were indeed a couple of Potteries vowels in there . Not too noticeable but they were there.

Midlands accents in particular can be very varied indeed. For example, I was born in a town called Cheadle, which is all of ten miles away from Stoke and a bit less from a town called Tean. Each place has it's own dialect and accent - indeed, when I first moved into Stoke, I found the older locals impossible to understand :lol:.


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## Jade Tigress (Feb 25, 2009)

jks9199 said:


> From the sound of things, I kind of suspect that the "accent" Tez was hearing was Appalachian...  From Wikipedia:
> 
> 
> Appalachian has a distinct sound, and can be nigh on incomprehensible to someone not used to it...  "Hollow", meaning valley, for example, is pronounced "holler."  It shifts in different regions, too.



I spent 5 years in Western NC and 5 years in East Tennesee (only a 13 mile move from one home to the other mind you). I'm a 3rd gen Chicagoan. Before moving I thought, we don't have accents, everyone else does. lol After moving, while the Appalachian accents were obvious to me, and my *yankee* accent was obvious to them, the thing I found interesting was after several years in Appalchia, when my family from Chicago came to visit, I was able to hear a distinctly "_Chicago_" accent in their speech. And started telling us we were sounding "Southern". Though I didn't hear a Southerness to my speech, and no one in my current area would have said so, we still sounded like Yankees to them. But their were obviously some subtleties my family and I picked up in each other that we couldn't hear ourselves.


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## Sukerkin (Feb 25, 2009)

Aye, accents do submerge and reappear as necessary, depending on the social group that is around you.

Mind you, I don't know if it's still the case but I used to have Rebellious Egalitarian Inverted Snobbery Accents disorder. So when I was surrounded by posh toffs "ahd cum over awl Potters lyke" and when amidst hairy bikers I'd have perfect RP :lol:.


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## Tez3 (Feb 25, 2009)

Sukerkin said:


> I really enjoyed that, Irene. Not just because I was listening for the accents but for the subject matter too. I still think they're a load of loonies but that snake-handling fellow is at least a nice loony (and I found it oddly quite touching that he kissed the presenters hand, as if to acknowledge the presence of Gods spirit, after he'd handled a snake himself).
> 
> As to the accent. It was indeed packed full of different elements. By turns he sounded Australian, by turns classic 'Southern' ... and there were indeed a coupld of Potteries vowels in there . Not too noticeable but they were there.
> 
> Midlans accents in particular can be very varied indeed. For example, I was born in a town called Cheadle, which is all of ten miles away from Stoke and a bit less from a town called Tean. Each place has it's own dialect and accent - indeed, when I first moved into Stoke, I found the older locals impossible to understand :lol:.


 
I thought the snake man was nice too which was why I only wanted to post the BBC video not the weird stuff on U Tube which sensationalised it all. The kiss on the hand I thought was touching too, he seemed a nice, genuine person. Snakes are odd admittedly but each to their own I guess. I suspect people focus on the snakes and less on the people themselves. 
I'm going to have to do some research I think to satisfy my curiosity, I'm assuming a group of people from the same place in the UK or Europe for that matter would have emigrated together and all settled in the same place, this would account for different American accents? People like the Amish group together and it makes sense that others would too, if they were getting away from religious persecution the congregation would stay together. If it was economical reasons or something like the Highland clearances, clans, families, villagers would also stay together.


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## Jade Tigress (Feb 25, 2009)

Just for the record, many in Appachia are of Scottish descent.


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## Tez3 (Feb 25, 2009)

Jade Tigress said:


> Just for the record, many in Appachia are of Scottish descent.


 
Cheers! would that account for their making stong liquor lol!


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## thardey (Feb 25, 2009)

Sukerkin said:


> Midlands accents in particular can be very varied indeed. For example, I was born in a town called Cheadle, which is all of ten miles away from Stoke and a bit less from a town called Tean. Each place has it's own dialect and accent - indeed, when I first moved into Stoke, I found the older locals impossible to understand :lol:.


 
Meanwhile, I could drive for a day or two in any direction (except for west-that would put me under water), and there wouldn't be any difference in accent. 

There would be some difference in slang, as in "surfer dude" talk -- but the accents would be the same.

In college, I used to "translate" between a Texan, a New Yorker, and an Englishman. They could all easily understand me, but not each other.

I sound about like you would hear out of Hollywood -- most TV shows and Movies have the same accent as we have. And that's hard to account for, since Oregon is a mix of people from all over the country -- maybe it's because when people came to Oregon, they "left behind" the culture of wherever they came from, and lost the accent. That's what happened to my Dad and Grandparents. They came from Texas, and promptly lost their accent.


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