Americans accents

[Sukerkin]

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:.

 

[Gordon Nore]

David Ogden Stiers

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

 

[jarrod]

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

 

[Blindside]

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.

 

[Blindside]

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

 

[jks9199]

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.

 

[Carol]

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

[yt]gpsar0cI0GY[/yt]

 

[Tez3]

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

 

[Carol]

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:

 

[Tez3]

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!

 

[Hagakure]

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".

 

[Tez3]

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

 

[Tez3]

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

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

 

[Hagakure]

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".

 

[Andy Moynihan]

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!

 

[Sukerkin]

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:.

 

[Jade Tigress]

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.

 

[Sukerkin]

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:.

 

[Tez3]

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.

 

[Jade Tigress]

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