Gaius Octavius Posted November 7, 2007 Report Share Posted November 7, 2007 Is it not possible that the farther west and south that they go, the more sui generus they are? Huh? Did I spell something wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docoflove1974 Posted November 7, 2007 Report Share Posted November 7, 2007 Um, yeah...please translate into English, Don Tomato. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaius Octavius Posted November 7, 2007 Report Share Posted November 7, 2007 Um, yeah...please translate into English, Don Tomato. Listen, you reprobate: 'Y'all'; "tree", 'mon'... [...going to invade Eyeran.], etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M. Porcius Cato Posted November 7, 2007 Report Share Posted November 7, 2007 Um, yeah...please translate into English, Don Tomato. Listen, you reprobate: 'Y'all'; "tree", 'mon'... [...going to invade Eyeran.], etc. Are you saying that there are more funny pronunciations the further south and west you go? Why not say that there are more funny pronunciations the further north and east you go? It seems completely jingoistic to think that the dialect of one's own neighborhood sets the standard by which all other dialects are judged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WotWotius Posted November 7, 2007 Report Share Posted November 7, 2007 2) From Warwickshire This is just a little aside, but that is not a Warwhichshire accent. Anybody who has attended Eton tend to lose any trace of their regional accent - the person in the recording to far too 'well spoken' to be labeled as somebody with a Midland's accent; his vowels are too open (e.g. he says 'pa®th' as opposed to the Midland 'path'). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaius Octavius Posted November 7, 2007 Report Share Posted November 7, 2007 Um, yeah...please translate into English, Don Tomato. Listen, you reprobate: 'Y'all'; "tree", 'mon'... [...going to invade Eyeran.], etc. Are you saying that there are more funny pronunciations the further south and west you go? Why not say that there are more funny pronunciations the further north and east you go? It seems completely jingoistic to think that the dialect of one's own neighborhood sets the standard by which all other dialects are judged. I could hardly understand my beloved Texan aunt when she spoke with her brother. They understood me without a problem. As a salesman, I was taught to speak with that flat mid-western accent. Those yokels understood, but preferred my Brooklynese. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M. Porcius Cato Posted November 8, 2007 Report Share Posted November 8, 2007 Are you saying that there are more funny pronunciations the further south and west you go? Why not say that there are more funny pronunciations the further north and east you go? It seems completely jingoistic to think that the dialect of one's own neighborhood sets the standard by which all other dialects are judged. I could hardly understand my beloved Texan aunt when she spoke with her brother. They understood me without a problem. As a salesman, I was taught to speak with that flat mid-western accent. Those yokels understood, but preferred my Brooklynese. Which demonstrates what? Frankly, I don't think it demonstrates anything other than that Brooklynese--taught to all American school-children through Bugs Bunny--is more familiar to more people than are the various accents of Dixie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus Caelius Posted November 8, 2007 Report Share Posted November 8, 2007 I'm told that, before the Civil War, the plantation-owner's children were raised by slaves whose "native" patois (still spoken in a few isolated communities) was something called "Gulla." Supposedly, the purpose of the Grand Tour through Europe was an attempt to retrofit "regular" English, and the result of Gulla-plus-Europe was the classic Southern accent. Don't know to what degree this is true. In Texas, however, things took a rather bizzare turn, with new words growing out of combinations of two or more ("damnyankee") and extra syllables being inserted into standard terms ("sheeyit"). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docoflove1974 Posted November 8, 2007 Report Share Posted November 8, 2007 In Texas, however, things took a rather bizzare turn, with new words growing out of combinations of two or more ("damnyankee") and extra syllables being inserted into standard terms ("sheeyit"). The combining of words is not unique to Texas, or even to the Southwest/Central US; this happens everywhere, in all languages. As for the 'extra syllables', the thing to remember here is that the Texas/Oklahoma area (I can say for sure...I think there are areas of Kansas and Arkansas, too) speakers extend and twist vowel groups, producing the unique affectation of the vowels. (This makes teaching a foreign language with 'pure' vowels very difficult!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaius Octavius Posted November 8, 2007 Report Share Posted November 8, 2007 Be informed! Any American, i.e., one inhabiting the lands east of the Hudson River, can tell a hill billy from an American by his hair cut! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M. Porcius Cato Posted November 8, 2007 Report Share Posted November 8, 2007 Be informed! Any American, i.e., one inhabiting the lands east of the Hudson River, can tell a hill billy from an American by his hair cut! Tell it to Joey Buttafuoco. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaius Octavius Posted November 8, 2007 Report Share Posted November 8, 2007 Be informed! Any American, i.e., one inhabiting the lands east of the Hudson River, can tell a hill billy from an American by his hair cut! Tell it to Joey Buttafuoco. We put him away because he looked like one of you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ASCLEPIADES Posted November 9, 2007 Report Share Posted November 9, 2007 Salve, Amici. I don't have an accent! (Oh yes, you do!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ASCLEPIADES Posted November 9, 2007 Report Share Posted November 9, 2007 Probably many members are familiarized with the shibboleth (not sibboleth) story: (Judges, Ch. 12, Ver. 4-6): "Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim; and the men of Gilead defeated Ephraim, because they said, "You are fugitives from Ephraim, you Gileadites - in the heart of Ephraim and Manasseh." Then the Gileadites took the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. Whenever one of the fugitives of Ephraim said, "Let me go over," the men of Gilead would say to him, "Are you an Ephraimite?" When he said, "No," they said to him, "Then say Shibboleth," and he said, "Sibboleth," for he could not pronounce it right. Then they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand of the Ephraimites fell at that time." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus Caelius Posted November 10, 2007 Report Share Posted November 10, 2007 In Texas, however, things took a rather bizzare turn, with new words growing out of combinations of two or more ("damnyankee") and extra syllables being inserted into standard terms ("sheeyit"). The combining of words is not unique to Texas, or even to the Southwest/Central US; this happens everywhere, in all languages. As for the 'extra syllables', the thing to remember here is that the Texas/Oklahoma area (I can say for sure...I think there are areas of Kansas and Arkansas, too) speakers extend and twist vowel groups, producing the unique affectation of the vowels. (This makes teaching a foreign language with 'pure' vowels very difficult!) Lancaster's Corollary to Beady's 10th Law of Social Harmonics: "Whatever the joke, someone won't get it." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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