Search results for 'tag:Accents tag:Dialects' matching tags 'Accents' and 'Dialects'

Re: Newcastle accent?

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 01:06:08 GMT

I wouldn't necessarily recommend someone learning English to learn a regional accent at all - not even south-eastern or estuary English (and that's not because I am from Newcastle, and biased (although I am from Newcastle!).

People from different UK regions use different accents and dialects, and while some are regional, others are social. The kind of Standard English (SE) which people talk about is an example of a social form; it's the language of formal situations, education, news, and so on. People can use this dialect, and a local one interchangeably, depending on their situation - it's called code-switching, and is a phenonmenon common to many languages. While that is a dialect, Standard English does not have an accent, although for many people it is associated with Received Pronunciation (RP; sometimes known as Queen's or BBC English). In fact, SE can be spoken in any accent, and RP is the natural accent of only a tiny proportion of people in the UK.

For a learner of English, the choice of accent depends on how they will use English - whether they will live in the UK, or an English speaking country, for how long, and so on... Personally, I have never been in favour of 'neutralising' learners' accents, as it is part of their identity - although it is necessary for speakers to be understood clearly by others. There are also social and identity issues concerned with the use of local accents which, for learners, could cause problems or misunderstandings. By that I mean, for example, not everyone from Newcastle speaks 'Geordie' - part of the use of accents and dialects is concerned with how people are located (in terms of the social construction of identities) in their local societies.

If any English accent (or perhaps pronunciation is better) is to be learned for international use, the most effective may be a Standard American English one, for that is the most widely used.

Anyhow, this thread seems old - but thanks for making me think about this topic!

Cheers mara, whehey the lads, gan the toon an all that!!!

Re: How to pronounce yorkshire and all place with shire endings?!

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 11:03:20 GMT

You'll find southern shires will be pronounced as "Hamp-shear" or "Buckingham-shear"
whereas midland & northern shires as "Derby-shur", "York-shur" etc. Nottinghamshire being a bit of a mouthful is usually just called "Notts" as Northamptonshire is known as "Northants"
As accents vary very widely for a relatively small country there may be other variations within local dialects, but having travelled the country with my work for the past 10 years the ones I've mentioned seem to be most common.
English counties with a Rhotic accent, like Norfolk & Suffolk or south western counties may pronounce a more drawn out "R" in shire when referring to other counties, as use of "shire" as a suffix to "Somerset" or "Devon" is now obsolete.
Jon, Derbyshire (shur, me duck!)

Re: Books for reference

Kooyeen — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:11:01 GMT

Hi,
if you mean "accent reduction" I can only tell you about one book I read (course with audio CDs), which is "American Accent Training" by Ann Cook. It seems to be the best for American English. If you need something similar for other dialects, you could try to search on Amazon.com for books on accent reduction. Good luck.

Re: How to change my accent?

Kooyeen — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:04:20 GMT

sanycool4
Am really struggling with my accent...English people can't really understand some words what am saying...So any body advice me how to change my accent?

You might need an accent reduction course. Learn the sounds, learn how to connect words, learn to use a decent intonation, etc. It depends on the variety you want to learn though. For American English, I once read "American Accent Training" by Ann Cook. I found it vital for my English, learned a lot of things and I improved a lot. I can't say anything about British English or other dialects though. Good luck. :)

Re: Legitimising dialect discrimination

Jon Salt — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 23:38:56 GMT

I think the problem is that people conflate accent and dialect. Accent varies from region to region when people use standard English. Vocabulary and grammar vary very little, and guessing nationality online can be tricky. If someone with an average educational background cannot use the vocabulary and grammar of standard English (as well as their own dialect, perhaps) then they are probably not a very capable person, and wouldn't be ideal for a white collar job. The older they are, the truer that is.

Re: Legitimising dialect discrimination

Jon Salt — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:18:59 GMT

Yes, indeed sir, but there's hardly any proving such, for there be few souls who be able to legislate well on what we must and must not be doing in such and such an accent. It be one of the ways in which the talk of gentlefolk is different than that of us country lads. We surely have no conversations upon the rightness of our syntaxes down at the old Green Man, Lord Micawber! Well,I don't expect your lordships to agree.You knows from book-learning that a dialect speaker is no worse than another fella, and I'm sure that in a few years when my manner of silly thinking has a'died out, the courts of law will be a'full of law folk using all kinds of grammars and local wordings, and not only those high-falutin fellas who can a'muster up standard sentences.

Re: Legitimising dialect discrimination

Jon Salt — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:19:49 GMT

Hello, sirs. I be applying to join in your conversations. I have noticed that those around me what tend to stick with dialect do tend to be those fellows who consciously reject the education what is provided by the centre. I humbly submit, sirs, that those who uses dialects do in fact tend to be duller of mind and spirit than those who don't. Now, don't be getting me wrongly, there ain't no reasons why the dialect of the centre is better than the dialect of the regions sirs. It is just that there do exist a tendency for the educated country folk to lose their dialect and retain but a mild accent. If you gentlefolk are honest with youselfs, you will find that you don't expect much by talk from a fella with a very strong local flavour to his chat. He will be found to be a fella with very strong local thoughts.

Re: Legitimising dialect discrimination

MrPedantic — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:01:39 GMT

Anonymous
How would you define "dialect", MrP?

It doesn't need to be defined, old chap. In this context:

If you told your HR dept that you had rejected a candidate solely because he used/had a West Country dialect/accent

both you and your HR dept would know what you meant; and whatever your private definition, you would still be sent on the polysyllabic five-day course.

MrP

Re: Legitimising dialect discrimination

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 22:50:34 GMT

>You mention accent there, MrP. How would you define "dialect"? >

<Sorry, I meant to imply "dialect".>

Same question: How would you define "dialect", MrP?

Re: Legitimising dialect discrimination

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 12:25:24 GMT

<If you told your HR dept that you had rejected a candidate solely because he had a West Country accent, you would be immediately sent on a five-day course and forced to learn punishing quantities of bewildering polysyllables.>

You mention accent there, MrP. How would you define "dialect"?