Well, yes! And say hello to Howard for all of us should you happen to see him.
I have been thinking again about adjusting my accent. I don't think I could get away with dropping and adding "r" as in a Transatlantic accent (e.g., as the two presidents Roosevelt did). But I could restore my enunciation (which has decayed a bit in casual speech after decades of living here), make a point of using less casual vocabulary in my ordinary speech, and un-learning some vowel mergers. I was rather surprised to discover how many reputedly common vowel mergers are NOT part of my natural speech, and also to learn that many Americans pronounce t's as d's (water, butter)--I don't do that. I am not afflicted by the mergers cot/caught, pin/pen, or which/witch. I AM afflicted by the mergers trap/bath, horse/hoarse, father/bother, and Mary/marry/merry. I originally pronounced "poor" and "pour" like "pore" or "bore," but purposely changed that in high school. I pronounce the contraction of "I will" as "Ahll," which should be easy enough to alter. That should be a group of individually manageable changes with a significant combined effect. There are some other little things I could pay close attention to as well. Yes, I can do that. And it ought to make a good impression on my auditors.
I have almost no ear for accent. I attribute that to growing up hearing one accent spoken by the people around me and another on the radio. Not only did both sound natural and normal, but they sounded identical. Until I heard Sen. Fulbright on the radio, with a accent totally different from what I was accustomed to hearing there. And realized he sounded just like me.
Mot that I was really aware of the different accents even after I became aware they were different. And after I left Arkansas I gradually lost my Southern accent without making any slightest effort one way or another. Just happened by osmosis.
I have realized it must be that when someone speaks with an accent I am accustomed to, what I usually perceive is my native accent. When I listen carefully, I can perceive differences if they have been pointed out to me. Around here, T's tend to disappear from the middles of words, and the rural Southern influence causes "pin" and "pen" to sound alike, among some other things. This area was, to a significant degree, settled by rural southern whites from a different area than those who settled in Southern California, each bringing a somewhat different rural southern accent. The Southern California rural accent is said to nowadays be almost extinct due to the massive influx of others, but the Central Valley variant is said to be doing quite well. Some say it was reinforced by the influx of Okies and Arkies during the 1930's, but it was well established long before that. I intend to have a bit of fun purposely un-osmosing my speech; that will fit my contrary nature.
--Alan
P.S.: I had some real trouble the other day understanding one of my co-workers, a young man from Detroit. Part of it was surely due to the fact I am a little hard of hearing and that he speaks softly, but I began to wonder if it might also reflect the vowel shifts going on in that part of the country.
Wow! I just went outside to put my suitcase etc. into my car in preparation for a quick getaway from "work," and it's really windy! Good-bye to that awful sooty air we have had to endure for weeks. The dust being kicked up by the wind will settle before long.
So glad you're getting clean air again!! If it's any comfort, Rutland county in Vermont (two hours south of me) had an Air Quality Alert the other day, due to the way the air mass was hanging low and so much woodsmoke in the area.
I'm quite the opposite! Put me near an accent and I'm liable to be talking the same way by the end of the day! Ha! I'm especially prone to a British accent, though not Cockney or Royal so much as middle folk. :-) I think I would have had an aptitude for languages had I encountered them as a child.
The ice and snow is off the trees, and everything here has been in melt mode for two days. The result is that all the snow and ice have mushed together and added a layer of rain water on top. As soon as we turn back to the deep freeze it will be all ice. For the first time in my life I am thinking of buying chains with spikes for my boots (they really do make them). We have had ice jams and flooding, including flooding across roadways. One neighbour up the road has a blue, 8" rubber hose across the road, to drain his driveway into the drainage ditch on the other side.
Well, yes! And say hello to Howard for all of us should you happen to see him.
ReplyDeleteI have been thinking again about adjusting my accent. I don't think I could get away with dropping and adding "r" as in a Transatlantic accent (e.g., as the two presidents Roosevelt did). But I could restore my enunciation (which has decayed a bit in casual speech after decades of living here), make a point of using less casual vocabulary in my ordinary speech, and un-learning some vowel mergers. I was rather surprised to discover how many reputedly common vowel mergers are NOT part of my natural speech, and also to learn that many Americans pronounce t's as d's (water, butter)--I don't do that. I am not afflicted by the mergers cot/caught, pin/pen, or which/witch. I AM afflicted by the mergers trap/bath, horse/hoarse, father/bother, and Mary/marry/merry. I originally pronounced "poor" and "pour" like "pore" or "bore," but purposely changed that in high school. I pronounce the contraction of "I will" as "Ahll," which should be easy enough to alter. That should be a group of individually manageable changes with a significant combined effect. There are some other little things I could pay close attention to as well. Yes, I can do that. And it ought to make a good impression on my auditors.
--Alan
I have almost no ear for accent. I attribute that to growing up hearing one accent spoken by the people around me and another on the radio. Not only did both sound natural and normal, but they sounded identical. Until I heard Sen. Fulbright on the radio, with a accent totally different from what I was accustomed to hearing there. And realized he sounded just like me.
DeleteMot that I was really aware of the different accents even after I became aware they were different. And after I left Arkansas I gradually lost my Southern accent without making any slightest effort one way or another. Just happened by osmosis.
I have realized it must be that when someone speaks with an accent I am accustomed to, what I usually perceive is my native accent. When I listen carefully, I can perceive differences if they have been pointed out to me. Around here, T's tend to disappear from the middles of words, and the rural Southern influence causes "pin" and "pen" to sound alike, among some other things. This area was, to a significant degree, settled by rural southern whites from a different area than those who settled in Southern California, each bringing a somewhat different rural southern accent. The Southern California rural accent is said to nowadays be almost extinct due to the massive influx of others, but the Central Valley variant is said to be doing quite well. Some say it was reinforced by the influx of Okies and Arkies during the 1930's, but it was well established long before that. I intend to have a bit of fun purposely un-osmosing my speech; that will fit my contrary nature.
Delete--Alan
P.S.: I had some real trouble the other day understanding one of my co-workers, a young man from Detroit. Part of it was surely due to the fact I am a little hard of hearing and that he speaks softly, but I began to wonder if it might also reflect the vowel shifts going on in that part of the country.
Wow! I just went outside to put my suitcase etc. into my car in preparation for a quick getaway from "work," and it's really windy! Good-bye to that awful sooty air we have had to endure for weeks. The dust being kicked up by the wind will settle before long.
ReplyDelete--Alan
If there were a lake here, it would have whitecaps for sure.
Delete--Alan
So glad you're getting clean air again!! If it's any comfort, Rutland county in Vermont (two hours south of me) had an Air Quality Alert the other day, due to the way the air mass was hanging low and so much woodsmoke in the area.
DeleteWonderfully warm January break for several more days. Just being content. Tis enough.
ReplyDelete"Like a January Thaw that melts the freeze,
DeleteOne momentary ease..."
~ Elisabeth Von Trapp
I'm quite the opposite! Put me near an accent and I'm liable to be talking the same way by the end of the day! Ha! I'm especially prone to a British accent, though not Cockney or Royal so much as middle folk. :-) I think I would have had an aptitude for languages had I encountered them as a child.
ReplyDeleteThe ice and snow is off the trees, and everything here has been in melt mode for two days. The result is that all the snow and ice have mushed together and added a layer of rain water on top. As soon as we turn back to the deep freeze it will be all ice. For the first time in my life I am thinking of buying chains with spikes for my boots (they really do make them). We have had ice jams and flooding, including flooding across roadways. One neighbour up the road has a blue, 8" rubber hose across the road, to drain his driveway into the drainage ditch on the other side.
ReplyDelete