Nasality

Hythloday   Sunday, November 30, 2003, 14:37 GMT
What do you think about nasal English accents? Do they bother you? If so, which ones bother you the most? Are there any nasal English accents which don't bother you at all?
Ash   Sunday, November 30, 2003, 23:23 GMT
nasality in British English accents or American ones?I don't remember ever hearing a nasal British one but I think the New Jersey accent is nasal and somewhat annoying and the Long Island accent too.
Hythloday   Sunday, November 30, 2003, 23:32 GMT
British, American, Australian - whatever. French English accents are very nasal, aren't they, but rarely criticised because of it. Are there differences in nasality across U.S. English, then? I thought all U.S. English accents were nasal. Nasal British English accents include working-class Manchester (Mancunian), Liverpool (Scouse) and Birmingham (Brummie).
Ash   Sunday, November 30, 2003, 23:47 GMT
yeah, actually there is! The southern accents don't sound too nasal to me, though they are all a bit different. Varying from state to state.Pittsburgh sounds nasal to me too. Thats where I'm from. The French English does sound nasal. I think thats because of the nasallity in their own language.
Clark   Monday, December 01, 2003, 00:57 GMT
The only accents to me that sound nasal in America are the ones from New York and places like that.
Ash   Tuesday, December 02, 2003, 04:43 GMT
Where are you from Clark?
Clark   Tuesday, December 02, 2003, 06:16 GMT
Je suis de Californie.
Ich kumm aus Kalifornia.
Soy de California.
Jeg kommer fra Kalifornia.
Eu sunt de Calfornia.
Sou da California.
Tha mi à California.
Ek kom uit Kalifornia.

I am not trying to be a smart-ass; I was just trying to see how many languages I can say this in.
Ash   Tuesday, December 02, 2003, 06:43 GMT
Dam your good!I wish I could speak more languanges. I only know a bit of french and very little spanish both of witch I took in highschool.I've never had the opportunity to take more because school never offered more. Thats pretty cool you know so many.
Clark   Tuesday, December 02, 2003, 06:49 GMT
I hope that I did not mislead you. I can only speak English fluently, and then I can hold a conversation in French, Spanish and German. And then the rest of the languages I can only say a couple of things in.

D'ou viens-tu ? Des Etats-Unis, non ?
Guilhem   Tuesday, December 02, 2003, 07:02 GMT
Very impressive, Clark.

I will teach you to say it in Occitan: "Soi de California"

It is not very different from Spanish, n'est-ce pas?
Ash   Tuesday, December 02, 2003, 07:26 GMT
Oui! Je suis american. theres too any grammer rules and vocabulary that I've forgotten. it's sad that after only two years I'm starting to forget. I wish I could take it in college but the campus I go to dosn't offer it. The amount of foriegn language taught in the states is pitifull. I used to be able to speak french very well but I've forgoten too many verb tenses, like the rules for comditional.
Ryan   Tuesday, December 02, 2003, 07:49 GMT
The ae sound like in the word "cat" is very nasal in the northern midwest of the United States. East Coast accents have the nasal "raised ae" sound in front of certain consonants, but not others. In places like Michigan and Chicago, the "ae" sound is always raised no matter what letter it is before. I never notice nasality in British accents because my own accent is much more nasal than any British accent.
Alice   Wednesday, December 03, 2003, 04:54 GMT
There are alot of nasal american accents, but there are some that aren't. So-called "unaccented" american english is not generally nasal, but sometimes the nasality of a person's speech has as much to do with thier phisiology as their origin, I've known people within the same family to speak with vastly varying degrees of nasality. In general, overly nasal accents don't appeal to me.
Clark   Wednesday, December 03, 2003, 06:25 GMT
Guihlem, est-ce qu'on prononce "oi" comme en le français ou comme en l'espagnol ?

Ash, alors, tu es américainE (aven un "e") ! Ou peut-etre, tu es un homme ? Je croyais que tu es une femme avec le nom "Ash." C'est court pour "Ashley", non ?
Guilhem   Wednesday, December 03, 2003, 08:53 GMT
Clark, in Occitan, the letter 'o' is pronounced [u] like in French 'tout' or Spanish 'luna'. So 'oi' is pronounced [uy] as in French 'rouille'.

Also final 'a' is pronounced [o] as in French 'bon'. So when you say, 'Soi de California' it would sound like 'Suy de Califurnio'.