Sunday, May 29, 2005, 01:11 GMT
Linguistics doesn't usually use words like "twang" because such descriptions are vague to begin with (even tho supposedly defined by the dictionary, the idea of a "twang" obviously varies), and is a very subjective statement, which linguistics avoids, preferring scientific explanations.
I learned in my phonetics class that one of the most common popular descriptions worldwide (for any language) of how other people talk is that they "talk out their nose" or that they talk "nasal." Of course, in some cases certain dialects or varieties actually have more marked nasality (tho all human languages use the nasal cavities for certain sounds, so calling another variety something like "nasal" is somewhat of a misnomer), but even when that technically isn't the case, popular perceptions are that other dialects "speak with their noses." Pretty interesting.
But, removing my linguist cap, in common (non-linguists) usage in America I've heard the word "twang" applied mostly to southern dialects, but it's still vague--no one could really tell you exactly what they think makes a twang but they can imitate what they *think* is twangy (further proving the subjectiveness of the whole topic). Some people spread the definition of "twang" to any more exotic-sounding dialect, and I've even heard people here talk about a "British twang" or a "French twang" (this was referring to a non-Parisian dialect of French). Maybe for some people "twang" just refers to a dialect they don't speak or are not entirely familiar with, or is somehow perceived as "non-standard."
In any case, as I said before the idea of a "twang" is vague and too subjective to be used in a serious linguistic analysis, altho in popular usage it's relatively harmless (but not likely to be based on any actual linguistic fact).
I learned in my phonetics class that one of the most common popular descriptions worldwide (for any language) of how other people talk is that they "talk out their nose" or that they talk "nasal." Of course, in some cases certain dialects or varieties actually have more marked nasality (tho all human languages use the nasal cavities for certain sounds, so calling another variety something like "nasal" is somewhat of a misnomer), but even when that technically isn't the case, popular perceptions are that other dialects "speak with their noses." Pretty interesting.
But, removing my linguist cap, in common (non-linguists) usage in America I've heard the word "twang" applied mostly to southern dialects, but it's still vague--no one could really tell you exactly what they think makes a twang but they can imitate what they *think* is twangy (further proving the subjectiveness of the whole topic). Some people spread the definition of "twang" to any more exotic-sounding dialect, and I've even heard people here talk about a "British twang" or a "French twang" (this was referring to a non-Parisian dialect of French). Maybe for some people "twang" just refers to a dialect they don't speak or are not entirely familiar with, or is somehow perceived as "non-standard."
In any case, as I said before the idea of a "twang" is vague and too subjective to be used in a serious linguistic analysis, altho in popular usage it's relatively harmless (but not likely to be based on any actual linguistic fact).