Why do yanks compare American southern accent to English
>>The Norse settlements in Britain were mostly confined to northern and norh eastern parts of these islands>>
Well, yes, you're right, I shouldn't have said "Norse" in the sense that Kent was usually protected from Viking incursions by the West Saxons of Wessex. But whether it's a Kentishman or a man of Kent, I do wonder about older Kentish speech (before commuting took hold).
Since the Guthrum's Danelaw extended somewhat into Britain's southeast (East Anglia, Angles from Sleswick) and Kent itself was settled by Jutes, who came over from Denmark (Jutland peninsula), wouldn't their speech have reflected some Scandinavian influence ?- Or was that all north ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:England-878ad.jpg
http://extechops.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/england-danelaw-map.jpg
I had the good fortine to hear a young man from Leeds speaking the other day. Apropos this, I can say definitively that SAE is closer to BE (although not necessarily RP), than it is to either GAE and especially NCVS, with which it's separated by the widest gulf.
I make this observation by listening to the vowels. BE and SAE share a lot of vowel pronunciations. For example, they'd pronounce Leeds itself the same way (Luh-eeds) and the word "made" the same way (mAId). Moreover, as our correspondent from MS has correctly noted, BE and many SAE dialects don't yod-drop, and both share the "whine-wine" distinction.
I wonder how many other similarities there are?
Ah, Leeds.....lovely, lively Leeds.....I had the time of my life there during my time at uni....a wonderful experience. I've only been back there once since I left almost six years ago now, but have passed through it by train loads of times since.
I'm sorry but I've never heard anyone pronounce the name as "Luh-eeds", not even the Americans there at the time, but I don't think any of them came from the South anyway...they all seemed to speak exactly the same way as I remember...in fact most of the Americans I meet or have met all seem to speak the same sort of run of the mill general American accent, too...how come I've never actually met an American who says "y'all" and "howdy....ahd lahk ta shy-uk yaw haynund!" and flies the Confederate flag? I suppose there'll always be a first tiime....
Anyway, the actor James Purefoy is great at assuming regional accents.....I saw him at the Pleasance here in Edinburgh once just by chance during the Festival and he talked about his roles played in different accents, and if you ever saw and heard him in "Bedrooms and Hallways" you would swear that he was a native born Irishman, but in actual fact he comes from near Taunton, down there in Somerset, England...he doesn't have a rustic Somerset twang at all - the one people like to mimic and mock - who does under the age of 70 now anyway? - he speaks standard EERP when he is playing James Purefoy.....as he is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roVsjW8vvuc
LOL. "Luh-eeds" is the way a redneck might say it. Maybe you haven't met one.
↑ X (and Damian):
Maybe I'm not explaining it right. It's frustrating to hold an idea in your head, but not have the vocabulary to explain it. (chuckles at himself) I don't have the linguistic expert knowledge of a Lazar or a Travis to display it correctly.
The pronunciation of Leeds is not identical but very, very close. It's not a monopthong as in GAE, but a dipthong.
Would someone be kind enough to help?
>>Lee: You're right Sir. A Southern drawl is the mark of being an Aristocrat, a Southern twang is blue collar, this varies of course on which regional Southern accent is used.<<
i thought drawl was twang?? [a synonym for the same linguistic feature]
can you explain the differences?? all i can find are results that confirm what i believe
I think of the drawl as the slowness of the speech. The twang is the nasal/diphthongy quality of the vowels. To me, hillbillies sound twangy, no matter how fast or slow they speak (believe me, get 'em fired up and they can talk a mile a minute, all of it twanging away like a bent guitar string the whole time), while the southern-belle type accent sounds measured and stately, and may not involve much actual twang.
What always threw me off when reading the Harry Potter books was the way the author liked to characterize Draco Malfoy as having a drawl. No idea what she was referring to, unless Brits use the term differently.
That you tube with the comedian was NOT a southern drawl, I live in North Carolina, a drawl would sound more like Blanch Deveroux on the t.v. Show Golden Girls. If you've never seen it youtube it, it's funny as hell too!
Do Southerners pronounce Livorno as Leghorn though? That is the question.
Many southern Italians do.
In Leghorn (or in standard Italian, Livorno) their regional vernacoliere is the source of much pride to the Livornese, whose speech tends to render the 'v' as a guttural sort of 'gh' sound. The dropping of the final -o is a feature of some dialects in the south of Italy, cf. the much caricatured Sicilian word, paesan.
Hence, at home in Livorno they say "Lighurn'".
English sailors quite reasonably (Ah say Ah say, quite reasonably, son, d'yuh heah me, boy??) brought that home as Leghorn.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LCsiWL6gn0&feature=related
<<they all seemed to speak exactly the same way as I remember...in fact most of the Americans I meet or have met all seem to speak the same sort of run of the mill general American accent, too...how come I've never actually met an American who says "y'all" and "howdy....ahd lahk ta shy-uk yaw haynund!" and flies the Confederate flag? I suppose there'll always be a first tiime.... >>
I actually have run into Americans with Southern accents while in Europe. But yes, they are few and far between, and it's true that most Americans -- especially the ones who are likely to have the means and urge to travel overseas -- speak the more generic style of American English. And you, as a foreigner, wouldn't notice the minor variations that might mark a midwesterner or a Californian. I had my teeth cleaned by a dental hygienist the other day who had just enough of an aw-sound to her ahs and just enough of a fading on her terminal R's to mark her (to me) as a New England transplant, but I doubt you would have picked up on those clues either, unless you were really paying attention -- the rest of her speech was utterly unremarkable, even to me. (I do have relatives with really strong Boston accents -- now that's a completely different story!)
My land lord has a very strong southern drawl, I wish I could put up a video, it's cute.
"Then why do Americans find English accents pleasant? It seems there is a contradiction in your theory. "
^ I don't think that is true. I think americans find RP , upper class, or generic English accents. Most americans don't get to hear the variety of english accents.
When americans say they love english accents, they mostly mean the kate beckinsales, winslets, hugh grants, etc... Accents which re-confirm their perceptions of english sound
I have to agree with Moionfire on that. How does the California or, say, New York City accent sound to the Brittish ear?