Your Accent!

Frances   Wed Sep 14, 2005 6:52 am GMT
No, South Australia (Adelaide). I get asked that all the time as does any South Australian not in South Australia. I think we tend to schwa our vowels a bit more than other Australian states.

Uriel - he sounds sooooo Texan to me! He also looks like what I imagine stereotypically how most Texan men age would look - big hunk of a bear (in a 10 gallon hat)
Uriel   Wed Sep 14, 2005 6:57 am GMT
:) If you only knew, Frances .... trust me; I live right next door to the damn place.
Frances   Wed Sep 14, 2005 7:01 am GMT
So they are big blobby bears?
Kirk   Wed Sep 14, 2005 7:08 am GMT
<<Only the eastern half of Texas is really Southern. I guess I've heard him talk and never noticed his accent.>>

I've definitely noticed Dr. Phil's Texan accent. Granted, it's not as strong as the most exaggerated Texan accent, but I think you don't even have to listen closely to hear it.
Uriel   Wed Sep 14, 2005 7:13 am GMT
"Big blobby bears"? Oh, God....

Let me put it this way, Frances -- KIRK was once a Texan! And you've seen him ....
Kirk   Wed Sep 14, 2005 7:31 am GMT
<<Let me put it this way, Frances -- KIRK was once a Texan! And you've seen him ....>>

Haha. Yes--and living in suburban Dallas (where I lived) you only rarely see and hear stereotypical Texans :)
Frances   Wed Sep 14, 2005 7:34 am GMT
The guy in my crim case a few months bag was a Texan, I think he was from Houston. He did sound GenAm with the occasional twang though.

sorry Kirk :( ....no you're not blobby
Dozy Damian   Wed Sep 14, 2005 7:35 am GMT
It's 08:30 British Summer Time and I'm barely awake...just saying Hi on this Wednesday morning (is it Wednesday?...oh yeah it is..ok). Accents.....always a hot topic and the one most likely to produce wide ranging opinions.

URIEL....are you serious? NO idea what a Welsh accent sounds like? I can't wait to tell my great mate Andrew that you said that. He's 100% fluent in Welsh...not surprising...he was born and raised in Anglesey in North Wales. BUT...and this is strange....when he speaks English he sounds like he's Home Counties...with his standard RP English. When we first met at uni and he told me he was Welsh I was surprised. I thought he came from Kent or somewhere obscurely English. On the other hand as soon as I opened my gob he knew where I came from.

I will try and find a site where you can actually hear some Welsh accents, Uriel....even accents in such a small country as Wales (probably the size of Delaware or Rhode Island at a rough guess..I'll check that one out) the accents vary by location. I'm trying to think of a famous Welsh person you may have heard of....erm.....how about Catherine Zeta Jones? She is still supposed to have her native Swansea Valley girl accent...mixed up with CA by now I reckon.

As a Brit I'm ignorant of the many varied American accents apart from the very obvious ones we all know about. I rather like the Deep South accent.....I find it quite funny and comical and I suppose it's the equivalent of the Brummie accent here......top of the UK list for comical effect I think. Imagine a whole region all talking like that.....a whole metropolitan area full of Jasper Carrots.

Must shoot off to work now.
Kirk   Wed Sep 14, 2005 7:42 am GMT
<<The guy in my crim case a few months bag was a Texan, I think he was from Houston. He did sound GenAm with the occasional twang though.

sorry Kirk :( ....no you're not blobby>>

Haha thanks ;) Of course I should mention I wasn't born in Texas, my parents aren't Texans (they're native Californians), and lived 5 years as a kid in the Dallas area (which is basically LA but on the Great Plains), which is inhabited by a lot of non-Texan natives (like my family). I liked my time in Dallas but I don't necessarily strongly identify with it or Texas. So if you're looking for stereotypical Texan I'm probably a bad choice ;) But then again in my experience a lot of native Texans aren't stereotypical Texans either. Back to accents, in terms of Dallas', it's largely Midwestern (but none of the Northern Midwestern stuff like Canadian Raising and certainly no NCVS).
Uriel   Wed Sep 14, 2005 8:06 am GMT
Well then, bring on the Welsh, Damian! And convey my apologies to this poor, neglected Andrew....

Kirk -- shit, if G. W. Bush, born and raised in New England and a product of the Ivy League school system, can all of a sudden reinvent himself as a down-on-the-range, hat, boot, & spurs Texan, you should qualify, too! Besides, who really lives where they were born these days?
Kirk   Wed Sep 14, 2005 8:08 am GMT
<<Besides, who really lives where they were born these days?>>

True dat. I was born in Chicago :) Yet I've only lived there 3 months in my entire life (the first 3 ;) ).
Uriel   Wed Sep 14, 2005 8:14 am GMT
And you know I was born in Germany and spoke German the first five years of my life -- all of it gone now.
Kirk   Wed Sep 14, 2005 8:25 am GMT
<<And you know I was born in Germany and spoke German the first five years of my life -- all of it gone now.>>

Oh really? That's a shame. Do you really not remember a word?
Nazifa   Wed Sep 14, 2005 9:46 am GMT
HI dear sir,
i am gald to meet you by Email.as per your forum rules i am writting now about the weather in my country.
to day is tha 13 sep2005 and the weather is very nice. afternoon i have some free time therefore i want to go to some landmark or parks.
Well i am now in kabul gymnasum and there is a football game. oh realy it is so interasting.

Best regards
Nazifa
lisa of the uk   Wed Sep 14, 2005 11:51 am GMT
all i can say is that i am english but cant say that i have a certain accent,, but of course i would sound very english to an American..

i hate my voice and wish it was a irish or american accent..either would be cool.

i hate the scottish accent,, i just cant understand it.