Your Accent!

Damain i Dun Eidann Alba   Wed Sep 14, 2005 3:59 pm GMT
**i hate the scottish accent,, i just cant understand it**

Fir fair wee LISA ....oor southron lassie.....who makes me sae dowie cause she doesnae like our ain leid:

Til a' the seas gang dry, my dear
And the rocks melt with the sun;
O! I will love thee still, my dear,
While the sands o' life shall run....
......and fare thee weel, my only Luve!
And fare thee weel a while!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Tho' it were ten thousand mile!
Candy   Wed Sep 14, 2005 4:29 pm GMT
<<i hate my voice and wish it was a irish or american accent..either would be cool. >>

What a very sad comment! Would it really make such a big difference to your life if you had an Irish accent?? And if you want one that much, just fake it!

My own accent is vaguely Northern English. Nobody can ever guess where I'm from!
Guest   Wed Sep 14, 2005 6:12 pm GMT
**Nobody can ever guess where I'm from!**

..erm.....

Keswick?
Windermere?
Bowness?
Ambleside?
Kendal?
Coniston?
Hawkshead?
Grasmere?
Grizedale?
Troutbeck?
Seathwaite?
Satterthwaite?
Staveley?
Newby Bridge?
Crosthwaite?
Patterdale?
Kirkby Lonsdale?
Appleby in Westmorland?
Ulverston?
Buttermere?
Great Langdale?
Seatoller?
Grange?
Glenridding?
Penrith?
Cockermouth?
Eskdale?
Sawrey?
Bassenthwaite?
Egremont?
Whitehaven?
Bampton?
Bowmanstead?
Milnthoirpe?
Rydal?
Blawith?
Underbarrow? (well...some one has to live there)
Skelwith Bridge?
Kirkstone Pass
Seathwaite

...it's just got to be one of those.....nowhere else left in the Lake District surely.....! unless it's the top of Helvellyn..... :-)
Damian   Wed Sep 14, 2005 6:13 pm GMT
Guest = Damian
Candy   Wed Sep 14, 2005 6:21 pm GMT
Actually, Ulverston! :-) At least from the age of 11 - before that, Satterthwaite, Rusland and Bouth (tiny villages)

OK, but you already knew I was from the Lakey part of the world! ;)
Uriel   Wed Sep 14, 2005 6:44 pm GMT
Ah, Candy, but if poor Lisa fakes a new accent, she's going to have to make up a whole phoney history to go with it, and things could quickly get out of hand! Probably easier to just be happy with who you are.
Candy   Wed Sep 14, 2005 6:52 pm GMT
Exaaactly....
I don't see the point of hating your accent. It's part of who you are and where you come from.

Margaret Thatcher went to elocution lessons to lose her Lincolnshire accent - she thought it would make her more successful in politics, I suppose (I've no idea what role (or not) her accent played in her becoming PM). My own stepmother made a great effort to change her strong Manchester accent - if you met her, you'd swear she was a duchess. I was stunned when I met her broad Manchester-accented sister!
Damian in Alba   Thu Sep 15, 2005 6:45 am GMT
URIEL: here are your Welsh accents:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/recordings/group/wales-nwchronicle.shtml


My mate Andrew lives in Anglesey...the island at the NW tip of Wales when you look at the map. He was born and bred there, speaks Welsh fluently but, as I have said, he speaks English with standard English RP. This seems to be the case with many people in his area, certainly among the younger people. The stongest Welsh accents seem to be among older people there from what I could see (or rather hear) when I was down there last month. I can't wait to go again.

English infiltration into many parts of Wales ("immigration") maybe diluting the Welsh accent. From what I could see (or hear!) when I went down to North Wales (other than Anglesey itself) it seemed absolutely no different from England with regard to the accents all around. All along the coast of North Wales, from Anglesey to the English border near Chester, identifiable Welsh accents were very hard to find.....non existent in most places it seemed, which was sad. Certainly NOT like up here in Scotland......in spite of English "invasions" here as well. Hadrian's Wall really isn't high enough! :-)

only jesting CANDY.....
Uriel   Thu Sep 15, 2005 6:49 am GMT
Damn the BBC, Damian! My computer doesn't "support" this format -- can't play the damn thing!
Gjones2   Thu Sep 15, 2005 11:29 am GMT
>...in general I think all accents are interesting, and truly feel annoying accents aren't necessarily an accent-wide thing but can be chalked up to individuals.... [Kirk]

Yes, it's not just accent that determines a person's manner of speaking. Other things contribute to the overall effect. For example, though I'm a Southerner myself, I like some Southern accents and dislike others. It depends both on the particular regional accent and on the individual's speaking style.

For the reading of news and announcements I prefer the general American accent based mostly on accents from the Midwest (I also like the British RP). For most kinds of speech, though, I like accents that vary from the expected -- accents of many kinds, especially slight ones that are perceptible in nearly every word but that aren't so strange as to be distracting. Variations from the expected sounds and intonations add interest and help characterize the speaker as an individual.

Esthetic values don't just depend on keeping to the standard and on perfect regularity. In painting mere symmetry isn't satisfactory. Neither is a single chord and a steady rhythm in music, or unvarying meter in poetry. It's the artful variation from what's expected that creates the esthetic interest. With accents this mostly takes place unconsciously, but if the result is harmonious, then we perceive the accent as being pleasant.

We don't all have the same standards, though, or judge harmony or cacophony in the same way, so opinions about what sounds good will differ greatly.
Candy   Thu Sep 15, 2005 11:36 am GMT
<<only jesting CANDY..... >>

;)
Inigo   Sat Sep 17, 2005 8:26 am GMT
Speak: Non-rhotically
Like: Most non-rhotic accents
Dislike: Most rhotic accents
Damian   Sat Sep 17, 2005 8:32 am GMT
oooh arrrrr! oooh arrrrrr! oooh arrrrr! That's how they be a talkin' down Devon way......mega rhotic down therrrrrrrrre. Erotically rhotic. They rhoticise their Rs...we just rrrrrooolllll them.
Sanja   Sat Sep 17, 2005 3:26 pm GMT
Speak: I'm not a native speaker, so my accent sucks :)) LOL
Like: Northern American, Canadian, Australian
Dislike: Southern American, Scottish, Irish (sorry guys) :)
Candy   Sat Sep 17, 2005 3:27 pm GMT
What about English, Sanja??
<hopeful smile>