English accents... lets see...

lina   Fri Jan 19, 2007 8:03 pm GMT
Ok, I'm currently studying acting here in the U.S. One of the things I have to really dominate in order to get my degree are accents. You know, southern-american accent, british accent, boston and new yorkers accents, australian accent, canadian accent... For me, everyting that has to do with languages and accents is really easy, but I seem to have a bit of a problem with the bostonian, new yorker, and canadian accents... I mean, those are a little bit more sutile (I guess...) Could someone explain me how people who live in those three places speak? (by meaning the proper differences in pronunciation that makes them an accent of the English language) Thank you all in advance!!
Lazar   Fri Jan 19, 2007 9:56 pm GMT
(Btw, do you know IPA or X-SAMPA? Because I find them very useful for learning about accents. Regardless...)

Okay, Boston, New York, and Canadian. I'll make three posts, one describing what I know of each accent. (I live in Massachusetts, so the accent that I know best is the Boston one.) Here goes... ;-)

BOSTON:

This accent is non-rhotic, meaning that when "r" comes at the end of a syllable, it's not pronounced. In this respect, it's similar to most accents from England. So,

- "car" is ["ka:]
- "core" is ["kO@]
- "better" is ["bE4@]
- "care" is ["kE@]
- "near" is ["nI@]
- "pure" is ["pjU@]

Words like "turn" are an exception; they're usually pronounced with a rhotic [3`] sound, like in General American.

~~~

Boston has a unique vowel system. Word-pairs like "father~bother" do *not* rhyme, but word pairs like "cot~caught" do rhyme.

"Father" uses the same vowel as "car". This vowel is [a:]. This vowel is fronted compared to most American dialects (meaning it sounds a little closer to the "a" in "cat"); it is the exact same vowel found in Spanish "taza" or Italian "faccia".

"Bother" and "cot" both use an open rounded vowel, [Q:]. This sounds similar to the vowel in RP "hot".

So remember:

"father" ["faD@]
"bother" ["bQD@]

"cot" ["kQt]
"caught" ["kQt]

~~~

Boston has some distinctions that are not found in General American.

- "Mary", "merry", "marry" all sound different: ["mE@ri], ["mEri], ["m{ri]
- "mirror" and "nearer" sound different: ["mIr@], ["nI@r@]
- "hurry" and "furry" sound different: ["hVri], ["f3`i]

Words like "sorry", "horrible", "torrent", "moral" use the open vowel [Q:], like in RP. This vowel is totally different from the vowel in words like "core", "more", "story", which is [O@].

~~~

Boston uses what's called an "intrusive R", which means that when "ah", "aw", or schwa sounds are followed by another vowel, you insert an "r" sound. For example, "India and Persia" becomes "India-r-and Persia". Or, "I saw it" becomes "I saw-r-it". This applies even within words, so "drawing" becomes "draw-r-ing".

"India and Persia" ["Indi@r @n "p3`Z@]
"I saw it" [aI "sQ:r It]
"drawing" ["drQ:rIn]

~~~

When a short-a [{] comes before "n" or "m" (like in "man", "plan", "planet", "hand", "ham", "camera", etc), it becomes more of a diphthong sound, [E@]. Otherwise, short-a is pronounced like in General American.

~~~

And you have to remember, "aunt" is pronounced as "ahnt" (X-SAMPA ["a:nt], with the same vowel as "father" or "car"), never like "ant" (which would be X-SAMPA ["E@nt]).

~~~

Okay, I think I've covered all the major features of the Boston accent.
Lazar   Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:21 pm GMT
NEW YORK:

Like Boston, this accent is non-rhotic. Thus,

- "car" is ["kA:]
- "core" is ["kO@]
- "better" is ["bE4@]
- "care" is ["kE@]
- "near" is ["nI@]
- "pure" is ["pjU@]

Again, words like "turn" are an exception, using the rhotic sound [3`] like in General American. The phenomenon where "turn" is pronounced more like "toin" ["t3In], is practically extinct nowadays.

~~~

New York has a different vowel system from Boston. In New York, word-pairs like "father~bother" do rhyme, but pairs like "cot~caught" do not.

Words like "father", "bother", and "cot" use an "ah" sound, [A:]. Compared to the equivalent Boston vowel, the New York vowel is much more back, sometimes even verging on back rounded [Q:].

Words like "caught", "cross", "long", "off" use the same vowel as in "core", which is [O@].

So we have:

"father" ["fA:D@]
"bother" ["bA:D@]

"cot" ["kA:t]
"caught" ["kO@t]

~~~

New York has those same distinctions that I mentioned in my Boston post.

- "Mary", "merry", "marry" all sound different: ["mE@ri], ["mEri], ["m{ri]
- "mirror" and "nearer" sound different: ["mIr@], ["nI@r@]
- "hurry" and "furry" sound different: ["hVri], ["f3`i]

Words like "sorry", "horrible", "torrent", "moral" use the open vowel [A:]. This vowel is totally different from the vowel in words like "core", "more", "story", which is [O@].

~~~

Like Boston, New York tends to have the intrusive R. So,

"India and Persia" ["Indi@r @n "p3`Z@]
"I saw it" [aI "sO@r It]
"drawing" ["drO@rIn]

~~~

New York has a unique phenomenon with it's short-A. In many environments, especially before M, N, S, and F, short-A tends to become a diphthong, [E@]. So we have,

"class" ["klE@s]
"plant" ["plE@nt]
"pan" ["pE@n]
"laugh" ["lE@f]

This leads to the interesting phenomenon where "can" (to be able) doesn't rhyme with "can" (the object), and where "have" doesn't rhyme with "halve".

"can" (to be able) ["k{n]
"can" (the object) ["kE@n]

"have" ["h{v]
"halve" ["hE@v]

~~~

Unlike Boston, a New York accent will have "aunt" sound the same as "ant". Both words would be pronounced as ["E@nt].

~~~

A New York accent will often have what's called "dentalization" of the "T" and "D" sounds (as in "take" and "dark"). In other words, New York "T" and "D" are pronounced further forward, more toward the teeth, than in General American.
Lazar   Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:38 pm GMT
CANADIAN:

This accent is quite similar to General American. Here are the major features:

~~~

"Father", "bother", "cot", and "caught" all use the same vowel, [A]. Sometimes this vowel is pronounced as a more rounded [Q].

~~~

Words like "day" and "go" use more monophthongal vowels, [e] and [o], like in a Northern English accent, or like the German long "e" and long "o" sounds.

~~~

- "Mary", "merry", and "marry" are all merged as ["mE@`i]
- "mirror" and "nearer" rhyme as ["mI@`@`], ["nI@`@`]
- "hurry" and "furry" rhyme as ["h3`i], ["f3`i]

And the words "sorry", "horrible", "torrent", "moral" all use the same vowel as "core", "more", "story", which is [O@`].

~~~

Sometimes the short-A vowel (as in "cat") is lowered, so it sounds more like [a]. This feature is variable.

~~~

Foreign words like "pasta", "taco", "drama" use the short-A vowel of "cat".

~~~

And then there's the phenomenon called "Canadian Raising". When the diphthongs [aI] and [aU] (as in "time" and "town") occur before unvoiced consonants, they sound quite different.

(Btw, the unvoiced consonants are those made without vibration of the vocal cords: [p], [t], [k], [f], [s], [T].)

In words like "hype", "sight", "psych", "life", "nice", the diphthong becomes [6I]. An approximation of this sound would be "uh-ee".

In words like "about", "mouth", "house", the diphthong becomes [VU]. An approximation of this sound would be "uh-oo".

~~~

So there you have it. That's pretty much what I know about those three accents. I hope I've been of help. ;-)
lina   Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:50 pm GMT
Well, thank you very much!!!!! I guess that's really all I needed to know about the three accents... Now all I have to do is perfectionate them... Thank you again Lazar
zzz   Fri Jan 19, 2007 11:44 pm GMT
Post an audio sample so we can hear you try them out. It would be so much fun. We'll help you perfect them too.
Ryan   Sat Jan 20, 2007 3:11 am GMT
New York accent - rent a Woody Allen movie and listen to him talk. Or watch some Seinfeld episodes and listen to Jerry and George talk.

Boston accent - Listen to old John F. Kennedy speeches

Canadian accent - Not sure where you can hear a Canadian accent in international media, but I hear it a lot from announcers during ice hockey games that I watch on television.
zzz   Sat Jan 20, 2007 3:45 am GMT
What kind of an accent do you normally have?
lina   Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm GMT
Yeah!! I was sure George COnstanza had that accent!! Thanx Ryan now its so much easier... And zzz, about my accent, I guess the one that I usually use more is the australian... I like it... But if u'r talking about my REAL accent... hmm, i'll let you guess...