Oprah's accent

Mason   Sat Jun 02, 2007 1:26 pm GMT
Hi
Could someone locate Oprah's accent for me please?
It sounds very Western (thought [thAt], song [sAng]).
Her show is made in Chicago, yet her accent sounds more Californian...
Jasper   Sun Jun 03, 2007 5:29 pm GMT
I've admired Oprah's diction for a long time.

According to Oprah, she grew up in the Chicago projects; she probably would have had a lower-class African-American accent before she went to college, where she would have certainly taken speech and diction lessons.

So her accent is "received".
Guest   Sun Jun 03, 2007 5:38 pm GMT
As a non native speaker, I like her accent. It is neat and clear. It can be a bit louder on my ears but that's life.

Edward Norton is the only American male that I love listening to. Other American males dont sound as classy as him. You can really feel that this guy has somehting in him.

I wish oneday I could imitate and speak with his accent....wishful thinking!!!!
Josh Lalonde   Sun Jun 03, 2007 5:56 pm GMT
<<According to Oprah, she grew up in the Chicago projects; she probably would have had a lower-class African-American accent before she went to college, where she would have certainly taken speech and diction lessons. >>

I've never heard of an American college that had diction lessons (outside of drama programmes). The truth is, most American Blacks can code-switch; that is, they can use either AAVE or Standard English in different situations. Depending on level of education, social status, etc. some people are more successful than others at producing Standard English.
According to Wikipedia, Oprah was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi, moved to Milwaukee when she was six, then to Nashville at 14. This suggests that her accent was probably formed in Milwaukee (though she doesn't sound much like Travis!)
Guest   Sun Jun 03, 2007 6:23 pm GMT
<(though she doesn't sound much like Travis!) >

He is an exception to the rule. ;)
Jasper   Sun Jun 03, 2007 7:00 pm GMT
<<I've never heard of an American college that had diction lessons (outside of drama programmes).>>

Are you kidding?

Most colleges have speech classes.

I personally know an African-American who lost her accent through these classes; I once knew an Anglo who took the classes at Juilliard School of Music. The second girl was more successful than the first, who still had some African-Am inflections in her voice.

Presumably, accent reduction is very important in the pursuit of music because, as my lady friend said,"Singing in a West Texas accent just didn't cut it."
K. T.   Mon Jun 04, 2007 2:06 am GMT
From Josh Lalonde:

"I've never heard of an American college that had diction lessons (outside of drama programmes). The truth is, most American Blacks can code-switch; that is, they can use either AAVE or Standard English in different situations."

KT: We have such classes (or did) at the university. One of my more "countrified" friends was advised to take the class by her university prof. She was insulted by the suggestion.

I'm not sure most American Blacks can code switch, but since I code-switch between Standard English and a softer Mid-South way of speaking at times, I reckon it can be done. LOL!
Travis   Mon Jun 04, 2007 4:52 am GMT
>>I've never heard of an American college that had diction lessons (outside of drama programmes). The truth is, most American Blacks can code-switch; that is, they can use either AAVE or Standard English in different situations. Depending on level of education, social status, etc. some people are more successful than others at producing Standard English.
According to Wikipedia, Oprah was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi, moved to Milwaukee when she was six, then to Nashville at 14. This suggests that her accent was probably formed in Milwaukee (though she doesn't sound much like Travis!)<<

The thing is that black people here who speak Standard English do not sound like white people from the area. I have on occasion heard black people who use the word "yah", and I have heard a *single* black person from the suburbs here who had the final devoicing pattern typical of the dialect here (that is, it is strongest for sibilants and weakest for stops, where it only really occurs utterance-finally if at all), but that's just about it. They generally lack many of the dialect features present here, even more with more mundane things like Canadian Raising.

On that note, though, I must remind you that my speech is probably on the progressive end of the dialect here, to say the very least, even though I do lack some of the more traditional features of the dialect here.
Travis   Mon Jun 04, 2007 4:54 am GMT
>>KT: We have such classes (or did) at the university. One of my more "countrified" friends was advised to take the class by her university prof. She was insulted by the suggestion.<<

I would most definitely be so too myself.
Jasper   Mon Jun 04, 2007 7:06 am GMT
As an aside--I wonder...are students in NCVS areas in speech classes urged to get rid of that part of their speech?
Travis   Mon Jun 04, 2007 7:15 am GMT
>>As an aside--I wonder...are students in NCVS areas in speech classes urged to get rid of that part of their speech?<<

Not to my knowledge. Of course, for that matter, most people with the NCVS would probably not even recognize it as a feature of their speech to begin with.
Guest   Mon Jun 04, 2007 10:54 am GMT
''Of course, for that matter, most people with the NCVS would probably not even recognize it as a feature of their speech to begin with.''

That's weird. Chicagoans do have an accent.

''Phonetic Symbol Guide'' published by the University of Chicago press has this on [a]:

[page 3]


''
LOWER-CASE A [a]:

IPA usage:

Cardinal vowel No. 4: front unrounded; described in ''Principles'' (vol. 8) as the vowel sound of Northern English BACK or Parisian French PATTE. In the speech of Chicago, Illinois (and in various other varieties of American English), the word POP is pronounced as IPA [pap]. In the speech typical of Boston, Massachusetts, the pronunciation of the word PARK is approximately [pa:k]. ''
Kess   Mon Jun 04, 2007 10:56 am GMT
''Not to my knowledge. Of course, for that matter, most people with the NCVS would probably not even recognize it as a feature of their speech to begin with.''

but people from NYC do find accents of Buffalo and Rochester very funny, that is they usually mock at the local pronunciation of ''Rochester'' they say people there pronounce it like: Rachester :)
Travis   Mon Jun 04, 2007 12:38 pm GMT
>>That's weird. Chicagoans do have an accent.<<

According to whom? What I meant is that individuals with the NCVS cannot be counted on realizing that they have it in the first place. Hell, I myself did not realize that I have such features before reading about the NCVS; to myself [a] was just the normal realization of what I'd refer to these days as historical /A:/.
Kess   Mon Jun 04, 2007 1:11 pm GMT
''to myself [a] was just the normal realization of what I'd refer to these days as historical /A:/.''

but many Chicagoans have [ae] for [A] and this sounds very strange:

cot [kaet]
God [gaed]

You can even find the local ''spelling'' ''Oh my Gad''
(the Califonian ''spelling'' here would be ''Oh my Gawd'')