"Télématin garden expert and author. I can understand him, but his accent seems "different" to me."
Regional Accents in French
Previous page Pages: 1 2
<<Dear Interested,
Having an accent when you live in Paris is very bad, you look like a farmer! I had to work hard to loose my accent when i came in Paris in 1997! Now i have a typical parisian accent!
What do you mean by "Northern French Standard Accent?">>
What do the Parisians think of the French spoken around Tours? The widely accepted belief is that the people of Tours and surrounding area speak the purest, most standard French. Apparently, it is completely void of a regional accent, unlike Paris for example.
Having an accent when you live in Paris is very bad, you look like a farmer! I had to work hard to loose my accent when i came in Paris in 1997! Now i have a typical parisian accent!
What do you mean by "Northern French Standard Accent?">>
What do the Parisians think of the French spoken around Tours? The widely accepted belief is that the people of Tours and surrounding area speak the purest, most standard French. Apparently, it is completely void of a regional accent, unlike Paris for example.
"The widely accepted belief is that the people of Tours and surrounding area speak the purest, most standard French. "
This is some kind of a politically correct urban legend born in the 19th century. The central part of France was found eligible to represent the purest French because the North and South are supposed to meet there. And since Bourgogne, in the Centre-East, had too strong an accent, the optimal location was spotted in the Centre-West...
Actually, the purest French is spoken by all middle-to-upper classes anywhere in the central an northern part of the country — Orléans, Cherbourg, Bourges, Nancy, Rennes, Amiens, Dijon, Rouen or Tours... absolutely no difference whatsoever. Large urban areas like Paris, Lille or Lyon sometimes maintain special habits in vocabulary, local slangs, and prosody, but the differences are very scarce.
On 3/4 of its territory (i.e. North of the Bordeaux-Briançon line), France is an area of linguistic homogeneity that is unparalleled in Europe, except for Russia perhaps. BUT remember that in this area, accents are class-markers (like in England). Farmers and working class people stick to their regional accents, also in Tours.
On the other hand, in the South, accents aren't class-conditioned. In the North, a mayor, a senator, a doctor, or a lawyer etc. wouldn't be taken seriously if he/she speaks like common people. In the South, he has to do!
This is some kind of a politically correct urban legend born in the 19th century. The central part of France was found eligible to represent the purest French because the North and South are supposed to meet there. And since Bourgogne, in the Centre-East, had too strong an accent, the optimal location was spotted in the Centre-West...
Actually, the purest French is spoken by all middle-to-upper classes anywhere in the central an northern part of the country — Orléans, Cherbourg, Bourges, Nancy, Rennes, Amiens, Dijon, Rouen or Tours... absolutely no difference whatsoever. Large urban areas like Paris, Lille or Lyon sometimes maintain special habits in vocabulary, local slangs, and prosody, but the differences are very scarce.
On 3/4 of its territory (i.e. North of the Bordeaux-Briançon line), France is an area of linguistic homogeneity that is unparalleled in Europe, except for Russia perhaps. BUT remember that in this area, accents are class-markers (like in England). Farmers and working class people stick to their regional accents, also in Tours.
On the other hand, in the South, accents aren't class-conditioned. In the North, a mayor, a senator, a doctor, or a lawyer etc. wouldn't be taken seriously if he/she speaks like common people. In the South, he has to do!
<<On the other hand, in the South, accents aren't class-conditioned. In the North, a mayor, a senator, a doctor, or a lawyer etc. wouldn't be taken seriously if he/she speaks like common people. In the South, he has to do!>>
What do you mean, that people in the south of France speak accented naturally and those who speak like the Parisien are seen as pretentious?.
What do you mean, that people in the south of France speak accented naturally and those who speak like the Parisien are seen as pretentious?.
<<What do you mean, that people in the south of France speak accented naturally and those who speak like the Parisien are seen as pretentious?>>
They would be seen as pretentious and treasonous if ever. No one among the locals dares to speak like the TV. There is a heavy social pressure to prevent that!
They would be seen as pretentious and treasonous if ever. No one among the locals dares to speak like the TV. There is a heavy social pressure to prevent that!
Yes, the guillotine... (that's a joke, I hope you know that.)
So, do you KNOW about Mr. Collignon?
So, do you KNOW about Mr. Collignon?
Previous page Pages: 1 2