I can't pronounce my "th"s.
I can't say "three", I say free. Insert joke here, my family has been laughing for years about how "frilling" my life is.
I can't say "there", I say vere.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't embarassed by this. I went to a shoe repair shop this morning in London, and as I asked about sole remplacements, the shoe man asked me where I came from.
"That a nice accent you got, love." Yes I know! I spik like dat! And once someone makes the remark, it gets worse and worse. Ze split perzonality, don't you know!
I'm self-conscious about my voice in English. I have trained as a singer for years, so I hate not feeling in control of how I sound. My sister has a sponge-like ear for language, and now talks with a thick American accent, whereas I hesitate between British and mid-Atlantic, with a nice dollop of French. Not only the "th"s, but also my intonations, which are energetic, as opposed to the usual monotone. The great test, apparently, is how you say "bottle". If you're British, you'll use a glottal stop and say "Bo'll". If you are American, you'll say: "Boddle". I say "Bot-El". Which sounds like a Superman character.
Is there a class distinction for accents in America the way there is in Great-Britain? There is a geographical one, certainly, but does the way you talk mean anyone knows how educated you are?
I can't address this topic without including Professor Higgins' great rant in My Fair Lady.
An Englishman's way of speaking absolutely classifies him,
The moment he talks he makes some other Englishman despise him.
One common language I'm afraid we'll never get.
Oh, why can't the English learn to set
A good example to people whose English is painful to your ears?
The Scotch and the Irish leave you close to tears.
There even are places where English completely
disappears. In America, they haven't used it for years!
A tentative no. There are plenty of regional accents, but in my opinion they are only regional. You would overlay this regional map with socio-economic indicators like poverty and education, but I am not quite certain that regional accents steer public opinion as much as other indicators such as manners, poise, appearance... Do you have a hypothesis about this?
RépondreSupprimerWe'll have to come up with a script (with plenty of "th's") for you to record and post here. I suspect your voice would make most of us melt!
RépondreSupprimerThere isn't a real American "prestige accent". We listen for certain lower-class ways of talking. As long as you don't do those things (drag out certain vowels, unironically use the word "ain't", etc), your accent is judged to be normal enough. We've elected Presidents with almost every major American accent, but most have gravitated towards the Midwestern accent made famous by our newscasters.
RépondreSupprimerThe best example of a lower-class accent is African American Vernacular English. Speaking that way instantly brands you as being black with a poor, inner-city upbringing. If you want to succeed in America, you must exterminate all evidence of that accent from your voice.
As an aside, Americans exalt almost all English accents, regardless of how they're perceived in England. Being able to cop a thick English accent can work wonders for getting reservations at restaurants.