Monthly Archives: March 2011

The 5 Best Irish Accents on Film

Posted on March 17, 2011 by Ben

As it’s Saint Patrick’s day, there have been a number of “worst Irish Accents on film articles floating around. I like to remain relatively positive here, so instead of putting out another list eviscerating Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts, I’d … Continue reading →

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Posted in Irish English | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

A Brief Look at Jamaican Creole

Posted on March 16, 2011 by Ben

I’ll begin today’s post with a wonderful video of the The Night Before Christmas spoken in Jamaican Creole (a.k.a. Patois): For non-Jamaicans the clip above is probably so hard to understand that it seems like a different language.  Which is … Continue reading →

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Posted in Miscellaneous Accents and Dialects | Tagged | 6 Comments

New York City: Accent of Champions!

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Ben

I like to think of myself as good at accents. I say this in all humbleness. Objectively speaking, I’d say my Cockney, Manchester, and Dublin are quite nuanced for an American. I can even do the more obscure accents, like … Continue reading →

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Posted in American English | Tagged | 13 Comments

Stage Accents vs. Real Accents

Posted on March 12, 2011 by Ben

As per recent discussions of American actors doing British accents, I’d like to make an important distinction: Authentic accents vs. stage dialects*. For about 90% of situations in which an American actor needs a British accent, that accent is probably … Continue reading →

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Posted in English Phonetics | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

A Quick Update

Posted on March 11, 2011 by Ben

I’ve received a lot of great feedback in the comments about yesterday’s post, Mastering the Trap-Bath Split. With that in mind, I’ve made some minor revisions to the post to eliminate points of confusion. I’ve sensed there is an unwritten … Continue reading →

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Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Mastering the Trap-Bath Split

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Ben

[Update: I made a few slight revisions to this post based on feedback.] (NOTE:  This post uses the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For information about the IPA, please visit my page of IPA Resources.) What is the #1 thing American actors screw … Continue reading →

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Posted in British English | Tagged , , , | 40 Comments

Techspeak for Evil

Posted on March 9, 2011 by Ben

The information age has produced something of a dialect.  Techspeak (if you want to call it that) has a vast trove of unique vocabulary, its own grammatical and syntactical rules, and represents a very real culture.  And I am fascinated … Continue reading →

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Posted in Miscellaneous Accents and Dialects | 6 Comments

The Cot-Caught Merger

Posted on March 8, 2011 by Ben

One of the major distinctions in American English is something called the Cot-Caught Merger.  This is exactly what it sounds like: some dialects merge the sounds in words like cot, lot and Tom with the vowel in caught, paw, and … Continue reading →

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Posted in American English | Tagged , | 28 Comments

Dialect Savants on YouTube

Posted on March 6, 2011 by Ben

I have been with the family for a few days and haven’t got a chance to post anything substantial.  So I figured I would quickly comment on the recent rash of “dialect savant” videos on YouTube.  The most trafficked of … Continue reading →

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Posted in Miscellaneous Accents and Dialects | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Pahk Yuh Cah: Non-Rhotic in New England

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Ben

A few years back, I was sitting in a restaurant in my hometown of Willimantic, Connecticut*. A few booths over, a late-middle-aged man was talking to a young woman paying at the counter. Here is my paraphrasing of the conversation: … Continue reading →

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Posted in American English | Tagged , | 2 Comments