Monthly Archives: July 2011

The 3 Types of Australian Accents

Posted on July 10, 2011 by Ben

The Australian Accent is renowned for its lack of regional differences.  This is perhaps not surprising given that Britain settled the country fairly late in the history of the Empire (New South Wales was discovered over a decade after America’s … Continue reading →

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Posted in Australian English | Tagged , | 55 Comments

More on the Ocracoke Brogue

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Ben

Some months back I mentioned an unusual dialect of English known colloquially as the “Ocracoke Brogue.” Spoken in the remote islands off the coast of North Carolina, the brogue is sometimes mentioned as one of the “last living relatives” of … Continue reading →

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Posted in American English | Tagged | 15 Comments

Question About the Speech Accent Archive

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Ben

A recent piece at WAMU profiles the Speech Accent Archive, an online database of accent samples compiled by the George Washington University‘s Linguistics Department.  A vast collection of recordings of English speakers around the globe, this eleven-year-old resource is one … Continue reading →

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Posted in English Phonetics | Tagged , | 13 Comments

The British Drama League Recordings

Posted on July 4, 2011 by Ben

I’ve been held back from posting due to the 4th of July holiday (compounded by some internet connectivity issues). But I’d like to briefly share a fun thing I found on YouTube recently. A user who identifies himself as EMGColonel … Continue reading →

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Posted in British English | 7 Comments

On the Evolution of “Douchebag”

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Ben

I don’t much discuss profanity here, which is unfortunate. Swear words are an indelible part of any dialect, and no discussion of spoken English would be complete without their mention. Which brings us to today’s topic, the meteoric rise of … Continue reading →

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Posted in American English | 42 Comments