Follow Us!
Subscribe to Blog via Email
-
Recent Posts
All-Time Most Popular
1. The Accents in Downton Abbey
2. The 5 Best Irish Accents on Film
3. Arrr, Matey! The Origins of the Pirate Accent
4. The 3 Types of Australian Accents
5. Canadian Raising: Nobody Says Aboot
6. South African or Kiwi or Aussie?
7. Top 10 American Accents by Non-Americans
8. Mom Mum Mam
9. When Did Americans Stop "Talking British?"
10. The Wild World of the English "r"Recent Comments
For the Uninitiated
Sites I Love
Categories
Archives
- April 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
Monthly Archives: September 2011
‘Son’ in African American English
I don’t have time for a lengthy post today, so I’d like to briefly mention a dialect curiosity that has befuddled me for over a decade: the use of the word ‘son’ in African American Vernacular English. The word is … Continue reading
An Amish dialect?
I spent last week in southeastern Pennsylvania, near the heartland of the Amish, an isolated religious group which shuns modern dress and lifestyle. This resulted in the strange experience of spotting teenage girls in a local mall clad in clothing … Continue reading
A Lexical Beef: ‘Boyfriend’ and ‘Girlfriend’
I have been away from this blog for several days, due to a single reason (no pun intended): I got married yesterday. Since my single life has come to an end, I’d like to take a brief pause from discussing … Continue reading
Marry, Merry, Mary
[Ed. Note: In an earlier version of this article, I suggested I pronounce ‘marry,’ ‘merry’ and ‘Mary’ differently. The opposite is true. I pronounce them alike.] Do you pronounce ‘marry,’ ‘merry,’ and ‘Mary’ the same? I do, which makes me a … Continue reading
Accents at the Renaissance Faire
Yesterday I went to the Renaissance Faire. For those unfamiliar with this tradition, the Ren Faire is a type of festival set in a milieu vaguely indicative of the Renaissance, with jousts, fortune tellers, mead, period music, and Elizabethan costumes. … Continue reading
Why Geordie is Hard to Understand
Of the many wonderful sections of the British Library site, one of my favorites is this fabulous dissection of the Geordie dialect of English (i.e. the dialect spoken in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne). It presents, in immaculate detail, all of the salient phonological … Continue reading
American Dialects: A Red State/Blue State Divide?
In a brief piece in Time this week, famed linguist William Labov suggested that American dialects are getting more distinct rather than less. The article is extremely short, but I was nevertheless intrigued by Labov’s comment on the connection between accents and … Continue reading
Anna Karenina … in a British Accent?
This week, British actress Keira Knightley revealed that the upcoming film adaptation of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina will feature British accents instead of Russian. Quoth Knightley: “It’s going to be an English accent. It’s always very tricky when you are doing something that is … Continue reading
How Non-Rhotic Accents Become Rhotic
While we’re on the topic of rhotic and non-rhotic accents, I’ll address a frequently asked question: why do non-rhotic accents switch so quickly to rhotic? And vice versa? Since World War Two, both the US and Britain have experienced massive … Continue reading
That’s the Idear: Intrusive ‘R’
Generations of Americans have puzzled over the British tendency to add ‘r’s where (it seems to us) ‘r’s don’t belong. This can be found in such phrases as “an idear of it,” “pastar and sauce,” and “sawr and conquered.” Termed r insertion (or intrusive r), … Continue reading