Yearly Archives: 2011

Supraregional Irish English

Posted on April 10, 2011 by Ben

I spent Friday night at a gala for the organization my girlfriend works for, a community center created for (and largely run by) Irish immigrants.  As always, it was an accent tour of the Emerald Isle, as folks from Dublin, … Continue reading →

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Posted in Irish English | Tagged | 18 Comments

Mom, Mum, Mam: Different words?

Posted on April 7, 2011 by Ben

I’m reading Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women right now. Throughout the book, the March sisters refer to their mother as “marmee.” This looks like an odd term of endearment until you remember that Alcott grew up (and set her book … Continue reading →

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Posted in Miscellaneous Accents and Dialects | Tagged | 69 Comments

“Rod” or “Ride?” Glide Deletion in the American South

Posted on April 6, 2011 by Ben

When my mother was a teenager, she spent a summer in Scotland. Since she was staying as a guest in a family’s home, she shared a telephone with the other residents. In jest, a Scottish friend of hers often answered … Continue reading →

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Posted in American English | Tagged , | 23 Comments

“Dude:” Thoughts on an American Word

Posted on April 4, 2011 by Ben

I am skeptical about claims that American English is “colonizing” the other Englishes. But I will concede one point: the word dude is entirely our doing. Dude, in America, is a word that lies somewhere between British mate and bloke. … Continue reading →

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Posted in American English | Tagged , | 32 Comments

Singing in Dialect

Posted on April 3, 2011 by Ben

I was taught early on that listening to singers is a terrible way of getting a sense of their particular accent. This makes sense to some degree, since singing will distorts important distinctions such as vowel length and prosody. But … Continue reading →

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

Is the glottal stop bad for you?

Posted on April 1, 2011 by Ben

You may not know what a glottal stop is, but you’ve probably heard one. Already baffled? Let me explain. Ever talk to someone from London who pronounced butter something like “bu’uh?” With the t becoming a kind of “grunt?” The t … Continue reading →

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Posted in English Phonetics | Tagged , , , , | 47 Comments

Guy Deutscher’s Through the Language Glass

Posted on March 31, 2011 by Ben

I had a whole post written today about a recent statement made by American actor David Hasselhoff (don’t ask), but it got very muddled, so I decided to scrap it.  In the meantime, I’d like to recommend a book I’m … Continue reading →

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Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Where art “Thou?”

Posted on March 30, 2011 by Ben

Remember thou, the word that perplexed every high-schooler forced to read Shakespeare and Chaucer? What happened to that word? Thou, as one can deduce, meant “you” up until the 1600s or so. You, in fact, was originally a second person … Continue reading →

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Posted in British English | Tagged , | 30 Comments

Short O: Separated by an Uncommon Vowel

Posted on March 29, 2011 by Ben

Brits and Americans are perplexed by each other’s short-o‘s. The short-o, of course, it the curious little vowel sound in words like lot, rod and top. It’s is one of the English Language’s more inconsequential phonemes (you can write entire paragraphs … Continue reading →

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Posted in English Phonetics | Tagged | 25 Comments

News Roundup: Gaddafi’s Secret Weapon

Posted on March 27, 2011 by Ben

A few news tidbits from the world of accents and dialects: 1.) Another week,another fluffy study about how people perceive dialects. This time, New Zealanders were asked which accents they liked or disliked. The results? Kiwis like Kiwi accents the … Continue reading →

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