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Author Archives: Ben
The Most Controversial Thing I Said on this Site
Writing about dialects (or anything language-related), it’s hard to avoid disagreement. Yet of all the things I’ve said here, my most controversial statement, it seems, is something fairly trivial. That would be my assertion that comedian Ricky Gervais speaks with an … Continue reading
The Accent(s) of the Pacific Northwest
I’m moving to the Pacific Northwest in about six weeks. I will soon be able to participate in a hotly debated topic: is there such a thing as a Pacific Northwest accent? And if there is, what does it sound like? … Continue reading
Apologies About the Comments
A very quick note of apology. Due to a hectic schedule, I’ve been out of the loop and have had limited time to work on this blog over the past few days. Unbeknownst to me, the comments have been disabled … Continue reading
The Anglo-Indian Dialect
Below is an interesting short film created from outtakes of The End of the Raaj, a recent documentary about the Anglo-Indian community. This snippet discusses the Anglo-Indian dialect, and the various words and terms associated with this sub-culture. It’s a long clip, … Continue reading
Anne Hathaway’s Accent in ‘One Day’
In news of the dialect work of movie stars, the romantic comedy One Day opens soon. As I did with Mel Gibson’s accent in The Beaver, I’d like to briefly examine Anne Hathaway‘s “Yorkshire accent” in this adaptation of the popular … Continue reading
Posted in British English Tagged accents for actors, dialects in film, Northern English accents 37 Comments
‘Thou’ on Google NGram Viewer
For dialect enthusiasts and language buffs, Google’s NGram Viewer is the kind of thing that keeps us up till the wee hours. For those out of the loop: type any word (or phrase) into Google’s NGram search, and you’ll get … Continue reading
Is the Glasgow Accent Being “Cockneyfied?”
I’ve often discussed Estuary English, the London-influenced accent spreading throughout England. One piece of evidence? Young people in Glasgow seem to be adopting ‘Cockney’ pronunciations. If the Glasgow accent is indeed becoming more ‘Southeastern,’ this would be a powerful indicator of London’s … Continue reading
Posted in British English Tagged Cockney, Estuary English, Rhotic vs. Non-Rhotic, scottish accents 35 Comments
Language Log on the Accents in “The Wire”
Over at Language Log, Eric Bakovic has an interesting take on accent work in films and television. The first half of the piece discusses accents on the The Wire, one of the most linguistically fascinating series in the history of … Continue reading
Did We Speak More “Properly” 50 Years Ago?
Like countless others, I’m a fan of Mad Men. One of the things I find fascinating about the show is the choice its creators made about the speech of the characters. The series almost completely eschews regional dialects (it takes … Continue reading
But, buts, bus: The Scouse ‘T’
Scouse, the native accent of Liverpool, has comparatively unique features when compared to the surrounding area. Where Manchester and Leeds can arguably sound like variations of the same accent, Scouse seems to be in a world all its own. One … Continue reading