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Author Archives: Ben
Literary Dialect Transcription
We normally discuss spoken accents or dialects. But what about how they are written? Phonetic transcription isn’t so common in English-language literature these days. And that’s probably for the best. As a reader, I hate it when old novels spell … Continue reading
Central Connecticut: A Strange New Accent?
I had a lengthy blog post prepared today but got caught up on a specific detail that I’d like to get your advice on. The clip in question is that of this college TV news reporter at Central Connecticut State … Continue reading
One of My Favorite Famous Accents
As per a recent post about non-rhotic American Southern English, I should mention one of my favorite accents of any politician. That would be the former Senator from Charleston, South Carolina, Fritz Hollings. An excellent clip of his speech can … Continue reading
It’s in the OED, Innit?
Taking a break from the lengthy posts I’ve been guilty of lately, I’d like to mention the big dialect news of this past week: the addition of innit to the Collins Official Scrabble Words compilation. Innit, for those unaquainted with … Continue reading
Belated Thoughts on Obama’s Accent
This post is four years late. I admit it. The president’s accent has already been scrutinized ad nauseum, and there have been political controversies about this very topic. But after watching a speech by Obama this morning, and finding his … Continue reading
R-lessness in the American South: RIP?
Whatever happened to non-rhotic Southern accents? For those of you joining us from the everyday world (one where “non-rhotic” isn’t a household word) a non-rhotic accent is one where the “r” is dropped at the end of words or syllables. … Continue reading
On a Lighter Note …
Martin Chilton of The Telegraph wrote a piece yesterday about Mel Gibson‘s accent in the upcoming film, The Beaver, in which Mel adopts a Cockney accent. Here’s the trailer: Chilton, perturbed by Gibson’s accent, had this to say about it: … Continue reading
A Correction from Yesterday
I want to correct something from yesterday’s post regarding the concept of “stress timing.” I am quite newly acquainted with this branch of linguistics, so bear with me. Yesterday I suggested “stress timing” refers to the tendency for stressed syllables … Continue reading
The Rhythm of English Accents
When people discuss accents and dialects, they usually talk about consonants, vowels, diphthongs and the like. I know I do. But what about the musicality of an accent? We all seem to have a unique rhythm to our speech, a … Continue reading
South African or Kiwi or Aussie?
Many accents get confused with one another: Canadian and American, Scottish and Northern Irish, Jamaican and Barbadian. But the granddaddy of all of them? The three-way mixup between Australian, New Zealand and South African English. If you speak with one of … Continue reading