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Author Archives: Ben
Where art “Thou?”
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
Short O: Separated by an Uncommon Vowel
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
News Roundup: Gaddafi’s Secret Weapon
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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Posted in Uncategorized Tagged American Southern Accents, new zealand accents, News Roundup Comments Off on News Roundup: Gaddafi’s Secret Weapon
The Ebonics Factor: A Quick Addendum
In the previous post, I mentioned the divide between the accents of Detroit and neighboring Windsor, Ontario. There is a complicating factor, however, that I neglected to mention: African American Vernacular English (AAVE, or crudely, “Ebonics“).* AAVE, for those who don’t … Continue reading
Northern Cities Vowel Shift vs. Canadian Accents
As per our recent discussion of Canadian accents, I’d like to delve into a question I often hear: how different is Canadian English from American English? What’s remarkable about Canadian English is not that it’s different from American English, but … Continue reading
A Rant: Accents and Bad Journalism
I realize that accents and dialects constitute a fairly obscure topic. But I’m finding myself increasingly dismayed by how terribly journalism bungles this area of study. Look, I understand how easy it is to mess up facts when it comes … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged celebrity accents, dialects and comprehension, dialects in TV 7 Comments
“New Joysey” and “Oirish:” 6 Accent Myths
As per yesterday’s post about the mythological Canadian aboot, I’ve thought of some other myths people harbor about accents and dialects of English. Here are a few common misconceptions: 1.) Myth: People in Shakespeare’s day talked more like Americans than … Continue reading
Canadian Raising: Nobody says “Aboot”
A point of clarification: Canadians do not say aboot. Canadian English features something called Canadian Raising, which basically means that the diphthong in “now” is raised before t, s or other voiceless consonants (i.e. before words like about and house). What … Continue reading
Good at Phonetics? It May be Genetics!
Any dialect coach will tell you that not everyone has a knack for picking up accents. Some people take to this kind of work immediately, while others struggle to recognize the most basic differences between accents. It’s a sad reality. … Continue reading
The 5 Best Irish Accents on Film
As it’s Saint Patrick’s day, there have been a number of “worst Irish Accents on film articles floating around. I like to remain relatively positive here, so instead of putting out another list eviscerating Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts, I’d … Continue reading