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
Category Archives: Miscellaneous Accents and Dialects
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
Jill Abramson’s Accent
I’m coming home from vacation Saturday and will hopefully have proper post up by Sunday. In the meantime, I’d like to address something that has been swirling around the press: the strange idiolect of new NY Times Executive editor Jill … Continue reading
Animal Accents
[Ed. Note: I’m on vacation till Saturday, July 30, so I’m publishing some old posts I drafted but never published. Some of these might be rough around the edges. Also note that it may be difficult for me to respond … Continue reading
Jamaican Patois (And English Schwa)
I’ve recently become fascinated with Jamaican Patois, the creole language spoken on the island of the same name. The language derives from African languages and various dialects of the British Isles spoken in the 17th-Century. So it offers insight into … Continue reading
The Elusive English Schwa
An old trick question: what is the most common vowel in spoken English? Is it the a in cat? The o in top? The ee in keep? In fact, the answer is the puzzling little sound known as schwa. Schwa … Continue reading
Singlish
As I’m strapped for time today, I’ll open up the floor to a question: does anybody know anything about Singlish? This term refers to a creole language in Singapore, a mix of English and various East Asian languages. The spectrum … Continue reading
Can You be Bi-Accented?
Continuing yesterday’s discussion of the accents of transplants, I’m mulling over a related question: can someone be bi-accented? Just as there are bilinguals, are there some people who are native speakers of multiple accents? I should clarify. I’m not talking about … Continue reading
A Brief Clarification About New Zealand Accents
I want to quickly clear something up about New Zealand accents, since the topic was touched upon briefly yesterday. In New Zealand English, the vowel in “short e” words like dress or bed moves very close to the vowel that Americans and … Continue reading
Mom, Mum, Mam: Different words?
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
Singing in Dialect
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