Category Archives: Miscellaneous Accents and Dialects

The accents of smaller English-speaking areas such as British South Africa, the Carribean countries, and other places not in the British Isles or North America.

“New Joysey” and “Oirish:” 6 Accent Myths

Posted on March 21, 2011 by Ben

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 →

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Canadian Raising: Nobody says “Aboot”

Posted on March 20, 2011 by Ben

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 →

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A Brief Look at Jamaican Creole

Posted on March 16, 2011 by Ben

I’ll begin today’s post with a wonderful video of the The Night Before Christmas spoken in Jamaican Creole (a.k.a. Patois): For non-Jamaicans the clip above is probably so hard to understand that it seems like a different language.  Which is … Continue reading →

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Techspeak for Evil

Posted on March 9, 2011 by Ben

The information age has produced something of a dialect.  Techspeak (if you want to call it that) has a vast trove of unique vocabulary, its own grammatical and syntactical rules, and represents a very real culture.  And I am fascinated … Continue reading →

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Dialect Savants on YouTube

Posted on March 6, 2011 by Ben

I have been with the family for a few days and haven’t got a chance to post anything substantial.  So I figured I would quickly comment on the recent rash of “dialect savant” videos on YouTube.  The most trafficked of … Continue reading →

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Dialects at the Oscars

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Ben

As has been noted more than a few times, last night’s Oscars telecast was a veritable cornucopia of accents. Best picture nominees features Boston English, Ozarks English, California English, Texas English, Received Pronunciation and, if you want to broaden the … Continue reading →

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Shakespearean vs. Modern English

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Ben

For many years, there was a “standard” accent used by Shakespearean actors. In the UK, this was Received Pronunciation (RP), the “standard British” accent you hear among Oxford professors and in Jane Austen films*. In America, classical actors used something … Continue reading →

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North America’s Strange “Island” Dialects

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Ben

One of my missions in life is to convince non-Americans that we do not, in fact, all speak alike. Sadly, the media are against me: most foreigners get their ideas of how we speak from American television, where accents are … Continue reading →

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“Incomprehensible” Accents

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Ben

On occasion, I may refer to a certain accent as “incomprehensible” or “inscrutable” or some other questionable attribute. I would like to take a moment to clear up what I mean. I love the dialects of English. I think they … Continue reading →

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5 Reasons Why Some Dialects are Unpopular

Posted on January 27, 2011 by Ben

I try to promote acceptance of diversity in dialects and accents. In the real world, however, things are not so fair. Numerous dialects of English are stigmatized: many people, even educated people, harbor the belief that some accents are “uneducated,” … Continue reading →

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