Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: American regional accents

I hope this CNN article is accessible across the pond. It offers several 
audio clips of people from different regions of the US reciting the same 
passage.
 
The article itself doesn't reproduce the passage in text form, but I think 
it's easy enough to understand, in its multiple pronunciations.
 
I find it interesting that some people are proud of their accents and some 
are not; some see them as detrimental to their public or professional 
persona.
 
For me, getting rid of my Boston accent was a nearly subconscious, subliminal 
effort that took years. Still, it rears its ugly head every so often, 
particularly when someone asks me where I'm from or for something about my 
childhood, etc.
 
http://tinyurl.com/3hk7jhk
 
 
-- 
Joey from New York
Remember: It is To Laugh
 
Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator,
but among those whom I love, I can:
all of them make me laugh.
   -- WH Auden
 

 Sorry!, I can't open the link, my browser stops its working and despite
 
Here it works.
 
Anyway the complete url is:
 
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/09/29/living/american-accents-ireport/index.html?eref=rss_us&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_us+%28RSS%3A+U.S.%29
 
 
Hope it helps
 

I have heard many British people say that in the U.S. there are not many
different accents (certainly not as many as in the U.K.).
 
Some Brits have even gone as far as to say that in the U.S. there are only
3 big clusters of accents that a normal non-American English speaker could
tell apart: the North Eastern, the Southern and the Western.
 
Joey, what is your opinion on this matter?
 
thanks
 
Roberto
 
-- 
 
questo articolo e` stato inviato via web dal servizio gratuito 
http://www.newsland.it/news
 segnala gli abusi ad 
ab...@newsland.it
 
 
 

 
 
I agree, for the most part. There are some slight variations in Midwestern 
speakers, but even listening to the samples on this map, I was hard-pressed 
to consider some of them as distinct. Some of those distinctions are almost 
unidentifiable. My paternal grandmother learned English outside of 
Pittsburgh, PA, and she pronounced some words in a way that indicated that 
region ('fahr' for 'fire,' for example.)
 
Certainly there are many more accents in the UK. I watch some British 
sit-coms, older ones especially (The Last of the Summer Wine, e.g.) and 
consider myself lucky if I catch every fourth or fifth word. I find myself 
shouting at the TV "Why don't you speak English!"  :)


 shouting at the TV "Why don't you speak English!"  :)
 
It's like when the character of Boomhauer(*) talks then. :P
 
(*) 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boomhauer
 
 
-- 
I'll be seeing you,
 
- "We don't need no education..."
- Yes, you do. You've just used a double negative!
 
http://craphound.com/walh/audiobook/download-audiobook
 

 
 
Probably. Not having seen that program I'm unfamiliar with
the 'gentleman' (and yes, apparently I'm using that term loosely).
 
Thanks for the link or I would have had no idea
even what YOU were saying.     :P back at ya.


 even what YOU were saying.    
 
Here's a sample of his "speech" or should I say "language"?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GGA1a4nyVs
 
 
The funny thing is, even I can - I don't know exactly how -
understated him, at I think I do. LOL.

 understated him, at I think I do. LOL.
 
I don't know how you can understand [sic] him; I had a hard time with a good 
deal of it from that clip.


 tell apart: the North Eastern, the Southern and the Western.
 
What about the Brooklyn accent, like in "My Cousin Vinny"?
 
 

 to consider some of them as distinct.
 
Eh si'. Le uniche differenze che ho potuto percepire era fra sud, costa 
est, e tutto il resto della nazione.
 
Ricordo come i miei amici di Chicago si sforzassero a mostrarmi quanto 
il loro accento fosse riconoscibile da quello standard (che per altro e' 
sempre il midwestern), fancendomi sentire la famosa "a" nasale di 
"Chicago", ma... voglio dire... finivo sempre col chiedere:"eh beh, 
tutta li' sta gran differenza?" E la risposta era puntualmente "beh, si'".
 
In verita' pero' nell'ultimo anno ho avuto modo di conoscere degli 
americani in scambio a Bologna e spesso riconoscevo subito quando 
venivano dal midwest, quindi qualcosa in piu', nella cadenza, ci deve 
essere.
:)
 
-- 
Enrico il Pentolaio.