Tagged Questions
3
votes
2answers
155 views
Palatalization of the initial “s” in words starting with “st-”
Sometimes I hear native speakers pronounce the s at the beginning of a word as [ʃ]. For example, straight as [ʃtreɪt], or struggle as [ʃtrʌɡl]. It sounds like German words.
Is it a certain English ...
3
votes
1answer
181 views
Why is the Yorkshire dialect called 'Tyke'?
From Wikipedia:
The Yorkshire dialect refers to the varieties of English used in the Northern England historic county of Yorkshire. Those varieties are often referred to as Broad Yorkshire or ...
4
votes
1answer
846 views
Hwat, hwere, and hwy?
In which English accents do they put an h before every word that starts with wh?
Example from Youtube. Notice his pronunciation of whisky.
2
votes
2answers
338 views
New Orleans Accent
I'd heard that New Orleans residents are more New York- than Southern-sounding. Recently, I saw some of the Khan Academy videos, and noticed that Salman Khan, who, as Wikipedia says, is from New ...
4
votes
2answers
233 views
Cockney wh-dropping
The Cockney accent typically, or at least stereotypically, drops the initial /h/ from many a word. Does it drop the initial /h/ from who, whole, whore, and whose? Wikipedia says yes, but I seek a more ...
9
votes
3answers
4k views
Did regular Americans speak the way actors in the 30s and 1940s did?
I watch a lot of old movies and I've noticed that the American actors of the and 1930s and 1940s unusually spoke in a quasi-generic-posh-British accent. It seems exaggerated and I imagine it was not ...
4
votes
2answers
559 views
Website giving pronunciations of English words recorded in different dialects?
I'm aware that there are certain websites around that provide recorded examples of English words pronounced in different accents/dialects. Could anybody list some of them?
2
votes
4answers
615 views
What's a Denver accent sound like?
I'm trying to learn to imitate the accent of someone from a slummy area of Denver (for a roleplaying game). Info on different local accents is welcome; a sound bite would be especially useful.
If you ...
8
votes
2answers
873 views
Is there an American English dialect that sounds as “distingushed” as British English?
Obviously there are a lot of subjective words in the question. There are dialects of British English that don't sound distinguished at all (Cockney). Also, what sounds distinguished is somewhat ...
12
votes
2answers
515 views
What are the 'distances' among the major English dialects?
Yes, I admit, as an AmE speaker, that all non-North American accents sound the same: BrE, Irish, Scottish, Australian and South African. Or rather, I can tell they are different if placed side by side ...
8
votes
3answers
3k views
Recognizing a Welsh accent
For an American, I'm pretty good at UK dialects. I can immediately tell an Irish or Scottish accent from a typical (educated, Londoner) English accent. But I'm on shaky ground with Welsh accents, ...
8
votes
1answer
327 views
Australian regional shibboleths
I have been living in Australia for 7 years now, and still haven't been able to pin down the local regional accents. I can tell a "Town" from a "Country" accent, but I can't reliably tell which state ...
6
votes
3answers
1k views
How do American dialects differ?
I grew up in a very homogenous suburb, and was quite shocked when I moved to Philadelphia for college and started hearing how many different dialects exist even within one city. My untrained ear could ...
18
votes
2answers
4k views
Where do accents and dialects come from?
Why do people in different areas speak differently? Where do accents come from, how do they change and/or survive over time and why do we have them?
Reading recommendations on this topic would be ...
9
votes
2answers
871 views
Which native English speakers are linguistically the most “germanic”?
English is a Germanic language. Another significant Germanic language is of course German.
Which native English speakers are the closest to German basing on the following criteria?
accent-wise ...
1
vote
4answers
585 views
Is it correct to speak of New York dialect?
Is it correct to speak of New York dialect, or should I use a different term when referring to the particular pronunciation used in New York?
11
votes
4answers
448 views
In what contexts is it important to maintain your accent or dialect?
I'm an American who lives in Germany and hear many kinds of English spoken by many nationalities.
Just as "one can either write organization or organisation but the main point is to be consistent" I ...
2
votes
6answers
898 views
Is the line blurring between “accent” and “dialect”?
The definition that I have had in my head for most of my life is:
dialect: a variation of the original language (usually regional), sometimes even using different vocabulary and grammar
...
