Pronunciation characteristics of a certain individual, location, or nation. Generally does NOT include learning to speak with various accents or identifying accents.
6
votes
2answers
862 views
Dropped g's in upper-class 1930s Britain
‘Now take huntin'…’ ‘Oh, bull-fightin' — that's quite a different kettle of fish.…’ Italics bred italics. Dropped g's fell as thick as confetti.
(Jan Struther, Mrs Miniver, 1939; 4th chapter, ...
1
vote
2answers
76 views
Where does this accent belong to?
I'm going insane trying to identify this accent that appears in The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. It's supposed to be bumpkin accent, but I don't have much more information about location. ...
3
votes
2answers
151 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 ...
7
votes
2answers
1k views
Accents of characters in Downton Abbey
To continue the question started in identifying accents of British actors, there is one popular current cultural artifact with an excess of non-standard British accents, and that is The BBC series ...
11
votes
5answers
4k views
Is there a 1950's American accent?
Listening to old recordings, there is a distinct accent that radio and television announcers used that is different from a modern-day "Standard American" or neutral accent. It seems that over the ...
10
votes
4answers
2k views
Has the Tangier island accent truly remained unchanged since the Elizabethan period?
I'm not sure how well known Tangier Island is outside the Chesapeake region. To make a long story short, Tangier Island is an isolated fishing community in the Chesapeake bay. It has been mostly ...
17
votes
7answers
1k views
Is there software that can determine whether I speak with a neutral accent?
I have a query regarding enhancing my accent. I am searching for a software in which I speak a paragraph and it compares my speech to find out whether it is accent-free or not.
3
votes
1answer
389 views
In which accent does Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) speak?
I don't know if Stack Exchange is the right place to ask this question but I am very keen to find out:
Which accent has Brad Pitt adopted in the movie Inglourious Basterds for the role of Lieutenant ...
3
votes
1answer
173 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 ...
2
votes
2answers
336 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 ...
-2
votes
2answers
1k views
Are there differences in the accent of NY and California English?
Are there differences in the accent of NY and California English?
14
votes
4answers
7k views
What are the important differences between Canadian and American (USA) English?
English is not my first language; the little English I know is mostly from the USA.
I know some of the differences between British English (or just English?) and American English, and the same with ...
1
vote
3answers
860 views
Do “here” and “hear” have the same phonetic transcription in the same country?
Is there any accent that makes a distinction when pronuncing “here” and “hear”?
From Wiktionary:
Here
(UK) /hɪə(ɹ)/
(US) /hɪɹ/
Hear
(UK) /hɪə(ɹ)/
(US) IPA: /hiːɹ/
So, according to that, US ...
2
votes
1answer
129 views
Waiteen for waiting
While it's reasonably common for people to drop the g in words such as waiting, hating, and dating, I seem to be stumbling upon a number of Americans additionally drawing out the final syllable of ...
8
votes
2answers
869 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 ...
3
votes
3answers
131 views
Pronunciation of “lib”
I've been a computer programmer for many years, and recently my father has been learning computer programming. Programmers often times will use a folder called "lib."
Not a native English speaker, ...
14
votes
4answers
2k views
How did the Australian accent come about?
Can anybody tell me how the Australian accent came about?
It seems strange to me that it is not more like an English accent taking into account that the first and the majority of settlers were ...
8
votes
1answer
324 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 ...
4
votes
3answers
614 views
Pronunciation of 'aunt' in the US
I was under the impression that all Americans pronounced aunt like the insect, ant (/ænt/), or relatively similar sounding variants such as the southern aint (/eɪnt/). According to both Webster and ...
3
votes
0answers
234 views
What's the best resource for improving everyday speaking? [closed]
I'm having a job interview in a month. My writing, reading and listening are good. However, I have weak conversation skills. I need an efficient resource to improve my speaking. Any resource is ...
0
votes
2answers
173 views
What are the different ways an accent mark can go over the letter A & how are they pronounced? [closed]
I've found specifically these ones: á, à, â, å, ä. I believe they COULD be used in the English language, or root ones such as Celtic & Germanic, but I don't know how they are pronounced.
Oh, and ...
10
votes
4answers
444 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 ...
4
votes
1answer
238 views
Sam Weller in The Pickwick Papers: What accent is Dickens portraying?
In Dickens' Pickwick Papers, there's a character "Sam Weller". Weller's dialogue is written somewhat phonetically, I presume, but I'm struggling to understand what accent Dickens is trying to portray. ...
2
votes
4answers
606 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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
7
votes
2answers
498 views
When does realisation of velar nasal /ŋ/ as alveolar nasal [n] happen along with tensing of the preceding vowel (/ɪ/ to [i])?
I have observed some English speakers in North America who seem to produce this assimilation in words like "running" /ˈrʌnɪŋ/ (as /ˈrʌnin/) or "winning" /ˈwɪnɪŋ/ (as /ˈwɪnin/). I'm specifically ...
6
votes
3answers
2k views
What is a West Coast (U.S.) accent?
I've seen references to the American Midwest as being the home of the least accented form of American English. I always think of the Northern Midwest as having an accent that I associate with ...
1
vote
5answers
255 views
Is there a term or short description for an accent you “can't place”?
Some examples of this might be Standard American English (though this may still be tied to geography) or, more likely, Received Pronunciation. The speaker's language doesn't have to be English, of ...
4
votes
1answer
836 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.
4
votes
3answers
746 views
Pinpointing British accents
After having watched British TV and movies for a while, I came across several accents I liked. But I'm not completely sure what they are, so I need your help :)
David Tennant as The 10th Doctor ...
1
vote
2answers
964 views
American English without an accent
I have heard that in the Midwest region of the United States (Nebraska, etc.), people do not have an accent when speaking compared to people from the south or either coast. Is this true? Why? Please ...
12
votes
2answers
514 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 ...
17
votes
4answers
1k views
How to explain accent variations to students
I am an ESL teacher working in China. During lessons, I am occasional interrupted by students or parents who point out that my pronunciation of some words is incorrect. They then produce a dictionary ...
2
votes
1answer
244 views
T-glottalization in West Country accents — is it a south-eastern influence?
English speakers from the West Country seem to glottalize their tees just like Estuary English speakers do. I can't find a word about T-glottalization in the West Country accents on the internet. I'm ...
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, ...
2
votes
2answers
523 views
Why is a Scot's accent so difficult for Americans to understand? [closed]
When I was in Edinburgh, Scotland, the locals could understand me just fine, but I was flummoxed by their accent, which did not remotely sound like English to me. Necessity forced me to request that ...
5
votes
3answers
761 views
“It's a-me !” — just an imitation of an Italian accent or something more?
I've seen and heard this at various times:
It's a-me! [first name]!
(Most of the time, seemingly as a reference to Mario.) I was wondering what the intent was behind the construction "a-me".
Is ...
2
votes
1answer
235 views
What are some effective ways a foreign speaker can improve pronunciation in English? [closed]
How can a foreign speaker (where a
"foreign speaker" speaks English as a second language) effectively improve their spoken English by improving their pronunciation and reducing their foreign accent.
...
3
votes
3answers
804 views
English pronunciation of “charade” as in Pink Floyd song Pigs
I was recently listening to the Pink Floyd song "Pigs (Three different ones)" and a line in the chorus goes,
Ha ha, charade you are!
In the context of the song I am nearly sure that the word ...
0
votes
1answer
360 views
Does accent really matter when speaking in english? [closed]
First of all, this is a good Q&A site for english enthusiasts along with stackoverflow, where i freak out most of time. Does pronunciation or accent in english really matter? Because, I myself ...
3
votes
5answers
362 views
Are the speakers in this video speaking standard American English? [closed]
I want to improve my American English accent, and I found Learn Real English, which is quite interesting to me. Anyway, I don't know much about standard American accent, so I want to know if those ...
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 ...
4
votes
2answers
555 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?
0
votes
1answer
215 views
Which one is good for listening? [closed]
In order to improve my English listening/understanding ability, I listen several different documentaries at least 5 minutes per day. These documentaries are generally produced by BBC. They are in ...
8
votes
1answer
432 views
Proper way to pronounce “Pyrzqxgl!” [closed]
In my youth, my father used to read me The Magic of Oz by L. Frank Baum.
The magic word that was used to transform, Pyrzqxgl, was very difficult to pronounce. Are there any guidelines on pronouncing ...
9
votes
2answers
868 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
3answers
1k views
How can I learn to speak with various accents? [closed]
How can I learn to speak with appropriate English accents when reading books aloud? For example, are there simple rules for each accent?
My question is general question, but my application is ...
0
votes
1answer
395 views
Which English accent works satisfactorily for speech recognition?
According to “Google iPhone voice-recognition tool baffled by British accents”, mobile phones have trouble recognizing speech.
Which accent (probably US) works satisfactorily?
Are there any ...
1
vote
1answer
57 views
Accent of the word “invalidity” [closed]
In my legal studies class, this word cropped up and the whole class, including the teacher, couldn't pronounce it. They usually tried it several times and then ended up with different results.
Where ...
