Ignoring the linguistically incorrect and wrong-headed things said in this video, the more puzzling problem: I have no idea what dialect or type of English the man in the video is speaking. I have never heard English that sounds like this. I can't even tell whether or not he is a native speaker; his website implies that he is American, but doesn't say outright. Any ideas?
11
-
2Maybe his parents were immigrants, and he was born in the States, creating a sort of hybrid accent.– user11550Dec 29, 2011 at 18:19
-
2Yeah sounds like a combination of a foreign accent (Japanese?) and age.– Cerberus - Reinstate MonicaDec 29, 2011 at 18:36
-
2Sounds to me like an american, with a slight Japanese accent who has physical difficulties pronouncing certain things, because of a stroke or other muscle-control issue, and is therefore over-enunciating slightly weirdly: basically what @Cerberus said.– TaoDec 29, 2011 at 18:46
-
4@Mahnax: having foreign parents usually does not result in a 'mixed' or halfway accent, or any accent at all. You'll have the accent of the locality where you were raised (the kids in your neighborhood or school). In fact it's more likely ( but not very much) that they'll have a funny accent when speaking the parents' language.– MitchDec 29, 2011 at 18:46
-
2Sounds to me like an American trying to speak so clearly and slowly for the sake of Japanese English language students that it sounds a bit unnatural. Perhaps his use of Japanese symbols to translate the English terms shows that.– nicholas ainsworthDec 29, 2011 at 19:52
|
Show 6 more comments
2 Answers
My first impression of Leonard Balazer was that he sounded like a elderly Midwesterner who was over-enunciating. (The "boing-boing" audio compression artifacts don't help matters.)
His Facebook page confirms that Mr. Balazer grew up Saginaw, Michigan, and was educated in and spent his professional career in Michigan.
-
Yes, the vowels sound long, and heavy on the "Ohs" and "Ews", and the cadence is a bit sing-songy, as are common to the upper Midwest.– 2540625Mar 18, 2018 at 19:54
I have not been able to find any definite information on Professor Balazer other than the linked website, but my best guess is that either he is hyper-pronouncing because he is teaching/coaching pronunciation or else he is hyper-pronouncing due to injury/illness.
-
4Or maybe it's because hyper-pronunciation is such a hit with the ladies.– cheekenDec 29, 2011 at 22:50
-
-