64 replies to this topic

[LongMa]

You guys should pm each other about this...I don't think this is appopriate.

I have addressed the issue and hopes this resolves the matter. I think some small but key things have been taken way out of the context they were intended to be presented in and have corrected that.

[Freddy1]

your book is wrong... as far as I know, the euro-english accent is virtually unchanged for the past 400 years at least, and the context/syntax is entirely different.

I dont know I have my doubts about that.

[frithbjorn]

I dont know I have my doubts about that.

When the english took over in Scotland, who affected the accent in scotland?... the scottish natives... same in ireland, the irish natives speak english with an irish accent... I beleive america was the same, and that whites and blacks had been living in america pre-columbus side by side with the natives, the norse had settled in america almost 1000 years before columbus, as did the blacks. You can find proof of this in Native American Indian tribal history, as well as the nordic histories of iceland and scandanavia... I think what you are missing is, the original settlers were not english or spanish anyway so our discussion will end with us being no closer to the truth. Our american accents remain a mystery even though I can see a pattern, with the english accents of the world, the american one still remains unique in nature...

how can it be that the native american indians had affected us so if they were all dead? the truth is my friend, they arent all dead and in the beginning of our take over of this find land, many did die, however we took their women as wives because of their beauty, and the women of our culture may affect us the most... so in my opinion, the theory, if we are to compile one here today, should include that the women of this land had at least become integrated into the white culture, and quite possibly some of the Native Americans were of the black/african decent, since there is some proof of this... As far as your DNA tests, i am still not a full beleiver in this science as I have seen in my city, white women who have taken black husbands, yet their children come out as if salt and pepper, 2 will be of an african appearance, 2 will have blonde hair and blue eyes, has any of these whites been tested? I am curious to see if these milato whites who have been born with such appearance could show, and if it even matters, I mean if your born looking white, and your children are born looking white who will even consider that your great grandfather was black and your great grandmother was a blonde haired blue eyed woman... I mean, no one will even tell or look...

[Shenzheng]

I was born and raised in the city of Holyoke, in western Massachusetts. My father and his father were born in Holyoke; my paternal grandmother was born in the Maharees Islands, off the north coast of the Dingle peninsula, near Tralee, in Ireland. My mother and her mother were born in Holyoke; her father was born in Laprairie County, Quebec. The population of the city when I was growing up included people of English, French, German, Irish, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Scottish, and African-American ancestry. (The ethnic groups are listed in alphabetic order, except for the last-named group, which were the least in number.

We spoke English at home. We belonged to Notre-Dame-du-Perpétuel Secours / Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, and my younger brothers (2) and sisters (3) and I attended the parochial school, where English, History, Math and Science were taught in English; le français, l'histoire du Canada, la religion, en français. Art and music were taught in one language or the other, depending on the classroom teacher that year. One of the consequences of this educational format was that all of the pupils who entered first grade who spoke only French at home, only those who spoke only English, and the few who spoke both languages at home were bilingual by the time we completed 8th grade. The same pattern prevailed at the Immaculate Conception and Precious Blood schools, which were in "French" parishes, and at Mater Dolorosa school, which was in a "Polish" parish.

Another characteristic of the city of Holyoke, and virtually all New England cities and towns is that the people of each ethnic background tended to live in the same neighborhood. In Ward One, the French speakers, Portuguese speakers, and English speakers (mostly Irish Catholics) lived in separate neighborhoods; in Ward Two, the French and the Germans lived separately; in Ward Four, French, Irish, Polish and Yankees (Scots and English); in Wards Five and Six, Irish, French, Germans and Yankees. The churches were: Ward One, Immaculée Conception and Our Lady of the Rosary; Ward Two, Précieux Sang, and First Lutheran; Ward Four: Mater Dolorosa, Saint Jerome, and several Protestant Churches; Ward Five, First Presbyterian Church and Perpétuel Secours; Ward Six, Sacred Heart, and Evangelical Lutheran.

Returning to the point of this thread: The folks who lived in each different part of the city spoke English flavored by their ethnic ancestry (particularly if they spoke another language at home), by the accents of the teachers in their parish schools (particularly if a second language was taught on a par with English), by the accents of the teachers in the city public school system (It was said that all the children who attended the Holyoke schools spoke with "a bit of a brogue", no matter their ancestry). As for the pupils from the three French schools, if you had a good ear, you could tell which parochial school they attended by their accents.

And so, in conclusion I ask: Which American Accent? Which New England Accent? Which Massachusetts Accent? Which Western Massachusetts Accent? Which Connecticut Valley Accent? Which Holyoke Accent?

[Taran ap Dafydd]

I'd just to take this time to point out that anyone using the term "standard American accent" is wrong. There is no such thing. Unlike the Germans or the Chinese or a couple other nations I can't think of off the top of my head, there is no universally taught version of the language. No Holt Deutsch or Mandarin equivalent.

I have personally witnessed and even translated for Americans from different regions who couldn't understand each other at all due to the extreme variances in their accents. NY vs GA, for example.

Even my very Lack of an accent is still an accent of sorts in English.