accents and dialects

I find them fascinating.

I grew up in northeastern Ohio, which means, that at least in those days, the "accent" I had was regarded as the "accentless" Received Pronunciation that newscasters aspired to. (I think there's a bit more individuality these days).

My speech isn't QUITE standard for an Akron-area kid; my mom grew up in Northern Michigan, and as I was around her a lot when I was a kid (she was a stay-at-home mom), I tend to say "about" a bit more like "aboot" and I tend to say a few other things that sound more Michigander.

And there's this:



Her "Toronto" accent, to me, sounds an awful lot like Northern Michigan.

And I've known a lot of Texans in my life, and that Texas accent is kind of a mishmash - there are actually differences between East and West Texas, and also between the Hill Country and the Dallas area.

But it's still pretty damn amazing that she could do that.

(It also makes me wonder - are there as clear "class" differences in American accents as there are in British? I had a British friend who claimed that she could adequately guess where an American grew up, but not what economic class they grew up in - but that she could peg the economic class of one of her countrymen because there are very clear differences in working-class vs. middle-class vs. upper-class accents).

(And if I were a pretentious teenager again? I'd try putting on that "intercontinental" accent she does at the end. I love how that sounds. Yes, I know, it sounds a lot like Katharine Hepburn.)

Another thing that strikes me - accents often seem to be used, at least in movies, as a sort of identifier. (And in plays. A lot of the British productions of the Greek plays, they used different regional accents to represent the different ethnic/economic groups in Greece at that time. I remember listening to a lot of tapes of those plays in Great Books in college and although the accents helped, I think it would have meant more to me if I had actually BEEN British and understood the differences in how someone from, say, the West Country was perceived as compared to someone from east of London...)

I watched part of "Lord of the Rings" last night, and one thing I really like about the movie - that I didn't really pick up on in the books - are the different ways of speaking of the different characters. The elves are kind of ethereal and not very talky and you get the sense that when they do speak English, it's a language they're not all that comfortable with, and the humans are very direct, and the dwarves are even more blunt and direct...and then there are the Hobbits, with their concern about whether meals are going to be on time and how they are going to safely get back home.

In the movie, much more than the books, I almost get the feeling that I'm looking at a sort of parable for British society, with the different classes and their concerns. (I know, that's a sidenote, and I don't know if Tolkein actually meant it or not, but I remember reading somewhere that he intended the Hobbits to be kind of like the ordinary solid British citizen - if a little lacking in imagination, still loyal and true to the cors)

And I love the Hobbits in the movie, with their rural-British-farmer-speak. I think if I somehow fetched up in the world of the movie, I'd throw my lot in with the Hobbits (if they'd accept me). Because having a safe, comfortable place to sleep, and avoiding conflict, and knowing that meals are going to be on time - those are all things important to me. And I don't particularly want adventures. And yet - I think if it came down to it, if I had the opportunity to do something to destroy a little bit of evil in the world, I'd sigh and put on my cloak and pack some bacon and biscuits and set off to DO it, even though I'd really rather be at home in front of my own fire. (Or at least I hope I would).

Perhaps it's the British productions that I notice the accent differences in most; in American movies I tend to notice more the amount and volume of four-letter words coming out of someone's mouth, and generally, unless it's a war movie, I assume they're from a less privileged background. (Because, at least, where I came from? Those four-letter words were used as rare intensifiers, and not just random placemarkers in a sentence).

The way people talk is pretty fascinating. (At one point I contemplated majoring in linguistics until I realized that (a) it had become a very politicized discipline and (b) a degree in linguistics would basically equip me to TEACH linguistics, and there aren't that many colleges with linguistics departments any more.)