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English is weird
Morituri:
American English: You can hear all 20 of those vowels here, but not in any one variety. All these people understand each other. Often without even noticing.
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcxByX6rh24
Here's about the thickest an American Accent gets. This guy speaks a low-status dialect; everybody understands him, but if he wants to be taken seriously in a large part of the country, he will have to work - and if he grew up speaking it, he will have to work HARD - to learn to speak a different variety.
Warning: This is vaguely political, insofar as he's arguing against stupidity.
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmDIAAGrU9c
oddtail:
As a non-native speaker of English, Americans who say they "don't have an accent" infuriate me. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS "not having an accent". In any language.
There's some kind of metaphor about American culture in there: it's all extremely varied, but for some reason a LOT of people think anyone similar to them is basically the default, and it's other people that differ and stand out.
sitnspin:
There is what is widely considered to be a "neutral" accent in American English, it is generally taught in broadcasting school/training. This could be what people mean when they say they "don't have an accent".
oddtail:
--- Quote from: sitnspin on 25 Nov 2020, 11:38 ---There is what is widely considered to be a "neutral" accent in American English, it is generally taught in broadcasting school/training. This could be what people mean when they say they "don't have an accent".
--- End quote ---
Yes, I'm aware of that. But that's still not the same as not having an accent, and even if it possibly stems from ignorance about what words mean, I still associate it with a "what's happening here is the default" attitude I associate with American culture strongly.
Case:
--- Quote from: sitnspin on 25 Nov 2020, 11:38 ---There is what is widely considered to be a "neutral" accent in American English, it is generally taught in broadcasting school/training. This could be what people mean when they say they "don't have an accent".
--- End quote ---
Back when I got English lessons in ... the early neolithic, we were told that we'd be taught the only true English, that it's called 'BBC-English', and the only place it was spoken correctly was Amsterdam ... :wink:
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