Accents Of TEFL Teachers

[PeaceBlondie]

That is a bit scary for those of us who are at stroke-likely ages. Imagine I suddenly switch to a Manx or Welsh or Maori accent witout 'avin' been near da fookin' Isle in me larftime.

[dougieboy]

There is a standard American pronunciation, which has been common since radio was standardized: the Northern Indiana version. It is not a dialect and barely even an accent, easily understood from Pennsylvania to Florida to San Diego to Portland. It is the standard American language which has conquered the world,

And there we have it....So lets call the language you teach American then.....personally I prefer to stick to English/English..."y"all... ...Reinforces my original arguement, that its not English that is being taught, but a dialect of English

FYI

Definition of a dialect

n. a particular form of a language that is peculiar to a specific region or social group

Now I'm confused! I was born and raised in England (London) emigrated to Australia as a teenager, joined the navy and traveled the world. I lived in the USA for two years and Thailand for three years in the eighties/nineties. What language do I tell people I speak?

At the end of the day English is a language that is evolving, it has long since outgrown it's country of origin and is recognised as the international language of business, transport and to a lesser extent, diplomacy. Y'all stick that in your pipe and smoke it!

Don't smoke! My language is proper Yorkshire English, cum on gals get yer tops ere, ony narn narnty narn each lol.

[Richie1971]

I will jump back into this hideously important debate, admitting that I am neither an expert in language nor linguini.

The second person plural, in the King's English when James I was the King of England, was you The second person singular was thee. The language of the Southern United States preserves what States preserves what such British hooligans as Oliver Cromwell's grandchildren discarded. The King James version quoted Jesus as saying the salt had lost his savour because there was no acceptable its for the third person neuter singular. The KJV used pisseth for urinates because it was proper English then, back when suffer meant permit (and suffer still means permit in American labor law).

As for accents, North America has virtually none that fall to the depths of the dialects heard in the British isles.

I may be mistaken, but I have not checked my sources, and am relying on my third rate university education, earned in South Texas.

*'British hooligans ?' What/ Who are they? Think yourself lucky I dont' come round and give you a slap

* Tongue in cheek of course

[cophen]

Maybe not topic-relevant, but then again, maybe it is.

It came up in a thread on TESL-L regarding location of first and second languages in different parts of the brain.

Cheers

Xangsamhua

<H1 class=story>Woman Aquires New Accent After Stroke</H1>ScienceDaily (July 6, 2008) — A woman in southern Ontario is one of the first cases in Canada of a rare neurological syndrome in which a person starts speaking with a different accent, McMaster University researchers report in the July issue of the Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences.

The puzzling medical phenomenon known as foreign-accent syndrome (FAS) arises from neurological damage, and results in vocal distortions that typically sound like the speaker has a new, "foreign" accent.This particular case, however, is even more unusual because the English-speaking woman did not acquire an accent that sounds foreign but one that instead sounds like Maritime Canadian English.

There was a case in the UK a couple of years ago. A guy from London, who'd never been out of Britain, had a stroke and started speaking English with an Italian accent.

[garro]

Maybe not topic-relevant, but then again, maybe it is.

It came up in a thread on TESL-L regarding location of first and second languages in different parts of the brain.

Cheers

Xangsamhua

<H1 class=story>Woman Aquires New Accent After Stroke</H1>ScienceDaily (July 6, 2008) — A woman in southern Ontario is one of the first cases in Canada of a rare neurological syndrome in which a person starts speaking with a different accent, McMaster University researchers report in the July issue of the Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences.

The puzzling medical phenomenon known as foreign-accent syndrome (FAS) arises from neurological damage, and results in vocal distortions that typically sound like the speaker has a new, "foreign" accent.This particular case, however, is even more unusual because the English-speaking woman did not acquire an accent that sounds foreign but one that instead sounds like Maritime Canadian English.

There was a case in the UK a couple of years ago. A guy from London, who'd never been out of Britain, had a stroke and started speaking English with an Italian accent.

Had he been watching The Godfather too much prior to the accident?

[PeaceBlondie]

I will jump back into this hideously important debate, admitting that I am neither an expert in language nor linguini.

The second person plural, in the King's English when James I was the King of England, was you The second person singular was thee. The language of the Southern United States preserves what States preserves what such British hooligans as Oliver Cromwell's grandchildren discarded.

*'British hooligans ?' What/ Who are they? Think yourself lucky I dont' come round and give you a slap

* Tongue in cheek of course

I did not realize there was a "Holy Group of Honourable English Citizens to Defend the Honour of Oliver Cromwell's Grandchildren." Perhaps, like the Daughters of the Alamo, they defend their shrines of national glory against urinators like Ozzie Ozborne and my 3-year old son. I don't know why Ozzie peed on the Alamo, but my kid just had to go. Then the pay phone out on the street rang, and when my older son picked up the receiver, somebody from New York City was calling because they got the number out of Rolling Stone magazine. That happened on Alamo Day, March 6. The girl on the phone may have had a Neuu Yawhk accent.