tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377709913595182916.post1162566062720128315..comments2024-03-14T10:31:26.918+00:00Comments on DCblog: On Accent WeekDChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192779827863835310noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377709913595182916.post-26220302163040192112014-02-27T23:12:43.588+00:002014-02-27T23:12:43.588+00:00I wasn't aware that I'd said anything '...I wasn't aware that I'd said anything 'cldear-cut'. It would indeed all depend on how broad the accent was. This was never made clear in any of the reports. My understanding is that the teacher in question didn't have a broad accent at all.DChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10192779827863835310noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377709913595182916.post-6048023259901995872014-02-26T13:22:11.331+00:002014-02-26T13:22:11.331+00:00Leaving aside for the moment the question of wheth...Leaving aside for the moment the question of whether the story as originally reported was in fact true, I am not convinced that the matter is as clear-cut as I think Professor Crystal suggests. If, as he states, "people value regional accents so much more these days", then would not a local community such as that of the school in Berkshire be perfectly entitled to value <i>its</i> local accent and to express its concerns that a teacher with a marked Cumbrian accent might negatively affect the retention of the local (Berkshire / "Home counties") accent by the pupils whom she is assigned to teach ?Chaa006https://www.blogger.com/profile/00007714578401273047noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377709913595182916.post-42626956109255216862014-02-18T09:13:54.201+00:002014-02-18T09:13:54.201+00:00Sounds like an actorial inconsistency to me. Or, p...Sounds like an actorial inconsistency to me. Or, possibly, a more formal pronunciation that often comes when reading aloud (as when 'says' is pronounced to rhyme with 'ways' and not 'sea').DChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10192779827863835310noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377709913595182916.post-15119886116142395952014-02-14T03:26:37.357+00:002014-02-14T03:26:37.357+00:00Professor Crystal, I have a question about r-dropp...Professor Crystal, I have a question about r-dropping. I was watching a Miss Marple episode, A Pocketful of Rye, with Joan Hickson, and I noticed an interesting phenomenon. When Miss Marple's neighbor stops by to give her the latest, evening, edition of the paper with more news about the murder, at first she (the neighbor) seems to say "murder" two times with r. However, when she starts reading the paper, she pronounces the same word, murder, without r in it. Most puzzling is that all this happens within two minutes or so. Why would she do such a thing? I'm aware of Labov's famous study, where rhotic pronunciation was shown to be an element of prestige speech. But what about British accents?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02341330140084823857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377709913595182916.post-90515813524182957012013-12-20T10:07:48.213+00:002013-12-20T10:07:48.213+00:00Interestingly, Scottish was the first regional acc...Interestingly, Scottish was the first regional accent to be rejected by the BBC, back in 1980, when Susan Rae (Dundee) presented on Radio 4 - and there was so much protest that she was soon withdrawn. How times have changed! (Susan has been back news-reading for some time now.) There are several presenters with a Scottish accent, but saying 'always' is going a bit far. I doubt Huw Edwards would appreciate being called Scottish, for instance.<br /><br />I am responding to this message partly to give me the opportunity to say, once again, that I do not normally post messages from people called Anonymous.DChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10192779827863835310noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377709913595182916.post-11404619682237238472013-12-19T18:29:33.945+00:002013-12-19T18:29:33.945+00:00I like to hear a wide variety of regional accents ...I like to hear a wide variety of regional accents on the BBC, but not always the same one, i.e. Scottish. The message sent out here is that Scotland is the only "region" that counts. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377709913595182916.post-71140567018308203772013-11-29T18:03:01.118+00:002013-11-29T18:03:01.118+00:00And the week has rounded off with a presenter from...And the week has rounded off with a presenter from BBC Somerset - but again with not a very strong accent. Indeed, one would never have guessed it was Somerset. Pity they didn't do something a little more daring.<br />DChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10192779827863835310noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377709913595182916.post-64690959052917337082013-11-29T18:02:10.649+00:002013-11-29T18:02:10.649+00:00I was disappointed that the accents of the people ...I was disappointed that the accents of the people reading the news summary at 5.30 pm were so much diluted that they could hardly be described as 'regional'.<br /><br />Guillemine Fletchernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377709913595182916.post-73420859176889844682013-11-28T17:35:05.294+00:002013-11-28T17:35:05.294+00:00Yorkshire today, and a very nice example of a loca...Yorkshire today, and a very nice example of a local accent, with a professional presenting style.DChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10192779827863835310noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377709913595182916.post-69418901420358114542013-11-28T14:06:08.838+00:002013-11-28T14:06:08.838+00:00Well that's a relief, I must say. At least one...Well that's a relief, I must say. At least one good thing came out of it! There wouldn't have been an 'accent week' otherwise.DChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10192779827863835310noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377709913595182916.post-12415466367578489792013-11-28T01:19:23.772+00:002013-11-28T01:19:23.772+00:00Attitudes towards accent variation are different i...Attitudes towards accent variation are different in Spain, perhaps because of the fact that patricians and plebeians have usually shared the same pronunciation (at least here in Andalusia, the most phonetically conspicuous region).Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01762196203762970377noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377709913595182916.post-82434821116233611462013-11-27T17:58:49.009+00:002013-11-27T17:58:49.009+00:00The whole mess about the Cumbrian accent in the Be...The whole mess about the Cumbrian accent in the Berkshire school was not as initially described. It was caused by a sense of humour failure on the part of an NASUWT rep.<br />http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-25015202Peter Harveyhttp://lavengro.typepad.com/peter_harvey_linguist/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377709913595182916.post-71619971230885004512013-11-27T17:47:47.174+00:002013-11-27T17:47:47.174+00:00A mild Welsh accent today (Wednesday). Hope they c...A mild Welsh accent today (Wednesday). Hope they choose one or two broader accents before the end of the week. And will they dare do something from the Midlands?DChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10192779827863835310noreply@blogger.com