Accents are fun. I had a professor for my History of the English Language course who bemoaned the fact that he'd trained the Mississippi out of his accent as a child after moving to Ohio.
I grew up in slower, lower Delaware (below the canal, and yes it matters to Delawareans) but I don't have a Delawarean accent because both my parents were children of Air Force men who retired in Delaware. That, and I remember my mother having a cow one day when I referred to SEAment instead of ceMENT.
Accents are definitely flattening. Northern Delawareans and Philadelphians are sounding less and less like the Mare from Eastown, and the below the canal folks sound more generically redneck Southern than distinctly Eastern Shore/ Delawarean. This is a shame because as that old language professor told me, that accent is the closest thing to the sound of Shakespearean English still around.
I have a number of cousins in Michigan, and none of them speak like Haley Stevens.
Regional accents seem to be disappearing, replaced by what Jay has described as "anchorman English." His explanation for their disappearance omits one important factor, which is socioeconomic class. Strong regional accents persist largely among the poor and uneducated. The upwardly mobile train themselves to avoid them because of those associations, while politicians often affect them in order to seem as if they are one with the plebs.
The same phenomenon now manifests itself in Great Britain, and has a long history in other countries. Both the pronunciation and orthography of French changed after the French revolution. For example, verbs such as connoître and paroître (pronounced "connwaitre" or "parwaitre") became connaître and paraître, with both pronunciation and spelling changed. The former pronunciations were considered aristocratic and therefore avoided.
A friend who is fluent in Russian once told me that the speech of the old Russian aristocracy had a French accent, because French was the language of diplomacy and of the cultured. Lenin, who was a member of the minor nobility, is supposed to have spoken Russian with such an accent. It is now extinct.
The speech of America's historic patrician classes, I suspect, would now be deadly to a politician's prospects. Can you imagine someone who spoke like FDR or W. Averill Harriman could be elected to any public office today?
My family moved to Colorado before my first birthday, , and I've lived here ever since. However, I grew up surrounded by native New Yorkers. So, although I mostly sound like Colorado, if you ask me about dogs, salt, coffee, you'll hear just a hint of the NYC accent that I picked up from my mother and grandparents.
A relative of mine raised in Oregon was once interviewed on a British radio show while she was living in London. When I told her she sounded "so American" she was uncertain whether to feel complimented or offended. I was merely referring to her lack of any detectable accent. She reminded me of a typical phone tree voice, sounding non-descript.
Great article in the Wash. Post, Jay. Fun, interesting. Michiganders indeed have an accent. The farther north you go in the state, the people can sound like Canadians, where the "o" is very rounded, and "about" sounds like " a boot."
I lived in Philadelphia for 2 years (speaking of regional accents!) and fielded many questions about my Michigan accent, as in, "What is that??" My daughter fit right in in Chicago when in college and gets questioned now that she lives in DC. I think she is starting to assimilate there. I caught her pronouncing a vowel differently last time she was home.
New York I could certainly hear the Michigan accent. Soon after I first arrived in Ann Arbor, I remember meeting a Mr. Chantson whose name turned out to be Johnston.
I have largely trained my Southern accent out of most of my speech (out of professional self-defense in my pre-retirement life). But I’m about to head to a 100th birthday celebration for my Aunt Ruth, and once I get around my cousins…
Accents are fun. I had a professor for my History of the English Language course who bemoaned the fact that he'd trained the Mississippi out of his accent as a child after moving to Ohio.
I grew up in slower, lower Delaware (below the canal, and yes it matters to Delawareans) but I don't have a Delawarean accent because both my parents were children of Air Force men who retired in Delaware. That, and I remember my mother having a cow one day when I referred to SEAment instead of ceMENT.
Accents are definitely flattening. Northern Delawareans and Philadelphians are sounding less and less like the Mare from Eastown, and the below the canal folks sound more generically redneck Southern than distinctly Eastern Shore/ Delawarean. This is a shame because as that old language professor told me, that accent is the closest thing to the sound of Shakespearean English still around.
I have a number of cousins in Michigan, and none of them speak like Haley Stevens.
Regional accents seem to be disappearing, replaced by what Jay has described as "anchorman English." His explanation for their disappearance omits one important factor, which is socioeconomic class. Strong regional accents persist largely among the poor and uneducated. The upwardly mobile train themselves to avoid them because of those associations, while politicians often affect them in order to seem as if they are one with the plebs.
The same phenomenon now manifests itself in Great Britain, and has a long history in other countries. Both the pronunciation and orthography of French changed after the French revolution. For example, verbs such as connoître and paroître (pronounced "connwaitre" or "parwaitre") became connaître and paraître, with both pronunciation and spelling changed. The former pronunciations were considered aristocratic and therefore avoided.
A friend who is fluent in Russian once told me that the speech of the old Russian aristocracy had a French accent, because French was the language of diplomacy and of the cultured. Lenin, who was a member of the minor nobility, is supposed to have spoken Russian with such an accent. It is now extinct.
The speech of America's historic patrician classes, I suspect, would now be deadly to a politician's prospects. Can you imagine someone who spoke like FDR or W. Averill Harriman could be elected to any public office today?
Thanks for the info. You should consider quitting your day job and going into column writing yourself.
My family moved to Colorado before my first birthday, , and I've lived here ever since. However, I grew up surrounded by native New Yorkers. So, although I mostly sound like Colorado, if you ask me about dogs, salt, coffee, you'll hear just a hint of the NYC accent that I picked up from my mother and grandparents.
A relative of mine raised in Oregon was once interviewed on a British radio show while she was living in London. When I told her she sounded "so American" she was uncertain whether to feel complimented or offended. I was merely referring to her lack of any detectable accent. She reminded me of a typical phone tree voice, sounding non-descript.
Great article in the Wash. Post, Jay. Fun, interesting. Michiganders indeed have an accent. The farther north you go in the state, the people can sound like Canadians, where the "o" is very rounded, and "about" sounds like " a boot."
Michigan? Accents? No tip of the hat to the best Michigan accent? The Yooper accent of course!
I lived in Philadelphia for 2 years (speaking of regional accents!) and fielded many questions about my Michigan accent, as in, "What is that??" My daughter fit right in in Chicago when in college and gets questioned now that she lives in DC. I think she is starting to assimilate there. I caught her pronouncing a vowel differently last time she was home.
Delightful!
I’ve written some on
this and I’ll send you an example
Coming from Georgia and then
New York I could certainly hear the Michigan accent. Soon after I first arrived in Ann Arbor, I remember meeting a Mr. Chantson whose name turned out to be Johnston.
I have largely trained my Southern accent out of most of my speech (out of professional self-defense in my pre-retirement life). But I’m about to head to a 100th birthday celebration for my Aunt Ruth, and once I get around my cousins…
On the topic of language, if I could have one wish, it would be that "AF" and all its variants would immediately and permanently disappear.