America has dialects too

[sydnie7]

I have noticed that we in the States also seem to be able to understand the different accents better (accents, not languages), probably because we are a nation of immigrants.

When I was in the Army, in the clinic there was a Sergeant from Puerto Rico and one of the people working for her was from Korea. I had no problems understanding either of them, but they had a real hard time talking to each other.

Oh, yeah. Found myself in a Mexican restaurant one evening, here in Southern California, with a Mancunian*. He and the waiter were both speaking English, but I had to translate in both directions!




* Native of Manchester, England

[Bigkahuna]

I was once in a very nice Chinese restaurant in Belfast, N. Ireland. The Chinese waiters there had the thickest Irish accents I ever heard, and they served chips with the food instead of rice.

[ohiopiper]

About the Kings English being used in some parts of the U.S., it's the appalachians. Quite a few of the still isolated communities (yes, they still exist) have a strong oral tradition and the words haven't changed much. A common word is "holpen", pronounced like "hopin'". It's an archaic english word for "help" as in "you holp me, I holp you, we're holpen him". There are others, but that's the word that started the official linguistic study by the college I can't remenber now.

[Bugbear]

About the Kings English being used in some parts of the U.S., it's the appalachians. Quite a few of the still isolated communities (yes, they still exist) have a strong oral tradition and the words haven't changed much. A common word is "holpen", pronounced like "hopin'". It's an archaic english word for "help" as in "you holp me, I holp you, we're holpen him". There are others, but that's the word that started the official linguistic study by the college I can't remenber now.

That may very well be what I was thinking of, ohiopiper. I heard about it in a college course about twelve-fifteen years ago... I can't even remember which course it was, but I do remember there being a video where they were interviewing these people etc. I majored in English, so it could have been any number of courses including linguistics.

[macwilkin]

About the Kings English being used in some parts of the U.S., it's the appalachians. Quite a few of the still isolated communities (yes, they still exist) have a strong oral tradition and the words haven't changed much. A common word is "holpen", pronounced like "hopin'". It's an archaic english word for "help" as in "you holp me, I holp you, we're holpen him". There are others, but that's the word that started the official linguistic study by the college I can't remenber now.

A similar theory holds about the dialect spoken in the Ozark Mountains; in particular the late noted folklorist Vance Randolph epoused it in his book Down in the Holler. However, not all academics agree with Randolph. I'll see what I can turn up on this, as I discuss Ozarks dialect in my Ozarks geography class.

The biggest problem I have with it is that the Ozarks and Appalachians were not settled by Elizabethan English, but by the Ulster-Scots.

Regards,

Todd

[Nick]

Unfortunately, they leave out a lot of big ones (Boston, Yupper, Upper New England, etc.) but it gives you a good overview.

I read an article by a linguist claiming that there is no Yooper accent, that it's a cultural myth created by Yoopers and people from the northern Mitten, Wisconsin, and Minnesota to emphasize the 'otherness' of Yoopers. My guess is this guy never actually has been to the U.P. There's a definite accent, which gets stronger the closer to the Keweenaw you get. All the other Yanks and the Canadians can hear it. A lot of the Brits think I'm Canadian at first.

[sathor]

After living in A2, I know there's a yupper accent, and i bet they know there's a troll accent as well.

[Bugbear]

I read an article by a linguist claiming that there is no Yooper accent, that it's a cultural myth created by Yoopers and people from the northern Mitten, Wisconsin, and Minnesota to emphasize the 'otherness' of Yoopers. My guess is this guy never actually has been to the U.P. There's a definite accent, which gets stronger the closer to the Keweenaw you get. All the other Yanks and the Canadians can hear it. A lot of the Brits think I'm Canadian at first.

That's crazy! It must have been an "armchair linguist" writing the artical.

[McFarkus]

My mother was from Virginia, and whenever she spent time down there she would come back with a thick drawl. I took an online test (which I can't locate right now) which places your dialect regionally based on word choice and pronunciation. I came out Midwest with a strong flavor of the Virginia.

[Jack Daw]

I have lived in and traveled the U.S. south and southwest. There are more southern dialects than there are southern and southwestern states.