Bilingual in Europe versus USA

On Fri, 25 Aug 2006 21:21:14 -0400, Karen Selwyn
wrote:

spamfree wrote:


No, absolutely not. I will probably forget some but here are the major
language variations in the USA: West Coast, Southern, Northeastern,
Northern, and Midwestern.

There is a New Orlean accent that sounds identical to a Brooklyn accent!
Blew me away the first time I heard it in the documentary AMERICAN
TONGUES.

I had a friend from New orleans years ao who had the accent. I
was also astounded.

Clarinetist Pete Fountain is (was?) from New Orleans and had that
accent.

Incidentally, this documentary is pure pleasure as it explores
the stereotypes about regional accents and class accents. You haven't
lived until you've heard Texans trying to pronounce that well-know New
York-Yiddishism "shlep."

Apparently, my enthusiasm is shared. Here's a quote from Allen Metcalf,
Secretary of the American Dialect Society: "The best visual presentation
I have ever seen about American English."

Is this on TV or what?


************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

On Fri, 25 Aug 2006 21:26:08 -0400, Karen Selwyn
wrote:

Hatunen wrote:

What is a "neutral" accent?

One in which all traces of the place origin of the speaker have
disappeared.

The voice of the person who recorded the electronic bits of sound for
the phone directory is an example of a neutral voice. In another post, I
mentioned AMERICAN TONGUES. There's a segment in this documentary about
the woman whose voice is used in 411 information phone calls. She was
selected because her voice showed no evidence of regional pronunciation.

Actually, that means she would have a blended Midwestern accent.

************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

On Fri, 25 Aug 2006 19:27:13 -0600, "spamfree"
wrote:

Indian subcontinent English, isn't it?

I find that accent as difficult to understand as the Southern USA.

Caribbean English, mon?

If we accept that as an proper version of English, we might as well
accept that Jive / Black English is a proper language.

"Oh stewardess, I speak Jive." Woman in Airplane.

That was no woman; that was June Cleaver.

************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

On Fri, 25 Aug 2006 21:13:51 +0200, wrote:

On Fri, 25 Aug 2006 11:21:18 +0100, Keith Anderson
wrote:

On Fri, 25 Aug 2006 10:51:21 +0100, "Ian F."
wrote:

"Dave Frightens Me" wrote in
message

Come on, American is English! It's the same language with a few
different nouns, and a different accent!

And some appalling verbs, like "gotten".

Forget/forgot/forgotten ?

Oddly no one says "I've gotten to do that."

I've heard that. It means "I've had the opportunity to do that."

===
Steve
Shoreline, Washington USA

25 Aug 2006, 2157 PDT

On Fri, 25 Aug 2006 21:17:04 +0200, wrote:

On Fri, 25 Aug 2006 09:54:44 -0700, Hatunen wrote:

On Fri, 25 Aug 2006 10:51:21 +0100, "Ian F."
wrote:

"Dave Frightens Me" wrote in
message

Come on, American is English! It's the same language with a few
different nouns, and a different accent!

And some appalling verbs, like "gotten". And leaving out prepositions,
as
in "A couple Eurostar questions".

Actually, "gotten" was retained in American from the British of a
couple centuries ago, while the Brits went on to change to the
use of the appalling "got" in its place. American English retains
quite a few old Britticisms now deplored by Brits who ought to
know better.

The Italians HATE the verb get. If I want to confuse someone, I simply
use it with phrasal verbs in every sentence. They quickly revert to
Italian, which is what I prefer to speak with them!

It sounds as though the phrase "get while the gettin's good" would confuse
a lot of Italians. :-)

===
Steve
Shoreline, Washington USA

25 Aug 2006, 2200 PDT

"Sarah Banick" wrote in message
...

When I was in journalism school 20 years ago, those studying PR had to
write just as much as those studying print. Based on what I've seen in
the last few years, I don't think that's still true.

I was in PR (and still do a little) for many years, which is where I honed
my writing skills. Some of the news releases I see - from reputable,
blue-chip financial and corporate agencies - make me vomit. I don't know
where these people have gotten their writing skills from, but whoever
taught them ought to have been shot Thursday.

Ian

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...

And some significant improvements, such as draft instead of draught,

Different meanings - 'draft' as in a proposed version of a document,
'draught' as in a gust of wind etc.

and learned instead of learnt.

I have never used 'learnt' - it's incorrect.

Ian

Hatunen writes:

Old languages are generally much more complex that modern
languages. Certainly, Old English is more complex than Modern
English.

Languages grow simple over time, if they remain in use. Chinese has
been in use for quite some time, and it is quite simple--apart from
the huge mistake made with respect to the written language.

--
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Hatunen writes:

That doesn't look like past tense to me.

It looks like a present perfect to me, and it uses the past participle
of get. What would you call it?

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Ian F. writes:

Different meanings - 'draft' as in a proposed version of a document,
'draught' as in a gust of wind etc.

Draught is an alternate (and earlier) spelling for draft.

I have never used 'learnt' - it's incorrect.

http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexper...pelling/learnt

I don't use it, but it's not incorrect.

--
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