read slower and then read again until you understand what I said
random thoughts Send a noteboard - 29/07/2015 08:14:19 PM
Modern UK accents do not sound as muck like accents from Victorian UK as modern Southern accents do. That really is not that hard to understand or surprising if you think about it. The people in the American South were Victorian Brits when they came over and being more isolated the their cousin back across the pond it is hardly surprising they have less drift.
View original postMy bad; I should stop overestimating people, but it will not happen again: Promise. 
You would have to understand them to make any accurate estimate all. 
View original post
View original postI said the modern southern accent was close to Victorian English, probably much closer than what is poke in England today.
View original postYou also said "the" Southern dialect is the "largest" English one, which is dubious at best. When that doubt was noted, you doubled down by switching the topic from dialect to ACCENT (which is a different thing) and saying the Southern accent (which ONE?!) is most like Victorian English and thus probably most like British English (good luck convincing anyone outside or even most WITHIN the US that the British speak "accented US English.)and modern Englishare : ONE Southern dialect.
Accent and dialect are similar with accent being a subgroup to dialect. Dialect would have been the correct term and the American southern dialect.
Just because a people don't like the idea makes it no less true. The modern British non-rhetoric accent did come about until it became fashionable in the 1800s. If you spoke to a Brit in 1750 he would have sounded different but he would have sound more like he was from North Carolina then Liverpool. These are simple facts but feel free to present facts to contradict me.
View original post
View original postBut yes it does all come down to how you subdivide the accents and I went with what linguist say but you go with whatever makes you happy. Just treat it the same way you do politics and religion.
View original postWhen discussing "ya'll" v. "you guys" etc. it comes down to dialect; accent is a(n irrelevant) question of how to pronounce words like "tomato" that are spelled and used the same in all English dialects. It might be wise to consult Wikipedias authoritarian lingual scholars further before proceeding further here. Either way, while majorities on half of all continents use English as a native language (and the majority of a fourth speaks it,) "ya'll" is rarely found outside the Southern US (ironically, the biggest exception is in urban US areas, largely due to the Great Migration from the South.) In terms of accents (once again) only ONE of many Southern accents is even remotely like Victorian OR modern British English, and that particular "Southern" accent is closer to New Englands, Britains and South Africas than to ANY other Southern one.
View original postJust treat "dialect" and "accent" like "patriotism" and "proof," declaring them redefined however serves your preferred worldview.
Y'all is new creation that did not become commonly used until the 1800s so it is hardly surprising that is used mostly in the US but there is a lot more to the American southern dialect than that one contraction.
Y'all, you guys, yous guys, or hey you all?
- 25/07/2015 05:38:44 PM
967 Views
Y'all may be the American South's greatest gift to the English language.
- 27/07/2015 12:14:47 AM
599 Views
"Hey, you guys!" is only correct if you are Rita Moreno
- 27/07/2015 04:15:07 AM
568 Views
Funny....
- 29/07/2015 12:13:35 AM
656 Views
That is because your fascist indoctrination prohibits viewing PBS' communist indoctrination
- 29/07/2015 01:54:30 AM
680 Views
- 29/07/2015 01:54:30 AM
680 Views
well since language is a democracy and the souther dialetic is the largest Y'all wins
- 27/07/2015 02:07:22 PM
727 Views
The Southern dialect is the largest by what metric?
- 27/07/2015 06:26:20 PM
709 Views
It also the accent most similar to what Victorian brits would have spoken
- 27/07/2015 07:45:09 PM
644 Views
Whoa, now: The PIEDMONT accent may be closest to Received Pronunciation, but is not the whole South
- 28/07/2015 12:37:56 AM
719 Views
I don't make the catagories but all the southern accents tend to be close *NM*
- 28/07/2015 02:12:15 PM
466 Views
Except, as you noted, Virginias accent is closer to Englands (and New Englands, and South Africas)
- 28/07/2015 11:00:46 PM
684 Views
that is not what I said
- 29/07/2015 02:14:49 PM
702 Views
Sorry, I credited you w/knowing the Deep South, Appalachia and TX sound nothing like any UK accents
- 29/07/2015 07:42:21 PM
644 Views
read slower and then read again until you understand what I said
- 29/07/2015 08:14:19 PM
916 Views
"The people in the American South were Victorian Brits"?! I must have read that too fast
- 29/07/2015 10:39:08 PM
651 Views
Erm. Not really sure what you're saying here...
- 29/07/2015 11:35:26 PM
616 Views
Would "UK English" have been better?
- 30/07/2015 10:47:53 PM
649 Views
Not really.
- 31/07/2015 07:30:41 AM
610 Views
Like in most things Joel is wrong. The US has the larget population of English speakers
- 31/07/2015 03:20:51 PM
713 Views
As in most things, you admit failure to do your homework yet still claim absolute certainty
- 10/08/2015 02:30:34 AM
790 Views
David Crystal estimates proficient non-natives outnumber native English speakers 3:1
- 10/08/2015 02:45:58 AM
596 Views
what is not now considerd a proper British accent is called Received Pronunciation
- 31/07/2015 03:11:36 PM
874 Views
I already explicitly referenced RP at least twice in response to you (also: Still not a DIALECT)
- 10/08/2015 02:33:17 AM
883 Views
Actually, since you got me thinking, please enlighten us: What would you call YOUR English dialect?
- 30/07/2015 11:19:06 PM
708 Views
Sorry I did not put enough research into what I consider trivia but the point is stil valid
- 30/07/2015 01:30:39 PM
683 Views
Ok they sounded more like the British at the beggining of the Victorian era
- 30/07/2015 01:34:15 PM
716 Views
Trivial or not, absolute assertions absent even cursory verification invite trouble
- 30/07/2015 11:12:01 PM
690 Views
The Brits didn't change theway they spoke until the 19th century.
- 31/07/2015 02:50:23 PM
741 Views
Every land has always constantly changed how it speaks, RP was mostly complete by the 17th century &
- 10/08/2015 02:33:03 AM
676 Views
Who says "yous guys"? Seriously?
- 27/07/2015 07:56:28 PM
637 Views
Depends, are trying to sound cool, like a douche, or Joe Pesci? *NM*
- 29/07/2015 07:12:28 PM
515 Views