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When I first moved from the South to the Midwest, the Midwest dialect
did, indeed, sounds very "dialectical" to me. Specifically it
sounds as though people were talking through their noses. Also, the
"standard English" on the radio of national newscasters sounded
to me as though they were talking in the back of their throats. Isn't
what's labeled a dialect simply the speech of someone from a different
region? To my ear, the least "marked" American speech is found
in San Francisco. Robert.<br><br>
At 11:41 AM 3/29/2007, Kephart, Ronald wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite=""><font face="Times New Roman, Times">On
3/29/07 12:15 PM, "Alexandre" <enkerli@gmail.com>
wrote:<br><br>
</font>
<dl>
<dd>Why do Michiganders think they speak the most “correct” form of
English in <br>
<dd>the United States? This one sounds quite close to a comment made by a
<br>
<dd>Midwesterner (probably a Michigander, actually) in the movie American
<br>
<dd>Tongues
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0303637/" eudora="autourl"><</a>http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0303637/<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0303637/" eudora="autourl">></a>
. Can't remember the exact <br>
<dd>quote (maybe it's YouTubed) but the gist of it was that "In the Midwest, the <br>
<dd>way we speak is pretty boring." Yes, something close to Standard American <br>
<dd>English. But not as an elevated dialect of the language. More as an umarked <br>
<dd>variety with nothing fun to it.<br><br>
</dl><font face="Times New Roman, Times" color="#000080">Coincidentally, I just showed this film in my class. The speaker is from <br>
Ohio, and also describes his speech as “middle-of-the-road, straight out of <br>
the dictionary, no accents, no colloquialisms,” and so on. Of course as you <br>
suggest, the distinguishing feature of this dialect is that there are no <br>
“marked” features, such as you find in Appalachian, or African American, or <br>
some varieties of new York or New England. “Standard” English is really <br>
defined by what it lacks, rather than by what it actually is. If it lacks <br>
rules that tense the vowel in egg</i> or that delete r’s in park the car</i>, it’s <br>
more likely to sound “standard.”<br><br>
This semester by the way I’m struggling with an African American student who <br>
is one of the Black English deniers. She virtually took over my class to <br>
denounce our workbook’s suggestion that “Is it </i>a Miss Smith in this office?” <br>
means “Is there...</i>” She’s a non-traditional student in the College of <br>
Education, which means she is or is destined to be a teacher. We’re all <br>
doomed.<br><br>
Ron</font></blockquote></body>
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