plausible?

[Pafra & Scott Catledge]

When I was in high school in Winter Park, FL, I auditioned for a position as
commentator on high school news at the local college radio station.  I
easily recognized the lady handling the auditions from her strong New
England accent.  When I had finished the audition, she proclaimed that mine
was the most expressive and by far the best audition that she had ever
heard.  I asked whether I had the job and she quickly responded, "Oh, no!
You have a Southern accent and we cannot allow anyone on the radio who has
an accent.  I responded quietly with a smile, "Just what do you think that
you have, you ignorant bigot?"  Since then, neither hell nor high water nor
a doctorate in linguistics has modified my Southern accent.
----- Original Message -----
From: Donald M. Lance <LanceDM at MISSOURI.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, October 05, 1999 3:41 PM
Subject: Re: plausible?


> Andrea Vine, Tue, Oct 5, 1999, said:
>
> >I must admit that I would
> >have some trouble listening to the news in San Fernando Valley, Bronx,
Boston,
> >or South Texan.
>
> Then you haven't listened to Dan Rather, from Wharton TX.  The Coastal
Bend
> accent is there in spite of all his training at Sam Houston State
> University.
>
> Walter Cronkite also has Texas sounds, having moved there at the age of
10.
>
> And Tom Brokaw certainly has an Inland North accent.
>
> And Barbara Walters is completely devoid of regionalism, isn't she?
>
> Note that I'm using "accent" to refer to vowel-consonant-syllable system.
>
> It's the register than makes the difference, rather than underlying
regional
> (or other) accent.
>
> > Where there's a myth, there's often a fact.  I suspect that the fact
> > underlying the myth of homogenization of American dialects is that
certain
> > public-use registers like tv and radio announcing, acting,
> > professionals-on-the-job, etc are sounding more alike.  Some people,
like
> > English teachers, use this register all the time.  But out there in the
> > trenches where the buck hits the road (to mix metaphors) people choose
and
> > apparently prefer to maintain and promote regional, socio-economic, and
> > ethnic variation.
>
> DMLance