Theatre Speech (was: Flapping to another Topic)

[Bob Fitzke]

Ms. E.

Can you steer me to a book that explains the various terms you used in this
message? Thanks.

Bob

Nancy Elliott wrote:

> Theatre (and theater) vocal coaches use the term "Transatlantic" for a
> conservative variety of stage speech still taught to stage actors today. It
> preserves many low-back vowel distinctions, has the voiced-voiceless W
> distinction, is either non-rhotic or prescribed as having "weakly
> articulated R", and has a released instead of flapped intervocalic /t/. It
> is called "Transatlantic" because, in the words of one prominent voice
> trainer, it is "the kind of speech that might be heard somewhere in the
> Atlantic Ocean exactly halfway between New York City and London" (Robert L.
> Hobbs, 1986, Teach Yourself Transatlantic: Theatre Speech for Actors, p. 6).
> Having examined some actor speech training manuals, I think that
> Transatlantic most closely resembles non-rhotic Eastern New England speech
> with the addition of British intervocalic /t/.
>
> Nancy C. Elliott
> Southern Oregon University
> ----------
> >From: "Aaron E. Drews" <aaron at LING.ED.AC.UK>
> >To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >Subject: Re: Flapping to another Topic
> >Date: Sat, Jan 22, 2000, 3:03 AM
> >
>
> >> Do linguists not use the term "mid-Atlantic"?  I've heard it very often,
> >> especially among actors.
> >
> > It's been used on this list a couple of time before.  I know it was in a
> > recent book, on phonology or acquisition, although I don't have the title
> > handy.  It's part of the title of my thesis.
> >
> > The term 'mid-Atlantic' is in use by linguists as well as non-linguists.
> > How much currency it has in either sphere, though, is another question.
> >
> > --Aaron
> >
> > ________________________________________________________________________
> > Aaron E. Drews                               The University of Edinburgh
> > http://www.ling.ed.ac.uk/~aaron      Departments of English Language and
> > aaron at ling.ed.ac.uk                    Theoretical & Applied Linguistics
> >
> >  "MERE ACCUMULATION OF OBSERVATIONAL EVIDENCE IS NOT PROOF"
> >   --Death
> >