Native American English accent

[Beverly Flanigan]

Yes, but it's also common (in Indian and non-Indian groups alike) in
Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, the Dakotas....  It ain't just
Canadian!  My Ohio students hear it in me after 30+ years away from
Minnesota.  Degree of raising of course varies; my nieces have it much more
than I do.  I've done research among the Lakota Sioux in South Dakota, and
there are some distinctive features in their speech, but their "Canadian
raising" is no different from that of the whites in the area.

At 03:19 PM 10/17/00 -0400, you wrote:
>My stepdaughter, who spent much of her childhood on a Sioux reservation in
>South Dakota, used to have a faintly Canadian accent (Raising).  When I
>questioned her, she said this was common in the Sioux speech there and
>might be the result of Canadian teacher and missionary presence.  This kind
>of influence could be found in other Native American groups as well,
>couldn't it?


_____________________________________________
Beverly Olson Flanigan         Department of Linguistics
Ohio University                     Athens, OH  45701
Ph.: (740) 593-4568              Fax: (740) 593-2967
http://www.cats.ohiou.edu/linguistics/dept/flanigan.htm