summary: Brit writing sf need New Orleans accent help

[Dan Goodman]

What he specifically asked for was Internet radio stations with good
samples of talk.  However, I suspect there are other useful resources.
Note:  rec.arts.sf.composition is the Usenet group devoted to writing
speculative fiction.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.composition
Subject: Re: Usage of thee, thou, etc.

In article <wfWP6tAG5Ja6IwvM at ntlworld.com>,
Supermouse  <Supermouse at hug.slut.org.uk> wrote:
>In article <B_Q96.672$eI2.219904 at ruti.visi.com>, Dan Goodman
><dsgood at visi.com> writes
>>More precisely, there are two major dialect areas in the South: Southern
>>and South Midlands (or Upper South -- depending on whether the linguist
>>applying the label considers it more closely related to North Midlands or
>>to Southern).
>
>Speaking of which, can anybody give me the url of an Internet-
>broadcasting radio station that will give me a handle on the sort of
>accent to be found in New Orleans?

If you give permission, I'll pass your query on to the American Dialect
Society mailing list.  It's quite possible that someone there will say
something like "There's the Ketcham archive of recordings of New Orleans
residents in London".

 There are recordings intended for actors who need to learn various
accents.  A US library in a largish city would have them; I don't know
about the UK.

One factor:  New Orleans's accent has a lot in common with the dialects of
New York City, Boston, and Baltimore -- possibly transmitted by boids or
ersters.  (Not the upperclass Boston accent, but the one most Bostonians
use.)  These cities have at least these things in common:  they're
seaports on the Atlantic, and they got large numbers of immigrants from
Ireland.  I don't know how much either of these has to do with the
similarities.

>I've searched for, and found, a multitude of stations so far but they
>either don't load, don't broadcast on the Internet or just do straight
>music with no talk. And, as I don't really know what I'm listening for
>I've been limited to stations in New Orleans itself to be on the safe
>side.
>
>I'll of course keep on searching, but any help with this would be
>appreciated greatly.

I would suggest trying to find someone from New Orleans to read your
manuscript, to see if you've got that accent right.

--
Dan Goodman
dsgood at visi.com
http://www.visi.com/~dsgood/index.html
Whatever you wish for me, may you have twice as much.