Another book question

[Wilson Gray]

On Oct 23, 2004, at 1:20 PM, Dale Coye wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dale Coye <Dalecoye at AOL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Another book question
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> In a message dated 10/23/2004 12:08:52 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> kurtpatt4 at NETSCAPE.NET writes:
> Is anyone out there familiar with this book on dialects:
>
> American Dialects: A Manual for Actors, Directors, and Writers
> by Lewis Herman
> I looked at this book back in my grad school days. Herman and Herman's
> book
> is, first of all, on the old side--about 50-60 years old now.  It is
> also full
> of annoying stereotypes about ethnic groups--Scots are dour, stingy,
> etc.  But
> I remember the dialect information being helpful for actors in
> representing
> in layman's terms some of the salient features of various dialects,
> with even
> an attempt to get at intonation by reproducing phrases on a musical
> staff once
> in a while.    This is a book for actors trying to sound somewhat
> Irish, or
> French, or whatever, and there is no nuance to it (e.g., any attempt to
> distinguish the various Scottish dialects).  I can't recall what help
> it would give,
> if any to writers.
>
> Dale Coye
> The College of NJ
>

I've seen this, I think. Is it more booklet-like as opposed to being a
major tome? In any case, I think that Harvard's Widener Library has a
copy that may be available to you via interlibrary loan. You can search
for it by using this URL:

<http://lms01.harvard.edu:80/F?func=file&file_name=find-
b&local_base=pub>

-Wilson Gray