English accent

[George Thompson]

"It would never occur to a Canadien to describe a Frenchman as
speaking French with a French accent."

My impression is that the Quebecois still feel that their version of
French is a barbarous regional dialect, a feeling that we Yanks lost
about our version of English about a century ago.

If "Australian accent" or "American accent" are valid descriptions,
then so in "English accent", surely.  At this stage of the dispersion
of English around the world, the Limeys have no right to suppose that
their version of the language is the touchstone.

Of course, speaking of "an English accent" is as inadequate as
speaking of an "Australian accent" or "American accent", since there
are regional variations, but most of us Yanks only recognize three
English accents (we think): Oxbridge, cockney and all the others.  But
then Limeys can't be counted on to tell the difference between
regional U. S. accents, either.

I once heard Malachi McCourt complaining about casting directors, who,
he said, were always young women named Melissa.  He had responded to a
casting call for an actor to play a beefy, red-faced middle-aged
Irishman.  There are some, including Malachi, who would say that this
is a description of Malachi himself.  When he read his lines the
casting director squealed "What sort of a dialect are you speaking?"
he said, "it's not a dialect, it's an accent, and it's the accent I
learned growing up in Cork."  He didn't get the part.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

****

 Many
> years ago,
> > Jacques Barzun, discussing cultural imperialism, wrote that only
> Americans> had the gall to speak of the English as speaking
> English with an English
> > accent. It would never occur to a Canadien to describe a
> Frenchman as
> > speaking French with a French accent.
> > >
> > >-Wilson
> >
>
> I don't remember who it's attributed to, but there's a famous quip
> of an
> actor responding to a comment on his English accent--"Ma'am, I do
> not have
> an English accent, I AM English."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org