Singing in a dialect and "Authentic pronunciation"

Sat Oct 2 13:45:02 UTC 2010

My experience is that, beyond two or three stereotypical pronunciations in
each case, most people don't know what another dialect should sound like.

A fellow graduate student (from Georgia, I believe) once told me that I
didn't sound like a New Yorker because I didn't say "boid."   Another was
dismayed by my unfamiliar pronunciation of the O's in "Florida" and
"Oregon." She thought it was just a personal idiosyncracy.

I have a friend from middle Tennessee whose (very) Upper-South accent
was described by an English woman as "characteristically American."  This
statement is both true and false.

My wife's New York accent is rather more "typical" than mine (though she
doesn't say "boid" either). When she was living in a small town in
Tennessee, some people thought she was from "across the water."  (And no,
smart guys, they knew where New York is.)

Not everyone is a dialectician.  People are usually quite sensitive to bad
imitations of their own accents, however.

I can recall some English people decades ago remarking on Peter Sellers'
"marvelous" ability to mimic an "American" accent (as though there were just
one).  He was fairly good, actually, but once did a commercial (for an
airline, IIRC) in which he portrayed an American "businessman."  Every time,
however, he said "businessm'n."  This struck me as howlingly bad - so wrong
that I remember it forty years later. His director, however, apparently
never noticed.

Some actors of a later generation are indeed brilliant at dialects,
however.  I especially remember Londoner Emily Loyd as a Kentuckian girl in
_In Country_ (1988).  Real Kentuckians with linguistic training may have
found grounds to cavil, but she sounded perfectly authentic to me.  Mel
Gibson seems to have wowed 'em in Oz with his fake accent.

Then there are these guys:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128567769

I know I've heard some very credible fake accents, but I can't name any
other performers at the moment.  Of course, what I think credible may sound
execrable to somebody with a better ear.

Finally, singers who adopt fake accents may do it out of respect for the
song and the source rather than simply to show off.  The accent, even if
poorly reproduced, is part of the sound.

JL

On Sat, Oct 2, 2010 at 2:52 AM, Eric Nielsen <ericbarnak at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Eric Nielsen <ericbarnak at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Singing in a dialect and "Authentic pronunciation"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> There's an ongoing thread at this music (mostly harmonica) site,
> harp-l.org, concerning performers singing in dialects they were not
> born to.
>
>
>
> Using the search terms "authentic pronunciation" in the site archive will
> bring you to the thread listings:
>
>
>
>
> http://harp-l.org/mailman/mmsearch/harp-l?config=3Dharp-l&restrict=3D&exclu=
>
> de=3D&method=3Dand&format=3Dshort&sort=3Dscore&words=3Dauthentic+pronunciat=
> ion
>
>
>
>
>
> Here are some samples:
>
>
>
> "Yup, when i'm in the UK I get asked " wot part of Aussie 'r you from then"
> In the States they think I'm english.
>
> I remember years ago Brendan Power getting a laugh once by remarking after
> he had just sung his 'Onion Blues' on a Newzealand stage "Why do we all
> sin=
> g
> in American accents?"
>
> Maori rappers in NZ all sing like they come from inner city Stateside yet
> when they are being interviewed or whatever, out comes a broad kiwi accent.
>
> But hey,I have heard some singers at an Irish 'session' try to sound like
> they come from Dublin ;-)
>
> Rick
>
> in the land of fush an' chups"
>
>
>
> http://harp-l.org/mailman/htdig/harp-l/2010-September/msg01175.html
>
>
>
> "...Hearing non-Americans trying to do an American pronunciation is not a
> turnoff to me, though I must admit to absolutely never seeking out the
> musi=
> c
> of, say, Italian blues bands. Unless a band has something new to say, I'd
> rather hear the original.
>
>
>
> What absolutely kills a record for me is to hear a white American band
> playing well in the first few bars, followed by a white singer who tries to
> use English like a Black Mississippi man from 1930. I get the same feeling
> when I hear those horrible old Amos and Andy radio shows from the 1930's.
>
>
>
> I run away screaming, often leaving a Deifik-shaped hole in the drywall."
>
>
>
> http://harp-l.org/mailman/htdig/harp-l/2010-September/msg01058.html
>
>
>
> =93I have followed this thread with interest and some amusement. I guess
> it=
>  is
>
> a worldwide phenomenon.
>
> Here in Ireland singers who aspire to the 'big time' seem to think that it
>
> is necessary to sing in what they believe is an "American" accent.
>
> I silently applaud anyone I hear singing in their natural locally acquired
>
> voice: Dolores Keane or Frank Harte for example.
>
> As for non-native speaking guys singing in Gaelic (self included) Lets not
>
> go there!
>
> Beannachtai
>
> Aongus Mac Cana=94
>
>
>
> http://harp-l.org/pipermail/harp-l/2010-September/msg01188.html
>
>
>
> In the case of other performance artists, I have noticed that many actors
> have a command of dialects (?) that sounds very convincing to my ear. How
> many of the general public know that Hugh Laurie is British or didn=92t
> readily accept Cate Blanchett as American when she acted in =93The Gift=94
> =
> or
> =93The Shipping News=94.
>
>
>
> To paraphrase an old song, do you have to live the life you sing about in
> your song?
>
>
>
>
>
> Hope this is of interest to some,
>
>
>
> Eric
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

--
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------------------------------------------------------------
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