"Authentic pronunciation"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Another element that generally muddies such discussions (though not here) is
the assumption that speakers with the most distinguishable dialect
characteristics are the most representative of their entire area.  (It
depends what you mean by "representative.")

One thinks, for example, of Leo Gorcey, Slim Pickens, (from California, but
never mind that), and Jane Curtin (from Massachusetts, but never mind that)
as Mrs. Loopner.

BTW, while watching a Bowery Boys movie the other day, I was impressed by
the likelihood that Mel Blanc's voicings of Bugs Bunny and Sylvester the Cat
were inspired by the voices of Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall, respectively.

JL
On Sun, Oct 3, 2010 at 12:38 PM, Alice Faber <faber at haskins.yale.edu> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Alice Faber <faber at HASKINS.YALE.EDU>
> Organization: Haskins Laboratories
> Subject:      Re: "Authentic pronunciation"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On 10/3/10 12:16 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> > At 10/3/2010 10:31 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:
> >> The stereotypical Minnesota pronunciation is that of the Coen
> >> Brothers' "Fargo", as e.g. in the speech of Sheriff Gunderson
> >> (Frances McDormand). Hardly among the "least-accented"! (Garrison
> >> Keillor also portrays various lexical and phonological idiosyncracies
> >> of Minnesota English on his Prairie Home Companion, and at one point
> >> a semi-serious spin-off book appeared, Howard Mohr's _How to Speak
> >> Minnesotan_. Could be worse, you betcha!
> >
> > I'll have to rent and re-view the movie. (Keillor I discounted as
> > adopting various odd local dialects, as does Rose on "Golden
> > Girls".) I seem to have moved the center of unaccented American
> > English too far north and west.
> >
>
> I think we may be confusing two issues here--the quasi-scientific
> identification of which dialect/accent is the least-accented variety of
> American English and the folk-belief implicit in statements of "we don't
> speak with an accent here". Clearly the former would consideration
> wouldn't home in on Fargo, but the latter might well.
>
> --
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> Alice Faber                                       faber at haskins.yale.edu
> Haskins Laboratories                            tel: (203) 865-6163 x258
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