My Russian friends and other Russians whom I am introduced to have all noticed that, in the past year or so, I've started speaking with a Moscow accent. Now, my gf is from Moscow, and although she hasn't noticed a change in my intonation, HER friends and other people are now telling her that she's losing the slight NY accent she has when she speaks English. This evening, as we were leaving a party in Manhattan (pronounced mn-HAT-n if you live in the area), she said she's now started speaking English with "an Iowa accent" ...

So...here are some questions:

1. What accent do you speak in when you speak your native language? Don't tell me you don't have one, because everyone has an accent, even if it's the "standard" accent for the language in question.

North Texan. Born and raised there, and I can't really get rid of it. However, sometimes I slip into a London English variety, because I've spent so much time there. My accent is rather confusing, but mostly North Texan.

2. Do you mispronounce words because of your accent? I'm not talking about simple variant pronunciation. I'm talking about the way people in Boston say the word "career" like "Korea" and "Korea" like "career" (or, for example, the way Billy Joel sings about "Brender & Eddie" in "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" ).

Well, to name a few...I've been told my pronunciation of orange is strange. Apparently I pronounce it arn-ge. No idea why. Also, us Texans prefer not to mispronounce, just to make up, and therefore we have such words that are unique only to us, such as hankerin', y'all, and howdy.

3. Do you speak any other languages fluently enough to have a distinctive local accent in that language? For example, my Moscow accent, my friend's Parisian accent when he speaks French, etc.

Yes. Croatian, French, and Swahili all find me slipping into accents. My French accent is also Parisian, distinctly, and my Croatian accent I picked up from my husband, who is from Northwest Croatia, but in the country, so it's a sort of subdued Rijeka accent. My Swahili is the hardest one to place as far as an accent goes, but I've been told I sound Kenyan, specifically the capital Nairobi.

4. Are any of your accents "looked down" upon? (For example, Cockney or similar accents in England, Algerian accents in French, Caucasus accents in Russian, Long Island accents in American English, etc., etc., etc. )

Yes, Texan is often looked down upon in modern American English.

5. As long as we're speaking about accents, are there any foreign accents which, when you hear your native language spoken in, turn you on/sound pretty ?

Croatian, Scottish, and almost anything European.

6. Are there any foreign accents which make your language sound awful?

I could probably think of some if I concentrated but I can't at the moment.

Okay, that's it. 'Twas a short survey.

Still good though.


Kate

Kan du se søppelkassen?

This message last edited by Rain Sedai on 4/25/2004 at 11:16:44 AM.

• Edit 1: 4/25/2004 11:13:36 AM
• Edit 2: 4/25/2004 11:16:44 AM