Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I think what I mean is that one should consider either holding onto one's native dialect/accent even if they move, or fully embracing another place's if they are planning on setting down roots there.
I don't like it. Many of us would be speaking in English accents, if native dialects were preserved. Or, if customs were preserved, we'd look like we did a hundred years ago. Let progress take its natural course.
I mean, it did answer your question . But seriously, how would you even go about doing this? Are you saying, for instance, that those born in the South should artificially (if they don't naturally) speak with a Southern accent just to "preserve" it?
I think he's saying they should continue speaking with it when/if they leave the south.
I think he's saying they should continue speaking with it when/if they leave the south.
Yes, but my question is: How do you do that, unless you do it artificially? Most people just speak the way they speak without any thought to it. If you move to a new region, you may lose your accent due to the influence of others around you. It just seems like asking those who move to a new region to be a caricature of themselves.
I can't imagine our children would be appreciative of this...talking differently when they move across the country for college. Blending in is important to some, at that age. Also, progress is progress. Trying to stop it, seems archaic.
Well, not all cultural changes are "good". People are becoming increasingly attached to their phones and social media, increasingly partisan and unwilling to associate with people of different beliefs, increasingly inattentive, increasingly acceptive of ghosting and treating their friends as expendable. This is all documented and making us more stressed out and dissatisfied. We should halt that kind of "progress" as much as we can.
The thing with the loss of regional accents is that, as you say, there are real benefits that we may be overlooking. It eliminates a source of bullying and lets us see people from historically marginalized regions like the South more as our equals rather than people we should condescend to. So in this case, the immense societal effort that would be required to maintain regional dialects probably just isn't worth the questionable overall benefits.
Well, not all cultural changes are "good". People are becoming increasingly attached to their phones and social media, increasingly partisan and unwilling to associate with people of different beliefs, increasingly inattentive, increasingly acceptive of ghosting and treating their friends as expendable. This is all documented and making us more stressed out and dissatisfied. We should halt that kind of "progress" as much as we can.
The thing with the loss of regional accents is that, as you say, there are real benefits that we may be overlooking. It eliminates a source of bullying and lets us see people from historically marginalized regions like the South more as our equals rather than people we should condescend to. So in this case, the immense societal effort that would be required to maintain regional dialects probably just isn't worth the questionable overall benefits.
I know, full well, that not all changes are "good." I agree with your first paragraph, completely. And, your second, actually. All changes aren't good, as you stated, but trying to stop "progress" is impossible. I would love to change a lot of things, but it's not going to happen. Things will just keep rolling along, for better or worse. I don't think maintaining dialects is important, or beneficial.
It may be a nice idea, but I really don't think it would be possible. Languages and accents only survive if their adherents are at least somewhat isolated. You would have to create some sort of special status in a geographic area, like Quebec. Even Cajun French is dying out.
I was curious about something similar for Missouri, and read that as recently as the 80's there were still a small handful of elderly French speakers in some small towns in the eastern Ozarks. All those people are now almost certainly gone. Not sure they could have ever been saved.
Conquerors of various ancient empires forcing their language on you is not the same as what I'm talking about.
But you still haven't answered how you would accomplish this. People don't consciously speak a certain way. They tend to pick up the speech patterns of the influences around them.
But you still haven't answered how you would accomplish this. People don't consciously speak a certain way. They tend to pick up the speech patterns of the influences around them.
Is that the question though? I'm asking for opinions on whether we should, not how to go about it. That's an entirely different question. And people can and do consciously speak in certain ways.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
. But seriously, how would you even go about doing this? Are you saying, for instance, that those born in the South should artificially (if they don't naturally) speak with a Southern accent just to "preserve" it?
