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There are so many grammatical errors in the way they speak in the south. Southerners get mad and complain about the rest of the country making fun of them, etc. Well most of it is well deserved, it's not just the accent, but not being able to speak properly really looks bad.
If you've ever studied linguistics, you'd have a slightly different take on "accent" and "proper." By your way of seeing this, the English would be looking at Americans as atrocious hicks who can't speak properly for the life of them.
Regional dialects evolve. There is no more reason to call a southern accent "improper" than there is to call a mid-western neutral accent "improper" or a California accent "improper." It's only been the past couple of generations that we haven't had such linguistic isolates that develop regionally in relative isolation. That southern accent developed over many generations just as whatever "accent" you have did. None of us speak "proper English" in the truest sense. What has come to be known as a "neutral" American dialect is simply another dialect of the English language. There are hundreds of dialects just in the UK. Many here in the US. And a bunch in other areas.
Which is the "proper" accent? Well, my accent, of course.
Another related issue is this: I can guarantee that very, very few of us speak the way we write. Stop and listen to your informal language with a friend sometime. Pay attention to the way you annunciate the sounds and the way you almost certainly run those sounds together and "abbreviate" the full words. The way you don't speak in fully grammatical sentences. Then go read properly written English. There will be a difference in 99.9% of the people out there. In fact, I'll bet you if you heard someone out in public speaking the way formal English is written, you'd likely make fun of him/her -- or at least consider it stilted and awkward-sounding. If you watched a movie where the actors all spoke full, proper, grammatically correct English sentences, you'd turn it off and call it a cheap, unnatural, unrealistic movie.
I think we can all agree on a uniform written language. But, I at least, would never agree that there is (or should be) a completely uniform accent or dialect. It's simply not realistic, in a linguistic sense.
Last edited by ChrisC; 01-27-2013 at 07:50 PM..
Reason: grammar
There are so many grammatical errors in the way they speak in the south. Southerners get mad and complain about the rest of the country making fun of them, etc. Well most of it is well deserved, it's not just the accent, but not being able to speak properly really looks bad.
I don't think the accent is the problem, just the grammatical errors. "Where y'at?" doesn't sound any worse to me than "Where are you at?"
If you've ever studied linguistics, you'd have a slightly different take on "accent" and "proper." By your way of seeing this, the English would be looking at Americans as atrocious hicks who can't speak properly for the life of them.
Regional dialects evolve. There is no more reason to call a southern accent "improper" than there is to call a mid-western neutral accent "improper" or a California accent "improper." It's only been the past couple of generations that we haven't had such linguistic isolates that develop regionally in relative isolation. That southern accent developed over many generations just as whatever "accent" you have did. None of us speak "proper English" in the truest sense. What has come to be known as a "neutral" American dialect is simply another dialect of the English language. There are hundreds of dialects just in the UK. Many here in the US. And a bunch in other areas.
Which is the "proper" accent? Well, my accent, of course.
You actually kind of missed my point. I pointed to the fact that many southerners suffer from stereotypes based mostly on their accents, which is not actually fair to them, because you can still speak properly with a different accent. The key issued I'm getting at here is that they do not speak properly, not all of course, but a good majority of the southern people I know speak in sentences that are not even close to proper English. For the life of me, I can't think of any examples off the top of my head except for their use of the word "Fixing". If I am able to recall any of them, I'll insert them into this thread and you'll see what I mean.
And there are plenty of English people who speak very poor English themselves. Like you've stated, English is a language, not just an accent.
You actually kind of missed my point. I pointed to the fact that many southerners suffer from stereotypes based mostly on their accents, which is not actually fair to them, because you can still speak properly with a different accent. The key issued I'm getting at here is that they do not speak properly, not all of course, but a good majority of the southern people I know speak in sentences that are not even close to proper English. For the life of me, I can't think of any examples off the top of my head except for their use of the word "Fixing". If I am able to recall any of them, I'll insert them into this thread and you'll see what I mean.
And there are plenty of English people who speak very poor English themselves. Like you've stated, English is a language, not just an accent.
Bless your heart, you just need a Southern dictionary.
I saw this today in an article linked in another thread.
Quote:
[Seth Green] was nominated for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his work on the Cartoon Network's Robot Chicken; he lost to Maurice LaMarche of Futurama. Ironically, the ginger-haired star, who's also the voice of Chris Griffin on Fox's Family Guy, met his wife while working together on Robot Chicken.
I'm trying to figure out what that second sentence has to do with irony. Even if "ironic" did mean "oddly fitting," as it is typically misused, it still doesn't fit.
I'm trying to figure out what that second sentence has to do with irony. Even if "ironic" did mean "oddly fitting," as it is typically misused, it still doesn't fit.
I wonder how much writing could be improved with fewer adverbs.
One c-d forum has two great threads on its first page right now - one of them is someone looking for a "plummer" and the other post is looking for a "marital arts place" for their kids.
I guess one has a plum tree and the other wants to prepare their kids for married life.
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