#also helps if you don't have a rhotic accent

[feeshies]

Me when anyone from the US calls me a yank: Uh, excuse me? Do you not hear the obvious southwest inflection in my voice? Do you know what a yankee even is? I've never even seen the Atlantic Ocean.

Me when anyone outside the US calls me a yank: Okay that's fair.

[dannyfm]

Welcome to New York {DANIEL SUTTON} !! They are a {33} year old {CIS MAN} who uses {HE/HIM} pronouns. They’re an {EMERGENCY NURSE PRACTITIONER} who has been in town for {NINE YEARS}. When looking at {DANIEL} you automatically think of {THE CRACKLE OF A RECORD PLAYING, A REMINDER THAT TENDERNESS IS A VIRTUE, FIDGETING HANDS} but that probably makes sense since they also remind you of {JACOB ANDERSON}. You can always hear {VIENNA} by {BILLY JOEL} coming from their place. Who knows what kind of trouble they’re going to get themselves into. [penny, 25, gmt, n/a]

fullname:  daniel rené sutton. nickname(s): danny ( his preferred choice ), dan. age:  thirty-three. birthday: november 12th. gender / pronouns:  cis man ,  he / him. orientation:  bisexual / biromantic. place of birth: new orleans, louisiana current residence: queens, new york. languages: english, french, spanish & asl. height: 5'8. personality: loyal, empathetic, obsessive, stubborn.

( tw ; car accident, drunk driver, injury, depression & ptsd. )

born in new orleans, daniel was primarily raised by his mother ( originally from baton rouge ) and sisters, as his father ( originally from queens ) travelled a lot for work.

his kind-hearted nature and seemingly tireless desire to help people made of his choice of nursing for a career unsurprising. daniel graduated at the top of his class in his bsn and started work in nola as soon as he could.

the relocation to queens around a year later was the first and really only truly impulsive decision danny ever made. he'd been thinking about moving out of louisiana whilst still studying, but figured he'd never be brave enough to do it. he'd joke the endless teasing from his sister about it was the motivator.

he settled in queens, discovering he loved it more than he could ever dream of. with the goal of becoming a nurse practitioner in mind and the solidification of his love for emergency medicine, he took the exam to become a certified emergency nurse and a handful of other certifications. maybe not a necessary step, but one he enjoyed doing -- it felt like progress.

the next step was to get his msn, something he opted to do online. ( TW ) was cycling home from a night shift one morning when he was hit by a drunk driver at a crossing. he woke a couple of days later to a shock ( and thinking that it was funny that someone who worked in emergency medicine would be surprised by his injuries ). daniel had been lucky, really. at least, that's what people said -- at the time he could only think that was an unbelievably cruel thing to say. his right leg had been amputated ; initially below the knee but complications arose and so he ended up an above knee amputee. otherwise, he was pretty much unscathed. a smattering of scars here and there the only other thing to show for his ordeal.

not unexpectedly, daniel was diagnosed with ptsd and had fallen into depression immediately following the accident and suffered during much of his recovery. he refused to even think about his life beyond, let alone work ; his msn was paused and he insisted he would never go back to it for a while. eventually and no doubt entirely thanks to the efforts of friends, family & the professionals around him daniel came round.

by no means have either of those things become a non-issue in his life ( the level of pain he's in & the prevalence of depression are inextricably linked ), but they have dissipated significantly and well, when all else fails… there’s always throwing yourself into work or looking after someone else when you don't want to deal with your own problems. ( TW END )

since the accident just under a year and a half ago, daniel has completed his msn and settled into his role as an enp and overjoyed with the achievement of his goal.

headcanons

daniel has an orange cat called sidney ( sid ) who is a rescue and probably his best bud.

accent is kind of mess. the nola tinge ( non-rhotic, th = d pronunciation) ) is definitely at the forefront, but it's also influenced by the accents of his family from other areas of louisiana and queens. danny is very soft-spoken, borderline mumbly ( kinda will lamontagne-esque if ur familiar with criminal minds asdfak ) but also very aware that this can make him even more difficult to understand so he def has a 'phone / work voice ' he uses to be clearer.

big good samaritan vibes. he has a particular set of skills and Will show up with an advanced medical kit ready to fix anything he can if need be. also BIG into music. plays piano, violin & guitar ( mostly acoustic bc that's his personal preference ) and secretly has a very nice voice but he'd probably actually drop dead if someone ever mentioned that.

probably an ambivert, but also shy as hell. he's definitely got a lot less shy since starting work just out of necessity but still prefers to blend into the background at social events and with people he doesn't know. it's something he's trying to work on. has a massive heart, his friendship is not hard to win but damn near impossible to shake off ( not least bc he knows he was sometimes an A+ asshole in recovery and anyone who stuck around through that deserves at least the same energy from him. )

wanted connections page. pinterest board.

literally everything pls. best friend, good friends, a bad / good influence who encourages him to socialise & get out of his comfort zone more, ex & present day crushes / flings, neighbours, flirtationship, exes & co workers.

[bonmonjour]

Spelling Reform VIII: More Vowels

As this is the post where I talk about the rest of the vowels, it's gonna be a long one. This one will have three parts: accents, digraphs, and rhotics.

I. Accents

Accent Aigu

The acute is used to mark traditional English "long vowels" i.e. the pronunciations that emerged out of the GVS. The example words given provide a good sense of how these 6 are used, along with the rule that since vowel "length" is now being marked with diacritics, the silent E does not need to be used and can be left out.

As for «ø», remember that this letter came into being to replace ⟨o⟩s that were pronounced like ⟨u⟩s. Unfortunately, the CMS keyboard I am using does not have a way to type barred O with an aigu, but luckily this usage pretty much only occurs root-finally (hence the #). You can see this long ø in words like «dø, whø, tuø» and a few more. One weird workaround I've had to implement is that the letter also makes a long sound before inflectional suffixes, as in «døing» and «whø's».

Accent Grave

The grave is used for "continental" long vowels, but this really only applies to the first three. Here too the rule is to delete an unnecessary silent E. This rule of accent + no silent E really helps clear up pronunciation, I've found. For example, until recently, I was pronouncing ⟨compline⟩ as /kɒm.plɪjn/, when in fact it's /kɒm.plɪn/; spelling it as «complin» would have left no ambiguity.

As for the last one, «ù», it doesn't exist in isolation, not really. It's an accepted variant of «ú» when the yod is dropped, but other than, its only role is to form digraphs used for French spellings, as I will elaborate on later. Finally, «ò» doesn't really exist either. There's no need to mark a continental long O since by chance, the current English long O already sounds near-identical. The only place where «ò» shows up is, again, in a digraph.

Accent Circonflex

The circumflex is one of two diacritics whose behaviors are lifted directly from French. Initially, I was struggling on how to represent French spellings in which several consonants are not pronounced. One one hand, I wanted to not change the spelling too much to the point of unrecognizability, but on the other, those consonants just aren't pronounced! The solution I settled on was to use an apostrophe to mark elision, along with the accent grave for the French vowels (or accent aigu for the continental long O).

But as I was typing and writing, this combination of grave+apostrophe, grave+apostrophe, just came up again and again. In my handwriting, I would often just combine the two into one as a ligature. So I eventually decided to formalize it in the "typed version."

The circumflex usually occurs at the end of words. It indicated two things: 1) a continental pronunciation of the vowel, and 2) that a consonant (or more) has been elided and that will impact how this word behaves in combination. For example, a hypothetical verb "to hale" would become "haled/haling," but «to balê» becomes «balêed/balêing».

I don't know if «û» needs to exist, I just have it on the chart for completion's sake I think.

Accent Trema

The diaeresis is the other diacritic lifted straight from French. It indicates that the vowels are to be pronounced separately, instead of as a digraph for a single vowel. For example, «*álien» would be pronounced like /ɛj.lɪjn/ on account of the ⟨ie���, but it's not. The proper spelling «áliën» includes the diaeresis and indicates that it is /i.ɛ/.

Often, because the diaeresis necessarily indicates a syllable boundary, one of the vowels will be an unchecked vowel, and therefore there is usually an unwritten accent. For example, that previous word should technically be «*álìën» but that's too many diacritics in succession for me. One notable digraph is «eä» which sounds like /ɪj.æ/ or unstressed /ɪj.ə/, in words like «theätrical» and «theätre». Here, the fully spelled out version is «*éä» but that's too many diacritics for me.

Another use of the diaeresis is in sequences like «güV», indicating that the ⟨u⟩ is to be pronounced as a vowel instead of acting as a fronting-blocker, i.e. cf. «güin» /gwɪn/ and «*guin» /gɪn/.

II. Digraphs

Aigu Digraphs

These few digraphs are one of the oldest parts of the spelling reform and genuinely one of my favorite bits. English digraphs have a ridiculously large number of pronunciations, but this simplifies that!

The vowel letters are left (almost) exactly as they are in English with the only difference being that the letter that sounds like the whole digraph gets an acute. Hence, in terms of pronunciation, «é = éa = éi», «í/ý = íe = eí/eý», and «ó = óa = óe = óu/ów».

And now for a few misc. observations: there are of course some digraphs that didn't make the cut. These are usually pronounced in a continental manner, with both vowels sounded out, like «daoism». Remember also that the rule is that ⟨eo⟩ → ⟨ea⟩ but ⟨oe⟩ → ⟨e⟩. So ⟨people⟩ becomes «péaple», but ⟨phoenix⟩ becomes «phénix». Here, too, the silent E is removed because the diacritic now does the job of distinguishing vowel "length."

Grave and Circonflex Digraphs

The other two main accents also have associated digraphs.

The grave digraphs with the diacritic on the first vowel are for English sounds. «àu» is like that of «à» in combination with L-vocalization, as can be seen in the example word. «èa» follows the principle of marking the pronounced vowel and is, predictably, used for ⟨ea⟩ when it sounds like /ɛj/, like in the example word. I'll get to the rhotics in a bit, but this allows the orthography to differentiate between «téar» (as in crying) and «tèar» (as in ripping). Finally, «òu» shows up only in -ough words with the THOUGHT vowel.

Now let's talk about the handful of digraphs (besides the aforementioned «eí») that are accented on the second letter. First up is «eà». This is used in two native English words, in conjunction with a rhotic, which are «heàrt» and «heàrth». The other usages come mainly from replacing French letter sequences. Namely, ⟨ça⟩ becomes «ceà», as in «faceàd» [façade] and ⟨en⟩ becomes «eàn», as in «eàncór» [encore].

After this, «où». As you can probably guess, it represents the sound /uw/ (as it is accented on the U) and the reason it's lumped here with the French-y sounds is because this is the sound that digraph makes in modern French and as such, many French loanwords into English.

From this point on, all our rules of accenting digraphs get thrown out the window: accents are placed on the second letter and, unfortunately, the accented letter does not hint at pronunciation. Rather, these are formed by taking pre-existing weird spellings and simply marking them to distinguish them as "weird."

The sequence «eù» occurs in a handful of German loans and represents the sound /oj/, as in the mathematician «Eùler».

The rest of these are all for French spellings that were carried directly into English unchanged. Thus, ��aù, aû» sounds like the French ⟨au⟩ /ow/, «oî» like French ⟨oi⟩ /wɑ/, and «oû» like French ⟨ou⟩ /uw/. As with the explanation above, the circumflex simply points out that a consonant has been elided from the spelling.

III. Rhotics

As with the last post on vowels, I am not going to explain the rhotic vowels too much as their usage and sounds should be readily understandable from the explanation of non-rhotic vowels. In fact, there are so few of them that I don't feel that an explanation is even necessary.

The following are rhotic digraphs with aigu (keep in mind that the accented vowel here shows the pronunciation):

And these are the ones with grave accents:

There are no rhotic vowels with circumflexes, as is expected since the whole point of the circumflex diacritic is to indicate that the following consonant has disappeared which, in the case of a rhotic vowel, clearly hasn't.

Appendix: here's a table showing various words of French origin and their respective respellings.

[languageyeti1985]

The Road to Fluency: A Few Strategies and Techniques for Mastering English - Good Luck With Your Journey!

If you're a non-native speaker of English, you're probably familiar with the frustration of not feeling confident in your language skills. Whether you need help with grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary, it's easy to feel overwhelmed and unsure how to improve. That's why we're here to answer five of the most common questions foreign learners of English always ask – and give you step-by-step advice that's practical, entertaining, and easy to follow.

Question 1: How can I improve my English pronunciation?

Good pronunciation is one of the key factors in speaking English confidently, and it's also one of the most complicated skills to master. But don't despair! You can use plenty of strategies to improve your accent and sound more like a native speaker.

First, listen to as much spoken English as possible – podcasts, TV shows, movies, and songs. Please pay attention to the sounds and intonation patterns, and try to imitate them as best you can. You can also use online resources like YouTube tutorials or language-learning apps to get feedback and practice pronunciation.

Another helpful tool is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), which is a system of symbols that represent the sounds of English. By learning the IPA, you can better understand the differences between sounds in your native language and English and practice pronouncing them correctly.

Finally, don't be afraid to ask for help! Find a native speaker or English teacher who can give you feedback and corrections, and practice speaking as much as possible.

Question 2: How can I expand my English vocabulary beyond essential words and phrases?

Having a good vocabulary is essential for expressing yourself clearly and confidently in English. But how can you go beyond the basics and learn more advanced words and phrases?

One effective strategy is to read as much as possible in English – books, articles, and news stories. Then, when you come across a word you don't know, look it up in a dictionary or use an app like Vocabulary.com or Quizlet to practice memorizing new words.

You can also use flashcards or sticky notes to review new vocabulary daily and try to use the words in context – for example, by writing sentences or conversing with native speakers.

Finally, remember that context is vital. You can learn a lot about a word's meaning and usage by looking at the words that come before and after it and by understanding the cultural and social context in which it's used.

Question 3: What's the difference between American and British English, and which should I learn?

English is spoken in many different countries worldwide, and each variety has unique characteristics and quirks. Two of the most well-known types are American English and British English – but what are the differences, and which one should you learn?

The main differences between American and British English are pronunciation, vocabulary, and spelling. For example, American English tends to have a more "rhotic" accent, meaning that the "r" sound is pronounced at the end of words like "car" and "far". On the other hand, British English is more "non-rhotic", meaning that the "r" sound is not pronounced in those words.

There are also differences in vocabulary – for example, Americans might say "elevator" where the British say "lift" or "truck" where the British say "lorry". And spelling can also vary – Americans tend to use "color" where the British use "colour" or "center" where the British use "centre".

So which one should you learn? It depends on your personal goals and preferences. For example, learning American English might be more practical if you plan to study or work in the US. On the other hand, if you're interested in British culture or planning to travel to the UK, British English might be a better fit.

That being said, both varieties are mutually intelligible, meaning speakers of one type can understand the other. So don't worry too much about making the "wrong" choice – the most important thing is choosing a variety you enjoy and feels motivated to learn.

Question 4: How can I improve my writing skills in English?

Writing in English can be a daunting task, primarily if you need to get used to the grammar and syntax of the language. But with some practice and helpful tips, you can improve your writing skills and express yourself more effectively.

First, focus on building a solid foundation in grammar and syntax. This means learning the basic rules of sentence structure, verb tenses, and punctuation. You can use online resources like Grammarly or the Purdue OWL to improve your grammar skills.

Next, practice writing every day. You don't have to write a novel – even a short journal entry or email can help you improve your writing skills. Make sure to proofread your work carefully and look for areas where you can improve.

Another helpful strategy is to read as much as possible in English. This will expose you to different writing styles and help you better understand what good writing looks like.

Finally, feel free to ask for feedback. Find a native speaker or English teacher who can give you constructive criticism and help you improve your writing skills over time.

Question 5: How can I overcome my fear of speaking English in public?

Fear of speaking in public is common for many language learners, but it doesn't have to hold you back. With some practice and a few helpful strategies, you can overcome your anxiety and speak English confidently in front of others.

First, start small. Practice speaking English in low-pressure situations, like with a friend or family member or in a language exchange group. This will help you build your confidence and get used to speaking in English without feeling self-conscious.

Next, focus on your mindset. Instead of worrying about making mistakes or being judged, try to focus on the positive aspects of speaking English – like the opportunity to connect with others and learn new things. 

Visualization techniques can also be helpful – try imagining yourself speaking confidently in front of others, and visualize yourself succeeding.

Finally, remember that practice makes perfect. The more you speak English in public, the more comfortable you'll become. Don't be afraid to make mistakes or ask for help – everyone has to start somewhere.

In conclusion, learning English can be a challenging but rewarding experience. By focusing on your strengths, practising regularly, and using the right tools and strategies, you can become a confident and fluent speaker of English in no time. So don't give up – keep learning, keep practising, and you'll get there!

[haleyhalcyon]

How to Write a Gibberish Question from You Don't Know Jack

by Haley Walker, head writer of Salty Trivia with Candy Barre

Premise

A Gibberish Question is a question in the form of a nonsense phrase whose syllables rhyme with those of a better known phrase. Each question has three clues.

To discuss pronunciation, I will use the International Phonetic Alphabet, using Wikipedia’s convention, which you can see here.

Choosing an answer

Before you can write the Gibberish phrase, you must choose the answer. The answer should be something:

which most people have at least heard of in passing,

which is ideally somewhere between 4 and 8 syllables long, and:

which doesn't have multiple common ways of phrasing.

For example, the title of a video game would be fair game, while a specific voice line from said video game would not be, unless it's something very famous like "I'll make you eat those words!" from Sonic Adventure 2.

Clues

A Gibberish Question's clues follow a certain pattern.

The first and second clues are part of the same sentence. The first clue narrows the answer down to a category, while the second clue narrows it down a bit further. The third clue is a rephrasing of the final answer, in a last-ditch effort to get people to get the question right.

For example, if the correct answer is "Living in a gangster's paradise", a possible set of clues may be:

It's about the life of a G...

...where everything is perfect.

Continuing to exist in outlaw heaven.

Compare that to this set of clues (originally given by the writer in my Discord server):

It's from a movie soundtrack...

...about a former Marine who bends the rules in high school...

...which gives Coolio the fame and fortune.

Not only does this have nothing to do with the phrase, it would not help people who know the song but don't know the movie in question (like me).

Considering dialectal variation

Rhoticity

Rhoticity is the main difference between an American and English accent. In short, if you pronounce the R straight after a vowel at all times, your accent is rhotic. If your accent is rhotic, you would pronounce "caught" and "court" differently, as well as "the Spar is open" and "the Spa is open".

Words pronounced differently in different places

“coffee”: /ˈkɒfi/ in the UK, /ˈkɔːfi/ in the US.

“calm”, “balm”, “alm”, “qualm”, “psalm”: /kɑːm/ in the UK, /kɔ:m/ in the US.

“vitamin”: /ˈvɪtəmɪn/ in the UK, /ˈvaɪtəmɪn/ in the US.

There are a lot of others; these are just the most common ones I can think of.

Mergers

To make a Gibberish Question that most people can answer, not just the people who speak the same dialect of English as you, you need to be aware of mergers and splits that you have but not every speaker may have.

A merger is a property where your accent pronounces two sounds the same way, although they may not be pronounced the same in other dialects. A split is the opposite.

For this article, I’m only covering splits and mergers that affect vowels.

Here are some common mergers that you need to consider:

Mary–marry–merry merger: Some speakers in the US pronounce some or all of the words Mary /ˈmɛəri/, marry /ˈmæri/, and merry /ˈmɛri/ the same way. Others distinguish them.

Strut–comma merger: Some speakers in Southern England, Australia, New Zealand, and parts of the US pronounce “undone” /ˌʌnˈdʌn/ differently from “and done” /ənˈdʌn/. Many varieties of English pronounce them the same.

Foot–strut split: Some speakers in Northern England pronounce words that rhyme with “strut” /strʌt/ to also rhyme with “foot” /fʊt/. Most varieties of English pronounce them differently.

Father–bother merger: Some speakers in the US pronounce “father” /ˈfɑːðər/ in a way that rhymes with “bother” /ˈbɒðər/. Many varieties of English pronounce them differently.

Cot–caught merger: Some speakers in the US pronounce “cot” /kɒt/ the same as “caught” /kɔːt/. Many varieties of English pronounce them differently.

Trap–bath split: Some speakers in Southern England pronounce “bath” with the /ɑ:/ vowel (the same vowel as “bra” and “spa”). Other speakers pronounce it with the /æ/ vowel (the same vowel as “brat” and “spat”).

Pour–poor merger: Many speakers in the US pronounce “cure” with the same vowel as “curl” /ɜːr/, while “poor” with the same vowel as “pour” /ɔːr/. Others distinguish the /ʊər/ vowel from both.

Hurry–furry merger: Many speakers in the US pronounce “hurry” and “worry” /ʌr/ to rhyme with “furry” and “blurry” /ɜːr/. Others, especially speakres in the UK, distinguish them.

Vile–vial merger: Many speakers pronounce “vile” and “vial” the same, while others pronounce “vile” with one syllable and “vial” with two.

Foul–vowel merger: Many speakers pronounce “foul” to rhyme with “vowel”, while others pronounce “foul” with one syllable and “vowel” with two.

There are many more, and this list is still cut down from the full list.

Baht, bot, bought

Some speakers in the US pronounce “stock” and “stalk” the same. Many of them also pronounce “Khan” and “Con” the same. If they pronounce “Baht”, “bot”, and “bought” the same, they have a three-way merger.

Using Shavian to check your rhymes

The Shavian alphabet is an alphabet for English invented in 1962, which was intended to make spelling regular and perfectly correspond to pronunciation.

It distinguishes all major vowels that were distinct in British or American English at the time, so no matter what variety of English you speak, you will have to memorize how someone else pronounces a word.

...Or we can use it to our advantage without actually learning it.

There is a page on the Internet where you can convert English text from the Latin alphabet (this one you're reading) to the Shavian alphabet. If you enter both the original phrase and the Gibberish phrase into it, you can get a reasonably accurate transcription of it, where you can check side by side. Just remember that it will abbreviate the words "the", "of", "and", "for", and "to" into just one letter.

For example, I will analyze a couple of questions. Here's one from the Christmas episode of YDKJ Facebook:

As you can tell, there are 2 syllables that don't entirely rhyme: "-olph" and "off", and "nosed" and "clothes". However, they sound close enough for the question to work.

Here's a considerably worse one from YDKJ Full Stream:

This one also has two syllables that don't rhyme: "-et" and "-pit", and "-ence" and "ants". The second pair is especially horrible.

I thought up a much better Gibberish phrase for the question: "It's Hot Pocket guidance."

All greens! Speakers of any accent can either get the question right, or be left saying "Ooohh, why didn't I think of that?".

Anyway, learning Shavian is a good exercise for your brain, and it is a great way to learn how different accents pronounce different words.

[captious-solarian]

Not the destructive ones, I mean, thankfully. More the ones where the oneirobat wishes to step outside of himself for a bit.

Oh yeah fair. Normal for humans, tbh I expect even the yomar would understand that one given what conditions humans live in.

Imagine if a being that were to humans what a human is to yomar were to show up in our world…

My reaction is along the lines of "wouldn't even notice with the type of shit i got goin on": some humans have harmed other humans up to the limit of physical possibility, deploying great ingenuity to push that limit. Most of us don't, but it's not a foreign concept to us.

The being — let's call it Sheviit — patiently agrees to be studied. Our puny human technology can't contain it when it politely (to us: threateningly) declines to be held in a secret facility with no outside comms, because it needs to see the world for its job.

Sheviit marvels over windows — aren't we afraid that someone will break in and 𐤏𐤉𐤍𐤅𐤉𐤉𐤌 us? What's 𐤏𐤉𐤍𐤅𐤉𐤉𐤌, we ask? Sheviit helpfully and graphically describes a torture so devious that no human has ever thought of it. We wince, and answer "Nah, in war zones people have to worry about that sort of thing, but most places aren't war zones. Also please don't describe torture methods, it'll give torturers ideas."

It innocently asks "so are kindergartens, like, farms for torture victims?" and a bunch of people clutch their pearls. Well those people are just cocks, and Sheviit'll find no shortage of friends to tell it so.

Some busybody goes, oh I can't bear talking to Sheviit, I know it's constantly thinking of ways it could hurt me, even when I haven't done anything to anger it. I roll my eyes. Bitch you the thought police? You want to read my mind for spooky thoughts too?

When Sheviit gets frustrated with accidentally horrifying us all the time, it sheepishly returns to Area 51 (now with real aliens!) and goes, um, please do filter my comms after all, I need an etiquette coach real bad.

I think it would do a lot better.

I was thinking Hebrew for "snake"

non-rhotic accent detected

the Mulefa from His Dark Materials

Yeah those rule

at least superficially, it appears so unnecessary in their general lifestyle

Old elephants with long memories are super helpful for surviving unusual situations like droughts, so intelligence is probably doing that. That and social games.

@captious-solarian: pardon me if I start over with a new post, the other was becoming a bit, ah, heavy.

FWIW, I've definitely felt some of them at times.

Huh! I haven't at all. Sure, I'm sadistic garbage, but I'm less so than average for humans. I'm doing pretty great!

Not the destructive ones, I mean, thankfully. More the ones where the oneirobat wishes to step outside of himself for a bit.

Particularly kind and saintly people aren't horrified at my nature, because they see humans every day, and a big part of their saintliness is tolerating it. (Unless they're hermits or something and then I'm not around them in the first place.)

That's a great point -- if the yomar were humans, they'd probably come across as insufferable judgmental jerks. But they have no experience of humans, they can't help reacting as they do. Imagine if a being that were to humans what a human is to yomar were to show up in our world...

not specifically of the remark that “nila” is Sanskrit for “black”

Afraid I can't tell the significance of that -- most of Ford's paintings' titles are opaque to me. All I knew when writing is that Nila -> elephant, whatever reason he had to title it that.

Bengali for "destruction"?

Huh. Huh. I was thinking Hebrew for "snake", actually, as in the Snake in the Garden. But this works too, and from now on I'll totally pretend it's on purpose ;)

Also, is there a reason why so many of your nonhuman sapients are elephants?

In this case, it seemed the best bodyplan for sapient technological beings that are also cutesy quadrupeds. I may also have had the Mulefa from His Dark Materials (<3) in the back of my mind. Other than that, I suppose I just find elephant intelligence fascinating, not in the least because, at least superficially, it appears so unnecessary in their general lifestyle.

Again, thanks for the response!

[loveshacks]

diego and soundman's accents

this one was a little harder since neither of them are given specific bithplaces in canon. i had to make a few assumptions in order to assign them an accent ^^' but somehow i feel like i got a more precise idea of their voices than gyro and johnny's?

Soundman: in canon, he's never given a more specific heritage than "native american" which, thank you. thanks. that helps. also for all my ~15 minutes of forum scouring i could not find anyone else who cared to try and figure out what tribe he might be. So I will do my best:

We know at least that they live somewhere in the desert, with their intro scene having a backdrop of mesas and cacti. we also know that they ride horses, which helps to narrow it down a little. based on that im guessing Apache, since Apache people are more well known for their horseback riding than their neighbors in the desert, the Puebloans. Some Apache people did live in tipis like Soundman's tribe seems to, but the Apache groups that lived in the desert (Lipan and Mescalero) generally lived in wikiups, which are similar, but less easily transportable. Like I said he doesn't seem to be based on any specific tribe, so the references to Native culture are all over the place.

But as if Apache is specific enough! Apache itself has two distinct languages within it (Eastern and Western) and at least four dialects within those. I'm going to assume Soundman is Mescalero Apache specifically, which would mean he speaks Mescalero-Chiricahua. Here is a sample of someone switching between english and Mescalero- altho that's a much more modern example, i think we can assume that's pretty close to how Soundman would speak!

My guess is that he learned english entirely from his books, since his tribe seems to be pretty anti-contact, so i believe his english would be pretty accented and probably become more adapted/smooth throughout the race. ok transcription time!

/ aj wɛl k'las͜ t̬ɛ k'an.t'ɛ.nɛnt wɛt maj fiːt ɛ'lõ: /

"eye well c(l)ass t'e cantenent wet my feet el-oan" (VERY roughly) here's the IPA reader , i recommend Ines for best results

reader friendly text: aj wɛl klas͜ t̬ɛ kantɛnɛnt wɛt maj fiːt ɛlõ:

the mescalero language does not have the [ð] (that, the), [ɹ] (red), or the [w] sounds, so i figure the "th" jumps to the next best thing, a flap [t̬ ] (butter, medal) and an [l] is slipped in in place of the [ɹ] as they are both pronounced in the same area of the mouth, assuming he doesn't just skip over the sound entirely. as for the [w] sounds, the neighboring languages, Western Apache and Navajo both include a [w] sound in their alphabet, so i don't think it's impossible for Soundman to say 'wet water is wet,' assuming he had contact with people outside his tribe.

The biggest difference is in the vowels. Mescalero does not have the [ɪ] (will, hit), [ə] (alone), [əʊ] (own, loan), or [ɒ] (cross, hot), and those are just the sounds i needed for this sentence ^^'. They do however have 4 different nasal vowels, which are kind of hard to imagine the sound of if you aren't familiar with them, but think of how the french say "jean" and you have a nasal 'a' right there. So I think Soundman would often slip back into nasal vowels, especially in place of a vowel/nasal consonant combo at the end of a word: the end of 'alone' slips to the soft palate, and he doesn't hit the 'n' sound on its own. Mescalero also doesn't have any diphthongs, most notably the [au] in sound. so his name probably sounds more like / sã: mã / assuming it's not a translation of some longer phrase.

The vowels would be the defining feature of his accent, since it seems a lot of english vowels don't translate into mescalero. Also, didn't get to mention this, but mescalero also has quite a few sounds that are more...lisp-y (i guess?), like [ɬ], [ɣ] and and [k'] idrk if i can write out an accurate pronunciation, check them out on this interactive chart. So i think he would end up using those sorts of sounds pretty often especially in place of tighter consonants, so like 'slip' might become 'shlip' and 'contact' might become "conta(cht) " with the ending "k" sound going towards the soft palate and being pretty closed off.

Diego: he's a poor british dude, so you'd think we could just pin him with a cockney accent and call it a day. Sadly it's just not that easy. And i like making things complicated. Cockney accents are found among lower class Londoners- aka city dwellers, and Diego was born and raised somewhere in the countryside. A few miles (or kilometers i guess, we're in the UK now) can really be a world of difference on an accent. so:

during his intro his parents take him "into the mountains" so that puts us up in the north of the country- and then he flows down a river and grows up on a farm. So I am pinning him with a Yorkshire accent, since it's an area of countryside directly next to the mountains, while newcastle seems a little too north (but imagine geordie diego lol) and scouse (liverpool) seems a little too far south/also on the other side of the mountains.

Here is the oldest example i can find of a yorkshire accent, someone born in 1912, and luckily it doesn't sound tooo different from the modern accent, at least not to my american ears :~). But, given his goal of 'climbing the ranks of society' it also makes sense for him make an effort to cover up his natural accent in order to sound more posh (aka upper received pronunciation). I'm thinking then that his speech would be characterized by a lot of dropped r's/ non-rhoticity (obv), glottal stops at the end of words (mostly to replace t's d's and k's), omitting h sounds from the beginning of words, as well as diphthong vowels and a majority of frontal vowels. he might even roll his 'r's if they're in the middle of a word, like 'brando' / bɾɑ:ndɔ /

if he's really minding himself though, he'll be sure to enunciate his t's & h's, follow the rises and falls of upper RP, and not roll his r's, since that would give him away as a...u know, / blʊ:dɛ kʰʊ:ntɾɛ: fʊ:k /

the vowels would be a little harder to mind, since upper rp vowels are generally formed nearer the front of the mouth, while yorkshire vowels are less restrained, more open (formed with a low tongue/open mouth), and not very subtle. yorkshire accents can also create diphthongs where there are none, so floor may be pronounced, flu-or.

/ a:bɛts kʰɑ:ntʰ be: fɛkst jʊs laɪʔ feɪtʰ /

" 'abets c(ah)n't b(eh) fex'd, joos lai' fate" (roughly) IPA reader i recommend Geraint or Amy to get the best results.

kinda weird sounding. i know. like i said, i think he would have trained himself to hit his t's (otherwise it would sound like, "abe's, ka' fae' " ) and some more posh sounding vowels like in can't (caaahn't) and be (beehh). And then there would be the bits of his natural accent that slip thru the cracks, like the dropped 'h' in habits, and the long 'u' sound in 'just.' (dkm he might sound sorta like louis tomlinson)

so there u have it ^_^ i might do valentine, steven steel and hot pants next

[vierschanzentournee]

Ok this question is honestly a little bit embarrassing BUT I don't understand the r in German. Sometimes it sounds like it isn't pronounced and sometimes it sounds like it's pronounced. With the name Karl, it sounds like it isn't pronounced, but then others pronounce it??? Or am I just dumb lmao also how do you even do the r. My tongue is physically not capable of doing this???? I have never heard of this harsh r before in any other language (maybe russian?) so idk.

Hi Anon! Honestly, this isn't embarrassing - like every language, German's got it's complicated elements, and I can totally see why this might be one for you.

I think a good starting point for thinking about it is to think about English - some varieties of English (for example, nearly all American accents, as well as Canadian, Irish, and Scottish English) pronounce the letter "r" in words like "car" or "board". Other varieties of English, however (such as Australian and New Zealand English, as well as the English spoken in England) don't pronounce the "r" in those words, and instead you might hear speakers say something like "cah" or "bohd". In all varieties of English, though, you'll definitely hear the "r" in words like "rush" or "area" be pronounced.

The key condition here is the position of the "r" (which from now on I'm going to refer to as a "rhotic", the term which linguists use) in relation to the vowels in a word. If a rhotic is between two vowels ("intervocalic") or before a vowel ("prevocalic"), it's pronounced in all varieties; if it's after a vowel and not before another vowel ("postvocalic"), then in some varieties of English it isn't pronounced.

As far as I can tell, more or less the same conditions apply to rhotics in German. So in words (or in this case names) like "Karl" or "Geiger", where the rhotic is postvocalic (translation: the "r" follows a vowel and is followed by a consonant or nothing else), it isn't pronounced. Meanwhile, in "Andreas" and "Severin" the rhotic is either prevocalic or intervocalic, and so it gets to be pronounced!

This leads us on to the second part of your ask - how the fuck do you produce that sound?! To get technical for another minute (I'm so sorry, I'm a linguistics student, I cannot help myself), the rhotic which you're probably thinking of when you think of the "German R" is called a voiced uvular fricative, which you can hear pronounced in isolation on Wikipedia. It's produced by making a closure between the back of the tongue and the uvula (that weird dangly little bit of flesh in the back of your mouth), and it's the same rhotic as is usually found in standard French and Danish. If you're not a native speaker of a language which uses this sound, it can be pretty tricky to learn to pronounce it! My only piece of advice to you here is to listen to a lot of music, podcasts, videos, etc in German (and/or French) to familiarise yourself with the way the language sounds - I wish I could be more helpful, but I picked it up when I was learning French aged around 10, so I can't quite remember what exactly I did (other than that a friend told me I sounded like I was being sick when I spoke French lol).

The good news is that this uvular fricative is not the only rhotic used in German! While it's the most common realisation in Standard German, many varieties of German employ what's called an alveolar trill (which you can hear here) - this is the "rolled r" used in languages like Spanish and Italian (among many others). It's used frequently in Bavarian, Austrian, and Swiss German, and it might be easier for you to produce. If you're like me and you can't roll your r's, you could also use an alveolar tap, which is the most common rhotic in, for example, Polish.

The alveolar tap/trill is probably what you hear most often if you listen to any interviews with German-speaking ski jumpers - the only ones whom I can say for sure use a uvular fricative (off the top of my head, anyway) are Stephan Leyhe (from Hesse) and Richard Freitag (from Sachsen).

This got a bit out of hand, but I hope you found it useful!

[i-dont-know-how-this-site-works]

I am Eastern European! I am unfortunately not going to celebration, those tickets are expensive and I would have to find transport and accommodation in London.

I haven't been to Italy, but Croatia is beautiful! I definitely recommend visiting there.

Since ep.14 is already out and I watched it this morning, I won't comment much on our theories- if you want to discuss and gush about today's episode with me, I've sent you an invite on discord!

With today's episode I felt like some threads were tied, like how does Echo come back to the Batch, how do they find out that Cross needs help and the literal 1,5-year-old question of Howzer's whereabouts. We still don't know what Hemlock is after, how he wants to use Omega, what's gonna happen to Cross, how do Cid and Scorch play into the whole thing? What is going to happen during the summit (I think in the episode they said it would be an event? Like, an actual summit of important people?). There is still a lot we don't know.

I love writing these elaborate descriptions that poke fun at the characters or situations :P

As for R2/Chopper team-up: I think that in R2's case, he didn't really enjoy it per se, it was just something he had to do to keep his humans safe, he is not intrinsically an evil mech. But Chopper? That astromech is a damn sociopath. He enjoys seeing people in pain and some stuff he does is downright evil- he wanted to blow up a tie fighter with a confirmed baby on board. He actually did blow up a ship with thousands of crew on it. He threw another robot out of the Ghost's hatch and was proud of it. He keeps throwing stuff at the crew and keeps zapping people in the back. He was happy when Ezra almost fell to his death during training when he stumbled off the ship. I think the only person Chopper loves is Hera, other than that? That astromech is just, pure evil.

I know! Britain is just full of accents! The one I am learning atm is RP, but I think each one has some cool features! And yeah, Scottish and Irish are a bit similar, especially since both are rhotic, and Aussie and Kiwi are both non-rhotic for a change! Also, Aussie and Kiwi both have raised vowels, so they do sound a bit similar. And yeah, listening to authentic speech definitely helps, but whenever I listen to too many American accents my r and the palm vowel come back to taunt me haha And thank YOU for believing I can get the hang of my accent!

I don't think I will ever be ready for Rex's death. And I totally agree that they should do it in animation, I think that at this point the only way I can see Rex is animated. Although with the Ahsoka show coming, which is live-action, and Rex being an important character in Ahsoka's (and the ghost crew folks) life, maybe we will see him in Tem's interpretation. But I think it would be poetic if we start with animation and end with the animation too. I just, I love the art style so much.

I am glad you think my ideas are good, if only I had the motivation to get them on paper haha. And you have a degree in creative writing? Any tips for someone with a very stubborn writer's block? And thank you for linking me your ao3, @arlothia! I will be sure to check it out!

Tell me what you think because I realised this shit as I was falling asleep and I now I can't go unless I get it out there:

Does the colour scheme of the background sort of look like the colour scheme of the houses and buildings on Pabu?

So, theory: Cid didn't sound...normal? the last time she contacted the guys and it's actually because the empire has gotten hold of her to try to bait the bad batch into coming into contact with her again. Well, that didn't work, so Cid suggests contacting Echo alone and tells him about Cross needing help (she knows the group has split) and that checks the "Cid is going to betray them" checkbox. Echo and Rex fall for it, contact the rest of the batch because they are going to need as much help as they can get in infiltrating Tantiss, and head to Pabu to rendezvous. That's where we get the long awaited Echo and Omega reunion. The group head to Tantiss, get Crosshair out, but in the process Omega is captured. They are forced to leave her to save injured/drugged/traumatised/comatose Cross and themselves. We open season 3 on Omega being experimented on or being mistreated to get Nala Se to cooperate.

[i-finally-watched-it]

The Finest Hours (2016)

dir. Craig Gillespie

The Coast Guard makes a daring rescue attempt off the coast of Cape Cod after a pair of oil tankers are destroyed during a blizzard in 1952. (via IMDb)

Highlight/s: Those sweet sweet non-rhotic New England accents 😚👌🏻; Over the past couple years it seems that whenever I pick a movie from my list at random, or decide to watch a new movie/series instead, a wild Beau Knapp appears. I honestly feel like

whenever I watch anything these days sjfjskjhjsk and the exact same thing has been happening with Kyle Gallner for years now and they're BOTH in this movie! Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, they're great! But it seems I can't escape either of them lately 😂; I finally realised who Josh Stewart reminds me of - Paul McGann sjhfkdjfjdkhf; Black queer icon & fellow Aussie Keiynan Lonsdale? In a Disney film? A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one 🥳; It's also always fun seeing other fellow Aussie Eric Bana in serious Hollywood roles because he started out in Australian comedy in the 90s and I can't help hearing this whenever I see him 😂

Will I watch it again? Hmmmmsjfjjshfhdjshfjskjsfk idk.

Rating: 👍🏻👎🏻

Lowlight/s: (under the cut)

I know the sexism & shit is realistic for the period, I know it is, but it grinds the everloving piss out of my gears regardless; ALSO why the fuck didn't we get to see Bernie (Chris Pine) & Mel (Beau Knapp) reunite at the end??? They were besties and the only reason Mel stayed behind (reluctantly) was because he had the sniffles. Do you mean to tell me that he wouldn't have gone outside with everyone else when the boat came in - the freezing cold & his health be damned for a minute - to greet his friend who could have died at any moment while Mel was busy being a human burrito sipping hot cocoa (idk) while listening to what's going on out on the water over the radio, never certain he'll see his friends again, not able to do anything to help them, in the safety & comfort of the Coast Guard station???? Uhhh bullshit. Of course he would've gone out there!!! So where the hell was he????? Asleep in the lunch room suddenly???? *desk flip*

Fellas, is it gay to say hi to your best friend and hug hi- oh, it is? Silly me haha. Then we better make sure it's crystal clear for the audience that Bernie is definitely going to marry a woman to remind them he's 110% straight and a man and has absolutely nobody else he cares about or who care about him, and we need to definitely not show even five seconds of affection between two male friends! ☹

While we're on this subject (I'm on a roll now so can't stop til I say this lol soz) I was reminded during the film how toxic masculinity limits the acceptable feelings men can express, without fear of ridicule, to anger & lust... except if they're in the middle of disasters or other traumatic events, e.g. war, then it's way more acceptable for men to be scared & to cry & be vulnerable & concerned for the emotional wellbeing of other men. And rightly so, they're human after all and those situations suck. It's scary and painful watching your friends be hurt/die right in front of you and to also be staring death in the face yourself with very limited options & chance of survival. Men more readily accept and are even moved by these expressions when they see it in these extreme situations, but as soon as it appears in the context of Normal Everyday Life the response is "don't be such a girl, grow some balls". *sigh* The patriarchy is on nobody's side in the end. Cishet dudes help us burn it down challenge!

And, of course, there's nothing wrong with the little romantic subplot - it's the fact that Hollywood constantly locks platonic love in the trunk and takes romance on a nice Sunday drive that makes my blood boil.

[dannyfm]

Welcome to New York {DANIEL SUTTON} !! They are a {33} year old {CIS MAN} who uses {HE/HIM} pronouns. They’re an {EMERGENCY NURSE PRACTITIONER} who has been in town for {NINE YEARS}, who lives in {QUEENS}. When looking at {DANNY} you automatically think of {THE CRACKLE OF A RECORD PLAYING, A REMINDER THAT TENDERNESS IS A VIRTUE, FIDGETING HANDS} but that probably makes sense since they also remind you of {JACOB ANDERSON}. You can always hear {VIENNA} by {BILLY JOEL} coming from their place. Who knows what kind of trouble they’re going to get themselves into. [penny, 25, gmt]

fullname:  daniel rené sutton. nickname(s): danny ( his preferred choice ), dan. age:  thirty-three. birthday: november 12th. gender / pronouns:  cis man ,  he / him. orientation:  bisexual / biromantic. place of birth: new orleans, louisiana current residence: queens, new york. languages: english, french, spanish & asl. height: 5'8. personality: loyal, empathetic, obsessive, stubborn.

( tw ; car accident, drunk driver, injury, depression & ptsd. )

born in new orleans, daniel was primarily raised by his mother ( originally from baton rouge ) and sisters, as his father ( originally from queens ) travelled a lot for work.

his kind-hearted nature and seemingly tireless desire to help people made of his choice of nursing for a career unsurprising. daniel graduated at the top of his class in his bsn and started work in nola as soon as he could.

the relocation to queens around a year later was the first and really only truly impulsive decision danny ever made. he'd been thinking about moving out of louisiana whilst still studying, but figured he'd never be brave enough to do it. he'd joke the endless teasing from his sister about it was the motivator.

he settled in queens, discovering he loved it more than he could ever dream of. with the goal of becoming a nurse practitioner in mind and the solidification of his love for emergency medicine, he took the exam to become a certified emergency nurse and a handful of other certifications. maybe not a necessary step, but one he enjoyed doing -- it felt like progress.

the next step was to get his msn, something he opted to do online. ( TW ) was cycling home from a night shift one morning when he was hit by a drunk driver at a crossing. he woke a couple of days later to a shock ( and thinking that it was funny that someone who worked in emergency medicine would be surprised by his injuries ). daniel had been lucky, really. at least, that's what people said -- at the time he could only think that was an unbelievably cruel thing to say. his right leg had been amputated ; initially below the knee but complications arose and so he ended up an above knee amputee. otherwise, he was pretty much unscathed. a smattering of scars here and there the only other thing to show for his ordeal.

not unexpectedly, daniel was diagnosed with ptsd and had fallen into depression immediately following the accident and suffered during much of his recovery. he refused to even think about his life beyond, let alone work ; his msn was paused and he insisted he would never go back to it for a while. eventually and no doubt entirely thanks to the efforts of friends, family & the professionals around him daniel came round.

by no means have either of those things become a non-issue in his life ( the level of pain he's in & the prevalence of depression are inextricably linked ), but they have dissipated significantly and well, when all else fails… there’s always throwing yourself into work or looking after someone else when you don't want to deal with your own problems. ( TW END )

since the accident just under a year and a half ago, daniel has completed his msn and settled into his role as an enp, overjoyed with the achievement of his goal.

headcanons

daniel has an orange cat called sidney ( sid ) who is a rescue and probably his best bud.

accent is kind of mess. the nola influence ( non-rhotic, th = d pronunciation) ) is definitely at the forefront, but it's also influenced by the accents of his family from other areas of louisiana and queens. danny is very soft-spoken, borderline mumbly ( kinda will lamontagne-esque if ur familiar with criminal minds asdfak ) but also very aware that this can make him even more difficult to understand so he def has a 'phone / work voice ' he uses to be clearer.

big good samaritan vibes. he has a particular set of skills and Will show up with an advanced medical kit ready to fix anything he can if need be. also BIG into music. plays piano, violin & guitar ( mostly acoustic bc that's his personal preference ) and secretly has a very nice voice but he'd probably actually drop dead if someone ever mentioned that.

probably an ambivert, but also shy as hell. he's definitely got a lot less shy since starting work just out of necessity but still prefers to blend into the background at social events and with people he doesn't know. it's something he's trying to work on. has a massive heart, his friendship is not hard to win but damn near impossible to shake off ( not least bc he knows he was sometimes an A+ asshole in recovery and anyone who stuck around through that deserves at least the same energy from him. )

wanted connections page. pinterest board.

literally everything pls. best friend, good friends, a bad / good influence who encourages him to socialise & get out of his comfort zone more, ex & present day crushes / flings, neighbours, flirtationship, exes & co workers.

[vikinglanguage]

#I only just now looked at the tags of the original post and now I'm sad op only seems to like it ironically :(#You just have no taste op#Nze is unironically beautiful#And I'm actually kind of sad now

@im-the-trash-man NO I DONT MEAN IT IRONICALLY. I 100 PERCENT UNIRONICALLY L O V E THE PHONOLOGY OF KIWI ENGLISH

when i say the vowel chart looks like absolutely garbage that's a compliment. It's far too left leaning and the vowels are in all the wrong places. I absolutely adore it.

Because the vowel chart of my native tongue is this absolute trainwreck (also I think this is a conservative version? there's only 16, and I thought the usual consensus was 22):

theres literally no reason to have that many phonemes within the [e]-[æ] area (frankly, I can't even hear all the nuances. Maybe it's an accent thing). BUT EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY. The Danish [e̝], which I would say is the standard /e/ is placed almost the exact same place as NZE [e], [ɛ] is in the same place, [ø] as well, and NZE has A ROUNDED HIGH CENTRAL VOWEL [ʉː] which makes my [y] loving heart so happy. Further, the placement of [ɒ]? That's just a solid <å> placement, good job. And to be honest, I never could get the hang of the "real" [ɑ], and I always wondered why we even use it in Danish transscription, because it's definitely way more [a] and NZE [a] being further back than Danish [ɑ] is just proof that the transscription conventions for Danish SUCK.

What I'm getting at is that I like NZE vowels, because to me they, for some inexplicable reason, just seem more recognisable?? But also it's just funǃ No [u]? Fucking revolutionary. No [æ] excent in diphthongs? Good, it's an ugly vowel anyway (yes, it's in my name, no, i don't like it). Fuck RP, that shit's boring. Give me fun vowels or give me death.

and don't even get me started on stressed /ə/. My favourite vowel FINALLY IN THE SPOTLIGHT.

NZE also has consonants (like, yknow, literally every other langauge) but I don't have much to say about them exceptː

Largely non-rhotics, which I like. Never been good with traditional /ɹ/, and it doesn't help that I have to mentally prepare myself every time I hear a Dane speak English, because it might just be /w/.

Often times, /l/ is velarised, which I'm still on the fence about. I think it's a kind of fun sound, but I feel ridiculous making it myself, and I hate how people call it dark. Prefer the consistency of it almost always being velarised to the randomness of certain other varieties though.

more [ʃ]. good.

also nze has the advantage over australian english that it's got funky vowels, but doesn't make the danish crown princess sound like my 70yo professor bill

thanks for coming to my tedtalk

i know you all know about the kiwi accent, but if you know ipa and are otherwise interested in phonology, i'm begging you to read the wikipedia article

nze is the most valid dialect of english and i will not hear otherwise. they have STRESSED /ə/