#north american dialects

[tricornonthecob]

Dialect notes! Dialect notes! Dialect notes!

Because I missed my calling in academic research, I've spent a non-zero amount of time going down rabbit holes on early North American dialect for Along The Northern Heights. Is it worth doing all this research for a fanfiction of a PBS kids show from 20 years ago? Well it gives me considerable amounts of joy to write, so yes.

Anyway! I want to share a massive infodump, because writing gives me goodfeels and so does sharing! Please let me know if I am inaccurate or wrong about anything. I am not an academic and furthermore I do not want to spread misinformation.

MASSIVE WORD BLOCK UNDER THE CUT

A Pregame With Disclaimers About "Good" English

The history of Modern English is rife with Big Oof moments, and I'm not just talking about The Great Vowel Shift or Noah Webster deciding that the "u" in "colour" was silly. Especially in the late 18th century, there was a push to make accents more uniform and to establish a single "Good" English - and there is so much aggression towards what those scholars considered "Bad" English. And, in my extremely uneducated opinion, it seems like it's a conveniently moving target, just like "whiteness." In the context I'm in when writing, it positively reeks of shitting on any of the world's population groups that aren't Southeastern England. And, being from the United States, I know all too well the absolute shit that's been lobbed at AAVE for not being "Good" English.

This "Good" vs "Bad" way of looking at dialect is reductive, destructive, and boring, and I think it goes without saying I don't condone it in the slightest.

A Further Pregame With Received Pronunciation, or RP

the "generic" British dialect many of us outside the UK think of when we think of a British accent (a shame, I think, because the UK is so dialect-diverse and there are some absolute bangers on that damp island!) There are certainly a myriad of reasons for this, but probably the most common reasons/claims I've heard through my life are

A) 19th-century upper-class British folk wanting to have a more separate dialect from the other classes.

B) associations with the way the Royal Family has spoken English since at least Queen Victoria (a generic reasoning that we see happen along populations: imitating those in power)

C) 20th-century RP became "generic" in a similar way that the broad North American dialect* now associated with the United States and, to some degree, Canada, did - that is, it was further developed and use encouraged as the easiest to understand when recorded and played-back on period audio recording equipment (specifically radio and television.)

*a timeout is to be made here for the so-called Mid-Atlantic dialect at the dawn of "talkies" and early Hollywood. Its the delightful way of talking you'll hear in old black-and-white movies: slightly musical cadence, and combining the broad north american dialect with a bit of the non-rhoticity of RP. This dialect was mostly affectation and as anyone with living American relatives born before 1960 can tell you, mid-20th-century Americans largely did not speak it in normal settings.

Now, all of this is to say, RP as a dialect doesn't really appear until mid-19th century (although it would seem the loss of rhoticity we so associate with RP was a gradual shift starting in the very end of the 18th century.) Furthermore, the ways that we, 21st-century denizens, know RP don't come into their own until the 20th century and proliferation of audio-based mass media.

On to My Actual Point : 18th Century American Dialect (non-AAVE)*

*I make this distinction because the history of AAVE is a massive topic all on its own and I feel even less qualified to speak on it

It can't be ignored that the base strata making up Anglo-American speech patterns would have been as varied as where the original settlers/invaders came from, nor can it be ignored that the American Colonies were made up of more than just Anglo-Saxon descendants. Even back then, they were a mosaic of cultural interaction, which is why Thomas Paine declared America (at least the white part) a European, and not British, culture.

That being said, multiple primary sources indicate that the dialect of Anglo-Americans at the late 18th/very early 19th century was similar to "well-bred" Londoner dialect of the time (assuming there's enough of a distinction here from broad Southeastern UK,) and that this particular dialect was broadly spoken with less regional variance than the family of dialects in the UK.

This is made clear in vol 3 of Timothy Dwight's Travels in New-England and New-York, a collection of letters sent to colleagues in England:

"I shall not, I believe, offend against either truth or propriety if I say, that the English language is in this country pronounced more correctly than in England. I am not, indeed, sanguine enough to expect, that you will credit the assertion, nor that you will believe me to be a competent judge of the subject. Still I am satisfied that the assertion is true. That you may not mistake my meaning, I observe, that by a correct pronunciation I intend that of London; and, if you please, that of well-bred people in London."

(Dwight, Timothy. Travels in New-England and New-York vol 3 p 265)

Now in context he is only speaking of the New England region, and he does make a disclaimer here that he's not "a competent judge" of the subject, and we are certainly ignoring his hope that he won't be cited on the matter. But, his observation holds true from other primary accounts, especially William Eddis' Letters From America, which are composed of his observations (mostly of Maryland gentry) from 1769 to 1777. (His letters also happen to be an invaluable primary source for observations on culture and political commentary on the rising crisis between the colonies and Britain, from the perspective of a loyal well-to-do British subject.)

On the uniformity of language, Eddis has this to say:

"In England, almost every county is distinguished by a peculiar dialect; even different habits, and different modes of thinking, evidently discriminate inhabitants, whose local situation is not far remote; but in Maryland, and throughout the adjacent provinces, it is worthy of observation, that a striking similarity of speech universally prevails; and it is strictly true, that the pronounciation of the generality of the people has an accuracy and elegance, that cannot fail of gratifying the most judicious ear."

(Eddis, William. Letters from America, Historical and Descriptive. p 59)

if the odd comma placements are making it hard to read, you're not alone. 18th century writing is choc-full of what we might today consider run-on sentences, comma splices, or just generally cumbersome. Here's me paraphrasing as best I can:

"In England, almost every county has its own dialect, habits, and modes of thinking, noticeably different inhabitants that don't live very far from each other; but in Maryland and adjacent provinces, there is a notable similarity of speech, and its absolutely true that the generalized accent/pronunciation has an accuracy and elegance that won't fail to gratify a discerning ear."

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All this background I'm giving comes to this point: late 18th-century "well-bred" Londoner is the dialect I have chosen to loosely base what I write in Along The Northern Heights. I listen to alot of Simon Roper's work on youtube regarding the topic. I would say these two are probably the most valuable videos on the accent.

He makes disclaimers about not being formally qualified to speak on linguistics, and I would be remiss to not pass along those disclaimers.

That being said, what's in my mind is pastiche of that, the local "country" (read: appalachian) dialect in rural Virginia, the dialect work used in Turn:Washington's Spies and HBO John Adams, as well as some of the dialect you hear in PBS Masterpeice's Poldark, and various media I've watched/read from Living History re-enactors about reconstructing dialect.

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Since I've made it a headcanon feature that James Hiller has a bit of a brogue that he feels pressured to correct, but slips into when he is excited or upset, I'd like to dig more into less-"proper" dialects of the time, and, if possible, the less-proper Philly accent. For shits and giggles, here's what I suspect is a dramatization of a modern-day Philly accent:

And then a very similar, a very real Baltimore Baldmer accent:

Honestly? Hearing both of these warms the cockles of my heart, because my late grandparents (especially grandma. *Especially* grandma) spoke with a Baltimore accent, which has similarities with the Philly accent. My aunts and uncles all speak it; its been normalized and blended with a virginia rural accent in mine (I say wadder, my grandma said wooder. I say toosdaye, my grandma said toosdee. I say ahn, grandma said ooowan. I say y'all, grandma said all youse/all you. I say "d'jeet," she said d'jeet, and you can pull d'jeet from my cold dead hands.)

In addition, you have the modern-day "High Tide" dialect of Okracoke, the Carolina Brogue.

trouble with Carolina Brouge, which is disappearing, is that its got too much modern-day southeastern drawl to really use as a basis for an 18th century Philly boy. Though it does seem like drawing out the "A" in water into wooder/woader is a commonality.

Anyway. That's been my infodump. I spent too long on this!

[pattern-recognition]

i wish the US civil war was discussed like the colonialist conflict that it was instead of just some Americans having a bit of a spat amongst themselves

[nashvillehotchicken]

if you disrespect dialects i'm killing you with my mind

[the-busy-ghost]

No disrespect to the particular English accent that birthed this atrocity, we all have our own sins to atone for, but as a Scot I’m tempted to accuse google of perpetrating a hate crime by describing this monstrous mispronunciation as the correct “British” one

[saucy-mesothelioma]

Another good example of this is the Southern phrase "Bless your heart". It can either be the most genuine, almost familial way of expressing sympathy for what someone is going through or did go through. And then on the other hand it can be the most sardonic, scathing way of saying "you are the dumbest piece of shit I have ever seen and you deserve what's coming to you." There is literally no in between here. And also let it be known that the effects are increased tenfold in both directions when an old Southern lady says it to you.

Altogether, I really like the way americans say "can I help you?" as a polite general one-size-fits-all stand-in for "who the fuck are you/what the fuck are you doing here/how the fuck did you get in here/what the fuck are you staring at/what is your fucking problem." Such a polite way of going "bitch what the fuck."

[medicinemane]

"Sore-y" Canadian spotted

[blog-poll]

For people who are from Canada.

[atlaculture]

Favorite Foods: Katara

Since Katara was forced to take on a traditionally maternal role at an early age, I'd like to think her favorite Water Tribe dishes are the ones that are quick and easy to prepare. I also feel that Katara would be fond of the few fruits and edible greens available in the arctic, as it brings back fond memories of foraging with her mother and grandmother during the warmer seasons.

Sea Prunes (Entire 1st Row)- Katara doesn't express many food preferences in the show, but she seemed pretty enthusiastic about eating sea prunes, so I assume it's a meat she enjoys. Sea prune is another name for the black katy chiton, a type of mollusk. Their shells are dark and leathery, earning them nicknames like "sea prune" and "gumboot". Sea prunes are a traditional protein source for many indigenous peoples in Alaska and western coastal Canada. I think Katara would enjoy them sauteed with Chinese (Earth Kingdom) five-spice or tossed with seal oil in a kelp salad.

Suaasat - A Greenlandic Inuit soup. It traditionally consists of a thick broth made of seal meat, barley, onions, and potatoes. I'd like to think that she likes any dish where you can just throw all the ingredients in a pot and feed a lot of people fast.

Boiled Crab - She likes crabs because they're relatively easy to catch and even easier to cook. You just boil them and crack them open!

Pitsik - Dried Arctic Char. Like crab, she enjoys the simplicity of preparing it. You simply fillet the fish with its skin on, score and salt the flesh, hang the char to let the arctic winds airdry it, and you have a delicious jerky-like snack! They are also rather visually striking when you hang them up.

Akutaq - Meaning "mixed together" in Inupiat and Yupik, this dish is traditionally made with whipped fat, boiled fish, and berries. Commonly used berries include cranberries, lingonberries, cloudberries, bearberries, and crowberries. A sweet and savory meal that Katara and her mother probably used to make together.

Suvalik - If akutaq is “Arctic Ice Cream”, then suvalik is “Arctic Fruit Salad”. It’s traditionally comprised of emulsified fish eggs and seal oil mixed with berries. It’s described as creamy and sweet. This dish is known in Yupik culture as qerpertaq.

Bannock - Also called palauga in some Inuit dialects and alatiq in Yupik. Bannock is an unleavened flatbread found throughout North American indigenous culture. Since the flour has to be imported all the way from the Earth Kingdom, it was a rare treat for Katara growing up. She also likes how easy it is to make.

For more Water Tribe dishes, check out my Cultural Cuisine tag.

Like what I’m doing? Tips always appreciated, never expected. ^_^

https://ko-fi.com/atlaculture

[ellecdc]

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSFMbHSqg/

I talk like this and people like to make fun of it because of it

Can I request for marauders to defend me and pampering me afterwards. Please, thanks

okay, first of all: people make fun of you? - what are their names? where do they live? tell them I wanna talk..... secondly: thank you for your quick requests after my post! you're my hero <3

poly!wolfstar x reader who has a distinct accent (reader's gender not specified)

CW: bullying, making fun of someone's dialect/speech, swearing, pet names.

You knew there was a chance that the laughter was not at your expense at all. Perhaps they were actually laughing at what you said, not how you said it. Or, perhaps they hadn't even been listening to you at all. But your throat still constricted painfully when you heard the girls a few seats down the table in the Great Hall from you start laughing after you interjected in your boyfriends' conversation.

The girls had been particularly catty with you before, though you weren't entirely sure why; perhaps it was because you were dating two of the most popular boys in school, perhaps it was because you were different, or perhaps it was because that's just the kind of people they were.

You'd heard them make comments about your accent before, and though it was a bit of an insecurity of yours, you tried to let it slide off of your back.

You just didn't understand what the big deal was - especially considering you were attending school in the United Kingdom for heaven's sake; if you drive 30 minutes in any direction, the accent of that region is going to be different!

People in England speak English with a variation of a British accent; people in North America speak English with a variation of an American accent; people in Ireland speak English with an Irish accent; and people from your mother country speak English with their own accent too!

So why was it you who was teased for your inflection?

"You okay, Y/N?" Peter asked you quietly from his place across from you. He may as well have shouted it, however, as the sound of your name with the company of any concern acted like a siren call for your two boyfriends, both of whom immediately dropped their conversation with Marlene and James to turn to you.

"What is it, dolly?" Sirius asked immediately, noticing the slight shine of your eyes. You tried to smile at him and shake your head; you did not want to make a big deal out of this.

"Dovey," Remus chided as he gently nudged you with his elbow. "What's the matter?"

Your eyes inadvertently flit to the girls down the table before you turned back to your boyfriends and Sirius' eyes darkened.

"Did they say something to you?" He asked gruffly.

"No! No, please, I'm fine." You begged.

The sound of voices mimicking your pronunciation permeated the air as they repeated your words.

"Oi!" Remus called harshly - so completely unlike his usual calm demeanour.

"What the hell is your problem?" Sirius added.

The girls, not showing any signs of shame waved the boys off "oh come on, it was just a joke! Y/N knows that."

"You're right, you are a fucking joke." Sirius spat as he stood from the table and gathered his book bag. "Come on dollface, we're leaving."

Remus stood as well and helped you from your place at the table. Your face was so hot from embarrassment and the blood rushing to your head left a ringing in your ears. As you left the hall, you failed to notice the shouting from James, Marlene and the others in your defence.

The first few tears fell as you were ushered to Gryffindor tower. Neither boy said anything as you walked - Sirius clearly trying to shake off his rage for your benefit, and Remus keeping a steadying hand on the small of your back the whole way there.

By the time you got to the boys dorm, Sirius let out a shuddering breath as he dropped his bag and turned to you as he opened his arms.

"Come 'ere sweets." he called to you, and you immediately fell into his waiting embrace.

Remus followed up behind you and soon, you were in the middle of a Sirius-Remus sandwich as they rubbed soothingly at your sides and peppered kisses on your head.

"You know they're wankers, right?" Remus finally asked.

You snorted at him before nodding against Sirius' chest.

"We love your voice, and your accent, and your jokes. We can't get enough of it, baby." Sirius added.

"Stop." You moaned.

"It's true!" Remus interjected, before Sirius continued.

"Honest, I almost told James to shut his fucking mouth 'cause I couldn't hear my sweet lovie over all of his yapping. You're always on me about being rude, though, so I bit my tongue. You're welcome."

You chuckled at that, and you swore could feel both boys smile above you.

"There you are; I missed that sound." Remus said, punctuated by a kiss to your temple.

"I have some studying to do, but I was wondering if you could read my textbook to me while I took notes?" Sirius asked you. You looked up expecting to see a smirk on his face but were surprised to see a faint blush dusting his cheeks and a shy smile on his mouth.

"Wait, really?" You asked incredulously.

He huffed a laugh but held strong. "Yes, really! I wasn't kidding; I love the sound of your voice."

"Maybe later you can read my novel to me too?" Remus asked shyly from behind you.

You couldn't help but laugh at the two of them. Whether they were just appeasing you or not, you couldn't help but admit the sound of you reading to them for the rest of the afternoon sounded really nice.

[tricornonthecob]

Observation that nobody asked for time!

When doing all the soft research I've done for writing in 18th cent dialect, I've noticed a quirk in my own accent/dialect.

It's a broadly north american dialect, with a touch of southeastern and a helping of Maryland/tidewater. But when speaking fast or informally/relaxed, I sometimes pronounce "you" as "ye." As in "yeh" (or sometimes "ya") not "yeee." so then:

"you've got something on your face," (which I might pronounce fully if I'm actually trying to speak clearly/speaking with a stranger)

becomes "yehv got somethin' on yeh face," or, if I'm VERY chill, "y'got sum'in' on y'face."

I guess the problem I have is when transcribing that, and when I apply it to my fics when I think it might be appropriate, I really, REALLY want to use "ye" and not "yeh" because it looks/reads easier, (and in practice that "h" isn't actually there, which makes it so so so easy to cram it into other words like above,) but I'm assuming most people will read it as yeee and not yeh.

...I don't know where I was going with this but yeah. Actual linguists of tumblr, pipe in.

[sekritjay]

Those of you lot playing Thank Goodness You're Here may not be aware of how toned down the 'dialect' subtitle option is - I'm a fair distance from Yorkshire but I still don't really have a problem understanding the patter even though I know precisely how thick a Yorkshire accent can get when they're off on one

It's also made me quite conscious of how I speak to outsiders. If I get on my high horse my friends immediately out me as a scouser and I've had to tone myself down when I was off in London for interviews. I'm wondering how I sound like to the north Americans who've met me

[theabigailthorn]

hi abi! i just graduated with my theatre degree in may and i took a class on speech & dialects in my final semester, and ever since i have been fascinated by your specific dialect (if my professor is reading this, i know its called an idiolect). were you trained in drama school to default toward RP, or was your dialect influenced by something else in that regard? do you ever naturally settle into a Northern/Newcastle dialect? also, as someone from the US, your Kelly Slaughter voice is eerie and uncanny and utterly disturbing and i applaud you for that.

it's a unique combination of being from the North, not having Northern parents, and then having an American voice coach!

[scotianostra]

November 5th 1877 saw the opening of the original Mitchell Library, Glasgow, now the largest public reference library in Europe.

The first incarnation of The Mitchell Library was on the corner of Ingram Street and Albion Street with a collection of 5000 volumes. By the time it moved to its temporary home in Miller Street in 1891 the library boasted more than 150,000 books and could accommodate 4,000 readers.

When The Mitchell Library first opened one of the first decisions of the Library Committee was to put together a collection of items relating to Robert Burns as a memorial to Scotland’s national poet. Highlights of the collection include over 900 editions of the works including two copies of the 1786 Kilmarnock edition, two printings of the 1787 Edinburgh edition and 200 books of selected poetry. 15 original manuscripts in the poet's hand, including the only surviving letter written by Burns in Scots and the only copy in existence of ‘The Ordination' Translations of the poet's works into more than 36 languages

The library struggled at Miller Street and so, following the substantial bequest of Robert Jeffrey’s library of 4000 books, including Audubon’s Birds of America, a permanent home was found in North Street and the doors to The Mitchell Library as we know it today were opened in 1911. Today, the library is home to more than one million items, and welcomes over 500,000 visitors every year.

The early years also saw the foundation of the library’s two main special collections; the Scottish Poetry Collection and the Glasgow Collection. Other notable books among it's prized collection are a 12th Century Psalter, or book of psalms, the oldest book in the library, a late 14th century French Book of Hours, Thomas Annan’s Old Closes and Streets, a facsimile of Audubon’s Birds of America - one of the greatest works of ornithology containing life-sized, hand coloured depictions of 1065 North American birds - and Robert Burns, Poems Chiefly in the Scots Dialect (Kilmarnock edition)

The Library also holds an extensive collection of maps and atlases with some 35,000 sheet maps and 300 atlases. These range from a 1647 edition of an early world atlas, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum by Joan Blaeu, to current editions of maps published by the Ordnance Survey.

As well as maps they have a rich and extensive collection of newspapers, from our earliest newspaper The Glasgow Courant of 1715 to today’s copy of The Herald in the Mitchell Library.

Art and Design is an area that the library have collected and curated since it opened, providing an impressive collection of materials for lending and reference particular in relation to Scottish interest.

The Glasgow Collection of local and family history has grown to provide a distinctive record of Glasgowssocial, economic and cultural heritage, and is a living and growing part of the city’s collective memory. It offers endless research and discovery opportunities to both scholars and the local community.

The library holds over 5000 books for lending and reference, online resources to 1200 musical scores, sheet and recorded music.

They contain over 2 million books, maps, drawings, photographs, postcards and many other items from all parts of the world, dating from the 12th century to the present day.

Pica are the original building at Ingram Street, and pics of the "new" building inside and out including a close up of the statue of "Literature" on the top of the dome.

[wall-maria-around-ba-sing-se]

What I really love about the localization of xenoblade is the dialect split that was introduced in translation into English. After having 1 All-British cast and 1 mostly-American cast, Xenoblade’s English voice acting found a very interesting evolutionary path going forward in 2 and 3 wherein all human characters are given some kind of regional British English accent, and all Blade characters are given North American accents (save one for spoiler reasons).

An oft-overlooked nod to this division, is that occasionally an “American” sounding character (like Pyra or Mythra) will have a rare battle dialogue or other random line where they refer to something in imperial measurements, as opposed to the metric measurements that the game uses otherwise universally. Characters don’t respond or ask follow-up questions about these alien measurements because they did nothing odd in the original script, the localization simply slipped it in there as a cheeky meta joke.

These lines are pretty impossible to find on purpose in the game so for more information, google “Pyra feet”

[ponett]

when it first came out i wasn't particularly bothered by the english dub in botw and its characters that fluctuate between american english and fake british accents. like, i didn't think it was the most amazing dub i'd ever heard, and it didn't sound "authentic," but it just sounded about how i'd expect the dub of a game like that to sound

but i really think playing ffxiv this year and getting to heavensward, where the entire north american voice cast suddenly gets replaced with actors from the UK, has made me allergic to that "anime dub actors doing halfhearted fake british accents because it's fantasy" kinda dub. obviously it doesn't take a genius to realize that getting actors who already have the accents you're looking for is usually going to sound better. but it just feels so illustrative of the issue with how much more natural everyone sounds jumping from the last scenes of ARR to the first scenes of heavensward. to have that mix of different specific regional dialects instead of a series of impersonations. i was like, oh. we don't have to settle for the fake fantasy british dubs after all. it doesn't even have to be a special case like xenoblade where it got localized for europe first

watching the totk trailer i was like "oh, did the voice acting always sound this rough?" and the answer is yes. i still think zelda sounds okay, but going back to king rhoam's big scene and listening to that accent fade in and out is really rough. and honestly matt mercer sounds pretty bad as ganondorf. beyond the fake accents on a lot of the characters, it must be the direction they're getting or something. it's not like matt mercer is some inexperienced novice

[read-marx-and-lenin]

Do you know any good resources for learning DPRK Korean, I want to understand the language but all i can find is the southern dialect.

I know it's probably like British Vs American English but it'd be good to be able to speak the language of the DPRK over the ROK scum.

Unless you're ready to go to the North and start learning Korean there, you're better off just using the much more widespread and accessible South Korean language learning materials and then building off of that. As far as I'm aware, the language differences between the regions are not that stark.