Sue,
Thank you so much for your lesson on accents in British and American English. I am sure that all the other students are as curious as me to know which accent is more acceptable or considered best in the US. In Iran, Persian, the way people from Tehran speak, is considered standard and high class. Tehranies are notorious for their making fun of all the other accents that are spoken in other Iranian cities. People who seek higher positions in the society and their jobs usually try to ease their accents. The situation is much better today, but I believe it still exists.
Does a similar situation exist in America? We rarely hear a radio or TV announcer speak with a Texan accent. Does Washington as your capital city impose any pressure because it is politically important or New York because it is the capital of the US economy? Is it true that English in the northern parts of the US is cosidered standard? Noam Chomsky says that if someone from Mars looked at us he would say, "They all speak the same language -- only with a lot of accents." That's the way English appears to us: All the huge diversity that exists in all the English speaking countries in the world boils down to just one thing: you just speak English -- except that unlike Chomsky's little green man from Mars, we are not able to distinguish a single accent.
Ali
1 comment:
If there is a preference in dialects it probably is for that you may hear from newsmen and women. Regardless of their home region, most of them have standardized their accents to what is the most acceptable accent.
Is it from the Northeast US? Not necessarily. Bostonians have a very distinct accent - it's Baastin, not Boston, and even in New York, a city in America comparable to Tehran, there are many different accents. People from Brooklyn, Harlem, and other suburbs speak with a variety of accent.
From what you say, there seems to be a similiar situation to what you find in Iran. Poor grammer is looked down upon more than a different accent. To say, I ain't gonna do this," is a sign of lower class language, or to say, He don't like that instead of "He doesn't like that," is a red flag for high level jobs etc.
Post a Comment