Posted on 02/04/2005 4:09:39 AM PST by grassboots.org
PIKEVILLE, Ky. (AP) - A new class that seeks to teach youngsters how to lose their Appalachian accents has set off an age-old phonetic debate: Should mountain natives drop the drawl or hold tightly to their twang?
The class, put on by an eastern Kentucky theater group, is designed for children in middle and high schools who want to reduce their accent to "broaden their performance opportunities and improve overall marketability."
"We don't want people to be held back just because they have an accent," said Martin Childers, managing director of Jenny Wiley Theatre in Prestonsburg. "If you want to work professionally, you have to be able to drop the accent when it's required. We want to give people the opportunity to learn to do that."
People from central Appalachia have been wrestling with the accent for as long as they have been driving to northern cities to land jobs. Some quickly adopted the speech patterns of Cincinnati or Detroit co-workers to avoid being ridiculed. Others held onto the accent like a cherished keepsake from home.
The Appalachian accent is the sort of southern drawl heard in the movie "Coal Miner's Daughter," about singer Loretta Lynn, a native of Van Lear, Ky. It shows up at times in the fitting of words together into what sounds like one word: "Did you eat?" becomes "jeat?" and "young ones" becomes "young'uns."
An Appalachian accent can be an asset if a casting director wants an authentic mountain sound, but Childers said a strong accent can prevent actors from being able to fill some roles, especially those involving characters from the Northeast or Midwest.
(Excerpt) Read more at lasvegassun.com ...
A point of curiosity: why is it that so many commercials use so-called southern accents? Rather than these kids from eastern Kaintuck losing their accent, perhaps others should lose their bias and prejudice. And yes, what happened to that God, diversity? Yes and how about some classes on changing accents of inner-city kids? Just imagine!
Try this one: Mexia, Texas (or for that matter, Bexar County)
Sensuous: "Sensuous" up why don't you grab me a beer.
Try this one: Mexia, Texas (or for that matter, Bexar County)"
Or Martinez, GA.
Stainless, thought you might want to ping the list on this one.
You said: Mispronouncing place names gets me. Not many announcers outside the area know how to pronounce Blytheville, Arkansas.
***
I can't pronounce it authoritatively. I think every state has its examples of this. On a related matter, when did we become forced to call the capital of China Beijing, instead of Peking? When I was growing up there was a guy named Mao Tse Tung, now he is Deng, or something like that. There are a few other examples of geographical names being changed to apparently reflect something closer to how the natives would pronounce it, but it is hardly consistent. No American pronounces the Paris, France as the French pronounce it, or Berlin as the Germans pronounce it. The same goes for any number of other geographical names. The rest of the country doesn't pronounce Boston or Baltimore as the residents of those cities do.
You have to wonder what causes these things. And don't try to serve me Beijing Duck.
Brooklynite 1: "Jeet?"
Brooklynite 2: "No. Joo?"
God help us if we all aspire to sound like the bubbleheads on the evening news.
Maybe these folks ought to first read 'The Giver' by Lois Lowry; it's age appropriate for grades 6 and up, so I'll bet they can figure it out. If you haven't yet read this easily read, amazingly complex novel, find a copy and read it.
It's about a utopian community where there are no choices about anything--no one even sees in color, only black and white. Where everyone has his or her place in the world assigned according to gifts and interests. How did such a terrible thing happen to this fictional bunch of people? Their apathy about 'differences' in mankind. Just easier to give up individuality to live in peace and harmony. Shows how much the individual loses of himself or herself for the collective good.
I ;ive in Pekin, Illinois.
I'd rather they stop worrying about accented English and get kids speaking English.
I grew up in Charleston, South Carolina. Now there's and accent!
I get the point of the article, and when I was younger I was a little sensitive about my Texas accent. Over the years I came not to be so concerned about it, because I realized there are so many accomplished Texas anybody who thinks we are slow gives me an advantage.
I work for a group of Eastern Harvard business school grads, and I guarantee those boys don’t think there is anything slow about me, because of my colorful phrases, and my Texas accent.
NYC public school, mid-seventies, in speech class we were
made aware of our "noo-yawk" accents as contrasted with "standard" american english. There was no message that our pronounciation was "wrong", but we were given the tools to modify some of the more regional characteristics of our speech patterns if we wished.
Try doing that with an orthodontic appliance in your mouth! That said, never berl ersters in erl, or they'll spurl!
No one with a southern accent has ever held a job?
Public schools are corrupting our yutes.
I'm originally from "Joisey" (lived there for the first 33 years) but never really sounded "Joisey". More often I get placed around Texas (lived there for 12 years). I identify more with Texas than the Noo Yawk damyankees. Or Minnesota (where nothing is allowed) for that matter.
"I love accents. Lets people know immediately where youre from. Alabama is my favorite"
Why, thank you, from Alabama via the mountains of Virginia! I enjoy listening to folks' accents, too. Accents are intriquing. As a former teacher in rural Southwest VA, I encouraged students to learn/use "correct" grammar and pronunciations so they would have a choice. Although circumstances may influence how I speak, I do so enjoy being the "Southern Belle."
Except mosquitos as big as condors.
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