All Questions
11 questions
2
votes
2
answers
7k
views
Why do people with a British accent make an "r" sound at the end of words ending in an "ah" sound
I'm American so I've seen this in so many movies and just wondering, what's up with that?
Example: We will not need those blankets in Russia-r.
- 137
3
votes
1
answer
78
views
Looking for Spanish varieties/accents
This might not be the right place to ask this, and if so, I apologize. I'm a student conducting research on Spanish varieties and I am wondering if anyone knows where I could find short texts read by ...
4
votes
1
answer
694
views
Which dialect/accent of English has the most/least sounds?
My accent is from New York City, yet I wonder which area has the most or least sounds in their phonemic inventory. While one may have the most vowels and another the most consonants, I would like to ...
- 189
5
votes
2
answers
317
views
Conflation of language dialects and phonology
The main idea behind this questions is that I have some difficulty to accept that a certain language can be a dialect of another one by simply basing that argument on the similarity of the vocabulary ...
- 152
3
votes
3
answers
874
views
Minimal Pairs Highlighting the Difference between American and British English
Does anyone have a list of minimal pairs, highlighting the difference between American and British English?
Thanks.
- 31
1
vote
1
answer
137
views
Accents and dialects
How are dialects formed? Are they always a diverging branch from the main language or can they be the fruit of a converging process between different languages because of cultural pressure?
Also, ...
- 113
0
votes
0
answers
154
views
Is diphthongising [ʌ] as [ʌɪ] novel or an accent feature?
I have noticed some speakers diphthongising [ʌ] as [ʌɪ]. For example, in Bea Miller’s Young Blood, she pronounces “young blood” as [jʌɪŋ blʌɪd] and “us” as [ʌɪs]. Has this been documented elsewhere? ...
- 251
2
votes
1
answer
402
views
How distinct do two language varieties need to be in order to consider their alternating usage to be an act of code-switching?
I was recently thinking about code-switching (i.e. switching between languages within a sentence, social exchange, phrase, etc.) Would switching between dialects or accents of the same language under ...
- 65
4
votes
8
answers
8k
views
Why do people singing in English sound like Americans?
This is just my observation, but it seems like Standard American English lacks any distinct accent when speaking. Listen to almost any person singing with an accent, and they sound like any American ...
- 1,965
10
votes
4
answers
1k
views
Does accent/dialect prestige rely on socio-cultural bias or on acoustics?
Is there any evidence that implies that accent/dialect prestige is formed due to the sounds of accents (i.e. something to back up statements like an accent being "harsh sounding") or is it really just ...
- 2,049
10
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Distinguishing dialects objectively: lexical sets in non-English settings
The concept of lexical set is a useful technique for differentiating accents or dialects within a language. A lexical set is a set of all words/syllables that are pronounced with the same vowel. These ...
- 4,495