Accents

by Blumenfield, Robert H.

• ISBN13: 9780879109677
• ISBN10: 087910967X
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-12-01
• Publisher: Limelight Editions

Summary

This practical reference manual, with its precise, authentic instructions on how to speak in more than 100 dialects, has established itself as the most useful and comprehensive guide to accents available, now increased by a third in this revised printing. As before, the accents range from regional U.S. and British dialects to European accents that include, among others, the Germanic, Slavic and Romance Languages. Completing his around-the-world journey, the author then covers the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Includes two CDs.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	x
List of Phonetic Symbols Used in This Book	xi
Foreword: What This Book Is and How to Use It	xiii
Practice Exercises and Sentences	xvi
Introduction General Principles and Advice; General American English Compared to Standard British English (RP)	2	(1)
What is an Accent? How Should the Work Begin?	3	(3)
General Principles	6	(1)
Questions for the Actor to Ask	6	(1)
Study the Phonetics of the Parent Language	7	(1)
Learn a Little of the Language Itself	8	(1)
Study the Four Elements of Any Accent	8	(1)
The Physical Positioning of the Vocal Apparatus	8	(2)
A Quick Reference: Comparison of the General Position of the Vocal Apparatus During Speech for Some Accents	10	(1)
Phonetic (Sound) Changes, Shifts and Substitutions	11	(2)
A Quick Reference: ``L,'' Rhotic (R) and ``TH'' Sounds	13	(4)
Stress Patterns (Rhythm)	17	(1)
Pitch Patterns (Music, Intonation)	18	(1)
Notes on General American English Compared to Standard British English (RP	19	(9)
Part One The British Isles and Commonwealth
Introduction	28	(1)
Standard Upper-Class British RP	29	(25)
Some Notes on Chaucer's English	44	(1)
Early Modern English: The Standard Speech of Shakespeare's Day	45	(4)
Victorian Pronunciation and Some Notes on the Accents of the British Royal Family	49	(3)
Contemporary Speech	52	(2)
General London and Cockney	54	(8)
Note: See also Chapter Fourteen under ``London and New York Yiddish Accents Compared''	253
English Provincial Accents	62	(18)
A Quick Reference: Common Phonetic Features of English Provincial Accents	62	(1)
East Anglia	63	(1)
The Midlands (Birmingham)	64	(3)
Yorkshire, Manchester and the North	67	(3)
Geordie	70	(2)
Liverpool	72	(2)
Bristol, Somerset and the Southwest	74	(2)
Cornwall and Devon	76	(2)
Worcestershire	78	(2)
Irish, Scottish, Welsh Accents	80	(34)
Irish Accents	80	(5)
Northern Irish (Belfast, Derry)	85	(2)
Border Accents	87	(1)
Southern Irish (Dublin, County Cork, etc.)	87	(9)
Scottish Accents	96	(8)
A Quick Reference: Glasgow	104	(4)
Welsh Accents	108	(6)
Accents of the British Commonwealth	114	(22)
India	114	(4)
Sri Lanka (Ceylon)	118	(3)
Australia	121	(4)
New Zealand	125	(2)
The Caribbean	127	(7)
Part Two North American Accents
Introduction	134	(2)
Regional Accents in the USA, Hawaii, Samoa	136	(43)
A Quick Reference: Upper-Class Early 1900s Accents	140	(2)
A Quick Reference: Regionalisms Compared	142	(2)
Southern Accents	144	(8)
African-American Accents	152	(3)
Gullah	155	(1)
New Orleans	156	(2)
Northern Accents	158	(1)
The Middle West: Chicago, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Montana, Wisconsin, the Dakotas, Minnesota, Michigan; and the Pacific Northwest	158	(5)
California	163	(2)
Upstate New York	165	(1)
New York City	165	(88)
Note: See also Chapter Fourteen under ``London and New York Yiddish Accents Compared,''	253
Boston and Massachusetts	171	(2)
Down Home Maine	173	(1)
Some Notes on Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Pennsylvania Dutch Accents	174	(1)
Hawaii and Samoa	175	(4)
Canada: French and English Canadian Accents	179	(15)
English Canadian	181	(2)
French Canadian	183	(5)
Part Three Romance Language Accents
Introduction: The Pronunciation of Latin	188	(6)
French Accents	194	(11)
Spanish Accents, Spain, Central and South America	205	(8)
Italian Accents	213	(10)
Portuguese Accents, Portugal and Brazil	223	(5)
Romanian Accents	228	(7)
Part Four Germanic Language Accents
Introduction	234	(1)
German Accents: Prussian, Bavarian, Viennese	235	(10)
Yiddish and Its Dialects	245	(11)
London and New York Yiddish Accents Compared	253	(3)
Dutch	256	(5)
Three Scandinavian Languages	261	(18)
Danish	261	(6)
Norwegian	267	(3)
Swedish	270	(8)
Part Five Slavic Language Accents
Introduction	278	(1)
Russian and Ukrainian	279	(11)
A Note on the Pronunciation of Russian Names	281	(1)
Correct Stress in the Names of Some of Chekhov's Characters	281	(2)
How to Do A Russian Accent	283	(4)
Ukrainian	287	(119)
(Note: See also Chapter Thirty-Two for more Russian practice, Lyermontov poem, under ``Georgian'' 406)
Polish	290	(5)
Czech and Slovak	295	(4)
Serbo-Croatian and Bulgarian	299	(10)
Serbo-Croatian Accents	299	(4)
Bulgarian Accents	303	(5)
Part Six Miscellaneous European Accents
Introduction	308	(1)
Greek	309	(5)
The Finno-Ugric (Ural-Altaic) and Baltic Languages; Basque; Albanian	314	(23)
Hungarian	314	(4)
Turkish	318	(2)
Finnish	320	(3)
Estonian, Latvian (Lettish), Lithuanian	323	(4)
Basque	327	(3)
Albanian	330	(6)
Part Seven Middle Eastern Accents
Introduction	336	(1)
Arabic Accents: Middle Eastern, Egyptian and Other North African Arabic Accents	337	(5)
Hebrew	342	(5)
Persian	347	(7)
Part Eight African Accents
Introduction	352	(2)
East and West African Accents: Notes on Sub-Saharan and Ethiopian; Nigerian; Ugandan (Swahili); Zaire and Congo: Lingala	354	(7)
South African Accents: British, Dutch (Boer), and Zulu	361	(8)
Part Nine Asian Accents
Introduction	368	(1)
Chinese Accents: Mandarin, Cantonese	369	(7)
Japanese Accents	376	(6)
Korean Accents	382	(5)
Vietnamese, Burmese, Indonesian and Singaporean, The Philippines (Tagalog), and Thai Accents	387	(16)
A General Note About Pitch	387	(1)
Vietnam	387	(3)
Burma	390	(3)
Indonesia and Singapore	393	(4)
Thailand	397	(3)
The Philippines (Tagalog)	400	(3)
More Asian Accents	403	(14)
Armenian	403	(3)
Georgian (Russian Practice: Lyermontov poem)	406	(4)
Mongolian	410	(2)
Uzbek	412	(5)
Selected Bibliography	417