In an episode of 30 Rock, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) makes a comment that at one time the government recorded his voice so “the perfect American accent could be preserved in case of nuclear war”. Jack’s natural accent supposedly (the Departed proved it’s certainly not Alec’s) is a thick Boston accent, indicating his poor Boston-Irish upbringing.
It is my assentation that once you have learned to speak in a neutral American accent (think Midwestern or in my case, Connecticut which sits in the eye of a perfect storm of New York, Boston, Maine, and other New England accents), you have learned to “speak properly”. Acquiring an accent after that is either an affectation or a reversion to a speech impediment.
I did not suddenly start drahpin’ my ahhs like a wicked retahd when I lived in Boston. And yet I know lots of girls who all of a sudden have picked up “y’alls” from living down South for a few years.
For that matter, it sounds weird to me when English actors like Kate Beckensale or Hugh Laurie speak in their “natural” English accent. You learned to speak like an American so why revert back to your horrible speech impediment?
Or, alternately, if I were to move to England, should I learn how to speak the Queen’s English as Madonna did? So upon my return to the States, I can enjoy the pleasure of showing these Colonials how to speak properly?
Or to put it another way. If I were a foreign, non-English speaking person, is there an ultimate form of English should I learn if I want to speak “perfect English”?
I submit that anyone who says “assentation” when they mean “assertion” has not learned to “speak properly”…whatever the hell that means. Of course, if the OP actually meant to insincerely agree with the stated rule, and doesn’t actually agree with it at all, I will retract my objection.
Yes, there is an ultimate form of English you should learn for “perfect English”. That form is whichever form is habitually used by those specific English-speakers with whom you wish to communicate.
I have a mongrel accent, half SoCal surfer and half backwoods farmboy. I started a conversation with a nice little old lady in a a store in Houston. She was in her late 80s and had a very thick Southern accent … she was from Louisiana. She said, “Wheah ah you fro-om, mah dea-ah?” I said, “Well, I grew up in Southern California.”
She answered, “Ah knew you wasn’t from arouwund he-ah, you have such a strohng accsaint.”
I was a Theatre / Broadcasting major at a college in the American South in 1975.
There was a required course designed to teach us to speak with a neutral American accent. The course had a textbook. I want to say the name of the book was “A Pronounicng Dictionary of Standard American English” but that title isn’t ringing any bells with Google so I may be wrong … also the word “broadcasting” may have been in the title somewhere.
Many of my fellow students could speak with this perfect neutral accent when on stage or on the air, but continued to speak with their Southern accents in everyday life. I didn’t consider it affected.
No. There is something called “Standard American English” or alternately “General American,” but it doesn’t represent perfect English. There’s no such thing.
I have a standard Midwestern US accent with a few Minnesota variations. I can communicate just fine with a Bostonian, an Oklahoman, a Brooklynite, a Hawaiian, and any other English speaker from the States. Between us we have somehow managed to achieve a perfect American accent.
Interestingly, I can also communicate with Canadians, but that’s only because they’re always copying us.
sighs. Ok, I’ll bite. First of all, why put “natural” in scare quotes, when it uncontestably is the case that Kate Beckinsale and Hugh Laurie naturally speak in English (as in, from England) accents? Secondly, in what sense is an English (as in, from England) accent a “horrible speech impediment”? Thirdly, why shouldn’t they ordinarily speak in their natural accents, as would likely be easiest and most comfortable for them?
Why would there be one proper way to speak English, any more than there should be one proper way to speak in general (is the proper way to speak in English? Or is it in Spanish? Of what place and era? Chinese (Mandarin or Cantonese)? Martian?)?
First of all, “y’all” is the proper way to pluralize “you.” I will not put up with “you” serving as both the singular and plural. Second, this OP is stupid enough to be mildly entertaining. Thank you for sharing.
I think you are taking this thread way too seriously.
Let me put the question back at you. If someone from America suddenly adopted an English accent for no reason, would that be odd? Is it normal to pick up a local accent if you live in a place long enough? Should one attempt to pick up the local accent in order to “fit in” more?