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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
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Dear Lucy: I'd be surprised if you thought imitations of the accent in your own country were clever. You would be bound to notice exaggerations and subtle errors. For the same reason I find attempts at mimicking a Boston accent very unconvincing.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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I'd guess that nearly everyone can identify the imitation of his local accent, but can't tell the real from the false in most other accents.
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I don't know, Sparteye. If the imitation of his regional accent were really skillful, he might not detect anything unusual about it. The only things we notice are the mistakes.
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Joined: Aug 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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If the imitation of his regional accent were really skillful,
Ay, there's the rub, Bill. It takes a very gifted ear to reproduce an accent so well that those who have it don't hear it. A Zild accent is seldom imitated, and to date, I have not heard it done so perfectly, or even nearly perfectly.
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Joined: Mar 2000
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old hand
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old hand
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...It takes a very gifted ear to reproduce an accent so well that those who have it don't hear it....Indeed, Max, though I suspect the situation might be different for 'standard' accents, like Hollywood-MidWestern or British RP. I have heard both reproduced with great accuracy by various actors and actresses. Pierce Brosnan, for instance, is comfortable just about anywhere on the continuum from American, through Irish to RP(esque). And Gwyneth Paltrow, for all the mockery she has been subject to (to which she has been subject?  ), makes a pretty good fist of RP in Emma, Sliding Doors and Shakespeare in Love. I suspect that this is because of two factors: 1. Both the accents in question are very famous (if not popularly used) and so are familiar to many 2. A lack of idiosyncrasy in the accents - because they have been standardised for use in the major media of the two countries This almost means that there is no such thing as a 'native' speaker of RP or HMW (as I've called it) - everybody who uses it has, to a certain extent, acquired it. Well, that's my hypothesis, anyway. cheer the sunshine warrior
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Joined: Dec 2000
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old hand
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old hand
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> to date, I have not heard it done so perfectly, or even nearly perfectly.
I have been lucky enough to hear a great phonetician at work, and it was bewildering how easily Strine and Zild accents came off his tongue; mind you I doubt those two present nearly as much of a challenge as some accents of the British Ilses.
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Joined: Nov 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I believe there is an increasing convergence between Strine and Zild. I was listening to a dinky-di Striner at a seminar the other day and realised that there were very few markers in his speech by which to spot him as an Australian. The only giveaway was his typically Strine use of "ee" for "i", although even that was muted.
Well, I'm going to Melbourne for Easter so I may take an informal survey.
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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