April 8, 2009

An Accent….What is it?  Who has an accent?
It is a specific way of speaking a language.  Pronunciation, stress, rhythm, and tonality.  We all speak with an accent, yet some of us have many.  In those who speak English as a first language, some speak with a certain accent when they are around friends from their youth and another when at work.
Often, when we live in different areas of the world, we will add other pronunciation patterns, other accents, to our English.
And… we use the appropriate “accent” when speaking to specific groups.
I have a “storytelling accent” that I use when telling Southern Tales. This accent would not be received well if I were to use it in a gathering of professionals.

I was raised in an area that had an accent of what I lovingly refer to as “Hoosier Hillbilly”.  When I went to college, I quickly realized that although most folks understood me, it was not deemed a professional accent.
In my linguistics classes and physiology classes, I learned of the muscle responses that make sounds, tones and rhythm.
This is when I began to do “Accent Addition”. Not “Accent Reduction”. When we learn another language, we do not “reduce” or “lose” our primary language.

To speak with a Standard North American accent (i.e., as the Radio & TV media do), one does not lose the “accent “ of their first language.  They “add” the Standard North American accent.
So, to add the Standard North American accent, let’s start with knowing basics; Pronunciation, stress, rhythm, and tonality of the that accent, the struggles some groups may have, and how to use those to bridge to the Standard.