Accents

Jeren Hicks

Why am I doing this?

• Trying a non-technical talk
• Increased interest in my heritage
• Increased comments about my own accent
• This topic is way more interesting than I thought.
• Everyone keeps talking about this talk...so I thought I would redo it, with more info!

Who are you and what gives you right to talk about this??

Honestly...nothing. There isn't any quality control on who can get up here and just talk... Run...

But seriously...

But seriously...

But seriously...

But seriously...

But seriously...

But seriously...

Let's go back to 1993!!

What is an accent?

Dialect vs Accent

• Dialect
  • Grammatical features of the way someone talks
  • Usually specific to region or social groups
  • Examples:
    • Yall
    • Hollar
    • Boro
    • Papaw
• Accents
  • Variations on the way a language is pronounced.
  • Emphasis on different syllables words or notes

Anatomy of an Accent

• Quality of Voice
• Pronunciation and distinction of vowels and consonants
• Stress
• Prosody
  • Pitch
  • Length
  • Loudness
  • Timbre

aschmann.net

Accent Map

Accent Map

• As many as 35 different southern 'accents', all with unique and different variations.
• As much as 200+ different accents across the entire United States

wikipedia

What about mine?

• Appalachian Eastern Tennessee English
• Wiki's definition
  • Vowel shift
  • 'oil' pronounced 'uhll' - 'spoil'
  • Lax and tense vowels neutral before L - 'feel'
  • Short i and short e before n and m - pin / pen
  • o in middle of words are drawn out. - home

Reactive Accent

• Ability to switch accents based on some condition
• Uncommon condition
  • Actors
  • Immigrants
• My conditions
  • Tired
  • Drunk
  • Talking to my grandparents

The facts...

• Monster.com states accents DO determine a successful interview, and not in the good way
• Survey from Monster shows accents give wrong first impressions : less educated & unrefined.
• No laws to protect someone from being discriminated against because of accent.
• Data suggest those with little to no accent are placed into more prestigious jobs and positions over others.
• Those with vastly different accents can express distrust of one another.

...the solution

• Be careful on first judgements
• Judge someone on grammar and the content of their words, not how it sounds.
• Educate yourself with the distinctions on the accent of someone else.
• Link people with similar accents.

Questions?