121–130 of 175 posts
Does this mean Kevin Costner didn't actually have a ridiculous accent in Robin Hood?
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Spelling gives some hints. One technique is to look for common spelling mistakes. An especially interesting mistake is hypercorrection ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercorrection ). For example, there was a time when the K in words like "knee" and "knight" became silent. We can pinpoint this time by looking for Ks in front of words, that never used to start with K. The writer doesn't pronounce the K in "kn" any lo…
You can also pick up clues in rhyming, jokes, slang and puns that wouldn't otherwise make sense.
In Julius Caesar, Shakespeare makes a pun which only works if "Rome" is pronounced like "room".
Also, in Henry IV, Part One, there's a pun resting on the similarity of "reason" and "raisin".
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And their best player at the world cup, David Villa's name is correctly pronounced Dabid Biya
'll' is not equivalent to 'y' in standard Spanish, although the confusion exists in some zones (not in Asturias, from where Villa is) and it's a decent approximation for a non-native speaker. As opposed to nearby romances, Spanish never distinguished between 'b' and 'v'. This is probably a Basque influence. There was a Roman pun[1] on these lines that said "beati Hispani quibus vivere bibere est" (blessed are the Spa…
Can you shed more light on 'll' vs 'y'? In Mexico, at least, the two are similar enough that handmade signs frequently contain spelling errors confusing the two.
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What does "no accent" mean? How can anyone not have an accent?
Speaking with "no accent" is the same like not speaking in a dialect: it means you speak the dialect which has become the "official" one.
Actually, if you record your voice, you will find that your spoken voice has a slight accent, while your "inner voice" (the one you use to compose emails) has no accent. This is because talking to yourself sounds different, due to the acoustics of your head and ears (or whatever).
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Ethnocentrism 101: Only other people have accents, never us.
I served this one up on a platter for someone to take but I think lkozma's reasoning is more plausible. I don't think ErrantX's comment was based in ethnocentrism. It's just a way of describing a non-regional accent in the US and apparently the UK.
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'll' is not equivalent to 'y' in standard Spanish, although the confusion exists in some zones (not in Asturias, from where Villa is) and it's a decent approximation for a non-native speaker. As opposed to nearby romances, Spanish never distinguished between 'b' and 'v'. This is probably a Basque influence. There was a Roman pun[1] on these lines that said "beati Hispani quibus vivere bibere est" (blessed are the Spa…
Check that link, especially post #7 -- the pun is Renaissance era, not Roman. Can you shed more light on 'll' vs 'y'? In Mexico, at least, the two are similar enough that handmade signs frequently contain spelling errors confusing the two.
You know, Argentinians also speak Castilian, and the way they pronounce the -ll- is completely different from everyone else. Hence, bringing up Mexico to prove that Spanish pronounce -ll- and -y- the same way is a very weak form of argumentation. Euccastro seems to know what he's talking about, so shame on whoever downvoted him.
Canada too! Their English speakers sound subtly more British than American. The New World-Old World divergence also applies to French speakers in Quebec. If you take their perfect French from Montreal to Paris, to the Parisians much of it sounds like an antiquated form of French. I suppose it's equivalent to the way King James or Shakespearean English sounds antiquated to us now.
Which explains why we can understand Aussies and Kiwis, but a random Nigel from the UK would have a speech that baffles. It boggles the mind how two people from different corners of London have different accents. Not to mention Manc vs Scouser vs the myriads of tongue-twisting nasal hiccups uttered all over them Shires. It's like they almost take pride in differentiation. Throw an international party and the two UKia…
Funny you should say that. I saw someone post a link from an Aussie comedy show on another site. Apparently most of the Americans couldn't understand half of what he was saying, which surprised me because while distinctive, it's certainly not the thickest I've heard. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suVxmPpyR9s Edit: My experience (and that of other Aussies traveling to America) seems to be that you have to slightly Am…
There is not exactly one Aussie accent; a posh office jockey from a major CBD will not sound the same as a country boy. Americans probably wont get Chopper (the comedian) but they should have no trouble with Carl Barron.
Interestingly, it's also hypothesized that Brazilian Portuguese is closer to Portuguese proper 500 years ago than Portuguese proper today. The fact that the Portuguese spoken in former Portuguese colonies in Africa sounds more Brazilian Portuguese than Portuguese proper suggests the hypothesis is right. Moreover, Portuguese poetry of the Renaissance period only makes sense phonetically if spoken with a Brazilian acce…
Why is it that whenever I hear Brazilians speak, I think they are speaking Russian?
I think this is because of the combination of rothic-sounds (rothic R), and a whole lot of nasal- and smooth-sounds alltogether. (Feel free, to translate this sentence into linguistical-speak).
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Check that link, especially post #7 -- the pun is Renaissance era, not Roman. Can you shed more light on 'll' vs 'y'? In Mexico, at least, the two are similar enough that handmade signs frequently contain spelling errors confusing the two.
Can you shed more light on 'll' vs 'y'? You know, Argentinians also speak Castilian, and the way they pronounce the -ll- is completely different from everyone else. Hence, bringing up Mexico to prove that Spanish pronounce -ll- and -y- the same way is a very weak form of argumentation. Euccastro seems to know what he's talking about, so shame on whoever downvoted him.