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A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas

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Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas

#101

Post by KAMSPioneer »

freehunter wrote: post #60
drchickensalad wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been on the internet for 6+ hours a day for the past 15 years and I have literally never seen it.

First I've heard of it too. The article says "thanks for the invite" but I googled it and the top Google result says "thanks for the info", so it doesn't seem like people agree on what it means. Are we sure people in Liberal aren't saying it ironically? Most people who pronounce Internet slang acronyms IRL are doing it ironically and the fad wears off quickly.

I'm from Liberal. I've never heard a person here (or anywhere) use the pronunciation "tifty" in any context, but I imagine you're right -- I'm sure plenty use the phrase ironically.

I've seen the initialism TFTI used in earnest, but I would consider the usage that the article refers to as uncommon at best.

Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas

#102

Post by jakelazaroff »

eezurr wrote: post #90
skywhopper wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try googling "why latinx" and reading up on it. It's deeper than just gender-neutrality, and it's not just about being "sensical". Some here will dismiss it because there are political aspects to the choice. But I assume most people who comment on Hacker News under self-determined pseudonyms can respect the desire and the right of people to come up with labels for referring to themselves that make sense to them, what…

I've read the first two results on google and it appears it's strictly related to gender-neutrality. As far as respecting the desires and rights of people who come up with labels for (more than) themselves... I can't. Someone demanding me to blanket treat an entire culture is dehumanizing every interaction with a person from that culture (and it makes each interaction tainted with ideology). I also can't respect some…

> Someone demanding me to blanket treat an entire culture is dehumanizing every interaction with a person from that culture (and it makes each interaction tainted with ideology).

Sure, but doesn't that apply to every such label? Latinx is the "controversial" term and Latino/a are the "accepted" ones, but that's just because we're having this discussion now; surely further back in history Latino/a were just as unfamiliar as Latinx is today.

Put another way: what label is not arbitrarily decided by pleas from some subset of that group and/or popular usage?

Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas

#103

Post by astura »

spraak wrote: post #89
astura wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Singular "they" sometimes gets a bad rap (less so in the last couple years) but it's been part of the English language since the time thorn (Þ) was an English letter. It's appeared in well known written works by respected authors, such as this usage by Shakespeare: "There's not a man I meet but doth salute me as if I were their well-acquainted friend" - A Comedy of Errors, Act IV, Scene 3 As you point out, even peopl…

Thanks for sharing this! I really felt like it must be older and more common than critics claim.

The oldest use of singular they I can find is a Middle English bible translation from 1382 (Wycliffe's Bible)

"Eche on in þer craft ys wijs"

(Each one in their craft is wise)

Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas

#104

Post by yathern »

colordrops wrote: post #4

Interesting. The "spanish influenced" accent described in the video sounds like standard English in southern california.

Agreed. The samples sound identical to how many of my friends in Southern California speak. Some with hispanic heritage, some without. A slightly more open 'a' vowel, and a slightly different stressings on some syllables. I wouldn't say this is a new accent at all. The only thing peculiar is that it's Kansas, where you might not expect that same latin influence.

Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas

#105

Post by arethuza »

spraak wrote: post #84
swarnie_ wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its amazing how diverse the accent can be in such a tiny part of the world. Its extremely easy to tell if someone is from Bristol, Gloucester, Swindon or Salisbury immediately.

Yeah I've always wondered why that has happened in Britain but not so much in the US in that people on different ends of the country can often sound not too dissimilar,

I would guess that parts of the UK haven't had any serious external influences in terms of culture or population for a very long time indeed - at least until fairly recently.

e.g. In my mouth I remember my parents joking that anyone whose family hadn't been in the village for at least three generations were still regarded as "incomers".

Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas

#106

Post by mcroft »

mc32 wrote: post #96
jdietrich wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Communication technology has undoubtedly had an effect on the Scots language, but I think that education is a far bigger factor. For generations, children have been taught exclusively in English and chastised for using Scots. Like Welsh and Cornish, Scots was a victim of linguistic imperialism.

I think at times it’s difficult to separate imperialism from economic dominance. Sometimes these things are due to economic might (for example Brazilian Portuguese is more influential than peninsular Portuguese, however, Brazil is hardly the imperialist in this scenario) Is it imperialism or economic influence which might make an edinburger accent more prevalent in Scotland?

I think the point on linguistic imperialism was referring to things like the Welsh Not: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_Not

Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas

#107

Post by lainga »

spraak wrote: post #84
swarnie_ wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its amazing how diverse the accent can be in such a tiny part of the world. Its extremely easy to tell if someone is from Bristol, Gloucester, Swindon or Salisbury immediately.

Yeah I've always wondered why that has happened in Britain but not so much in the US in that people on different ends of the country can often sound not too dissimilar,

It used to be that way in the US, too, up until radio and TV began exposing everyone to the accents from the Northeast (politicians) and California (Hollywood).

Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas

#108

Post by arethuza »

mcroft wrote: post #106
mc32 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think at times it’s difficult to separate imperialism from economic dominance. Sometimes these things are due to economic might (for example Brazilian Portuguese is more influential than peninsular Portuguese, however, Brazil is hardly the imperialist in this scenario) Is it imperialism or economic influence which might make an edinburger accent more prevalent in Scotland?

I think the point on linguistic imperialism was referring to things like the Welsh Not: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_Not

I can remember a girl in a class when I was at school in the late 70s being asked a question by a teacher and she clearly had been day dreaming a bit so replied "fit?" (i.e. "what?"). The teacher got very angry and threw a wooden blackboard cleaner at her head which just missed by a few cm.

I can also remember some kids getting far worse treatment in primary school for slipping into dialect (e.g. one chap who mispronounced something was told by the teacher to look at the blackboard more carefully so he went right up to it and the teacher went behind him and slammed his head into the blackboard).

[Edit: I should have said "loonie" rather than "chap" - a "loon" being a boy, a "loonie" a young boy - similarly "quine" and "quinie" for girls and young girls - aye it's a sair fecht ;-)]

Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas

#109

Post by yorwba »

spraak wrote: post #84
swarnie_ wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its amazing how diverse the accent can be in such a tiny part of the world. Its extremely easy to tell if someone is from Bristol, Gloucester, Swindon or Salisbury immediately.

Yeah I've always wondered why that has happened in Britain but not so much in the US in that people on different ends of the country can often sound not too dissimilar,

The west coast was settled barely 200 years ago, and at that time they would have spoken essentially the same mix of accents as those on the east cost. That's not a lot of time to differentiate. In addition, there's a lower population density in th US and people need to move larger distances, e.g. to shop at the nearest town, so the areas of mostly similar pronunciation should be expected to be larger.

Then there are travel and long-distance communication, which cause linguistic convergence in essentially every country, so there dialects in the US are never going to be as fractured as they used to be in Europe.

Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas

#110

Post by TulliusCicero »

spraak wrote: post #84
swarnie_ wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its amazing how diverse the accent can be in such a tiny part of the world. Its extremely easy to tell if someone is from Bristol, Gloucester, Swindon or Salisbury immediately.

Yeah I've always wondered why that has happened in Britain but not so much in the US in that people on different ends of the country can often sound not too dissimilar,

I went to BYU which has mormons from all over the US, it was really rare for me to be able to tell where someone was from (and even noticing someone having a non-standard but still American accent was fairly uncommon).
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