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snipelfritz wrote:But if only a very, very few places speak that way, then doesn't that identify you as being from there?

Kind of, but in the way that darkness can identify an area where light isn't. Either way, the fact that something is identifiable though isn't what makes something an accent. Like in my previous post... An accent is a deviation from phonetic pronunciation and/or emphasis, or even perhaps cadence.

snipelfritz wrote:I find it hard to believe that one part of Long Island speaks English exactly the same way that people have been for hundreds of years.

It isn't necessarily the same as it has been. It's just phonetic. There is a difference. And there are several other areas throughout the country. There is at least one other area in NY, and I think a couple on the west coast also. Probably more but I don't know.

jfrey wrote:Zero accent. There's a few small areas of the US - one of which is on part of long island (where I'm originally from) - that have what is considered completely unaccented English.

Kinda neat - until you find out that because of this I have trouble understanding what people are saying if they have more than just a slight accent of any kind. I say "what?" twice and then I just nod or make some noncommittal sounds.

Dude I like totally need a recording to believe you and stuff.

Please record yourself saying "smile_man wants to reenact a Sasha Grey scene with SPACERITUAL"

Would, but everything will sound like it's underwater so it wouldn't help. Can't get a good recording of anything.

Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc7qBc-lNao

That must make recording anything frustrating...

Mudfuzz wrote::lol:
That must make recording anything frustrating...

It kills me... And if I add any distortion/fuzz/od it sounds perfect for literally 1 or 2 seconds then it turns into underwater and clips out a lot of sound. I've pretty much given up on figuring out recording myself...

What are you using?

Mudfuzz wrote:What are you using?

I'm going with an underwater microphone of some sort

Haha. A webcam mic. I also have an actual recording interface, but I couldn't figure it out when I had it working, and now it isn't working at all.

I get it now. You're not from Long Island at all...You're an Atlantean.

REVEAL YOURSELF KATHULOS!!!!!!!

Mudfuzz wrote::lol:
That must make recording anything frustrating...

same here. i had a mic that worked on my old computer, but not on this one. so all my banjo parts sound underwater.

solution: put "underwater" in the song title

...and pronounce it oondawowta.

But seriously. How can anyone speaking english claim not to have an accent when there is two standard ways of speaking? (Sorry Aussies.)

phantasmagorovich wrote:...and pronounce it oondawowta.

But seriously. How can anyone speaking english claim not to have an accent when there is two standard ways of speaking? (Sorry Aussies.)

... There are two standard accent groups perhaps... There is only one phonetic however. I explained this twice already. I'm done.

1st reason we're skeptical: There's always one American who says, "lol, I don't have an accent. I speak American. Git 'er dun!!!"

2nd reason we're skeptical: You're from Long Island, so I'm pretty sure you sound like Rodney from The Life and Times of Tim. Hell, I'm still pretty sure your name is Jeffrey.

3rd reason we're skeptical: You're really a multi-millennium-year-old Atlantean sorcerer bent on world destruction.

4th reason we're skeptical: It's just fun to give people crap about stuff like this. Yeah, it's mostly this last one.

I will make one more appearance. Just because it bothers me when someone argues with me and doesn't realize that they're not talking about the same thing as me.

So, lets take Received Pronunciation for the United Kingdom, General American for the United States, and General Australian for Australia, and for the sake of simplicity say that these are the only dialects of English. Within these dialects are subsets of accents. Think of language as a genre, dialect as subgenre, and accent as modification of subgenre (as in saying Metal, Sludge Metal, Progressive Sludge Metal - it isn't as exact analogy, but you get the gist of it right?). Each subsequent group is defined by more specific characteristics, however those characteristics act within the general rule set of the prior group, and contain many of the same elements. The things that separate them from the prior group - the peculiarities - define the dialect, or accent (or subgenre, and modified subgenre). Within each group however there are enduring or reemerging elements (Phonetics) which are not peculiar, but rather normative in terms of the overarching hierarchies. While the specific phonetic elements present in one group may be different from another - as peculiarities are distributed across the language differently - the same phonetic elements will be the same where present across dialect or accent, as they are by definition those things which are outside of peculiarity. If one speaks phonetically, they will be speaking in a way which is related to all accents, however is in fact outside of accent, as accent is defined by that which is not phonetic. A person speaking phonetically will sound the same whether they are from New York, or England, or Australia, and there are areas of some if not all which do.