Bidialectalism (if you want to call it that)

[rochvelleth]

I watched an interview with John Barrowman this morning, and he said that when he's with his Scottish parents (or indeed with someone else Scottish, as I've seen him lapse into it talking to Scottish TV presenters), he speaks in his original Scottish accent - but when he's at home with his partner or in any other circumstances, he speaks in an

Comments

[beckyc]

But I just wanted to bring the world's attention to the fact that the comments you make to someone about their accent - whether you mean it hurtfully or not - can have a pretty big effect on them.

I think that it's certainly true that if you're being dismissive or rude about anything that personal then you'll likely upset them. But I think an awareness tha there is no one true correct accent and a sense of respect for other people are more important than making people too scared to ever discuss the issue again :-). After all, it's important to figure out someone's local accent and the patterns of pronunciation of vowels so you can work out which puns will work best in it, isn't it?

And anyway, I used to have far too much fun using my Northern accent to disconcert excessively-in-your-face-posh people when I was at university who were trying to work out if I was Really One Of Them... :-). But I guess that 12 years of Speech and Drama classes probably made me immune to really caring anyway...

[rochvelleth]

But I think an awareness tha there is no one true correct accent and a sense of respect for other people are more important than making people too scared to ever discuss the issue again :-)

Oh yes, absolutely. I think dialectal diversity is such a lovely thing - the problem is where you have a massive prestige gradient such that people feel they have to conform with the majority :/

After all, it's important to figure out someone's local accent and the patterns of pronunciation of vowels so you can work out which puns will work best in it, isn't it?

*lol* Quite right too :)

What you say about speech and drama classes reminds me of how lucky I was with my primary school - we had elocution lessons right the way through (no such thing at my secondary school), but they never made us lengthen out 'a's :)

[enismirdal]

That's interesting. I'm much more of a continuum - when I'm around either highly educated people or people with a generic south-east accent, I drift more towards generic south-east myself, whereas when I'm around people who have a stronger regional accent themselves, I end up lapsing into more of the Yorkshire/South Manchester hybrid accent I used to use at school.

There's a lovely 20 minute interview online with John Barrowman for a Scottish TV show, and he does the whole thing in his Glaswegian accent. It's a delight to watch. (Also nice because he doesn't go on and on and on about being gay - I think it's great that he's a spokesperson and a role model and a sex symbol and so open about himself, but in some interviews it starts to almost define him - "Hi, I'm Gay. Oh, and btw I'm also an actor and singer and have two dogs. But mostly I'm just gay.")

[rochvelleth]

I do adore John Barrowman for the way he comes across. He seems such a fully rounded personality that his sexuality is just one facet that doesn't have to get all the attention. I know he's on TV this week trying to work out whether sexuality is genetic or not, but even when interviewed about this he ends up talking about so many other things - if anyone dwells on it, it tends to be the presenters rather than him. He's so sweet :)

That's interesting. I'm much more of a continuum

I think I probably do have a continuum, because the absoluteness of my accent can vary - e.g. sometimes I sound quite RP at home. *shrug* It's so difficult to assess yourself though. A few weeks back, Alex (Cambridge classicist) made me read out a menu in the accent I use at home, and she said it just sounded 'a bit more Pippa' :)

[cjwatson]

I swing between Belfast and whatever it was I adopted during my first year in Cambridge so that people here could actually understand me. I can't usefully emulate RP, though, so it's something half-way between that sounds foreign to both, but at least it's comprehensible.

The only contexts in which I consciously choose the more English accent are (a) when trying to persuade people of something and needing to sound calm and authoritative (b) when speaking on the phone, where people can't use lip-reading cues to get past differences in accent. Otherwise it drifts based largely (as ghoti observes) on how recently I've talked to my parents.

[rochvelleth]

You do have a lovely accent, by the way :) Whenever I've spoken to you, it's sounded like Belfast but very mild and sort of soft (so difficult to describe the quality of an accent, but I mean this in a good way!).

I know what you mean about speaking on the telephone. One of the things I've always found amusing about Scouse is that even someone with the strongest Scouse accent will put on a 'posh' voice when answering the telephone :)

[naath]

Interestingly my mother sounds much more Scottish on the phone than in person - although that might just be the lack of non-verbal cues as to what she is saying.

I try not to poke fun at people's accents, but I do sometimes have difficulty understanding what people are saying if they have a strong accent that I'm unfamiliar with.

[edith_the_hutt]

When I catch a train to Leeds I can feel my accent shift north (mainly in my head, but still) as the conversations around me involve more and more people from Yorkshire.

[ptc24]

The accent in my head seems to shift very very easily. On my most recent trip it spent a fair amount of time being... American. Most disconcerting.

[rochvelleth]

Oh, I do that with Americans! I feel so self-conscious when doing it, but I can't help picking it up a bit when I speak to anyone American. I think it's the intonation more than the phonology that I'm imitating, but I do wish I could stop myself :)

[rochvelleth]

Watching TV has a similar effect on me ;)