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> American accents I always find very easy, though. That might possibly be due to the hegemony of the American movie/television industry? In my case, I know th
by lou1306 8y ago
> American accents I always find very easy, though.
That might possibly be due to the hegemony of the American movie/television industry? In my case, I know that a majority of the English-spoken entertainment I consume is American-made, so much that British English now gives me a distinct, "exotic" feeling.
- sampo 8y agoThere is this observation that British and American singers sound much alike when they sing. They lose most of their accent, and they just sing in "neutral English". And that neutral English is much closer to American than British. So I'm inclined to think that the British just have more of an accent than Americans. The British accent contains more intonations, which one cannot use when the intonations are dictated by the music. "Why British Singers Lose Their Accent When Singing" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ8RdLtZWlc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ8RdLtZWlc
- chrisseaton 8y agoI can't understand why people would think a non-geographic-specific American accent would be 'neutral' compared to any other. What does 'neutral' even mean? The letter sounds as in the written version of a word? American accents have as many weird dropping of sounds, adding of extra sounds, and other little curiosities compared to the written version as any other accent does. For example a non-geographic-specific American accent pronounces 'water' as 'warder', 'butter' as 'budder', and 'duty' as 'doody' - it's definitely taking things away and adding things and not just being neutral.
- sampo 8y ago> What does 'neutral' even mean? Less intonations.
- chrisseaton 8y agoMaybe I don't know enough about linguistics and terminology, but aren't Americans famous for their dramatic intonation, especially at the end of sentences which aren't questions?
- foldr 8y agoThis is complete nonsense. There's no such thing as "neutral English". Not every authoritative-sounding youtube video actually contains informative content. Also, it's obviously entirely possible to sing in a British accent. Even an exaggerated one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXqYajt67J4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXqYajt67J4
- raister 8y agoI guess he meant "commercial English", i.e., encompassing large markets. For instance, I love Iron Maiden, but they sound very North-American. Then, in interviews, I find really hard to understand what they're saying.
- foldr 8y agoYes, it's true that some English bands sing in mid-Atlantic accents, but that's not because it's somehow impossible to sing in an English accent. I think song lyrics are often easier to understand than ordinary speech just because they're slower, independent of accent. For example, I find it easier to understand Spanish in songs than I do when someone is speaking at a normal conversational pace.
- dragonwriter 8y ago> They lose most of their accent, and they just sing in "neutral English". There's no such thing. It may be the case that most commercial music is sung in approximately a General American (or maybe sometimes the otherwise largely deceased affected Mid-Atlantic) accent, but that's probably more about commercial market appeal than anything else. > The British accent contains more intonations, which one cannot use when the intonations are dictated by the music. It's quite possible to sing music in any of a number of British accents.
- not2b 8y agoConsider Green Day, a band made up of Californians who sing in a working class British accent. The British bands of the 60s sounded semi-American when singing because they were trying to, and the British Invasion bands were trying to sound more American because it was where the market was. The British punk and Britpop bands didn't try to sound American or even mid-Atlantic.