Newfoundland Accent (Atlantic Canada)
Erik Larsen ·
May 10, 2011 at 8:17am
I love dialects and accents. Newfoundland English is a mishmash (apparently) of West Country English, and southeast Ireland speech. It seems amazing that, in the age of television, dialects like this can survive! It took me about seven times to understand what these guys were saying. Are there people in your region of the country that take a bit of listening to discern meaning?
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Oct '10
Re: Newfoundland Accent (Atlantic Canada)
They're called Democrats.
Nov '10
Re: Newfoundland Accent (Atlantic Canada)
What a random video to post...yet very intriguing. If you know more about the subject, I would love to hear more about the dynamics of the variables in how the English language is spoken around the globe. I am totally ignorant on the topic. To your own question, here is an impersonation, though strikingly accurate in its portrayal extreme though it may be, of some of the accents you here " 'round these parts". It may be a bit of an exaggeration, but there is a lot of "fixin' " and "takin' " and " y'all-ing" here in Central Texas. Here, Dan Rather, the font of integrity that he is, discusses his more moderate, and realistic challenges with clearing the accent from his broadcasting voice.
Re: Newfoundland Accent (Atlantic Canada)
I love dialects and accents, too. I grew up mostly in Colorado, where accents are rare. It's that portion of the country where broadcasters don't have to work too hard on their speech.
My own problem is that I pick up accents very easily. So if I'm speaking with a Texan, I pick up on everything in their speech and copy it. It's reflexive and I try to avoid it. But it's very difficult. Same goes for any accent, actually. And if I'm speaking a foreign language, I think people assume I'm much more fluent than I am on account of this issue, too.
Jan '11
Re: Newfoundland Accent (Atlantic Canada)
The Adventure of English by Melvin Bragg is pretty interesting. I've listened to the audio version twice. (There is a lot of old English and French mentioned, which, if I read, would be totally lost in translation.)
In the last few chapters he discusses how Australian and American English differ from the Queen's. Could be a good place to start.
Nov '10
Re: Newfoundland Accent (Atlantic Canada)
MLH
The Adventure of English by Melvin Bragg is pretty interesting. I've listened to the audio version twice. (There is a lot of old English and French mentioned, which, if I read, would be totally lost in translation.)
In the last few chapters he discusses how Australian and American English differ from the Queen's. Could be a good place to start. · May 10 at 6:15am
Fantastic! Thanks for the suggestion.
Oct '10
Re: Newfoundland Accent (Atlantic Canada)
Lance: If your interested in a not too far past example, the BBC series "All Creatures Great and Small" takes place in 1930s Yorkshire. Very similar to the Newfoundland accents that started this thread. The shows are charming, very realistic, and very often you have to work to follow the dialect.
Jul '10
Re: Newfoundland Accent (Atlantic Canada)
Are there people in your region of the country that take a bit of listening to discern meaning?
Oh, yes....
Oct '10
Re: Newfoundland Accent (Atlantic Canada)
During a round of golf at Turnberry (Scotland) in 2002 the four of us had four old-timer Scots caddies, and we understood about 10% of what they said during the entire round of golf. We think they might even have spoken some Gaelic to mess with our minds. A thick Scots brogue is wonderful to listen to, but murder to understand (to me, anyway).
Not exactly the kind of comment you were looking for, but it's what popped into my mind.
Edited on May 10, 2011 at 8:46amOct '10
Re: Newfoundland Accent (Atlantic Canada)
My brother and sis-in-law were on their honeymoon in Scotland in the late '80s. They were in the middle of the countryside, kinda lost on roads leading seemingly to nowhere, and the gloaming was settlin' in. Then they spotted a lone farmer by the side of the road.
So my brother stops the car and my sis-in-law gets out and approaches the farmer to get directions. For the next minute or so my sis-in-law nods her head repeatedly as the farmer motions this way and that, apparently giving her detailed directions to their destination. When he finally stops, they shake hands and he bids her farewell with a wave.
When she got back in the car my brother asked her, "So, where do we go?"
She replied, "I didn't understand a word he said."
Jan '11
Re: Newfoundland Accent (Atlantic Canada)
dittoheadadt: When she got back in the car my brother asked her, "So, where do we go?"
She replied, "I didn't understand a word he said." · May 10 at 8:57am
I had some friends who had honeymooned in Australia. They were going to the Sydney Opera House to Les Mis. . .In talking with locals they learned the proper pronounciation and to this day I can't help but think of it a "Lame as a Rabbit."
Apr '11
Re: Newfoundland Accent (Atlantic Canada)
As Ricochet's only(?) Newfoundlander, I think I understood most of this. But when I was practicing law in Western Newfoundland, I spoke to some witnesses and clients who completely lost me just a few words in.
Of course, I'm a "townie" who grew up in the St. John's area (where about 1/3 of the population lives). If you're from outside of St. John's you're a "Bayman," even if you're from an inland community like Grand Falls.
Newfoundland English is so distinctive, it even has its own dictionary.
Jun '10
Re: Newfoundland Accent (Atlantic Canada)
The Minnesota accent:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1kn0hn8kOM
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXFemzs7Y6c
Jul '10
Re: Newfoundland Accent (Atlantic Canada)
Damian Penny: As Ricochet's only(?) Newfoundlander, I think I understood most of this. But when I was practicing law in Western Newfoundland, I spoke to some witnesses and clients who completely lost me just a few words in.
Of course, I'm a "townie" who grew up in the St. John's area (where about 1/3 of the population lives). If you're from outside of St. John's you're a "Bayman," even if you're from an inland community like Grand Falls.
Newfoundland English is so distinctive, it even has its own dictionary. · May 10 at 9:37am
There is another Newfie...calls himself Halifax-something....
Nov '10
Re: Newfoundland Accent (Atlantic Canada)
This about sums it up.
Edited on May 10, 2011 at 10:45amMar '11
Re: Newfoundland Accent (Atlantic Canada)
Expect to hear more of this kind of thing, because it is pretty well established that regional accents are actually getting stronger.
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/culture/articles/990125/archive_000134.htm
Jan '11
Re: Newfoundland Accent (Atlantic Canada)
Lance, I'm just an interested amateur observer and listener. I scramble for my Fargo/English dictionary when Lileks speaks. He talks about getting to the "rut" of the problem, which I assume is a word that should rhyme with "hoot". The Baltimore accent is interesting as well - where a dog is a "dug"
Jan '11
Re: Newfoundland Accent (Atlantic Canada)
The new Doctor Who series pokes a tremendous amount of fun at its actors' accents, which is especially funny considering that it's a sci-fi show:
Rose: If you are an alien, how come you sound like you're from the North?
Doctor: Lots of planets have a north!
May '11
Re: Newfoundland Accent (Atlantic Canada)
I used to work in a call center and listened to people speak from all over the country. It was fascinating. For example, people from upper New York state talk very fast. The deep south accent is different from the southern or Texan accents. Mollie Hemingway said people from Colorado don't have much of an accent, but they do. They sound "western" like the people from Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana. Our family lives in Minnesota. When my daughter and her husband moved to California, people there thought they were from Canada!!! There is a community in North or South Carolina in which the people spoke in such a way, I couldn't make heads or tails out of what they were saying, and they were in the US. I can imagine what it is like in Scotland or Ireland.
Jun '10
Re: Newfoundland Accent (Atlantic Canada)
The dialect or accent of northern New Mexico is unique. It's very nasal but with a certain lilt to it, like singing through your nose. I've heard it said that scholars from Madrid come here to study archaic Spanish, much the same way researchers comb the Appalachians for traces of Shakespearean English. As an historian I'm fascinated with the history of the place. Explored in 1540, settled but quickly abandoned in 1598, re-settled 1610, abandoned a second time in 1680 during the Pueblo Revolt, reconquered in the 1690's, and then ignored by both Spain and Mexico for the better part of 150 years until annexed by the US in 1846.
Jun '10
Re: Newfoundland Accent (Atlantic Canada)
Check out North American English Dialects, Based on Pronunciation Patterns