How the media treat speech: the case of Prince Harry
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- Опубликовано: 28 май 2024
- In this video, we're going to explore how the media treat speech and language. To do this, we'll look at the media portrayal of Prince Harry, and check some of the wilder claims about his accent and language.
0:00 Introduction
0:34 The media: who needs experts?
1:14 The media: people will believe anything
1:34 The Queen sounded Cockney?
2:41 Harry's British accent
5:28 The media's value judgements
8:50 The media's "explanations"
9:10 Harry ends sentences with "right?"
If you want to speak British English clearly and confidently, I recommend this course from accent coach Luke Nicholson:
info: improveyouraccent.co.uk/engli...
sign up: course.improveyouraccent.co.u...
0:00 Introduction
0:34 The media: who needs experts?
1:14 The media: people will believe anything
1:34 The Queen sounded Cockney?
2:41 Harry's British accent
5:28 The media's value judgements
8:50 The media's "explanations"
9:10 Harry ends sentences with "right?"
A video on the transatlantic accent would be amazing. Love your videos.
What is the reason Prince Harry is articulate? The video ends at that question?
Did you do the video on the transatlantic accent? If so, could you please kindly point me to the link?
It's absolutely natural for people to change their speech patterns/language use/pronunciation based on who they're talking to. As another commenter mentioned, people who no longer live in their birth country will adapt to the country the live in but then revert back when they are talking to people from home. As a Scot that's lived in the south of England for 20 years I *had* to change the way I spoke in order to be understood, but my accent absolutely comes back when I'm talking to my family. Although I still get accused of being "posh" when in Scotland 😅
Same here, being a brazilian that lives in Portugal. I tone down my accent and make my vocabulary more formal to be understood here, but when I'm speaking to another brazilian - especially ones from São Paulo, my speech patterns change tremendously and I go back to sounding informal with a thick paulistano accent (they also make fun of my accent here because of how I pronounce the Rs because in my accent have a /ɹ/ sound, much like the american R). Also because some words that are so natural to us may sound incredibly offensive here (and vice-versa, I giggle at some words they use because they're bad in Brazil), so I try not to use those words to avoid sounding like a dick lmao
It is more natural for some people than for others, I guess. For some, an accent says who they are, or part of who they are, and such an individual can feel very reluctant to change their accent at all, and even feel guilty about the slightest change to it, as if it were a betrayal of some sort.
God help us if the British water down their speech, language and culture. What will happen to the rest of the world. Example is the school of mankind.
I used to work with a bunch of French (from France) and French Canadians (Quebecois) in North America. The French complained that when they went home, they were accused by family and friends of sounding more like the Quebecois.
Would that I had a recording of me (from the Midlands but with family mostly from the North, including both my parents) speaking to my sixth form physics teacher (from Bolton) while at school in Norfolk...
Classmates REALLY noticed that when he and I spoke to each other we BOTH pitched our accents WAY further north than when speaking to Norfolk natives in the same room.
And my Lancashire accent isn't even my 'standard' accent. My normal accent is pitched somewhere between the Northwest and the East Midlands.
There's nothing 'fake' about picking up some of the accents of those we spend most of our time with. It's a normal and natural process.
I used to work as a fuel desk cashier at a truck stop for many years. I picked up snippets of accents from all over the world. But the strongest accent influence was from one of my co-workers: a good ol' boy from "Kaintuck".
Thank you. My husband now says "soda" about as often as he says "pop," or maybe even a bit more. I say "pop" less often than "soda" but it has happened, but only since being with him. I mean, we joke that I've corrupted him since he's shifted more on this, but there's absolutely nothing fake about any of this. It's just what happens. It's *how language works.*
Having grown up in New England and living over 20 years in Kansas (Midwest), I recently moved to the South. It is so different to me that I would "hear" my thoughts in this thick accent. Now that I've been here a few years, I hear myself sounding a little different. But when I was reading aloud to my kids about a character from Massachusetts, I immediately heard that New England accent. My kids thought I was doing it on purpose.
Exactly
@@AbbaJoy1 love it, so relatable to me, I am from Panamá, lived in California for about 30 years now. Same.
I would love to see a video on the “mid-Atlantic” accent, as someone who is often accused of having one after living in the US for many years. Or rather, people in the US think I sound British while people in the UK tell me I sound completely American.
My personal take on Harry and Megan is that they both sound millennial. Boomer/hippies used to say “you know” all the time where younger people say “right.” It’s just a filler word like “ummm” that we all use in extemporaneous speech, right?
I thought that was called the "trans-Atlantic accent," not the "mid-Atlantic accent.". I think the latter refers to American accents from the Maryland/Delaware/New Jersey region of the United States.
Here you are - video on mid-Atlantic accent , with some very short US film clips ,where it is used. ruclips.net/video/IL2MJ8rQ12E/видео.html
@@auldfouter8661 interesting! Thank you!
Me as well!
@detectivefiction3701 I think both terms get used, but I agree that using "mid" is inviting confusion, should be banned, and violators severely beaten about the head and shoulders.
Dr. Geoff, just a small note. The pronunciation of the word "route" is not uniform throughout the USA. Here in Massachusetts, for example, we speak the word as "root", just as RP UKers do. But this was fascinating. To me, Harry sounds very British indeed. 🙂
I grew up primarily on the East Coast. The only time I heard "route" pronounced like "rowt" was on television. And that was from interviews with Midwesterners. Every other time, I heard "root." There is even a Chuck Berry song called "Route 66" and a 60's television series of the same name where "route" was pronounced as "root." I wonder if the "route" as "rowt" came from the fact that the Midwestern has a large population of people of German background where "rowt" would have been easier to pronounce than "root" for initial German immigrants. Meanwhile, on the East Coast, the British with their "root" dominated immigrant pool when the country was forming.
The plot thickens; in the northern plains, "root" is pronounced like "put".
Yes. I grew up in Pasadena, where it is pronounced "root," whereas in all the rest of Southern California it's pronounced "rowt."
Yes, I grew up in Southern California and pronounced it as "rowt", but then I went to university in the Northeast and adopted "root" instead.
As a New Zealander I say root, but when it comes to computer network equipment, people tend to say it the other way. Rooter sounds vulgar to me, probably because in NZ root is a slang term for sex.
You've stepped out of the safe waters of language, and have delved into the murky depths of rhetorical fallacy... And you killed it. Great job, great video!
Yes to a video on the mid-Atlantic accent! Canadians and Americans immediately identify my accent as British and Brits immediately identify it as American, and I'd be interested in understanding why. (I lived the first 20 years of my life in Britain and for the next 48 have been in North America.)
Similar problem here, only in reverse! You're not alone... 🙂
@@OnlineSchoolofEnglish A comparison of Brits who live in NAmerica and NAmericans who live in the UK would be interesting!
Wow a kindred spirit 25/48 🙂
I live in the American south and spent time in the American North and the army... All people from the north think I sound southern and all people from the south think I sound like a Yankee (American northerner)
@@martin.j.osborne a potential paper in that I'm sure
There's a thing called "Media Amnesia" When the news media cover our area of expertise, we laugh at how badly wrong they get it, but then we read an article outside our expertise and forget that experience.
Most reporters seem to have a literature background, and get EVERYTHING else confidently wrong.
It's sometimes called the Gell-Mann Effect.
@@kgbgb3663 yes! Thank you! en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Crichton#GellMannAmnesiaEffect
I have never met a reporter with a literature background in the US--ever
My first thought on the "Trans-Atlantic Accent" is the actor Cary Elwes who was born in the UK but moved to America. When I watched Saw, which he starred in, I thought he was a Brit doing a terribly unconvincing American accent. But it turns out, that's just what he sounds like naturally. I'd definitely like a video on his accent and other similar ones.
For a long time, I thought Elwes was an American doing an unconvincing British accent! 😂
There are potentially two meanings to Trans-Atlantic. One is the accent used in movies between the 1920s and 1950s. The other is what may be happening now. These are very different. When I was little living on the US West Coast, I thought the movie accent was one of those "East Coast accents". Later I read it was a made-up mix of British and American features.
When Elwes was a child, his mother remarried, to an American film producer. That's where the film biz connection comes from. Cary's brother Cassian Elwes became a successful film producer too.
Mr Geoff you are very underrated
I would LOVE a video on uptalk, with those amazing examples that you always find for anything. A video about vocal fry would also be highly appreciated. Or about transatlantic pronunciation. Basically, anything you do is bound to be amazing.
you can check out in the videos about king charles for uptalk?
hehe i'm only using ? to mean uptalk
He should cover updog too
@@williambean6135 yeah i agree, he should cover up, dog
@@williambean6135 Had to google. I'm so oooooold.
I’m older; I had to Google it also. For me, it’s reminiscent of “pass me that henway.” “What’s a henway?” “Oh, about 3 pounds.”
The end of the video is hilarious 😁
Your sense of humour is truly adorable!
The joke went over my head at first. First thought that I had accidentally skipped ahead, then I thought that there was something wrong with the editing.
Very funny!
I’m an Australian and obviously have a very strong Aussie accent. My first, late husband was born and in Scotland and lived in Alloa Clackmannan Shire but left Scotland and was raised in Australia from approximately the age of five/six. When both sides of the family would get together, northern England, and Scotland, OMG, I couldn’t understand not just the Scots but even my own husband as he completely and without knowing it reverted back to a very broad Scottish accent!
It truly was a wonderful night with many, many laughs. Only I had to be translated to on numerous occasions! 🤦🏻♀️
My favourite, and I won’t try and spell it was, “it’s a bright moonlight night tonight, and I still say that to people if it is actually a bright moonlight night, and when they ask me what on God‘s green earth am I saying,? I proudly puff my chest out as if I can speak a foreign language and tell them what it means - I must sound so ridiculous lol )
I hope I’m not butchering it), as I was saying, he never put that Scottish accent on deliberately, the more he drank, the more Scottish he sounded with the rolling of the letter R and other such Scottish speaking nuances. I must say it’s a beautiful language, and it was a fun, filled night indeed!
I wish I had of studied linguistics back when I was young enough to go to uni as I find the subject immensely ifascinating, and there’s just so much to learn. Well, truth be known, there’s so much to learn about the whole world around us, and we as people and individuals. Great channel, great content, thank you so much.
Just one thing, Sir, please can you increase for one or two seconds the amount of time you’ve got written text on the screen as I’m also listening to you and I seem to have a problem concentrating on what you’re saying and reading what’s on the screen? I’m quite adept at the English language and I’ve never had that problem before, so maybe if you could increase the text frames a tad, I won’t have to keep tapping twice on the left and pausing it. I have no problem speed reading so possiblysome others may be having the same problem? (Either that or I need to see a doctor 😬)
Thanks so much for an interesting and educational upload, much appreciated. 🙋🏻♀️🇦🇺
Your comment about accents and alcohol made me feel not so alone. When I have too much to drink (no driving after two beers) I start speaking German. I had one year of very intensive German at California State University and continued studying for many years. I cannot stop speaking German when inebriated much to my wife's anger. Your husband's Scottish talk sounds like my German.
My mum is/was English.
The broad range of the English accent was always a ‘thing’ to her.
Being raised in Somerset and spending summers in London she would always be teased for her accent each Autumn upon returning from London having picked up the London accent.
I miss her stories…
I think British folks who've immigrated to North America or lived here for years will lose a bit of their accent. I've known at least three or four here in California and they tend to pick up a more Americanized speech pattern. Thing is, as soon as they're around British people again it reverts back. I had a coworker who's mother is English and married an American in the military. She'd been in California for decades. I met her and she did have a "blended" accent, but my coworker said as soon as she's around her English friends who also live in Californa she immedately reverts back to her full native accent just by speaking with them for a few minutes (and so do her friends). She said it was rather funny to listen to her switch unconsciously.
It's the same for Americans that spend a lot of time in the UK
@@angellover02171 it's the same for anyone who lives somewhere with a different accent/dialect, it's called code switching
Coworker?
Is orking cows legal? I'd need a ladder as I have short legs.
I do find it funny how people using the terms like "losing an accent" when going to USA, or "gaining an accent" when moving out of USA. Certainly it's the same; an American would lose their accent when influenced by British accents, and a Brit would gain an accent when influenced by American accents.
It's just that the word choices makes USA the default and the rest of the world the other. Similar to how all people moving abroad form USA are expats, and all other people are immigrants. Giving terms like "American expats" and "Turkish immigrants" in Spain.
It's funny how these people probably couldn't use their original accent if they tried, but once they get around their old friends and family, it happens subconsciously.
The explanation as to why Harry is so articulate makes complete sense! Great video!
It's because! 😂
It's obvious!
Would you mind cueing me in?
It’s a joke because Geoff had just talked about the fact that the media always assumes there’s some underlying reason to why people speak the way they do
@@MagentaLooks Thanks 😊
As an American from New England I have a contextual pronunciation of "route": rhymes with "root" for roadways, rhymes with "shout" in the military sense and for computer networking (i.e. router).
We do the same thing in Australia
I do this too.
I would LOVE a video on the trans-Atlantic accent. I moved to the US as a teenager and my accent is very mixed. The British contempt for Americanised accents-or even just inflections-has made me very insecure, and also increasingly angry. It’s irritating (and hurtful) to see criticisms of Harry boiled down to ad hominem attacks on his speech.
Agree. Attack what he says not how he says it. He has problems we can attack him for. Leave his accent alone.
As a Brit, the misguided disdain and ignorance by a small but vocal section of my countrymen for American English really irritates me.
@@leeprice133 They’re still salty that America broke free, in 1776, I reckon 😅.
This may well be the first time the phrase "California drawl" has been uttered. "Drawl" is applied (by non-linguists, of course) exclusively to southern US dialects. Well, until now...
Bakersfield, maybe.
RIP to that "strong northern accent" commenter
As someone who steers clear of celebrity news, I found myself surprised I was even clicking on this video, but your breakdown was fantastic, measured, and the very end made me laugh! Subscribed, thank you.
I'm always amazed at how you bring the receipts (i.e. a wide variety of clips from all sorts of people) for every one of your points. Your research is much appreciated!
That ending made me laugh! Thanks for the great video as always! I majored in English and minored in Spanish, and the linguistics courses I took in both of those languages were some of my favorite classes ever. Word nerds unite! 🤓
Word nerds, love it.
Same! Same language combination, same linguistics focus 🥸
yes, I double majored in Spanish and English and I also adored my linguistics classes
Dyslexics, Untie!
I didn't get the ending. I feel stupid 😔
How about a video on how much people change their accents, and why or why not some people feel so bad about doing that, and phonology and psychology of that? And how it can happen consciously or unconsciously or both. That would, I think, be interesting. By the way, you rock.
1. Difficult topic! 2. Thanks!
I noticed in business activities that the world seemed to divide rather neatly between those who did, and those who did not, amend their accent to 'mirror' the prevailing accent of the current audience. So, dealing with Swedes or dealing with South Africans either made all the difference or none. Personally, I'm in the 'mirroring' camp - but I somehow secretly admired the others who made no concession whatsoever to fitting in.
Great video cutting through the media's ridiculousness! Also fascinating as a British person living in the US for 6 years now! I don't think i've really lost my accent, it slips a bit every now and then, but overall i still sound very south east English. I do also change my pronunciation on certain words/or change phrasing for ease of communication. It's funny, people read way too much into Harry doing the same.
I have a touch of expertise in the area of language and communication as a Language teacher of 30 years. I also have decades of “real world,” subjective experience in language and communication as a learner of a second, third and fourth language, myself.
My experience is that everyone will change the way they sound when the language they hear around them changes. My personal belief is that we’re just adapting the ways we speak as a strategy to communicate clearly with whomever our audience happens to be.
My husband is Puerto Rican, and American English (west coast) is his second language. I am fluent in English and Spanish, the latter being my second language.
Since he works from home in Zoom calls and on the phone, I hear him changing the way he speaks all day long depending on the people he is communicating with.
In my case, I learned a very middle of the road Spanish with very general vocabulary that gets me understood by Spanish speakers from just about anywhere. However, his Puerto Rican Spanish has had a very noticeable impact on the way I speak Spanish - especially when I’m with him. It has not only affected my accent but the vocabulary I use as well.
I am also aware, though, that when I am out and about in our city of San Diego, California, the Spanish I use with the folks I encounter is decidedly not so Puerto Rican, since Mexican Spanish is the common dialect here.
What I can tell you for certain is that neither of us is trying to be fake or pretentious. We’re simply trying to make sure we’re being understood, whether we are always conscious of the changes we are making or not.
Yes, accommodation is very general. However there are individual differences.
and we enjoy experimenting, especially creative people who have moved around and studied languages--we love/hate the sound of the individual in the spoken language
I'm Scottish, so I have to use my "telephone voice" when speaking to people from other countries, or they wouldn't understand what I'm saying. Yeah they'd pick up some words, but my slang would be lost on them.
One could argue that a certain amount of code-switching is indicative of empathy towards their audience.
I remember Oprah always used to mimic the accents of her guests, and it wasn’t viewed as bad, it was her way of connecting with them, and was probably largely unconscious.
Thank you so much, especially the end was a stroke of genius 😂
And yes, please do a video on the "Mid-atlantic" accent!
As someone from california the notion of a californian drawl is so mentally incongruent it immediately provokes laughter -- also my southern friends don't really consider drawl to be a pejorative and i know a few who even take pride in the term
An American from California here. Prince Harry sounds very British to me! When I see Harry and Meghan together, I very much notice the contrast in their accents. In fact, I often wonder, "Do I sound like Meghan?" I used to know a gentleman who was originally from England. I think he's deceased now. I think he was from the area of Portsmouth, since he sometimes mentioned that his father had served in the Royal Navy aboard HMS Barham. This gentleman had lived in the US many years, and also in Mexico. This gentleman had what I thought was a rather peculiar accent, something like the British ex-pats in your video. Not quite British. Not quite American. Not quite mid-Atlantic as in old Hollywood movies.
If he grew up in Portsmouth quite a long time ago, he may well have started off with an accent closer to American than more familiar RP/SSB accents.
I moved to San Francisco 30 years ago from CT, before that, Chi, and before that, Cincy and when people talked about the CA accent, I laughed!!!
@@lynnhubbard844 My wife sometimes talks about a family trip she took to Iowa when was little, about 1950. She said the people in Iowa commented about her "California accent." I've always thought this was an interesting comment. About 30 years ago I happened to hear my wife when she called into a radio talk show in San Diego. It was a moment of extraordinary luck. I recognized her instantly. But I was struck by her accent, which I had never previously noticed. She sounded like her late maternal grandmother, who was born in Missouri, southeast of Kansas City. Her grandmother had a middle-American accent from the region between the clipped, nasal accent from the upper Midwest and the broader, final-consonant-dropping accents of the southern U.S. It's the accent heard in much "country music." In my wife's case, it's an accent modified by university education. I've always been surprised that the people in Des Moines thought her speech was significantly different from their own.
My partner and I both live in Germany, and I know my US English has taken on the tone fall of his SSB. Meanwhile, he's picked up words and phrases that are so Wisconsin, there is nowhere else he could have gotten it, aside from me. It happens, and it's lovely. I like to think of it as “our English”.
"Thoughtful and restrained"
"The Guardian"
LOL
Analysis of Cary Grant's accent would be interesting.
I’m currently listening to the audiobook of Spare, which is read by Prince Harry. I couldn’t agree with you more. He still sounds very British to me (I’m Irish-Canadian). He’s definitely not speaking RP, but standard British English. I think he sounds articulate because he is reading text that he and his ghostwriter composed. As he introduces each chapter by number, he sounds rather abrupt, and sometimes he rushes his sentences and blends words. I think he has a lot of anger.
Dear Geoff, that's a great video, again - I wish it hadn't stopped so abruptly before coming to a definite conclusion...
Dr Lindsey, I really applaud your evidence-based method of presenting and discussing an argument vs exercises in confirmation bias. We should leave pronouncements on phonetics and speech theory, which are technical matters, to the professional, a linguist. The people who wouldn't value an opinion about a range of topics that they accept are best left to experts, somehow think that they can become armchair experts in things like language. Unfortunately I encounter the same issue in my profession. I should add: thanks again for your outstanding videos! I too would love one on the transatlantic accent.
As an American I always thought King Charles sounded almost like he was speaking with marbles in his mouth. That clip in this video showing Charles speaking really highlighted that. I always thought Diana and her brother had a slightly different accent than Prince/King Charles. Harry and William sound similar and less like their Dad, at least to me.
I'm voting "yes, please" on the uptalk. Also, if you are open to viewer suggested topics, can we please have a video on the mechanics of vocal cords? Thanks!
I lived 25 years outside of Philadelphia and now 25 years in North Carolina. When I hear my native accent now it’s a bit of a shock.
I am a native Californian. Most of us in the West have a generic CNN sound. Texas is unique, Boston is unique, and Georgia has a drawl. However, Florida does not. The worst thing in California is the Valley Girl Talk, and the kids born in the early 2000s who have a very irritating sound.
I have listened to TalkTV, and the British gentleman Mark Bowden on The Behavior Panel. Do they sound alike to anybody?
Sometimes I have to put the CC on to understand King Charles. Same if the Prince of Wales speaks very fast.
As to Harry, he can speak in Pig-Latin for all I care.
Great job Dr. Lindsey! You are always professional and manage ro give us some wry jokes once in a while. May I ask where you lived in the USA?
I would like a video on uptalk, how it started, where it's prevalent, why some people dislike it, and so on.
I studied British Literature, and was required to take courses in linguistics. They were the most interesting courses I took, especially when discussing how American and Australian accents developed due to isolation. Some isolated mountain communities, like some in Appalachian America still speak with the original accent their ancestors brought with them from areas of the UK. Access to television has destroyed a lot of that though now.
And I think the internet is spreading changes even more rapidly than TV ever did.
Similar to the speech/dialect in Newfoundland. Intact West Country, and Irish accents up until about 30-40 years ago.
You can still hear bits of it, but fading ultra fast!! I miss the accents from my childhood…I felt closer to my English/Irish heritage then. I still feel pride…it just feels like my culture has dissolved.
The old timers on the NC Outer Banks . It's almost sounds like a slight Corn wall accent according to a British friend of mine. But it's going away with media and tourists coming in.
@@MarthaDwyer Smith's Island, Maryland, has a very distinct Cornwall-ish accent, too. It is rapidly disappearing, which is sad because it's really quite lovely.
@@DrGeoffLindsey Online content lacks gatekeepers like there are in film & tv to enforce "accepted" pronunciations. We may reach a point where speech patterns are more influenced by one's interests rather than their geography. lol- I'm imagining what someone who lives in Alabama and grows up mainly consuming online content from Grime artists might sound like.
Yes, please make a video on the transatlantic accent!
Gosh what a great ending to the video. You literally sign post "don't get sucked into "It's because" explanations about character", then you catch us just at the moment you sucked us in despite your warning. Very clever indeed; I haven't seen something like this on RUclips before and I've watched tens of thousands of videos at this point.
the "transatlantic" accent would be such a great topic for a video!! i've been curious about it for years and was actually intending to ask for a video about it even before you mentioned it here 😆😆
(also, if you're on the look for examples, bernadette banner's accent, especially in her latest videos, always catch my attention)
My boyfriend use to have a friend from England who's been living and working in the U.S for decades. His accent is still so English that he and his friends still have to ask him what he's saying. Of course, this is the same guy who is making a very good living here, makes fun of Americans, and often tells us how wonderful he is. Lol. Lol. Lol.
It's such a modern idea that someone would keep the same accent forever. It's largely because of how much more ever present media and instant kinds of audible communication have become in daily life, imo. I'd be fascinated to learn more about this though. Just found the channel randomly through this video and subscribed because I can already tell you must be an excellent professor. I love the access to free educational content on youtube and I admire professionals willing to cover pop culture to engage the public. Happy to have found you!
I would love to see a video on the transatlantic accent! I grew up in the UK with American speaking parents and now live in the US, and I’ve constantly noticed how Americans think I sound British whereas British people think I sound slightly American. Watching your videos has made me realise elements of both accents in my own speech and I’d love to learn more!
For the pronunciation of “route,” in the northeastern US where I live everyone says it like root. In the northern Midwest - North Dakota/Montana area - people do say it like rout. But for most of the rest of the country - say, California - it’s really interchangeable. Someone who said root probably wouldn’t have their pronunciation changed by becoming acclimated to the people around them, and people wouldn’t be confused by a different pronunciation. I even switch between the two without always noticing it myself because I lived in a rout part of the country during high school, although my parents consistently stick to root.
It gets spicier when a particular route becomes more proper. Everyone I know pronounces it 'rout', but when referring to Route 66, we pick up the popular media pronunciation of 'rewt'.
Where I live, in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the verb is almost always rout* and the noun is both. For instance, I would call the two US highways that pass through my hometown root* 6 and rout* 11. Rout* also can sound like the word rot for some speakers. In another case of two pronunciations, the radiator in a car is pronounced rAYdiator* (eɪ, or eː for some speakers), but the radiator that heats a house is pronounced rAdiator (æ).
As someone who grew up in the Midwest and has lived in New England for forty years, I find myself saying "root" when speaking of a road -- "Root 66" "Root 2" -- and as "rout" when speaking of a path: "We'll probably take a rout going SW before heading south."
@@jakevolpe I think I do the same. I also say lever "lee-ver" when using it as a verb and "leh-ver" when using it as a noun. I didn't notice that until my wife pointed out.
Yes, that's why I introduced it as 'non-British' rather than 'American'. I don't think Brits ever pronounce it like 'rout'.
Your videos are so good. The editing, the wealth of knowledge, the funny subtitle effects, the jokes... Question: there is uptalk, and presumably "downtalk", what is the name of the way you end your sentences? I'm not a native speaker and I've not heard it before watching your videos, but your intonation at the end of your sentences is very specific, not up or down but slowing down and "trailing straight". Something like: Da da da DA daaa 🤔
Non-Uptalk doesn't really have a name as it's the default for languages to tend downwards in statements. But you're right, I do have a common intonation (too repetitive, I think; I'll try to vary more) which I think ends in a shallow rise-fall.
Cadence?
Oh! Just discovered this channel - and subscribed! Thank you for this, an important topic. Yes, there are language specialists, which is much more complex than the average person imagines.
Hi, fellow linguist and a longtime fan here! Please do a video on the Mid-Atlantic accent. I've been observing my wife's baseline North American accent (she's an ESL speaker to begin with) slide progressively into British English after a few years of living in the UK and am fascinated by the process. I'd love to learn more!
I am always amazed at how you are always able to support your video essays with punctual examples extrapolated from contemporary clips. How do you do it? Do you have an archive where videos and content are tagged by e.g. 'if clauses', 'intrusive r', 'mid-atlantic'...?
A key tool is YouGlish. Can't live without it.
The word "California" is both an adjective and a noun. "Californian" is rarely used in California or in the US in general, though it often is in the UK. This is the proper usage: I love California beaches. I drink California wine. etc.
I wish they all could be
You're spot on! PEOPLE USE THE INFORMATION THEY ALREADY HAVE AND IGNORE THE SOUNDS. If you tell Americans who haven't lived in the UK that you're Australian, I'm sure 80% of them wouldn't bat an eyelid and after some time they'd say, oh yeah, I can hear your Australian accent! I'm the living proof of that:
I'm bilingual, Italian (North East) and English (British, slightly Southern but a bit inconsistent). When I tell people or they know that I was born in Italy some go as far as saying that I speak like D'Acampo. When I don't mention anything about my Italian origin, they think I'm just an Englishman, with a neutral accent. I do know there's some slight interference between the two languages but an expert like you would not say that I'm Italian even if you sampled and analysed my speech, you would simply recognised that some little details are off.
I posted one audio and one video on the internet, I read something in English and guess what? 99% of the comment told me that I sounded British but couldn't pinpoint the exact location, some Southern, some Midlands (my mum is from Birmingham but she taught English in Italy for years and she speaks with a standard accent rather than Brummie, excepts when she gets upset).
Some Italians think that I have an English accent when I tell them that I'm English. I recorded myself in Italian and the comments were all 'somewhere in the North of Italy'.
I grew up and lived in Mexico for 36 years. Within a year of moving to California, I went back to visit and my cousins pointed out I had already picked up some characteristic ways in which Spanish is spoken in Southern California. I had no idea that transformation could be so quick! Makes sense, considering people from many different Spanish speaking countries live in California. This informs how the language is spoken. I rather like it!
Before retiring, I worked for a UK based company. When visiting the "home office", I tended to adjust my speech to that of my coworkers. When at home in southern New Hampshire, I tend to have more of a "Boston" speech pattern where I was born and raised through 4th grade. Afterwards I lived in Vermont until my 30s. During those years I noticed how "Bostonian" my cousins sounded.
Now I do notice that I shift towards whichever speech pattern that surrounds me.
I'd love to see a video on trans-Atlantic accents. I grew up in Yorkshire but have spent most of my adult life (12 years now) in the US.
My accent has unconsciously changed over time to the point some Americans don't even recognise it as foreign, but some immediately ask where I'm from. It makes me wonder what features each person is listening for when determining the foreignness of speech.
A coworker from England visiting our office in Seattle also observed I sounded a lot more English when speaking to him, but I didn't consciously change anything about my accent.
My word choice is a lot more conscious though and I do intentionally use different vocab depending on where I am.
Thanks for all your videos, including this one. I have been working through your collected works on here over the last few weeks and it has been fascinating. As a teacher, I know I unconsciously and may be sometimes consciously change my speech to suit my audience. How I speak in public in school or church and in front of an assembly of people will vary according to that audience and will be different again when talking amongst friends having a coffee in a café or a drink in a pub. Having written a Ph.D, I know I tend to write quite academically, and then I sometimes colloquialise my written word to suit a less academic audience. I don't forget, as a Londoner, living in Liverpool for 5 years, how I initially struggled with the Scouse accent, but on my permanent return home to London, I realised how 'strong' the accent of south London was having been away for so long. Is it possible for you do something on the different multicultural-influenced accents in London and may be more on the regional accents in the UK?
Whenever up-talking is discussed I'm surprised there is no mention of the fact that Scots in east central Scotland ( roughly the Falkirk and Edinburgh areas) have always ended their sentences with a rising intonation. I knew old people in the 1970s who did this , so it must date back to at least the late 19th century , and probably a lot longer than that.
I would love a video on the transatlantic accent. Both Brits in the US and Americans in the UK. And let's not forget the Canadians. I've noticed a handful of Canadians in the UK who speak in an extremely enunciated style.
1) French-Canadians' English is often better enunciated than English-Canadians', but I suppose the ones you've met are anglophones. Just a thought. 1) Canada had its own variety of the mid-Atlantic accent which is often called Canadian Dainty. Our British overlords decided in the 19th century that we sounded too much like Americans so the schools started promoting "English" pronunciations ("shedule" starting with "sh" rather than "sk", for example, even though Fowler recommended "sk"!). An extreme version was called Anglo-Canadian. Vincent Massey, the first Canadian-born governor general spoke it, but his brother, the actor Raymond Massey, spoke with a Canadian accent. Mpst Canadians were unimpressed by Canadian Dainty and Anglo-Canadian and they have died out.
I speak Russian and worked wtih Russian-speaking immigrants here in the US for over 20 years. I was always shocked at how subjective their view of my Russian was. Some asked me when I'd arrived in the US (born here, learned Russian in the Army). Others said I had a very thick accent. The truth is my Russian was very good. (I didn't like people complimenting my language, because I then am sure to make mistakes.)
Once I heard a couple of my Russian instructors talking about the phenomenon of losing one's native accent after moving to another country. They both said that a week back in the USSR/Russia would take care of it.
I look at imitating the accent of the person your with like assuming similar body postures. It's generally unconscious - and can be embarrassing. And not everyone can do it. A fellow soldier from Georgia was a chameleon changing his accent to match whomever he was with. One of the other guys we worked with was from Tennessee and there was no way he could change how he spoke.
Tony Blair is one of those chameleons. I heard him using an estuary accent when speaking to South Londoners on TV, but he sounded rather Scottish (to the extent of saying "aye" rather than "yes") when recorded North of the border. His constituency was in the North East, but I never heard him speaking there.
It's something that "NeuroLinguistic Programming" advocates as part of its hidden persuasion toolkit, so it may well be one of the Dark Arts of politics.
I have lived most of my life in the countryside in western Sweden, though I have studied at the university. I have heard everything from having a thick accent to sounding extremely posh. Those who say I sound posh are usually from my home province and lack higher education, though.
I'm also fluent in German. Most people in Germany can hear that I'm not a German but think that my German is overall very good.
I’ll be glad to see your videos on anything - mid-atlantic accent, uptalk - anything😊
I love your content so much! Thank you for the video.
And I’m also interested in that mid-accent that you mentioned. Is it preferable to study if you are a non-native speaker?
I love your videos - a perfect balance of your own sense of humour, explanations for a layman like me, and your own very relatable thoughts and opinions! I think if I had come across your videos earlier in life I would have very seriously considered applying for an undergraduate programme in linguistics at UCL.
Like at least one other commenter, I'd also love to see you make a video on uptalk - perhaps it is due to culturally or socially induced biases, but one of my flaws is that my brain immediately forms a negative impression of anyone uptalking (which, if I am feeling charitable, I try to account for). I'm sure anything you have to say on this topic would be enlightening!
Appreciate the kind words. Also, Uptalk is now extremely widespread. I would tentatively hazard a guess that you only notice it some of the time. Maybe.
@@DrGeoffLindsey perhaps it is only in combination with another phenomenon I have not yet identified that triggers it then!
Incredibly interesting. Love your videos, Geoff!
Great video!!
I’d love to hear more of your thoughts on mid-Atlantic accents.
I’d also love your thoughts on the accent of the actor Charlie Hunnam who is a Geordie, but has been in the US for a long time now and his accent is so interesting, a complete mish-mash of both accents!
I saw that Gary Oldman needs an accent coach to play British characters because he's lived so long in the US!
As a Canadian who has lived many places in Canada as well as internationally, I would love a video on the mid-Atlantic accent. I know that I don’t sound like any of the places where I have lived, so I suspect that this is what my accent is closest to.
Related to all of this is code switching which I know that I do, and that we saw Harry doing in this video.
My experience is that Canada has a wide range of accents. And they all know them. Instant recognition of where someone was raised.
Pardon me, English isn’t my first language, but common sense tells me that when Bradby uses the word right, is at the end of a *question* he asks, while Harry uses the word right, at the end of a
*statement* he makes. One is asking a question, the other is asking the interlocutor to agree with him. If I’m speaking with someone, and they keep saying right? at the end of affirmative sentences, I would feel they’re trying to manipulate my own opinions of the subject at hand, But if they use the word *right* as a question, not a statement, I’m compelled to answer and give them my opinion.
As you suggest, the meaning of 'right' is context-dependent. But it's not as simple as 'asking the interlocutor to agree'. The meaning is often more like 'do you understand what I'm trying to say?' It's much less coercive than the reverse-polarity tag with falling intonation. E.g. Harry says that his beard 'felt to me at the time like the new Harry, right?' He's not asking Bradby to agree with him (after all, the only person who can know how Harry felt is Harry). A reverse-polarity tag would have been 'my beard felt to me like the new Harry, \didn't it.' That would be trying to make Bradby agree, and it would sound very strange, because Bradby can't know how Harry felt.
Maybe I’m reading to much into it, right? It could just be that he’s mimicking his wife’s verbal tic patterns, let’s hope he won’t develop a vocal fry 😂
I'm not fluent in English but I love to watch about accents. Happy to see you again Dr. It's a great video . And I want you do a video about the mid Atlantic accent. Thank you.
It's called Trans Atlantic.
Doctor Ge-off, you are hilarious!
How the video ended, Luv-vit!!!
Aaaah!! You end on a cliffhanger!!!
Please do a English vs Australian! I’m English born but if I play my voice back I’m so shocked at how Australian I sound.
What part of England?
@@mikespearwood3914 Surrey why?
@@Wotsthatskip Probably makes sense, I guess. That southeast region seemed to influence the Australian accent because I guess a huge proportion of the original convicts were from these regions.
@@Wotsthatskip Mind you, I've listened to some interviews with some of the Black Sabbath guys, who are "brummies" (from Birmingham), and I nearly fell off my chair, because some words they say they sound identical to an Australian accent.
So, it seems to me like the original distinct Australian accent that emerged was probably a gradual merger between some of those with cockney/estuary/general southeastern English accent origins with components of some who had brummie/English midlands accent origins.
When I was teaching in South Korea, I had a student go study English in my hometown in the USA for about 3 months, she came back with an almost fully American accent, I was surprised
I need to rewatch your video to get why you end it in the way you did. Genius!
i went to visit my australia fiancée for a month on my way back from studying in japan (we're in an ldr) and even within a few weeks i started pronouncing a few words differently. the fact that harry still sounds like he does after literal years in america is astounding to me tbh and the british media, as per usual, is making a mountain out of less than a molehill
I’m from California and I don’t think he sounds the least bit Californian. The Beatles gradually lost a lot of their Scouse accents after marrying women from the US, or it at least softened; because when I first heard them talk in A Hard Day’s Night I had no idea what they were saying. When I visit my sister in law in the American South I have to make an effort to sound a little like them so I fit in.
Ringo and John Americanized as you say, Paul and George less so.
People got on his case for saying route differently? Born-and-raised Midwesterner here, I say route like shout AND route like root depending on the context and just what I’m feeling. Like, “that route [like shout] is long” versus “what route [like root] do I take to get there?” in my head are both valid (because they are, but in the context of being American-sounding OR british-sounding)
Thank you! This is both clarifying and interesting. I'd happily listen to both videos that were suggested.
I am interested in the rapidity of adoption of local pronunciations.
I am a Yorkshireman (16+7*2/3 years), so have the purest English pronunciation, but have moved around the UK first to Cambridgeshire (4 + 7*1/3 years), then Lannan (4 years), then Brum (40 years). I am still identifiably northern, with a few people even identifying me as from Yorkshire. Dad was Dutch, and spoke Dutch at home until I went to primary school, and when I have spoken Dutch in the Netherlands my accent has been identified as Brabantse.
But, the thing that surprises me most, is that my baby brother (13 year difference) was only three when we moved to Cambs, yet has a stronger Yorkshire accent than I, with a wife with a fen 'swampy' accent, and kids who sound posher than Prince Harry.
Some people I know have adopted a new accent within a few months of moving to an area.
Why the difference in rate of accent adaptation?
who spent more on the streets between the two of you as kids? :)
My stepmum is from Sheffield, she lives there for the first 23 years of her life, with a Yorkshire mum and welsh dad. She has now lived here in South Wales for almost 50
Years. Her accent is as strongly Sheffield as it ever was. Even after all these years I struggle to understand her on the phone sometimes 😂
Her 3 older children who spent their first few years (5, 4 and 3)also still have traces of the accent! Maybe it’s a Yorkshire thing that makes it stick fast!
There seem to be individual differences, like say musical aptitude. (Not that I'm equating accent accommodation with musical aptitude.)
Pride can make someone exaggerate their accent. my scottish friends who live abroad I find they sound more scottish than Rabbie burns I find it funny as they didn't speak so broad before leaving 🖐😅😆😂🤣
Another fantastic video.
Cheeky of you to ask if we want a video on the mid-Atlantic accent... Of course we do!
Apart from the prevalence of T voicing, I hadn't noticed anything American about Harry's speech either. However I was surprised to hear him display a feature that's on the less posh side of the SSB spectrum: L vocalisation. For example in the Stephen Colbert interview ruclips.net/video/E6l0ObY2XVM/видео.html at 16:21 Harry pronounces "shield" with partial L vocalisation. Or as the Daily Mail would put it: _'Arry's a Cockney now innit guv_
So funny ending 😂 and yes, I would like to hear your thoughts on uptalk, please.
The articulacy comparison to Charles and William at the end was such an icing on the cake. Thank you so much for this amazingly insightful video.
Excellent video. I don't live in the UK and haven't been following all the stories about Harry, but some of those statements you shared are quite shocking. Absolutely anyone who moves to another country starts picking up words and expressions from that country. And anyone who spends a significant amount of time living with someone starts picking up expressions from her dialect and idiolect. After moving to Namibia (originally from the UK) I started using "make a plan" without even realising it was a local expression, borrowed from Afrikaans. I also say "braai" more often than I say "barbecue". And if I say "roundabout" and notice the person doesn't understand, I clarify that I'm referring to a "circle".
A video on the transatlantic accent would be great
Great video! I love how the gentleman from Arizona still has his intrusive r. I've noticed that's usually a good shibboleth for identifying British actors who can otherwise expertly speak General American.
Lovely analysis. The first interesting thing I've heard about Harry.
Your description of the up-tick amused me - surely it came to England from Neighbours, Aussie TV!
I'm originally from rural Derbyshire, but have lived in Italy 20+ years. Hopeless at this language, but do my best to pronounce English clearly (lips wide apart), my girlfriend is learning. Caught myself the other day, typing email to family, choosing my words so as not to sound pretentious. I had correct, good words in mind, but they weren't ones I was brought up with. A bit weird censoring myself in that way.
Really interesting. Thank you. My little theory about 'right?' is that American English is sometimes influenced by Spanish, and Spaniards use ¿verdad? (literally 'true?') as a general question tag after all sorts of questions. I think 'right?' is a translation of that.
Si, lol. My Mexican neighbors and I swap language bits back and forth. It may not make native speakers of the other's language but the kids are learning both.
Yeah we do that in Puerto Rico a lot. 😂
@@IMWeiraJolly good - any language learning is very good for the brain!
@@elyenidacevedo1995 I didn't know that!
Can you comment on something? In the US we would pronounce today's date as "January twentieth", while I believe in the UK it would be read "the twentieth of January". I'm also fairly certain I've heard the pronunciation "January twenty" in particularly old-fashioned contexts. Do you know the origin of this difference?
Of course, there's one exception to the rule: US Independence Day is usually read in the 'British style' as "the Fourth of July"! Perhaps this is because it's interpreted as the name of the holiday rather than simply the date.
In the UK you'll actually tend to hear both "the twentieth of January" and "January the twentieth" in widespread use, but the form without a "the" anywhere at all ("January twentieth") would generally read as an Americanism.
@@zak3744 Interesting. As an American, I would never say "January the twentieth" with a 'the', so that makes sense to me.
Love your videos! Informative, concise, and well done. Thanks
A video of your understanding of 'uptalk' would be fascinating, and would be great due to it's growing prevelance in G, Britain and I've noted the growth of it's use in my short 30 something years - language changes and I'd like to understand how this affects those around me
With reference to Harry and yourself providing quick American translations (route, windshield, zee etc) for Americans listening - isn't this one of the reasons why Americans are generally less able to understand non-American English* compared to our ability to understand them? American audiences are 'catered to' or I would even say patronised in this way. It is presumed, wrongly I believe, that they are unable to work out for themselves and get used to non-American variations so have to have it explained to them. I read once that the Harry Potter books were re-edited for American audiences to remove vocabulary, structures and cultural references felt to be too British for them. Thereby, I would say, also removing their chance to learn non-American English in exactly the way that we learn American English i.e. by exposure to it.
*I have noticed in several discussions on line about differences between different forms of English that there are many occasions when a word or a spelling is labelled "British English" when it is in fact the version used in all English speaking countries outside the Americas or sometimes just the United States. An example would be what the letter Z is called. It is zed in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and many other English speaking countries. To call 'zed' 'British English' gives a wrong impression. It's the non-American version.
I’d love to see a video about the Transatlantic accent and what it is all about. I’m a life-long student of English, living in the middle of Europe, yet being constantly exposed to all different accents, and I’d expect this accent to possibly be the most neutral and universal one, suitable for my linguistic reality. Subconsciously I may have already adopted something similar, rather than mimicking any particular local variant… But I’d rather hear about it from you first before making any further assessments of my own. Thank you. ^^
When I moved to Europe, I got very accustomed to calling fries "chips" and calling chips "crisps" among many other things I had to do to avoid miscommunication.
#1 hits home hard! My viewers were assuming I wasn't speaking in my early videos because I was a foreigner. Like obviously, we foreigners never speak English, right? ;) They didn't assume that I was mute (I'm not), or had speech problems (I still have), or lacked alone silent time to record (so yes!). Nah, it was _obvious_ .
Also you are making your existence known, and that's great!
I'd love a video about uptalk. Usually people who explain it can't do it well, it's not their natural way and they sound as if they are asking a question. But people don't sound like that! In your examples and every time I've noticed it in the wild, they aren't 'finishing the sentence' in the way I expect, as if they are going to continue after a semicolon. I never perceive their intonation as a question.
It's weird to me that the term mid- or trans-atlantic accent has shifted to refer to an 'Americanised British' accent, since I've always known it to refer to the very specific trained accent of early Hollywood. I'd appreciate a video on the phenomenon!
Same
You should do some on the Royal "Experts" I really get a dishonest feel from them. Kind of like listening to a fake psychic or palm reader. Their accents sound played up to me
Yes a video on the transatlantic accent would be great! Especially interesting would be some comparisons of the different ‘blends’, and also what might be giving off the impression of ‘transatlantic’
I left Scotland, Glasgow, precisely, for Taiwan 20 years ago as an adult. I've been exposed to all sorts of Englishes there, never anything similar to Glaswegian. Now, when I visit Glasgow, people ask me where I'm from. And I don't try to be pretentious, my speech just changed. I would be surprised if it didn't.