h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Definitely dropping a line in the groups can't hurt. Lack of conversations doesn't mean people aren't subscribed.

Who ya cawllin' a propah speakah, vogawnpoet? Those neandehthawls arownd Baltimaw who bounce a bohll on the wohll in the hohll?

How about arenge juice versus Ohrenge juice? Envelope versus ahnvelope?

>>"I've got the American 'Non-Accent' as well, unfortunately."

This was what I meant. I'd much rather you did it, Jordan. It's your project after all.

Ah yes, I see...

Well, I'll just drop the groups a line and tell them to come on over here for the moment then... not right now though, I am at home now, and connection (oh my gravity, he's still on dialup ) is about to die...if anyone gets impatient during the weekend, feel free.

Stupid weekends, working from home, no propah internet, grumble grumble...

Well, I left a note in the Central US group.

I spent four years living in Hawaii and I have to say, the regional dialect there is like a different language. The local dialect is a form of "Pidgin English." Rather than simply placing different accents on vowels or letter groupings (which certainly occurs), the locals there tend to transpose words and phrases with other words and phrases. For instance, to note that a particular food dish is tasty, one would say "Those grinds were mean, yeah?" The addition of "yeah" after sentences is also prevalent, similar to how we percieve Canadians as adding "aye" to their sentences. In Hawaii, instead of saying "Where do you live?" or "Where are you now?" one would simply say "Where you stay?"

There are also many cases of substituting Hawaiian words for English words, such as using Wahine instead of girl.

Another unique aspect of Hawaiin Pidgin is the use of the ubiquitous phrase "da kine." Da kine is used as a variable pharse to indicate virtually any object, action or individual. Those individuals who grew up in the US during the eighties may remember the cartoon show "The Smurfs." The Smurfs would use the word "smurf" as a utilitarian word replacement for anything. For instance, "Can you smurf me a glass of water?" This is much the same way in which "da kine" is used in Hawaiian Pidgin.

Are you planning to have everybody say the same sentance, for comparison purposes?

El- One sentence would be difficult to come up with. I'll have to think about that. Plus, inevitably a pronunciation by the speaker would contradict what they're saying, due to a weak accent or something.

WickedSmart- I agree. Hawaii's dialect is very interesting and worthy of an entry, but I just don't have the energy to write *another* one. I plead laziness. Perhaps you would be interested in putting something together?

>>One sentence would be difficult to come up with.

How 'bout 'The rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain.'?


(I'm kidding.)

Well, when I first heard about the recording part of the project, I first thought of "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog". So I'm not exactly a font of ideas myself.

At first, I was a bit apprehensive about recording my voice for this. Now, I'm really excited about it.

The quick brown fox has all the letters, but not enough sounds. Once, I tried making a sentence with all the letters in it. Had something to do with "zookeepers" unsurprisingly. But it was only seven words - two less than the quick brown fox thing.

I'll work on this, I guess.

I've got a book called "Accents - A Manual For Actors" and it's got some sample sentences in it. I'm sort of on the verge of falling asleep right now but if I remember later I'll check on this.

I think there should be some similar words for comparison purposes, but also perhaps something unique for each region to show off its individual accent. Maybe a variation of a sentence?

I talk about this very briefly in at least one of the entries. Pronunciation of 'caught' versus 'cot' is a good indicator. If EMR's book has good stuff, that would be great too.

I don't think we have anyone from the south, by the way.

I can ask my hootoo friend JEllen, from Memphis, if she'd like to contribute, if you like?

Sure, that works. I don't know anyone else on hootoo from the south... not that I can think of at least.

I think we have a couple of Texans- but I don't know who they are.

Can't we get a request put on the FP, you know by one of those "clubs" or "topics" spots? Create a page, call it the American Dialect Uni Project Group, and see what happens.

I think the majority of our Texans are from elsewhere. Of course, that's true for many of the Texans I've met. It's almost as bad as Florida.

Ah. I see what you mean (although I'll never understand why anyone would want to move to either place- what awful weather they have!). And my friend in Memphis says she doesn't have a mic for her computer, so that's a no go.

But if I think of anyone else I'll steer them in this direction, till this gets a FP mention.

AH'm frum Tayxus. Born an' bred.

I just skimmed through the backlog a bit, but I'll dive in here.

Texas has several accents. I'm from the Gulf Coast near Houston. Because of the influx of "furriners" and Yankees (anyone from North of Interstate 10 to us folks from the Coast), the accents here can be a bit thinner than in other regions. East Texas accents are quite thick and sound to my ears more like Georgia than Texas.

One note: In Texas, it's Y'all - a contraction of 'you all' and it should never be used in the singular. I'm not saying it doesn't, but those that do use it when speaking to one person are either 'furriners' pretending to be Texans or really "igner'nt" Texans.

The best source to hear what are good approximations Texas accents is the TV show, King of the Hill. Hank Hill (Mike Judge) sounds like plenty of people I know. But you'll also hear thicker accents like Brittany Murphy's as Luanne Platter... that one is definitely over done, she's a "furriner" from Georgia (although maybe Luanne is from East Texas).

Nancy Hicks Gribble is also a bit thick (the actress is from North Carolina/New York) but her use of the endearment, "Shoog'"(as in sugar) is fairly common.


But for an excellent authentic Texas Accent, listen to Tommy Lee Jones in anything. He's like Sean Connery. It doesn't matter what the role calls for, his accent doesn't vary.


My personal accent is much more neutral than others I grew up with. Mine is much influenced by Burbank, California. I was a latch-key child and formed my accent by watching afternoon reruns of Gilligan's Island and other TeeVee shows (the letters T and V are equally stressed in Texas).