Re: The AmE 'o' sound

From: Ruud Harmsen (realemailseesite01_at_rudhar.com)
Date: 11/06/04 

Date: Sun, 07 Nov 2004 00:57:58 +0100

>> On television (in television? prepositions are a nightmare in
>> English). Most of them, especially young people, talk like that.
>> Extreme example: The Nanny. One of the ugliest voices I've ever heard.

Sat, 06 Nov 2004 12:32:47 GMT: "Peter T. Daniels"
<grammatim@worldnet.att.net>: in sci.lang:
>If you think Fran Drescher's stage persona is typically American, you
>have a _lot_ of American-studying to do.

She's probably a persiflage, but the real thing is almost as bad. Not
all American accents are alike of course, I do know that.

>("on television" is correct)

Sigh of relief.

>Can you provide a _legitimate_ example of "all Americans" talking as you
>claim?

There is new TV show on Dutch TV now, of American descent, where young
girls around 18 try to become models. My daughters and wife watch it,
I don't. I hear them talk while I sit behind my computer. They all
talk with those very low, creaky voices, especially at the end of
sentences. Although some of the girls look nice, the way they talk
makes me almost forget I'm a heterosexual. It is just so ugly. Sounds
like a speech defect, in bad need of consulting a logopedist.
'Sex and the city' is another example.

Similar voice effects, but less ugly, occur in Finnish, and in Asian
languages like Thai and Indonesian.
Some German men do similar things, like constantly raising the larynx,
which results in an unpleasantly loud voice. Many other don't though.

All of these effect are different, and I couldn't accurately describe
the differences. But I do hear them.

(PS. I may have been using words here that don't exist in English, too
tired to look them up, although I have plenty of dictionaries within
reach). 

-- 
Ruud Harmsen - http://rudhar.com

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