Standard American English (again...)

I started writing this response to Badjack's post about accent shadowing and when I started on the third paragraph that wasn't even on his topic, I figured I might as well start a new topic and clear up a few things about SAE...

In my experience, there are no true "native" speakers of Standard American English; SAE is more of a skill than anything else... The reason there isn't an actual "standard" American English is because what one perceives as "Standard American" varies across dialects and even amongst individuals.

I think my manner of speaking is pretty standardized, but my friends in San Diego can tell that I'm originally from Texas and my friends in Dallas can tell I'd spent too much time in California. What's interesting about my friends is that most of them don't think they have an accent either. My friends in Texas are almost all from Dallas and their exposure to those from smaller towns has led them to believe that they don't have an "accent" while my friends in San Diego believe that the very nature of being from California makes them "accent-less."

The most obvious give-away is how you refer to someone in the plural... And, in reality, almost all Americans either say "you guys" or "ya'll," neither of which is "SAE." SAE demands only the use of "you" as the second person plural, which is really only used in writing, in which the second person is avoided anyway.

Naturally there's no doubt that the SAE is based on a regional dialect (specifically a strip from Eastern Nebraska through Western Illinois in the 1960's, but that area has since been largely affected by the NCVS), I'm not denying that, I'm simply arguing that it is not the equivalent of any current American English dialect.

Thanks Skippy. I always enjoy your posts. I grew up in Ohio, lived for a few years attending college in France and also lived in Belgium for awhile. I live in California now and you're right... people here believe they don't have an accent. For the most part, aside from the usual "val-speak" you hear everywhere, California speech sounds pretty standard to me. I also have a lot of co-workers and friends in Dallas. I like to think I don't have a regional accent. My family in Ohio have an accent that is almost Southern. I've tried hard to eliminate any odd pronunciation articafts in my speech.

lol in the US it seems like anyone who doesn't speak Southern American English thinks they speak standardized... That's what I find the most interesting.

Christina Aguilera has a General American accent (she is low back merged tho'):

http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=CvzRw69B4NU

She was born in NYC, but she grew up in a low back merged city of Pittsburgh.

''my family in Ohio have an accent that is almost Southern.''

Ohio has 4 types of accent:

1. Northern Ohio (Cleveland, Toledo) has a heavy, nasal Lake accent, with Northern Cities vowel Shift; it's close to the accents used in Chicago and Detroit

2. Central Ohio (Columbus) has a General American Accent, very close to ''newscasters English'' [this accent is moving from partially low back merged to fully low back merged; it's similar to the accent used in Indianapolis]

3. Southern Ohio has a southern influenced accent

4. Eastern Ohio has a WPa (Pittsburgh) influenced accent, it's fully low back merged.

Interestign thread. What does low back merged mean?

Pittsburghese is far from SAE. I watched the video and I'll admit that her accent is pretty standardized, but she is absolutely not a native speaker of SAE, as there are no native speakers of SAE.

Skippy, have you ever posted a clip of your speech?

lol nope. Should I?

Yes. I'd be interested in hearing it.

and how do I go about doing that?

Well, any "Standard" language will always be nothing more than a "useful fiction" - a set of socially-imposed institutional language norms.

I have yet to meet anyone who actually speaks "Standard English" of any variety.

I've often wondered about this Standard American English, myself. I never thought I had an accent until my brother came back from San Diego earlier this year and informed me otherwise. (This coming from the guy who was speaking with a slight Filipino accent he picked up from his bride. *rolls eyes*) The only other person who had ever commented on my so-called "accent" was a Canadian guy I dated. I'm not sure if I can count him, though, considering the fact that I broke up with him simply because I couldn't stand the way he said "berfday" instead of birthday, and insisted on adding "eh?" at the end of every other sentence.

Anyway, my point is that I wouldn't mind hearing that sound clip, either. :)

If they perceive their individual accents as 'accentless', how do native American English speakers perceive American newsanchors' English?

They should realize that they speak differently than they do in news programs, right?

Why would they?