Hello Everyone
Interesting subject!
I found this text on the internet:
"Elizabethian English did exist in England and the original form is still
spoken in parts of the United States--particularly in the more isolated
parts---which is more and more these days becoming almost none extant. It
was the common language which everyone understood over regionalist speech.
Just as today we in the United States all speak a common form of English
which everyone or nearly everyone understands but regional English such as
Valley Girl Speech ("He was just so gorgeous"--note the 'just
so'--everything is 'just so' in Valley Girl Speech') with such expressions
that are not quiet slang but not quiet acceptable standard English
predominate. Likewise we have Cajun English (a combination of French and
English), Gullah (a language and culture of Black South Carolinians) which
is basically the African Language of Sierra Leone with a little English
thrown in and Spanglish which is a combination of English and Spanish. We
also have dialects that can tell one instantly where one is from---parts of
North Carolina still sound as if they were from Scotland or Elizabethian
England or England (the Rev. Billy Graham sounds like this), Parts of
Charleston, South Carolina have an Upper Class English that sounds like they
are from London,England; people from Brooklyn, New York and Ohio as well as
parts of Southern California (the way they say "you do" is an instant
giveaway) Mississippians have a dialect of the Old South of very slow speech
often imitated poorly by Hollywood actors (Example is in Gone With the Wind)
that I call "Under the Mag-NOL-yâhs" . People who speak this way often give
the false impression that they are retarded and severly deficit in
intelligence because often it takes them forever and a day to say what they
are going to say since they mull over what they say before they say it.
Aside from foreign influences; American English has been heavily influenced
by the languages of American Native peoples from Micronesia (Chomorro tribe
of Guam and the Mariannas) and Polynesia (Hawaiians) to the Continental
aboriginal Tribes and
the Inuit (Eskimo) of Alaska and Canada. The language has been much enriched
by these peoples for instance the Inuit have more than 20 words for snow and
ice ---with each word meaning a different type of snow or ice type---words
which English did not have until enriched by theses peoples.
However, Radio and Television as well as modern speaking machines have
rapidly put to an end most regionalism as well as modern transportation.
American Africans of color no longer speak as they did in the 1950s and
earlier as in George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess--original version although
they often can be identified sight unseen over the telephone just as some
Orientals can be. One hears less easily identifiable speech because
Television, Radio and the Movies have removed much of the isolationist
qualities that created and preserved regionalist speech.
In England this is also true. It was once possible to easily identify the
village, town or city one was from. No longer. The Anglican Archbishop of
Ireland came to speak at my Parish bringing with him some English friends
who sat beside me. When they heard me speak they tried to identify the
Village I was from, settled on Oxfordshire and finally asked me if I was
from Oxford and if I was related to this peer or that peer of the realm as
they though I looked like them. I told them "No I am not from Oxford and
have lived in the United States since birth (except for travel) and as for
as peerage is concerned that died on the the fields of Flanders during
Elizabeth I reign when the Duke was killed in battle as he was single and
had no direct heir." They were amazed as was another friend from Wales who
had been away so long that she had become throughly American. When she went
back for a family reunion in Wales--when met people who sounded like they
were from a Northumberland Village to her but were really from Rutland.
"
No new solo Terzi or solo Bachelar CD plans from anyone?
(Except for David´s, hopefully this year, much awaited forthcoming
Terzi-CD.)
All the best
Peter
* * * *
http://www.peteroljelund.se
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Mobile +46 (0) 70-403 41 48
>From: "guy_and_liz Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: <[email protected]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [LUTE] Re: Surviving in Eliz. England.
>Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2006 19:17:21 -0800
>
>I'm sure Elizabethan England had many local dialects, just as it does
>today.
>But most countries have something that's considered the nominal standard
>dialect. IIRC, she was referring specifically to the accent that would have
>been used by by the "sophisticated" levels of society (the court, the upper
>end of the merchant class, etc.), something like BBC English is the nominal
>standard today.
>
>Guy
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: <[email protected]>
>Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2006 5:24 PM
>Subject: [LUTE] Re: Surviving in Eliz. England.
>
>
> >
> > Given the multiplicity of 'English' accents in modern england, is there
> > any reason to suppose Elizabethan England would have had but one
>dialect?
> > London had a significant immigrant population as well as itinerants from
> > wales, scotland, ireland, various areas of france, islands off scotland
> > more norse than scots, frisia - not to mention the midlands,
> > northumberland, cornwall etc.
> > --
> > Dana Emery
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > To get on or off this list see list information at
> > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
> >
>
>
