TBO.com: AP United States: "COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- 'Y'all' isn't welcome in Erica Tobolski's class in voice and diction at the University of South Carolina. And forget about 'fixin',' as in getting ready to do something, or 'pin' when talking about the writing instrument.
Tobolski's class is all about getting rid of accents, mostly Southern ones in the heart of the former Confederacy, and replacing them with Standard American Dialect, the uninflected tone of TV news anchors that oozes authority and refinement.
'We sort of avoid talking about class in this country, but clearly class is indicated by how we speak,' she said.
'Many come to see me because they want to sound less country,' she said. 'They say, 'I don't want to lose my accent completely, but I want to be able to minimize it or modify it.''"
3 comments:
How boring the world would be if everyone sounded the same. A person's accent is a delightful aspect of one's identity.
Why worry about Southern accents? Them I can understand. How about making the teenagers at the burger stands learn to speak English. And don't get me started on Ebonics.
This sort of effort to get rid of regional accents has been going on for decades. Getting rid of the Brooklyn accent was always a big one. Check out Fran Drescher in This Is Spinal Tap some time - the character in that has nothing like her real accent or voice.
Just for fun, check out the TV series Without A Trace and try to pick out the two Australians and one British person in the main cast without resorting to the IMDB.
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