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Usenet Posted 23 years ago
Usage
American accents.
I first visited the States in the 1960s, and have since been to many places, worked with and talked to many Americans, watched thousands of films etc.
I had a little trouble with the accents in Texas and Louisiana on my first visits in the 70s, but few problems with any since then. For example, I understood all of the accents in 'Band of Brothers' perfectly, and, I presume that since it was made largely for an American audience, they didn't do anything to make the accents easier for non-Americans.
So far, so good. Then I watched 'The Sixth Sense' starring young Haley Joel Osment, and even using stereo headphones at high volume level, I still can't make out all of what he says.
I thought immediately that his accent reminded me of James Stewart's. But Osment comes from Los Angeles, and Stewart from Indiana. Is Haley's accent considered to be in any way difficult for all Americans to understand with ease?
wrmst rgrds
Robin Bignall
Quiet part of Hertfordshire
England
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/docrobin/homepage.htm
I had a little trouble with the accents in Texas and Louisiana on my first visits in the 70s, but few problems with any since then. For example, I understood all of the accents in 'Band of Brothers' perfectly, and, I presume that since it was made largely for an American audience, they didn't do anything to make the accents easier for non-Americans.
So far, so good. Then I watched 'The Sixth Sense' starring young Haley Joel Osment, and even using stereo headphones at high volume level, I still can't make out all of what he says.
I thought immediately that his accent reminded me of James Stewart's. But Osment comes from Los Angeles, and Stewart from Indiana. Is Haley's accent considered to be in any way difficult for all Americans to understand with ease?
wrmst rgrds
Robin Bignall
Quiet part of Hertfordshire
England
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/docrobin/homepage.htm
Top answer
[nq:1]So far, so good. Then I watched 'The Sixth Sense' starring young Haley Joel Osment, and even using stereo headphones ... Stewart from Indiana.
- [nq:1]So far, so good.
- Then I watched 'The Sixth Sense' starring young Haley Joel Osment, and even using stereo headphones ...
- Stewart from Indiana.
- [/nq] No.
- It's not a prestige accent and it's not a "neutral" accent, and I think one reason why he's not bad at some of the roles he's played is that his accent seems sort of genuine in that non-prestige, non-neutral sort of way.
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2 Answers
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[nq:1]So far, so good. Then I watched 'The Sixth Sense' starring young Haley Joel Osment, and even using stereo headphones ... Stewart from Indiana. Is Haley's accent considered to be in any way difficult for all Americans to understand with ease?[/nq]
No. It's not a prestige accent and it's not a "neutral" accent, and I think one reason why he's not bad at some of the roles he's played is tha
No. It's not a prestige accent and it's not a "neutral" accent, and I think one reason why he's not bad at some of the roles he's played is tha
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[nq:1]I would assume that both Stewart and Osment have "Midland" accents of different types, so you might not be wholly dead wrong in detecting a connection, much as I would not be totally dead wrong in detecting a connection between, say, RP and Cockney.[/nq]
http://us.imdb.com/name/nm
http://us.imdb.com/name/nm
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