No, it wouldn’t be all right for the president of the US to speak URP. The president’s voice is not supposed to sound like the voice of God. He’s the President of the United States, not the King of the United States. It’s okay for him to speak General American, some kind of Southern accent or any US accent, as long as it doesn’t sound too affected or snooty.
A manager can have any accent, because the main criterion is whether or not he gets his job done. He may encounter resistance from his subordinates due to his accent, however, just as a German manager who says “must” too much can sometimes get the nickname “Der F?hrer”.
I don’t think he needs to explain it. He has made it clear for months. You have a tendency to insist, to twist and not to listen. You have an exaggerated view of the stratification and stigmatization of various accents, along with a sycophantic idea that aristocratic forms of British English should somehow be the pinnacle that all should strive for. Beyond this, you do have an irritating habit of twisting his words around, perhaps because you don’t understand what he’s saying. I would offer, though, that the reason you don’t understand what Alan is saying is that you are stubbornly attached to your own linguistic worldview and refuse to comprehend what he explicity states. You also bring up bogus arguments, such as when you appear to think that just one or two exceptions completely refute an otherwise valid generalization. I addition to this, your stubborn refusal to give any indication as to where you are, what your native language is, etc., tends to get on people’s nerves.
Alan gets annoyed with me because he thinks I have a nationalistic chip on my shoulder, and because (I think) he misunderstands some generalizations I make as being across-the-board stereotypes. There are some other things I do that bug him, such as when I refer to socio-economic classes, which I think he interprets from a rigid UK perspective than from a fluid US view of them. This is just my interpretation; I’m not inside the man’s mind.
Anyway, Alan has made it quite clear why you can get on his nerves at times.
Going back to the accent question, I found the following accent files quite interesting, especially (but probably not only) for learners. Some of them have transcripts and there’s even an Accent Listening Practice.
I’m most bothered by the California accent, especially the disgusting (hehe) rounding of the O and U (or “-ou”):
You = yeew (or “yeh-oo”)
No = neh-oh
In my native land (Wisconsin), the vowels are hard and straight, much like they are in Spain (and other Latin-based countries, I would guess), Scandinavia, etc.:
O is O
U is U
E is E
I is I (not “ah” as it is down here)
A is A
Now it could be said that the vowels are turned into diphthongs… this could be said for the more severe practitioners of the Wisconsin accent. Be that as it may, I’d rather hear “Youuuu” than “Yeeeeew” any day. There is no “e” in “you”!
I hear the young rock-band frontmen sing something like, “I’ll be treeeew to yeeeeew” and I want to puke.
I wouldn’t say I “often have a way of ignoring questions”. As for the voice imitation, I really don’t know what to say about it. Perhaps you could tell me what you think?
The “GenAm conversation” sounds like a Northeast accent (probably New England).
The “GenAm reading” could be Ohio, I suppose. I’m not sure – the guy isn’t showing much, or is trying hard to temper his natural accent. Most Ohioans (or at least north and central ohioans) speak with a pretty accent-less accent. hehe
The “Canadian” one sounds closest (among the choices listed) to a Wisconsin/Minnesota accent.
Interesting link, Conchita. It was entertaining to listen to the guy doing the Boston accents. Though the guy approximates the some of the sounds pretty well, Bostonians would identify him as non-native in a New York minute. I was disappointed that he didn’t attempt a “Philadelphia sound”. But maybe it’s just as well he didn’t. :lol: