Accents ( Archived) (96)

As a dialectician who can generally assume any accent after hearing it spoken a few times, I find accents themselves to be fascinating. It's the people behind some of the accents that torque my cork.

And I've never really considered American to be an accent. With so much diversification in this country, there are many accents and dialects and I can think of no less than half a dozen in the Southern U.S. alone - From the twangy, quick spoken Scots Irish based dialect of Northern Appalachia/East Tennessee/East Kentucky hills to the deep, broad, rolling "deep South" brogue of Southern Georgia/Mississippi.

Even in my home state of Kansas, where we have virtually no discernible accent (maybe that's what American sounds like?) there are local variations - From "dem kotdamn Volga Chermans" in and around Ellis county in Northwest Kansas to the half Arkie/half Okie mix in Southeast Kansas.

To paraphrase Dorielle, as long as speech is intelligible I am willing to talk with nearly anyone. I might even start sounding like them after a few minutes. It's the person behind the accent that makes me decide whether I want to converse with them.