This segment of MEDEA is a repository for all things connected to current research on accents and dialects – everything from articles on the neuroscience surrounding ‘Foreign Accent Syndrome’ to polls examining the most popular British dialects – all of which will help inform character study, enhance your dialect acquisition and give you further glimpses into the extraordinary world of the human voice.
Foreign Accent Syndrome
- About Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS) http://www.utdallas.edu/research/FAS/about/
- ‘Foreign accent syndrome’ explained http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2300395.stm
- Extract from ‘ My Strange Brain’ exploring Foreign Accent Syndrome http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=News+On+Foreign+Accent+Syndrome&Form=VQFRVP#view=detail&mid=05CEEF82CC9180DBDD0B05CEEF82CC9180DBDD0B
Latest research on British regional dialects
- Dundee is a city on the East Coast of Scotland and perhaps best known for being home to the D.C. Thompson comic empire that produced The Beano. The Dandy, Oor Wullie and The Broons- classic characters that are as much a part of the Scottish Landscape as The Tay Bridge! Scots dialects ‘as good as a second language’
- Here is the latest research on the Glaswegian dialect – or as they say in these parts: here’s a wee article fae youse: “Scots accent ‘less eroded’ than English regional accents”
- “These are the most (and least) attractive accents in the British Isles” – http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/most-and-least-attractive-accents-6270249
- “Stop ya chattin’! Man Met Uni linguist on ‘accent loyalty’, dialect maps and stereotypes” – http://www.mancunianmatters.co.uk/content/070874031-stop-ya-chattin%E2%80%99-man-met-uni-linguist-accent-loyalty-dialect-maps-and-stereotypes
- “Is Cockney rhyming slang brown bread? Dialect dying out because under-25s don’t have a didgeridoo what the phrases mean” – http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3200647/Is-Cockney-rhyming-slang-brown-bread-Dialect-dying-25s-don-t-didgeridoo-phrases-mean.html
- Another little moment of research that suggests regional dialects are being swallowed up by a generic ‘Southern’ sound- whatever that may be?! Not entirely convinced that this is the case: the students who contribute to MEDEA are rightly proud of their regional dialects and frequently use dialectical words specific to their native location celebrating their identity in their speech.
- Regional diversity in dialect words and pronunciations could be diminishing as much of England falls more in line with how English is spoken in London and the south-east, according to the first results from a free app developed by Cambridge researchers. http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/cambridge-app-maps-decline-in-regional-diversity-of-english-dialects