Amanda Martin-Brock's accent?

[Jamie (K)]

A further piece of information for you and your friend, Spencer.

It is known that dialect changes spread in concentric waves, similar to the waves caused by throwing a stone into water. The waves are stronger closer in, and as they move farther away they get weaker.

For the most part, this is how the pronunciation changes occurred in England as most people lost the post-vocalic R's. This change started somewhere in the interior of England and spread outward. If you look at a dialect map of England that shows the rhotic ("R-full") and non-rhotic dialects, you'll find that the places where people supposedly still pronounce all the R's are generally around the edges. The circle weakened before it reached them.

And don't forget: If Americans started pronouncing R's where they didn't exist before, then why do the English still write those R's to this day?

[Conchita]

Talking about dropping the r’s, some people stick them in words that don’t have any. For example, ‘Chinar is’ (native English speakers often say that) instead of ‘China is’. Then there is ‘wabbit’ instead of ‘rabbit’, but maybe this only happens in the Bugs Bunny cartoons? I don’t think I have otherwise heard people replace r’s by w’s. And how about replacing l’s by w’s (I’ve heard that often enough), like ‘fiwm’ instead of ‘film’.

I thought some of you might want to have a look at the hundred most often mispronounced words and phrases in English:
http://www.yourdictionary.com/library/mispron.html

Don’t miss ‘Old-timer’s disease’, ‘take for granite’, ‘Laura Norder’ (must be a cousin of ‘Chinar is’!), ‘a blessing in the skies’, ‘doggy dog world’ or our much debated ‘close’!

[Alan]

Stone me Concheeta wear you git all this 'ere stuff! I couldn't 'ardly believe me eyes when I seen it. Wot woz u finking?

Al
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Word Story: Dictionary

[Conchita]

[Alan]

Hi Conchita,

Yes, you're right. I feel much better now.

Alan
_________________
English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story A day in the life of a flat hunter

[Yankee]

[Jamie (K)]

[1charlenet]

Interesting debate on the origin of Amanda's American dialect but the truth is that her "British" accent is due to being raised in South Africa.

[Missterrys]

Amanda Martin-Brock is South African

[cogitoergosum]

Originally from Mbabane, Swaziland, Amanda was raised in Zimbabwe and South Africa. She attended the University of Natal in South Africa as a pre-law student, graduating in 1980 with a degree in English and Political Science. Pursuing a career in law, Amanda moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to attend law school at Louisiana State University (LSU) where she was a member of the Law Review.