Re: YAEPT alert! [Re: Not phonetic but ___???]

--- John Cowan <cowan@...> wrote:
> Christophe Grandsire scripsit:
<snip>

>
> What makes English unusual, indeed, is how little
> diverse it is outside
> Britain: one can go for thousands of miles in North
> America or Australia
> and discern only the finest possible differences in
> dialect.  The lack of
> a standard dialect, though, is much more unusual for
> a language so widely
> spread and with such a substantial literary
> tradition (the differences
> between *written* Englishes other than lexis are
> absolutely trivial).
I don't honestly believe that the old rules apply any
more.  Even the most isolated community of English
speakers still has access to global television, radio,
movies, music, and the Internet.

Contrary to all of recorded history, I believe that
the future will see regional dialects of English
becoming LESS distinct over time due to the effects of
global connectivity.  I find my own pronunciation
drifting ever so slightly in the British direction due
to long exposure to BBC America.

It's interesting to note that even now pop singers
from Great Britian, India, and Australia, while they
SPEAK in their native dialect tend usually to SING in
a distinctly American dialect, and singers of country
western music, regardless of their SPOKEN dialect tend
always to SING in the stylized "country music
dialect".

--gary

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