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A New Accent, Political Boundaries and Accents,

From:John Cowan <jcowan@...>
Date:Tuesday, May 21, 2002, 11:15
Tristan McLeay scripsit:

> Anyway, I'm just wondering. How much of an influence do political > boundaries have on accents/dialects? Am I making more of it than it > really is?
Usually very little: the Canadian accent extends right over the political boundary, as does the Border Scots accent. But when the border divides two separate standard languages, it can have second-order effects. There is a chain of mutually intelligible local dialects that stretches from Paris to Rome, such that someone near the border can probably manage to converse with neighbors across it. But talking is one thing, and writing a letter is another. The upmarket constructions imported into each local dialect will come from very different sources as well. -- John Cowan <jcowan@...> http://www.reutershealth.com I amar prestar aen, han mathon ne nen, http://www.ccil.org/~cowan han mathon ne chae, a han noston ne 'wilith. --Galadriel, _LOTR:FOTR_

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Lars Henrik Mathiesen <thorinn@...>