Re: A New Accent, Political Boundaries and Accents,
| From: | Lars Henrik Mathiesen <thorinn@...> |
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| Date: | Tuesday, May 21, 2002, 11:32 |
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> Date: Tue, 21 May 2002 07:15:47 -0400
> From: John Cowan <jcowan@...>
>
> 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.
Cultural/ethnic/religious barriers can divide standard languages as
well, sometimes to the point that colloquial languages achieve mutual
unintelligibility. For instance: Serbian and Croatian, Hindi and Urdu.
Lars Mathiesen (U of Copenhagen CS Dep) <thorinn@...> (Humour NOT marked)
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