Date: Mon, 5 Jan 1998 09:21:31 EST

From: Dfcoye Dfcoye[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM

Subject: Re: British actors in US



As someone who has coached dialects and used them on stage I heartily second

Greg Pulliam's assessment - and would only add that the original posting is

another good example of the "I know all about language just because I speak

it" phenomenon. Saying things like "learning British for an American involves

dropping sounds so it's easier" is absurd. I assume they're referring to the

/r/, but other sounds have to be "added" for an American learning RP- you

have to distinguish metal from medal, you have to distinguish the vowels

before /r/ in marry-merry-Mary, hurry-furry, mirror-meer if like most of

Americans you don't. You have to merge the vowels of lore and law, and

perhaps add a connecting R to the latter if followed by a vowel sound...



Dale Coye

Dept. of Eng.

The College of NJ