Date:  Fri, 14 Jul 1995 15:05:12 -0500

From:  jeffrey howard allen <jhallen[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]INDIANA.EDU>

Subject: Re: oj trial & dialect recognition(fwd)



I would have to agree, from personal experience, with Stephen Straight's

comments below in reference to William Kretzschmar's message on native vs

non-native speakers and their ability to recognize accents. I am not a

native speaker of French, but I lived there for many years and am able to

now often point out the region of France that a person comes from. I can

also distinguish between general Canadian, Caribbean, and African French

accents vs. accents from France. I may not be able to say what province

of Canada or Caribbean island the person comes from, but I can

differenciate between them. This comes with speaking to people,

listening to music, etc.



Just the other day I was speaking to someone from France and guessed

where he was from within 100 miles.



If it can be done for French, why not for English?



JEFF



---------- Forwarded message ----------

On Fri, 14 Jul 1995, William A. Kretzschmar, Jr. wrote:



> Sali Mufwene's objection to the putative greater competence of native

> speakers to discriminate dialects is well taken. There is nothing to

> prevent anybody, native speaker or not, from learning about different

> dialects in a language. I would still say that, on average, someone who

> has missed out on growing up in a place is much more likely to not to

> command the kind of acculturation to that place that is necessary to

> discriminate dialects accurately. Studies, e.g. by Jack Chambers in

> *Language* and Payne in the Penn group, suggest that even people who move

> to a new place at a young age do not fully command the linguistic variants

> of the place as the natives do; it is the second generation before such

> full acculturation takes place. The studies are of production, but I bet

> perception would not be far different. ...



I bet not. Indeed, I know many people who are far better than I am at

recognizing dialects or accents but who are far poorer than I am at

mimicking them when they hear them. Granted, productive "command" of

these variants requires more than mimicking ability, but my point is that

good recognizers need have no comparable production facility.



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H Stephen STRAIGHT, Assoc Prof of Anthro & of Ling, Binghamton Univ (SUNY)

Director: Grad Studies in Anthro, Prog in Ling, and Lgs Across the Curric

Box 6000, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000; Voice: 607-777-2824; Fax: -2889/-2477

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