Date:  Fri, 14 Jul 1995 20:14:19 -0700

From:  Anton Sherwood <dasher[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]NETCOM.COM>

Subject: Re: oj trial



Alan S. Kaye writes:

> I would like to see the "expert" identify correctly out of 100 tape

> recordings of, say, 100 different people born and raised in a southern

> state, e.g., chosen at random, and identify blacks from non-blacks.

> My guess is that this is next to impossible.



So the witness should say the voice "sounded Black-or-Southern" rather

than "sounded Black" -- a distinction without a difference, as either way

most Californians are excluded.



Bill Kretzschmar adds:

> As it happens, the witness is a non-native-speaker of American

> English, and so not able to make any such judgment in any case.



With practice, I can hear accents in French (e.g. Vaudois, Italian), though

not as subtly as a native (and I wouldn't attempt to speak French with,

say, an Irish accent); is Northern-vs-Southern a subtle difference?



*\\* Anton                       Ubi scriptum?