Date:  Tue, 15 Mar 1994 12:23:19 -0500

From:  Ellen Johnson <ellenj[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ATLAS.UGA.EDU>

Subject: Re: Conscious Learning of Accent



My French was (and is) much better than my German, but when I went to

Switzerland after a week in Bamberg, Germany and tried to speak French I

could do so only with the utmost difficulty. It just seemed too much for

my brain to handle.



Upon reflecting on my "bidialectalism", if it can be called that, it is

interesting that both dialects were acquired. I was conscious of my

changing speech, but I didn't consciously try to change particular

pronunciations. I grew up in a middle class, suburban family, though

neither of my parents has a college degree. The upper-middle-class/

academic dialect I acquired in school, while the more working class type

of speech was acquired throough interaction over the past 15 years with

neighbors, ex-in-laws, and speakers of BVE and rural white southern

dialects. My native dialect then has split off in two directions,

neither of which is identical to the speech of people who speak that

dialect natively. My most cultivated speech, for example, is different

from that of people who were born into what remains of the old plantation

aristocracy, and in my most vernacular style I never use a-prefixing or

invariant be, among other features.



Enough armchair theorizing and self-disclosure. The topic of

bidialectalism and code-switching between dialects is an interesting one

 and I would welcome more discussion on it.



Ellen Johnson

ellenj[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]atlas.uga.edu