Date: Fri, 6 Sep 1996 16:34:14 -0400

From: Allan Metcalf AAllan[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM

Subject: Re: American accent: nasal



Mike Picone comments:

"Americans over there

are often said to have a nasalized accent."



I would comment that "nasal" is a pejorative term for "funny way of talking

that sounds bad to me." Even worse is the "nasal drawl." I have been

collecting odd citations of this by persons who I suspect couldn't tell a

nasal from an anal, but who find that "nasal" gives them a seemingly

scientific objective reason for objecting.



One example is the novels of Arthur Hailey: there's a "nasal Texas drawl" in

one of them, and a "nasal California drawl" in another.



I guess the French think likewise. - Allan Metcalf