Indian Accent I Know the Way Do You Know the Way?

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NOOKS AND CRANNIES

Why, when English people effort impersonation of an indian accent, does information technology and then often sound like a Welsh voice? Are there like recurring mis-impersonations?

Kevin McEstry, Basingstoke UK

• I call back it must be the evenly distributed stress, which is the nigh obvious feature to the English, with their very irregularly stressed speech communication, of both accents. (In that location are, of course, many Welsh accents, and no dubiety even more Indian ones. The accent near English people think of as Welsh is specific to the Welsh Valleys.) Birmingham and Liverpool accents are often confused, though they're quite dissimilar when you listen to them carefully. And I wouldn't know how to distinguish Westward of England from E Anglia.

  Matthew Francis, Cardiff Wales

• Ordinary Indians tended to learn English as it was spoken by railway workers imported mostly from Wales and this fashion of speech has been retained. The speech of the "upper class" was too exaggerated for their taste.Don't know of any other examples

  Jack Loma, St Albans England UK

• I've no thought if this is true or not, but I did go it from an Englishman. Apparently many former Welsh soldiers became teachers of English in Republic of india afterwards their enlistments were over. Evidently this led to a pronounced Cymrian lilt to Indian speakers of "the mother tongue."

  Robert del Valle, Detroit USA

• Yes, Yanks doing Cockney's usually audio Australian. I've as well heard Americans doing Jamaicans which sounded Irish. I think it just means they haven't tried a vocalization coach.

  Siobhan, London UK

• Many people attempting a Cornish accent get no further south-west than well-nigh Gloucestershire (which is nearer Yorkshire than Cornwall - believe me, I've travelled there by National Express)

  Tim Light-green, Bradford Yorkshire, UK

• The intonation of inflected languages (every bit opposed to tonal languages such as Mandarin) adds colour and pregnant over and above the words spoken. The intonation of Welsh and Indian accents is far more musically varied than that of the average native English language speaker, and this, I think, causes the confusion when imitating. But what sounds exaggeratedly 'up and downwardly'is relative. Swahili is a language in which nearly all variation in intonation is absent-minded past European standards, so to a native speaker, a European speaking Swahili probably sounds absurdly melodic. Equally for other confusions, it is mostly due to like superficial correspondences, like the 'blocked nose' vowels in Liverpudlian/West Midlands accents, or the difficult, pronounced R in SomeRset or NoRfolk. In that location are good reasons for some similarities, though - heed to older Devonshire people and compare their accents with that of their contemporaries in Barbados. Ah-harr, Jim-lad.

  Simon Gilman, London U.k.

• Aye, and anyone (including Australians) trying to 'do' an Australian accent invariably sounds like someone from an area withal to evolve. With the obvious exception of Michael Caine, who does a splendid chore.

  John, Sydney Commonwealth of australia

• A strange accent comes about because the speaker applies to some degree the vowel and consonant sets, and patterns of inflexion of their native language, to the foreign language they are speaking. The thought that Indians got their English language accent from Welsh people is preposterous.

  Glyn Toll, Purley United kingdom

• I was almost convinced by Simon Gilman'southward response until he got to the bit near Norfolk existence like to Westcountry accents in their pronunciation of syllable-final rs. This is perhps the most marked difference betwixt the two accents: we Norfolkians pronounce our rs in much the same manner equally other English people - i.e. we don't most of the time. What the accents accept in common is their country-bumpkin vowels, oi exercise believe.

  Lucy Peacock, Malaga Kingdom of spain

• I'1000 Welsh. When my boss tries to mimic my accent information technology sounds Pakistani.

  Clare, London, UK

• There is a distinct difference betwixt Cardiff/Newport and Valleys accents. Welsh was the first language of Valleys people until the centre of the industrial revolution, that's why their accents are stronger. There is a noticable rift between Valleys and Cardiff/Newport people.

  Peter, Ton Pentre, Rhondda Wales

• In answer to your second question, British English dialects are often credited with certain characteristic phonological, syntactic, morphological and lexical variables which rarely reflect actual usage. This is occasionally done for humorous or satirical effect, only is mostly the product of ignorance. I'g a built-in and bred Brummie, and have yet to hear a single accurate simulated of Birmingham English by a person not born here. Have information technology from me, imitations of regional and social varieties of English are widespread perceptions as popularly recognised and seldom suit to reality.

  Steve Thorne, Birmingham England

• Very few English people can exercise a Scottish accent. Nicholas Parsons spent several years working at a shipyard in Clydebank, and his occasional attempts at imitation are ludicrous. James Doohan thought his Scotty emphasis was an authentic representation of an Aberdonian soldier he met during the war, merely information technology sounds like no Aberdeen accent always did. Emma Thompson can do a Glasgow accent, simply her mother is Scottish. Rory Bremner can practise Scottish accents, simply he _is_ Scottish. Alistair McGowan is possibly the just Englishman who can get a Scottish emphasis right (his Nicky Campbell false is spot-on). Scots and English started off well-nigh identical, but Scots didn't undergo the vowel shift in the 14th century. And the inflections are quite dissimilar. English tends to exist iambic, while Scots tends to exist trochiac (stress on the first syllable rather than the 2nd). This is function of the reason why English newsreaders and traffic reporters have so much trouble pronouncing Scottish placenames. And the stresses and vowels are so strange to the ears of the English that they accept great difficulty reproducing them.

  Andrew Foley, Glasgow Scotland

• I disagree with putting Newport and Cardiff accents into the same category. I am from Newport and the difference in accents between the 2 cities is manifestly noticable. People from Cardiff tend to round their O'due south alot more than people from Newport who use words like "Ewnce" instead of Ounce and "Ewt" instead of Out. Also, Cardiffians show similar vocal similarities to those of Liverpudlians (scouse).

  Alex, Newport Wales

• Many not-Cork Irish gaelic people find it difficult to differentiate between the Cork city accent and a Welsh accent. This is probably non linked to language, every bit previous answers have suggested, but rather to the caste of trade betwixt Cork and Welsh ports down through the centuries. This would appear to lend credence to the theory that the stereotypical Indian accent could in some mode derive from Welsh teachers. If you listen closely, y'all will also hear similarities between the Amsterdam accent and the New York accent, maybe a throw back to New York's initial beginnings as a Dutch colony.

  Eoghain, Amsterdam

• Telephoning to enquire nearly a flat I was asked by the very pukka sounding gentleman if I was an "Indian chap". When I went to view the flat he opened the door and I found myself looking at a turbaned Sikh.

  Gareth Evans, Wrexham UK

• My (Indian) male parent travelled to Wales when he beginning came hither in the sixties and thought everyone in that location was taking the mick out of his accent. Other Indian born family unit members concur that Welsh people are easier for them to understand.

  CK, Oxford

• I was led to understand that the similarities between (some) Welsh and (some) Indian accents are to exercise with the position of the natural language against the roof of the mouth (reticulated r'southward? - or did someone call me that in a pub recently). All a bit vague, as I only managed ane term of linguistics...

  Peter Mackay, London

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Source: https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-22283,00.html

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