The Speech Accent Archive
Everyone who speaks a language, speaks it with an accent. A particular accent essentially reflects a person’s linguistic background. When people listen to someone speak with a different accent from their own, they notice the difference, and they may even make certain biased social judgments about the speaker.
Since around 1998, the speech accent archive at George Mason University has collected nearly 2000 samples of people speaking the same set of sentences from around the world:
“Please call Stella. Ask her to bring these things with her from the store: Six spoons of fresh snow peas, five thick slabs of blue cheese, and maybe a snack for her brother Bob. We also need a small plastic snake and a big toy frog for the kids. She can scoop these things into three red bags, and we will go meet her Wednesday at the train station.”
Given my own background, had I remained in the US, I suppose my accent would be a cross of this and this.
With such a fantastic public resource on tap, I’d assume that voice dialect coaching would have improved in the last 15 years or so.
Still, what a great resource for those who are interested in how language works - including EAL/ESL teachers.
/via kottke